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Archiver > KYLAUREL > 1999-07 > 0931317972


From: J Taylor <>
Subject: Re: [KYLAUREL-L] Pleasant Parker
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 23:26:12 -0400


Hello Fellow Parker Researchers,

I have hesitated to jump into the fray but I suppose I must. I kept thinking
others must know more about this than I do and I am sure that is true but
perhaps I can add something not known be everyone.

I grew up in the Mershons/Mt Zion area of northern Laurel County an I still
live only 50 miles away in Richmond Kentucky. My mother, who was a
Cornelius, and father were rural school teachers and farmers in that area
from 1908 until my mother retired in the mid 1950's. There were many inter
marriages between the Parkers and the Corneliuses but my mother was not
descended from any of them. Both my parents have been dead for many years
and I have been retired for 10 years. That's who I am.

My mother first told me about the Parker hangings as we rode horseback past
the old Parker cemetery on our way to River Hill School in 1933. I went to
the old cemetery about a year ago. The graves are all marked with plain
unmarked fieldstones. Of course I could identify none.

Acording to my research, Pleasant L. Parker first owned land on Laurel Fork
in what is now Jackson County Kentucky but in 1833 he purchased 500 acres
for $400 dollars on the Madison Road in Laurel County from James Kincaid and
Davis Berthrum. James Kincaid had been the original Surveyor of the old
Jacob Ramey 2700 acre Patent issued by Gov Randolph of Virginia in 1787. The
going rate for Surveying on the western frontier was 1/2 the surveyed land.
Pleasant was the father of Alexander and grand father of Pleasant Jr. Later
I will put in the geanology of this family as I have it and I will give,
some of you who have more energy than I, some idea's for further research.

Since I am an amateur historian, I tend to give you more than you asked for
so let me skip on to what my research shows about the hangings.

The Sentinel Echo in its Centennial Edition printed in 1975
reports as follows:

It was on the night of May 13, 1870 that a mob of about
70 men stormed the Laurel County Jail in London and
forced the jailer to deliver to them William Shelton,
Pleasant L. Parker, Daniel Parker, Willis Parker and Alex
Parker Jr. Alex Parker Jr. escaped the mob but the other
four were taken a short distance east of London, at the
forks of the Manchester and the McQuorter roads. and hung
to one tree. ...it has been said that the lynching was by
members of the Ku Klux Klan which was quite strong in
some sections after the Civil War.
Again quoting the 1975 Centennial edition of the
Sentinel-Echo:
Roy Young Sr., whose uncle Bob Bowling was one of the
leaders of the mob, had a different version related by his kinsmen
About 70 persons , 50 from Breathitt County and 20 from
Jackson County formed the mob and when they arrived at
the branch at the foot of Foster Hill on the McQuorter
Road there was much hesitancy on the part of the men.
They were discussing whether they should go on or return
to their homes when Bob Bowling crossed the branch and
challenged the others to follow him. Shoveler Bill Vaughn
of Laurel County was the first to follow and the remainder
streamed across.
Among the group were two brothers of the leader, Bill and
Sid Bowling, both of Jackson County , Rev. John B. Lewis
and “Madame” Pleas Young, brother of J.M. Young. Indicted
for the crime, related Mr. Young, was Pleas Young, uncle
of “Madame” Pleas, who lost all of his possessions
defending himself rather than tell on his nephew. Also
indicted was Tom Lewis, brother of John B. but nothing
was done about it. Taylor Centers of Laurel County and
members of the Spicer and Turner families of Breathitt
County were in the group. .… efforts to locate criminal
records of the Laurel Circuit were futile.

The following notice, on quite faded and badly deteriorated
paper, in the handwriting of J. W. Stevenson, in some old
historical papers of the Sentinel Echo, is believed to be a copy
of a “Notice” the mob had posted to a tree.
NOTICE
“We are not men who have any inclination to violate the
laws of our country, but it has been reported to us that
the evidence was conclusive against these men for murder,
and it having been also reported that 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)
took them from the prison room this night and hang them
by the neck, for a public example to other men of like
character, and we say for the good of all 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 hard 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 which 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”.

Was it Klansmen or was it a group of local vigilantes ?
Did they wear robes or masks to conceal their identity? One
story goes that the Ku Klux from Rockcastle started to London
that evening but when they reached the Rockcastle River they got
word that the deed had already been done so they returned to
their homes. It would appear that there was some communication
by Klan types in organizing this terrible misappropriation of
authority. If, indeed, some of these people were guilty, it is
certainly doubtful that all were equally culpable and deserving of
the maximum sentence. Well over a century later there are still
many unanswered questions. Certainly it shows that even when
“good” men in a mob atmosphere take on the authority to adminis-
ter justice where they believe the system has failed, an even
more serious injustice is likely to occur. But such were the
troubled times following the Civil War.

The comments in the last paragraph are mine. My mother's story said that
Alex Jr. was released because he was only 15 years old. Acording to the 1850
census, he was actually 22 . Must have looked young. I'm sure my mother's
story came from her father Lafayette Cornelius who was born in 1855.

I will have more later.

Jack Taylor
Richmond, Kentucky

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