William Thacker had already been tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison when a Kentucky mob decided the courts had not gone far enough.
In July 1903, men from the Mount Carmel area slipped quietly into Flemingsburg by twos and threes, careful not to draw attention as they gathered near the county jail. Shortly after midnight, they forced their way inside, overpowered the jailer, and took the keys to Thacker’s cell.
Thacker had been convicted in the killing of John Gordon, a crime remembered for the chilling scene that followed, when Thacker reportedly sat on Gordon’s body with a Winchester rifle and dared anyone to arrest him.
Two years later, the mob dragged him from the jail, took him to a tree nearby, and hanged him before dawn.
Hanged By Kentuckians
FLEMINGSBURG, Kentucky. — Enraged at the courts, a mob broke into the Flemingsburg jail this morning and hanged William Thacker, a white man, who had been given a life sentence for the murder of John Gordon two years ago.
Thacker, in a quarrel with Gordon at Foxport, shot and killed him and then sat on the body, Winchester in hand, while he smoked his pipe and dared anyone to attempt to arrest him.
At the time, Thacker escaped, but was later arrested and lodged in jail at Flemingsburg. He was given two trials and finally got a life sentence.
The mob collected at Mount Carmel, where Gordon once lived, and came into Flemingsburg by twos and threes in order not to arouse suspicion. They advanced upon the jail shortly after midnight.
The jailer refused to surrender the keys. He was overpowered and the keys taken from him. Thacker was hurried to a tree near the jail and was given time in which to say his prayers, which he refused to do, but begged for his life.
To hush his cried he was hit on the head with a rock and his unconscious body strung up until life had become extinct.
Source: The Indianapolis Journal. Indianapolis, Ind. July 16, 1903.
