The Lynching
This is a story about a tragedy in my family which covered
the time period from 1879 to 1889 to mid 1890s.
I call it There was a Feud in
the County. I have broken it
into three parts so that each blog will not be too long. It was originally published in the September
edition of The Gaston-Lincoln Genealogical Society Quarterly, Footprints in Time, Robert
Carpenter, editor.
In my first blog (There
was a Feud Part 1 - Dec 4th) I
related the beginning of a tragic story in my family, the story of Robert
Parker, and how it affected the Parker Family down to this day. This blog, Part 2, will continue that story.
At the end of Part 1, Frank Stack had shot and killed Robert Parker ( August 1889.) He was captured back home in Union County and
was returned to Burke County, was indicted, and as of September 1889, was in
the Morganton jail awaiting trial. He
had been bound over to the Superior Court, scheduled for the 3rd day
of March 1890 - Spring Term. Frank Stack
was in a cell with a black man named Dave Boone who was not connected to Stack,
but who had also killed a man and was awaiting trial. They had been put in the same cell for some
reason. Perhaps they only had one jail
cell. In Part 2 we examine what happened
to Frank Stack and how Robert Parker’s family survived. In Part 1 you saw a picture of the Court
Docket entry showing the indictment of Stack.
I mentioned that someone later had written Nol Pros (Not Prosecuted) by that entry. Now you will find out why this case was never
prosecuted. This story was
followed up until current times in print by newspapermen in Burke County. There was a continuing interest
I hope you enjoy
Part
2
On
September 11th between 2 and 3 o’clock in the morning, a mob of over
115 heavily armed
and
masked men, broke into the jail, demanded the keys from the jailor at gun point
and took Stack and a black man, Dave Boone,14 who was there for unrelated charges, from
their cell. They proceeded to a nearby
railroad culvert and hung both men from the trestle.15
The reason for
the mob action given at the inquest was that they were tired of “murderers”
from Union County coming through Burke County and killing people (there had
been another incident some 12 years before,) and they resented having to pay
for the trials. They claimed it had cost
Burke County $7,000.00 that first time, and in the end, the culprit went
free. And that if left to the “juries
and lawyers” this one would go free also.16 After
the bodies were cut down, Stack’s lawyers sent funds so that Frank Stack’s body
could be returned to his counsel Messers Covington & Adams of Monroe.17 He was buried at the Presbyterian Church in
Zoar, in a grave marked only by a big rock.
There is
a file in the History Room at the Burke County Library in Morganton named LYNCHING
which contains much information on this case. It seems that this was the “one and only” mob
lynching in Burke County. They must have
learned their lesson from this miscarriage of justice. They never did it again. No one was ever brought to trial on this
murder. Some
people
said that was because, as was usual in those days, there were probably some
prominent local men in that mob which was described as “heavily masked, and
some wearing dresses!”
The
first newspaper article in the Morganton paper seemed to lean toward support
for the mob and the lynching.18 However as more was written, editorials, letters
to the editor, articles picked up from around the state, the attitude changed
and the lynching was condemned far and wide.
Lynching seemed to have been a favorite way of carrying out justice at
that time. According to the Morganton
Star, at the very same time as all this was happening in Morganton, there
was a big lynching trial going on in Lexington, NC, and a recent event in
Shelby, NC, and also in Union County, NC.19 In an interesting side note, shortly after
the lynching (and the unfortunate first article,) The Morganton Star was
put up for sale, and by the middle of November it had been sold and the name changed
to The Herald and the attitude was definitely against the lynching.
20 This story has remained of
interest to the people of Burke County.
In the aforementioned LYNCHING
file in the Burke County Library, there are many newspaper articles over the years
discussing the subject, one as late as 2005.
I
was very curious about the future of Robert’s wife, Margaret, and the child
Della Jane. It would have been a
harrowing past 10 years for this poor family from the time of the first
shooting in 1879, the several attempts on Robert’s life, and the move away from
family in Union County to Burke County.
I wondered if she went back to Union County, or home to her family in
South Carolina, or did she just fade away into history? To my relief, I found that after the murder
of Robert in 1889, Margaret Jane stayed in the Connelly Springs/Rutherford
College area. She raised her daughter
Della, and she was living with Della and her husband, James Coulter, in the
1900 census21 in Lovelady Tnshp, Burke Co, NC. She was 46 years old. She was in the same place in 192022 at 64 years. In the 1930 census23 she is listed at Rutherford College, Burke Co, NC and
was 76 years old. .She died in 1936 at
Hickory, Catawba Co., NC.24, 25 She was 83 years old. So she seems to have had a long life
surrounded by her daughter and grandchildren.
From Della Jane and her husband James Coulter, Robert and Margaret
Parker eventually had 4 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.26
Robert
and Margaret Jane, and Della Jane and James Coulter are all buried at Abernathy
Methodist Church Cemetery, Rutherford College, Burke Co., NC.27
Watch for my next and final blog on this story (There was a Feud Part 3 – Dec 18.) It will be about the consequences of this
deed done so long ago and how it endangered whole familes and caused their
removal to another place to escape the turmoil.
It has affected the Parker family up until this very day!
But Part 3 ends with a “sweet surprise!”
But Part 3 ends with a “sweet surprise!”
FOOTNOTES (which relate to Part Two only)
14. 12
September 1889 THE MORGANTON STAR The Eli Holder Murder Case Again
(Dave Boone’s story)
15. 12
September 1889 THE LANDMARK,
STATESVILLE, NC
Short Shrift for Murderers The Lynching with backstory and much current
Information
16. Ibid
17. Ibid
18. 11
September 1889 THE MORGANTON STAR The
Execution of Franklin Stack
19. 25
September 1889 THE MORGANTON STAR
1. LYNCHING
What’s the matter with Burke?
2.
A Sensible View of the Case
3. A picked up article from THE STATESVILLE NEWS
20. 14
November 1889 THE HERALD (The Star had changed its name from STAR to HERALD)
Resolution from the Burke County Farmer’s
Alliance in rebuttal to a
Proclamation
received from the Jenkin’s Cross Roads Farmer’s
Alliance in Union County.
21. 1900 CENSUS MARGARET
JANE NEAL age 46
Source Citation:
Year: 1900; Census Place: Lovelady, Burke, North Carolina; Roll: 1185;
Page: 12B; Enumeration District: 0010; FHL microfilm: 1241185.
Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Lovelady,
Burke, North Carolina; Roll: T625_1287; Page: 6A; Enumeration
District: 15; Image: 684.
23. 1930
CENSUS MARGARET JANE NEAL age
76
Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Rutherford
College, Burke, North Carolina; Roll: 1677; Page: 2A;
Enumeration District: 10; Image: 239.0; FHL microfilm: 2341411.
24. NC DEATH COLLECTION 1908 – 2004
MARGARET JANE NEAL
Source Citation:
Number: 242-84-2984; Issue State: North Carolina; Issue Date: 1966.
NC State Archives. North Carolina Deaths, 1908-67
Margarette Jane
Hale (NEAL)
26. . Family
Descendent Sheet for Robert Parker
27. Burial
at Abernathy Methodist Church verified by Ancestry.com - FIND A GRAVE
Robert #24749364 Margaret Jane #86749190
Della Jane #84264049 James
#84263951
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