1889-09-11
Burke County, NC
Alleged offense: Rape
Race: Black
Gender: Male
Age: Unrecorded
Legal intervention (in alleged offense): Yes
Legal intervention (following lynching): Unrecorded
Mob size: 115
Mob members: None named
Alleged victim: Eli Holder (Boone); Robert Parker (Stack)
Household Status: Unrecorded
Occupation: Unrecorded
The Stack and Parker families became enemies when Robert Parker killed Leander Stack after a dispute over a horse race near Monroe, North Carolina. Parker was defended in court by former governor Zebulon Vance and received a light sentence. In 1889, he was enrolled in ministerial college near Rutherfordton, and was shot dead outside his home. Leander Stack’s brother, Franklin, had been seen in the area and was arrested and held in the Morganton Jail. Soon joining him was David Boone, the companion of Eli Holder, who was shot and killed at Willow Oaks Campground. Parker allegedly killed Stack’s brother. A masked mob of over 300 men took Boone and Stack from the jail on the night of September 11, 1889. The mob hanged the men from a railroad bridge. The coroner removed Boone and Stack’s bodies the next morning and arranged burials.
Documentation
Death certificate: None found
Census: None found
News coverage:
Location
Town: Unrecorded
Latitude/Longitude: 35.73802, -81.685426
Rationale: Place of abduction is Willow Tree Campground; site of lynching was Railroad Depot Bridge at Rand Street.
Additional Resources:
Researcher’s Note: