Night Watchman Reuben J. Chappell

Reuben J. Chappell

Watchman Chappell succumbed to a gunshot wound received almost two weeks earlier when he attempted to arrest a man who had fired a shot in public.

It was suspected that members of a black gang murdered Watchman Chappell. In the days that followed hard feelings between the towns 300 black citizens and 3000 whites would develop. The tention exploded on August 18, 1901, when a 23-year-old white woman was murdered by an unknown subject. A riot resulted which ended with three blacks lynched, one killed, and the expulsion from town of the entire black population.

Watchman Chappell was survived by his wife, four sons, and three daughters. He was a Confederate Civil War Veteran who served as a corporal with the 1st Tennessee Infantry, Company G. He was captured and held for a few days just before the war ended.