Sam Parker

Samuel Young Parker was a Helenwood attorney and a standout athlete at the University of Tennessee in the 1900s. He was the son of Scott County Judge J.C. Parker. He was murdered by a fellow attorney in 1906, allegedly over a woman.

Biography

Born May 12, 1880, Samuel Epps Young Parker was the son of James Crawford Parker (1841-1906) and Mary E. Burke (1845-1885). His father was a Scott County attorney and one of the leading figures in local Republican politics. He was Scott County’s first school superintendent in the 1860s, and later served as county judge in the 1880s before later being appointed judge of Tennessee’s 3rd Judicial District. Sam’s mother was the Helenwood postmaster prior to her death in 1885. Sam Parker was named for Sam Epps Young, an attorney from Sweetwater, Tenn., who was a friend of his father.

Sam Parker was one of nine children, and followed his father into the practice of law. He attended Baker-Himmel School in Knoxville, which was a forerunner of University School, and then enrolled in law school at the University of Tennessee, where he was known as “Judge” by his friends.

Sam’s siblings included Ella, Albert, Alice, Marie Belle, Ida, Luther, Burdette and John. Burdette died at age 19 in 1900.

Athletic prowess

Sam Parker was a standout athlete during his days at the University of Tennessee. one newspaper called him “one of the best known college athletes of the South.” The Knoxville Journal & Tribune called him “the best all-around athlete in the university during the three years he remained there.”

Parker played both football and baseball at Tennessee, taking part in the 1903, 1904 and 1905 seasons.

In football, Parker was a fullback. He was named All-Southern by Nash Buckingham in 1904. Buckingham, who had also played fullback for the Vols, selected the All-Southern team for the Memphis Commercial Appeal each year, and it was considered a prestigious honor to be included.

The 1904 University of Tennessee football team had the distinction of being the first Tennessee team to beat Alabama. It did so in the season finale in Birmingham, winning 5-0 (a touchdown was worth five points in those days). Parker was listed by The Birmingham News as the starting right end for the Vols in that game.

Parker was the university’s ace pitcher in baseball, and had offers to play professional baseball. Instead, he opted to return home to practice law.

Death

Parker was 26 years old when he was murdered on Thursday, July 5, 1906. He was returning to Helenwood by train from playing a baseball game in Oneida, and was shot by a fellow attorney named James E. Fulton as he stepped off the train at the Helenwood depot. Fulton shot Parker with both barrels of a double-barreled shotgun. Parker was rushed to his father’s home, and a special train was sent to Somerset, Ky. to fetch a doctor. But he died before the doctor arrived.

Fulton claimed that Parker was having an affair with his wife, from whom Fulton was separated. Parker denied the claim from his deathbed, and Fulton’s estranged wife also denied it late in life. However, an attorney acquaintance of Parker’s — Robert S. Young, the son of Sam E. Young, Parker’s namesake — gave a deposition in January 1907 claiming that Parker had told him that he had sex with Fulton’s wife. Fulton later claimed insanity, saying excessive drinking and heavy smoking had caused him to kill Parker.

After a mistrial due to a hung jury, Fulton was convicted of second-degree murder in June 1907 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. However, his sentence was commuted by Tennessee Gov. Malcolm Rice Patterson after he had served 10 months. He returned to Scott County and was later appointed attorney for the Town of Oneida. He was killed by newspaper editor J.E. Bell in 1917 amid a feud over an editorial that had been written by the Scott County News.

Parker was buried at Helenwood Cut Cemetery. His father, who had lost his wife in 1885 and another son in 1900, was already ill when Parker was killed, and grieved himself to death. The elder Parker died three weeks later and was also buried at Helenwood Cut — as was his wife and two other sons, Burdette (in 1900) and John (in 1938).

Further Reading: The murder of Sam Young Parker