Nub Gowrie

Named after a former slave-dealer who was also one of the Confederacy's most effective generals and a founder of the Ku Klux Klan, Nathan Bedford Forrest Gowrie's nickname, "Nub," combines the initials of his first names with the fact of his missing left arm - though how he became handicapped is not explained. He is "a short lean old man with [pale] eyes . . . and a red weathered face"; his voice is "high thin strong [and] uncracked" (156). He is also a "fiery tyrant of a father" to his six sons (160) whom most of Yoknapatawpha expects to waste no time lynching the Negro accused of killing his youngest. When he finally comes face to face with him, Chick is surprised to see that this "violent foulmouthed godless old man" has a "heart capable of breaking" (158).