Editor’s Note: Western North Carolina is rich with untold stories—many resting quietly in local cemeteries. In this Tombstone Tales series, we explore the lives of people from our region’s past whose legacies, whether widely known or nearly forgotten, helped shape the place we call home.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The zinc monument in Riverside Cemetery is plainspoken about what happened to Ben Addison. Its face bears a short epitaph: “Killed by a Desperado.” The words point to a violent night downtown on Nov. 13, 1906, and to a life that helped anchor Asheville’s Black business district before gunfire cut it short.
Benjamin Franklin Addison was likely born around 1847 in Fredericksburg, Va. Research compiled by local historians says he served late in the Civil War, spent time in Boston and South Carolina, and arrived in Asheville by 1892, when he married Catherine Haywood. Together the couple operated restaurants and shops and bought property in and around the commercial hub later known as the Block…