Church Pemberton

Churchwell C. “Church” Pemberton (Oct. 23, 1860 – March 24, 1940) was a Helenwood man who served as a witness during the trial of Judge James E. Fulton, who murdered standout athlete Sam Parker in 1906.

Biography

Born Oct. 23, 1860, Church Pemberton was the son of George Washington Pemberton (1824-1895) and Mary Jane Davis (1834-1874). His father was part of the large Pemberton family at Wolf Creek in southern Scott County and was married three times, fathering as many as 20 children.

Church Pemberton’s brother was Heywood Kingston Pennington, a Scott County attorney who served as superintendent of schools in the 1890s.

Church married Nancy Evelyn Duncan (1856-1929) in 1883. She was the daughter of George W. Duncan and Melissa Hurtt. Following her death of heart disease, Church remarried to Sarah J. Madden, whose first husband, John W. McCoy, had died in 1927.

Church and Nancy Pemberton had six children: Myrtle, Jessie, Genie Cecil, George, William and Judson Rodney.

Role in the Fulton trial

On July 5, 1906, Judge James E. Fulton shot Helenwood attorney Sam Young Parker — the son of Scott County Judge J.C. Parker — with a double-barreled shotgun as Parker stepped off a train at the Helenwood station. Parker was a recent graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he had been the ace pitcher on the school’s baseball team, a fullback on the football team, and had been recognized as one of the best athletes in the Southeast. He was returning from a baseball game in Oneida that day. Fulton, who had laid in wait for Parker at the train station, claimed that Parker was having an affair with his wife, a claim Parker denied before he died of the gunshot wound to the stomach.

Fulton surrendered to law enforcement, then claimed insanity, saying heavy drinking and smoking too many cigarettes had caused him to kill Parker. His attorneys produced doctors who agreed that he was insane, and he was said to have been seen ripping up $10 bills before murdering Parker.

At trial, Pemberton testified for the state, saying that Fulton was neither insane or intoxicated when he fired his shotgun at Parker. He said he had never known Fulton to be “in a better or more rational mood.” Pemberton also said that Fulton had shown up at the train station and waited a full hour for Parker to arrive.

Fulton’s trial ended with a hung jury. A second jury found him guilty, however, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was released after 10 months, and was later killed by newspaper editor J.E. Bell.

Death

Pemberton died of pneumonia, which he developed as a complication of flu, on March 24, 1940, at age 79. He was buried at Helenwood Cut Cemetery, where his first wife had been buried 11 years earlier.