The Lexington Civic League: Agent of Reform, 1900 - The Filson ...

1988] Lexington Civic League 337
Even Lexington, a town of 26,369 people in 1900 and located
in the heart of the supposedly genteel Bluegrass, was no stranger
to violent crime or to lax law enforcement. By the turn of the
century, however, reform elements were beginning to demand a
safer and more progressive city. The reformers were galvanized
into action by an incident which occurred on 11 February 1899,
when John S. "King" McNamara shot Jacob Keller, a railroad
cashier, on Main Street. Each man said he was jostled in the
street by the other. Keller, who was known as a pleasant, peaceful
man, died two days later. At the time of the shooting McNa-
mara was arrested and released on a $1,000 bond which proved
to be invalid because of an irregularity in the signature. Brought
before a magistrate where he claimed self-defense, McNamara
was again released on a $1,000 bond. When he failed to appear
at the time set for his examining trial, local officials made little
effort to apprehend him.s
Many in the community were incensed by this breach of jus-
tice. On 18 February a group of reform-minded women, repre-
senting such organizations as the Lexington Woman's Club and
the Women's Christian Temperance Union, joined together in
calling a mass meeting to raise money to hire detectives to search
for McNamara and to provide a reward for his capture. A Lexington
Herald editorial noted that since the law officers had
failed in their job, Lexington would now be protected by the
women. The public meeting, attended by both men and women,
exerted enough influence to cause officials to convene a special
terpretation of the failure of Kentucky's criminal justice system and its
effect on crime in the Commonwealth, see Robert M. Ireland's articles, "Law
and Disorder in Nineteenth Century Kentucky," Vanderbilt Law Review
32 (1979): 281-99 and "Homicide in Nineteenth Century Kentucky," The
Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 81 (1983) : 134-53.
3 John D. Wright, Jr., Lexington, Heart of the Bluegrass (Lexington:
Lexington-Fayette County Historic Commission, 1982), 129; Abstract e!
the Twelfth Census of the United States (Washington: U.S. Census Office,
1901), Part 1, 131; Sophonisba P. Breckinridge, Madelin6 McDowell
Breckinridge: A Leader in he New South (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1921), 33-35; Lexington H rald, 12, 13, 15 February 1899.