![\"26959\"](\"http:\/\/offbeattenn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/26959.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThey set fire to storehouses, shot at the judge who ruled in the land company\u2019s favor, and, on the night of October 19, 1908, committed murder.<\/p>\n
<\/a>A Masked Nightrider<\/p><\/div>\n
Attorneys Colonel Robert Z. Taylor and Captain Quentin Rankin, veterans of the Civil War and the Spanish American War respectively, worked for and were stakeholders in the West Tennessee Land Company.<\/p>\n
On October 19 they were forcibly abducted from their beds at the Walnut Log Hotel and taken into the woods. Rankin was hanged and shot, but Taylor managed to get away and jumped into the lake.<\/p>\n To prevent his surviving and possibly telling the tale, the Night Riders shot into the lake at least thirty times to kill Taylor. He was presumed dead. Fortunately for Taylor, he was able to hide under a cypress log, and he was found over 24 hours later, wandering and bewildered.<\/p>\n The masked horsemen created a reign of terror that lasted seven months. Governor Patterson took firm action. He called in the Tennessee National Guard to keep order in the area. He offered a $10,000 reward \u2014 dead or alive \u2014 for those responsible for the killing.. Nearly one hundred suspects were imprisoned in a makeshift camp set up by the Guard. The suspects were treated severely and two died while awaiting trial. Most of the public supported the Night Riders. Over 300 people were indicted, but only 6 were found guilty of murder. These six people were sentenced to death, but the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned their convictions in 1909.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nReelfoot State Park<\/h3>\n