James Fulton

James E. Fulton (approx. 1861-1917) was a Scott County attorney who killed standout athlete Sam Young Parker in 1906. He was later killed by Oneida newspaper editor J.E. Bell.

Biography

James Fulton was born between 1861 and 1866; he gave varying years to census enumerators. He married Laura Neal on Aug. 13, 1892 in Morgan County, Tenn. She was the daughter of Phyrrus Joseph Neil and Isadora Brient. They had a son, Frank P. Fulton, who was born about 1893.

James and Laura separated prior to the Parker killing in 1906. When the 1910 census was taken, both listed their marital status as widowed. At that time, James Fulton was boarding with Alexander Gibson, a hotel-keeper in Helenwood, while Laura was managing a hotel in Morgan County. She later remarried and moved to Chattanooga.

The murder of Sam Parker

Sam Parker, who had recently graduated from the University of Tennessee School of Law, was stepping off a train at the Helenwood depot on July 5, 1906 when Fulton shot him with both barrels of a double-barreled shotgun. He claimed that Parker was having an affair with his wife, which both Parker and Laura Fulton denied.

Parker was the son of Scott County Judge J.C. Parker, and a standout athlete at the University of Tennessee. He had been the ace pitcher on the Vols’ baseball team, and was a fullback on the first UT team to defeat rival Alabama in 1904. He was returning from a baseball game in Oneida when he was gunned down.

Parker was rushed to his father’s home and a special train was sent to Somerset to fetch a doctor. However, he died a short time later and was buried at Helenwood Cut Cemetery.

Fulton surrendered to law enforcement, and would later mount a defense of insanity, claiming that heavy drinking and smoking had caused him to kill Parker. Doctors testified at his trial that he was insane, and witnesses claimed to have seen him ripping up $10 bills a short time before the shooting.

A witness for the state, Church Pemberton, testified that Fulton was not insane or drunk when the shooting occurred, and said that Fulton had laid in wait for Parker for an hour before the shooting occurred.

Although Fulton and his wife were separated, she stayed by his side at the Scott County Jail, refusing to leave because she feared he would be lynched by an angry mob. Years later, Years later, while hospitalized with illness, she made a statement: “I know it was said that Judge Fulton killed Sam Parker on my account, but Judge Fulton himself declared that it was not true, and that his wife was entirely blameless. He killed Sam Parker on another account.”

Parker’s father, J.C. Parker, sent three of his daughters to plead with one of Fulton’s attorneys to not defend Fulton, who had been a former boarder at the Parker home. The attorney was so moved by the plea that he withdrew from the case.

Fulton’s first trial ended in mistrial after the jury was deadlocked. A second trial resulted in a guilty verdict, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. However, his sentence was commuted by Tennessee Gov. Malcolm Rice Patterson after just 10 months.

See Also: The Murder of Sam Parker

Fulton’s death

By 1910, Fulton had been released from prison after Gov. Patterson commuted his sentence, and was boarding with Alexander Gibson. His ex-wife had returned to Morgan County and was managing a hotel, using her maiden name.

Fulton is referred to in newspaper stories in 1906 as “Judge Fulton,” but it’s not clear in exactly what capacity he was judge. After the Town of Oneida applied for a state charter in 1915, however, he was hired as the town’s attorney. He was working in that role when he became embroiled in a feud with the Scott County News and its editor, J.E. Bell. The newspaper had begun publication in 1915 and had published an editorial in 1917 that was critical of the town and Fulton.

Fulton threatened to kill Bell. Court documents later revealed that he hounded Bell for two weeks. On one occasion, Bell had to escape into Cooper’s Store to hide from Fulton.

The two men eventually came face to face in the office of Judge W.H. Potter. By that time, Bell had armed himself. He fired on Fulton with a double-barreled derringer, severing Fulton’s spine and rendering him paralyzed. Fulton died soon thereafter at a Knoxville hospital.

Bell was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, but was promptly pardoned by Tennessee Gov. Thomas Clark Rye.

Fulton died on July 2, 1917 — almost 11 years exactly from when he shot Sam Parker on July 5, 1906. It isn’t clear where he was buried.

Frank Fulton, James Fulton’s son, died just six weeks later, on Aug. 17, 1917. He was 24, and died of heart disease that resulted from rheumatism. He fell sick shortly after his father’s death. A ticket agent for the Queen & Crescent Railroad in Oakdale, he died at his mother’s home in Sunbright. He was buried in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he had also worked as a ticket agent.

Laura Neil later married Dan Thomas and moved to Chattanooga, where she died in 1943.