Long after his burial in an unmarked grave in the Brewton Cemetery, the Negroes refused to believe old Railroad Bill was actually dead. They made up songs glorifying the famous desperado that told of his heroic deeds. Even during the Great Depression of the 1930’s, some of the old Negroes felt that the food commodities that were sent to them by the Federal Government had actually come from Railroad Bill. To this day the songs can be pulled up on the internet if you wish! Allen W. Brewton, the deputy that contributed to this macabre story, was born in McDavid on August 25, 1869 to the union of local farmers Abraham C. and Zilfa C. Brewton. He would marry Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Carter and she bore four children; Cyler W., Aggie L., Floy McKinnon, and Roy Elmer. By 1910, he had become a constable and as the story goes he maintained a portable holding cell in his back yard where he would place his prisoners until they could be picked up and transported to the Escambia County Jail in Pensacola. In the meantime, his family would feed them their meals while waiting for the jail wagon to move then south. Brewton would pass away on March 10, 1920, and was buried in in a local cemetery below.
