This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: ggeraci1 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.parker/218.450.456.466.573/mb.ashx Message Board Post: It has been a long time since you posted your story as you were told by mother, but since then there has been reseaarch done and a story written which follows. From: BRANCHES of LAUREL, Volume XIX No. 4, November 2004 Published by the Laurel County Historical Society OUR PARKER FAMILY By: Nancy Frost Moulton Spring in the hills of home is one of the most spectacular scenes a person could ever hope to see. The leaves are green and Dogwood, Redbud, Woohah and Golden Rod, Lady Slippers, Iris, wild Violets, roses, Honeysuckle and all sorts of beautiful flowers are in bloom. The air smells sweet, fresh and clean and the Red Bird sings. It was May in the year 1870 and all the families in Owsley, Laurel, and Clay Counties were returning to somewhat of a normal life, still feeling the sting of the Civil War. Gardens were being tended, children playing, birds singing and all was peaceful and new. A young man called to his dog and grabbed his gun and took to the hills, per chance to find a squirrel or two for dinner. He wa1ked for a mile or two and saw nothing then he heard a rustling sound in the trees and without thought took aim and tired a few shots in hopes of a successful hunt. Instead his life and several of his family members would be changed forever and Spring would be drenched in blood and tears. Some time in the first part of May in the year of 1870, in the kills of Laurel County another young man was hoeing corn in the field with his Father. At the same instant the shots were fired young Peter Bullock fell to the ground his life's blood draining from his lifeless body and his Father J. M. Bullock was wounded. At this moment in time Alexander Parker was encased in horror. He ran and ran until he reached his hone and relayed to his family what had happened. It seems that there was trouble between the Bullocks and the Parkers in some way. One of the stories I have been told was; they fought over an animal, another tale was they fought over a boundary line between their properties. The one that I am going to center on is that Mr. J. M. Bullock was a ruthless man and abused his wife and family terribly and if the Parker's and Bullock's were fighting this is what it was about. Matilda was her name daughter of Pleasant Lewis Parker and Sarah Sally Dillard and she was the sister to one of these and cousin to the other Parker men; Alexander the youngest, Pleasant L. Parker Jr., Daniel Parker, and Willis Parker. All four of the Parker men thought that the law would come. So they went to the Laurel County Jail in London, Kentucky on the afternoon of May 13, 1870. They were not charged with a crime, there are no court records to prove or disprove innocence or guilt, they were placed behind bars to wait for a circuit Judge to come. However, on that fateful night a group of hateful men stirred around and began talk of lynching these young men even though they had not had a hearing or a trial or even a Judge to bring charges of any crime! The word spread around the area quite rapidly and by evening time an angry mob of about 70 men rode into town, opened the jail and took all the men inside. At some point two things happened: One Alexander Parker was released because of his age. Two; another man by the name William Shelton had come into town to sell some cattle and being successful became a little to intoxicated and was arrested for being drunk and disorderly. It was told that he had $1,500.00 in cash money in his pocket and was going to go back to his home the next morning. The angry mob, Sons of Hell, better know as the Ku Klux Klan headed by a man named Robert Bowling, charged across the Rockcastle River urging the others to follow, some of the men hesitated and after an exchange of angry words and threats, a few turned and rode off into the darkness. William and Sid Bowling brothers of the leader, from Jackson County and Rev. John B. Lewis and "Madame" Pleas Young, brother of Rev. J. M. Young and another man called "Shoveler Bill" Vaughn of Laurel County and the others mobbed the jail, took the Parkers and the man named Shelton to a tree already strung with ropes, at the junction of McWhorter and Manchester roads and hung them all. They did not ask if the men had any last words nor did they ask if they were guilty. Bad Blood was running between these men; All of them. The following notice was tacked to the tree from which the lifeless bodies of the 4 men hung. NOTICE: "We are not men who have any inclination to violate the laws of our country but it having been reported to us that the evidence was conclusive against those men for murder, and it having been also reported they would be taken out of prison and set at liberty and thereby escape justice, and for the, good of our country at large, (we) look them from the prison room this night and hanged them by the neck for a public example to others you had better make no threats against us. We are law abiding men but determined that honest men shall be protected if we have to resort to this bard means to do it. We forbid the removal of the bodies of these men from this place before the hour of twelve o'clock on Saturday the fourteenth instant, after with you can do what you choose with them. We never interrupt good men. We bid your country adieu; be honest men and you will never suffer, but woe to murderers." At the break of clay in a heavy fog, the Parker Family and friends were there with a wagon and the graves were already dug in the cemetery. They loaded the 4 men on to the wagon in coffins, drawn by four horses and took them ever so slowly down the road to Murshons, escorted by a group of family members that were heavily armed. People lined the street as the funeral bearers slowly moved along. They pulled into the cemetery and placed something into the graves and began shoveling them closed. In a short while they left the cemetery and went to their home near Burning Springs. Under the protection of darkness, they buried them in the garden area of the family home. The graves were smoothed out so that no one would know they were buried there, except the family. They were afraid that some of the mob might come back and desecrate the graves. From all the information that I have been able to glean from various sources which I will name later on. There were several political ramifications to this outrageous act. Pleasant L. Parker. a senior Parker family member was an Ensign in the war of 1812 in Colonel William Williams Regiment of the Kentucky Mounted Volunteers under the leadership of Captain Thomas McJilton. He served in this war with several of the men that were also in the lynching party. He was appointed Justice of the Peace, and was sheriff in Laurel and Clay Counties. This was a position that two of the men in the lynch mob had vied for. Many of the Parker men served in the military back to the War of the Revolution. Many more of the Parker men before and after this useless waste of human life served in offices of law and order. My Great Grandfather, William "BIB" Parker. was a lawyer, a Judge and later became a U.S. Marshall in the Department of Transportation and was a nephew to Pleasant Lewis Parker. The Parkers were and are reputable in Political jealousy caused many of a death in our State and in our local portion of the great state of Kentucky. An important clue in all the happenings mentioned above was given to me by a lady that wishes to remain anonymous as she says that had feelings are still alive among some of the older people she knows. I will call her Lady "A". In an interview she stated that Delaney Bowling had access to the jail at the time the men were arrested and made an impression of the Jailors key so entry could be made to the jail without hinder. Another lady told of a man that lived in the old Bullock home located on what is now called River Road or highway 1228, in later years, who noticed a loose board in the floor of one of the bedrooms and he and his wife decided to lift it thinking maybe they might find something of value and instead found a large key similar to those used by jailors. Was this the key made from the impression for the jail? We will never know as the man was afraid of stirring things up and threw the key away in an attempt to keep the peace. This same lady said one day while visiting there she went up in the hill behind the barn and found a marker made from a stone but could only make out a few letters and the year l87O. She asked the owner about it and he told her it was the grave of Peter Bullock. She made a rubbing of the stone with paper and pencil. She maintains that she could not find any court records because there never was a charge made. The Parker men went to the Sheriff and turned themselves in. She did find a record where the Court had allowed for the burial money for these met There was no article in a news paper in Laurel County because there was not one at the time. It was not formed until 1873. A woman she knew had written her memoirs and communicated with a woman in California that was a descendant of Alexander Parker stated, that on his death bed; Alexander said he bad accidentally shot Peter and his Father J. W. Bullock. Sadly this lady died about 20 years ago. If any one reads this article and knows of the whereabouts of her memoirs, please contact me or the Owsley County, Laurel or Clay County Historical Society. It would be good for the direct descendants of these Parker men to see that information in print. (Some names were omitted from this paragraph at the request of this family) A descendant of Delaney Bowling and his first wife Jane McWhorter, told me Delaney bad the key made, was in cahoots with and related to the mob leaders. He got on the bad side of the men from hell and on January 9, 1880 the "Ku Klux Klan" was waiting in the woods near Walnut Grove Church, where they ambushed Delaney Bowling, brutally beat him, shot him and shoved his head through the spokes of a wagon and drove off at a full gallop. Jane McWhorter kept Delaney's blood stained shirt with a bullet hole in it, in a cedar chest until she died. EDLIORS NOTE: At the request of family members some names of those giving Information have been omitted. Some time following the lynching, Pleas Young, was indicted for the crime of lynching, Uncle of "Madam" Young, and lost all his fortune defending himself rather than tell on his nephew. Also indicted for the crime was Tom Lewis, brother of the Rev. John B. Lewis. Taylor Centers, of Laurel County and members of the Spicer and Turner families of Breathitt County were in the group. Nothing ever came of it. Efforts to locate criminal records of the Laurel Circuit were futile. Lest we forget! Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.