New Hope Road, the way it looked in August 1967. This was the site of the first shots fired on August 12.
New Hope Road, the way it looks today. McNairy County historian Steve Sweat, along with McNairy County Sheriff Ricky Roten and Alcorn County Sheriff Jimmy Taylor view the site.
A quick glimpse of the original photograph shows the site has not changed that much over time.
Sheriff Ricky Roten quietly surveys the site.
Steve Sweat and Sheriff Roten look the book, "The Legacy of Buford Pusser" and compare photographs.
AMBUSHED - 40 Years later
August 12, marked the anniversary of Pauline Pusser’s tragic death
“Pusser wounded; Wife slain by gunmen”. That was the headline as it appeared in the Thursday, August 17, 1967, edition of the McNairy County Independent. The story came just days after McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser’s wife Pauline was shot and killed in an apparent assassination attempt.In the early hours on the night of August 12, 1967, Sheriff Buford Pusser received a call at home. The caller told Buford that there was serious trouble flaring up on New Hope Road. After hanging up the phone, Buford jumped out of bed and began to put his uniform on. While Buford was trying to get dressed, Pauline got up and said she was going along. As the Sheriff and his wife were riding down New Hope Road, neither of them heard the black Cadillac approaching from behind. As the Cadillac got closer it pulled along side the Sheriff and his wife. When the Cadillac was right beside Buford’s car, the shots began and struck Pauline in the head area. Pauline sank in the seat holding on to her husband’s arm.Pusser knew his wife had been shot and that he had to get down the road to get away from these madmen. Buford drove nearly two miles down New Hope Road before coming to a complete stop.While Buford was checking the condition of his wife the black Cadillac appeared again this time rendering point blank shots at the Sheriff and his wife. The second series of shots from the gunmen are the ones that hit Buford in the face, and a second one hitting Pauline for the second time. After the shots, Buford said the gunmen must have thought they had killed both of them since they flew off in their car.Buford was transported to the medical facility in Selmer, then transferred to Baptist Hospital in Memphis.TBI Agents found eleven bullet holes in Buford’s Plymouth along with 14 empty .30 caliber cartridge cases.
Now, 40 years later, McNairy County and Pusser historian, Steve Sweat returned to the site of the tragedy with current McNairy County Sheriff Ricky Roten and Alcorn County Sheriff Jimmy Taylor. Though the landscape had grown over time, the site remained basically unchanged.
The incident added to the already growing legend of Buford Pusser. Despite the pain caused by the death of his wife, Pusser’s resolve to stamp out the criminal element on the state line only grew stronger.
After multiple surgeries, Sheriff Pusser returned to the war on crime and ultimately shut down the state line.

Below is an article as it appeared in the McNairy County Independent

Governor Buford Ellington Tuesday morning authorized a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or personsresponsible for the murder of Mrs. Buford Pusser and the wounding of herhusband Sheriff Pusser, in the early morning hours of Saturday, Aug. 12, in McNairy County.
The governor said, “This is the maximum reward that can be offered by the state. In addition the TBI is working closely with McNairy county officers and FBI in the investigation. I sincerely hope this combined action will result in the crime being solved in the very near future.”
Sources near the govenor said Tuesday, “We wish it could be more.” A local reward fund was started here Tuesday with the acceptance by WM. E. (Bill) Smith of the position as chairman. An attempt is being made tomatch the state`s reward.
Smith said, “We feel that this is the most reprehensible crime in the county`s history and that offering a substancial reward it might cause someone to come forward with information that will lead to the arrest and convictions of the killers.”
Contributions to the fund may be made by making checks payable to WM. E. Smith, Chairman, Pusser Reward Fund, and mailing them to him at Selmer. One prominent businessman commented, when contacted Tuesday afternoon, “We owe it to Buford, if nothing else.”
Sheriff Buford Pusser was seriously wounded and his wife slain early Saturday morning in a hail of .30 caliber rifle slugs, as he was on his way to investigate a disturbance at a beer joint in the south part of the county.
Mrs. Pusser had taken to riding with her husband to keep him from being alone following recent threats on his life. She was killed with one or more bullets in the head in the first attack.
Pusser, thinking he had outrun his attackers, had apparently stopped to give aid to his wife when the second attack happened, wounding the youthful sheriff. The attack happened on New Hope road, east of Allen McCoy`s store on highway 45 north of the stateline.
CONDITION SATISFACTORY
The sheriff`s condition was reported as “satisfactory” on Tuesday when a Memphis reporter called his newspaper from the Independent office in Selmer. Officials at Baptist Hospital in Memphis, however, had placed the sheriff`s name on a “no publicity” list and would make no comments otherwise.
Following requests from the sheriff`s father anh his attorney Lloyd Tatum of Henderson, two Shelby county deputies were assigned to guard his room at the hospital after fears were expressed over possible other attempts on his life.
Pusser`s chin was shot away in the murder attempt which happened just as dawn was breaking. He was still in the intensive care ward at Baptist Hospital and attempts to communicate with him had been extremely difficult.