George Wright wrote that a total of seven family members were killed, but E.M. The Courier-Journal reported, "There is hardly a doubt but the oldest son of Walker preferred death by burning rather than to placing himself as the mercy of the mob, and it is probable that his charred body will be found among the debris." Local papers blamed Walker for the events, describing him as "surly" and having been disrespectful to a white woman. Walker's eldest son, however, refused to leave the burning log cabin. Three children came out next, and were quickly shot and killed by the mob. A second shot struck the mother in the abdomen and she fell, still holding the dead body of her infant." Disregarding her pleadings the infuriated mob opened fire and a bullet pierced the body of an infant in its mother's arms.
"She held in her arms their infant child and begged the Night Riders for mercy. The same thing happened when David Walker's wife came outside, holding a baby in her arms. Walker pleaded for the safety of him and his family, and then walked outside, where he was shot so many times that his body was riddled with bullets. When he refused to come out of his house, the lynch mob poured coal oil on it and set it on fire. They had built their log cabin farmhouse.Īfter David Walker, a married African-American farmer and family man, had an altercation with a white man, a mob of 50 Night Riders came to his house at night and threatened him, saying he had to go with them. Among them was David Walker, who had a 21 1/2-acre farm a few miles from Hickman, where he and his wife were raising a large family. īy the early 20th century, some African Americans in Fulton County had become landowners. This was also a period when locals were resisting the expansion of the cotton economy into this area, which had been dominated by yeomen farmers. For months they hanged, beat and threatened other locals, with violence extending to threats and lynchings of African Americans to drive them out of the area. They did not want it converted to exclusively private use. The local people had long used the lake for fishing and farmed the fertile land nearby. In the spring of 1908, white yeoman farmers and fishermen in Fulton County, Kentucky, and Lake and Obion counties in neighboring western Tennessee began to organize as Night Riders in opposition to the West Tennessee Land Company, a group of private investors who had acquired most of Reelfoot Lake and announced plans to drain it for cotton cultivation.
The state of Tennessee acquired the lake, preserving it for public use as a state park. Six men were convicted and sentenced to death in that case.
They were also resisting the expansion into this area of the cotton economy, led by large-scale planters who hired many African Americans as sharecroppers.Īfter two prominent white attorneys related to the land company were kidnapped and one murdered in Lake County, Tennessee governor Malcolm Rice Patterson directed an investigation and ordered in the state militia to suppress the violence. Local residents had long treated the lake as their own. These murders took place in a period of civil disruption when white farmers in western Kentucky and Tennessee organized as Night Riders, threatening and attacking people after the West Tennessee Land Company took private control of the Reelfoot Lake. Willson of Kentucky strongly condemned the murders and promised a reward for information leading to prosecution. The entire family of seven African Americans, parents, infant in arms, and four children, was reported killed, with the event carried by national newspapers. David Walker was a landowner, with a 21.5-acre (8.7 ha) farm. The lynching of the Walker family took place near Hickman, Fulton County, Kentucky, on October 3, 1908, at the hands of about fifty masked Night Riders.
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