Mobbery brewed in Jackson, Ky., after Chester Rugate, tenant farmer, had murdered prosperous, farm-owning Lawyer Clay Watkins, his landlord. At 2 o'clock Christmas morning lynchers broke into the county jail, roped the jailer to his bed, with his keys opened Fugate's cell. Accompanied by scores of assistant assailants they rode Fugate out of town, black-jacked him, trampled on him, drilled his body with 13 bullet holes, pitched him over a 20-ft. embankment.
Next morning a farmer, setting out early to gather fodder, found Fugate sprawled in a bed of bloody snow, still alive....
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
