A Lynching In Rowan

 The following story was written by Dr. Jack Ellis and published in the Morehead News on July 7, 2000.  The Morehead News is no longer in publication and Dr. Ellis has since passed on.  So to keep this story from being lost to the sands of time, I thought I would publish it here, word for word, just as Dr. Ellis wrote it.

If a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right ... he shall surely live. Eze 18:5,9.

Evidence of early Rowan County's lawless and violent reputation was evident by an article that appeared in the "Bracken County Record" dated April 4, 1877. (Thanks to Nan Lytle for sharing this material)

The crime committed

John R. (Jack) Tabor was a Rowan resident who had resided in the Cranston area of Rowan County. Mr. Tabor had been in trouble with the law on several occasions. He had an unsavory reputation not only in Rowan but also in the neighboring counties. John P. Martin was one of Tabor's neighbors, and a companion in crime.

On a Saturday night in early April 1887 after getting drunk on their homemade moonshine, Tabor and Martin hatched a plan to steal two horses and skip the country. After stealing the horses, the two men headed north toward the Ohio River. On Sunday, they were seen passing through Flemingsburg. By Monday morning they reached the Ohio River at Foster, a small town down river from Augusta in Bracken County. It was their intention to board the Bonanza, a paddle wheeler, headed 42 miles down river to Cincinnati. There they would sell their stolen horses at the stock sales'.

The Bonanza was not 'due at Foster until Wednesday, so the two men camped on the dock waiting for the arrival of the steamboat. Also a part of their plan was for John Martin's wife to come to Maysville and board the Bonanza. She would then meet them down river when the boat docked at Foster. There the three would continue on to Cincinnati together. Martin's wife booked passage on the Bonanza on Tuesday right on schedule. But she evidently caught the attention of the local Marshall since he had just been notified of the two horses stolen in Rowan County. Also he had been told that the woman waiting to board the boat was from Rowan County.

When the Bonanza left Maysville headed down river, Maysville Marshall Heflin and Jail er Weedon were also on board. They were determined to "shadow" Mrs. Martin, believing she was involved in the crime. How did the Marshall in Maysville find out so quickly about the stolen horses in Rowan County? There were no railroads or any form of fast communication in Rowan County in 1877.

The news spreads Warren Alderson, owner of one of the two general stores in Morehead in 1877, was a church-going man. He arose on Sunday morning and attended church services held in the Rowan County Courthouse. As he came out of the meeting, he saw the sheriff ride up on his horse. The sheriff told Mr. Alderson that two horses had been stolen in the Cranston area on Saturday night and described the stolen horses to the storekeeper. He then asked to keep a look for them.

Before daybreak on Monday, Mr. Alderson left Morehead in his wagon on his weekly trip to Maysville, Kentucky hauling freight, mail and passengers. (Later on he hired a driver to make the weekly round trip but in 1877 he was making the run himself.) His wife always ran the store during his absence. When Mr. Alderson passed the Mt. Pisgah Church in northern Rowan County, there was a woman who stopped his wagon and paid her passage to Maysville. Mr. Alderson knew about everyone in the county and recognized her as the wife of John Martin. She told him she was on her way to Cincinnati to meet her husband.

Suspicion aroused

Mr. Alderson always stopped in Flemingsburg overnight and Mrs. Martin stayed at a local inn and Colonel Alderson, famous for squeezing a penny, slept in his wagon while the horses rested that night. They were off again at daybreak on Tuesday morning and arrived in Maysville about noon. Mrs. Martin climbed down from the wagon and walked down to the dock. Warren went to a local restaurant to eat lunch and saw Maysville Marshall Heflin, and told him about the stolen horses in Rowan County and gave him a description of the animals. He also mentioned that his passenger was Mrs. Martin from Rowan County on her way to Cincinnati. Evidently the Marshall knew of Martin's reputation so he became suspicious and he decided to follow her. His suspicions paid off much to the detriment of the two horse thieves.

When the steamboat docked at Foster, Jack Tabor and John Martin boarded with the two stolen horses. After the boat returned to the middle of the Ohio River, Martin and Tabor met with the "suspicious" woman. While they were talking, the Marshall and jailer examined the two horses and they matched the description of the stolen animals.

Criminals arrested

The Marshall then arrested the two horse thieves and ordered the · captain of the sternwheeler to return them to Foster and the Marshall, the jailer, and the two thieves embarked with the stolen horses. The two men and the woman were returned to Maysville on Wednesday night and were placed in jail. However, on Thursday morning the two men consented to return to Rowan County for trial, along with the two horses which were returned to their owners.

Jack Tabor lynched

Evidently people in Rowan County were in no mood for leniency, and Jack Tabor's previous brushes with the law had caught up with him. His punishment was swift and sure. According to a dispatch one week later in the Bracken County Record, Jack Tabor, the horse thief who had been arrested on the steamer Bonanza, was lynched . It cannot be determined for certain that Jack Tabor's death was due to a trial by his peers or taken from the jail and lynched. But it is the writer's opinion that there was not enough time to hold a trial, and the report used the word "lynched." Here are the exact words used in what the Bracken County paper called "A Later Dispatch."

"A report has reached us via Maysville that John R. Tab6r of Rowan County, the horse thief who was arrested here Wednesday on the Steamer bonanza was lynched in Morehead."

It seemed the report reached back to Bracken County in about one week after the men were returned to Rowan County. Also the report used the word "lynched" which was not a word used when prisoner was legally hung as the result of a trial. Therefore, it is this writer's opinion based on the evidence, that Jack Tabor was removed from the Rowan County Jail and lynched by the "Tiger" guard. The Tiger guard was an extreme vigilante radical group of the Home Guard. The Home Guard was a group of citizens in Rowan County organized to protect life and property during and after the Civil War. It could have been that group; or just some citizens who were tired of the criminal element in the county, and they were determined to make an example of Jack Tabor. I'm sure there were other lynchings in Rowan County, but his is the only evidence this writer had found so far of a lynching in Rowan County. Also, please remember that lynching was seven years before the start of the Rowan County War which brought this county its reputation for violence.