Sheriff

Born:

October 10, 1850, Lincoln County, Tennessee

Died:

January 13, 1915, Birmingham, Alabama

Buried:

Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama

Notes:

•  Son of James H. Fulgham & Jane McWhorter Fulgham. - Find A Grave

•  Home listed at 220 East Holmes. - 1896-7 City Directory

•  1880 census also finds him as a deputy US Marshall in Madison Co AL. - Find A Grave

•  Listed as a Deputy Sheriff in 1885. - The Huntsville Daily Mercury

•  Classifieds
To Marrying Men
     "I am the agent of a number of Matrimonial Associations, all of which are well established and entirely reliable. They present every advantage to any one proposing to take a marriage policy, and I will cheerfully explain the details to anyone interested. My office is on Eustis street, upstairs, next to Post Office. Call on me. OSCAR FULGHAM." - AlArchives News

•  The book by Simpson, Daniel & Campbell offers details of two cases: "The Mollie Smith and Amadnda Franks case of 1897" and the "Elijah Clark case of 1900". All three people were lynched by mobs.
     Simpson includes a quote from The Birmingham News (July 24, 1900) regarding Sheriff Fulgham's attempt to prevent mob action against Elijah Clark: "There is no record of more daring, more manly, more self-sacrificing, or nobler or braver courage than that so dauntlessly and so heroically displayed by Oscar Fulgham, the Sheriff of Madison County, who yesterday placed his own noble life between the life of one infamous ruffian and the insane lawlessness of a mob, lustful of a man's blood!"      "However, at the next election, Sheriff Fulgham lost the Sheriffs race to A. D. Rodgers. He moved away from Huntsville and was only in the city as a visitor thereafter." - Simpson

•  "1900 was the year that many people turned their backs on law and order in one of the most dastardly acts to earmark the new century.
     Elijah Clark charged with rape of a young girl was awaiting trial in his third floor county jail cell July 23, 1900, and seemed unconcerned that Huntsville folks had become incensed by the rape charges and literally were boiling under the collar.
     In the hot summer night, hatred built up to mob violence and 1,500 persons marched on the jail, dynamiting their way in, overpowering Sheriff Fulgham and his three deputies. City police officers, totaling only nine, were also unable to stop the mob. Clark was hauled to Stevens Avenue where the young rape victim identified him as her assailant. Amid nightmarish yells, Clark was taken to Moore's Grove, tarred and feathered, and lynched. The entire National Guard of the State, at the time, consisted of three regiments, four troops of cavalry and three batteries of artillery. It is doubtful if even they could have stopped the lynching." - Record

•  As we searched for information about Oscar after he left Huntsville, we found references to an "Oscar Fulgham" in Marion County, AL. There were entries about travel, an illness, and an odd little piece found here. There is no certain evidence that links these notes with the Sheriff of Madison County. - Editor's Note


Related Links:

•  1896-7 City Directory - Huntsville City Directory 1896-97, by Huntsville Directory Company, 1896-1897, page 35.

•  AlArchives News - The Huntsville Weekly Democrat, June 28, 1882. (Originally found at http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/madison/newspapers/itemsfro1217gnw.txt.)

•  Ancestry.com - Page owned by BillTomlin91 and can be viewed only with an Ancestry.com paid subscription. (Originally found at http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/26852744/person/1934082347.)

•  Find A Grave - Research for page by Trish Boone. Page created by C. Wayne Austin.

•  Record - A Dream Come True: The Story of Madison County and Incidentally of Alabama and the United States, Volume II, by James Record, 1978, pages 105 & 106.

•  Roots Web - Fulgham-Fulghum Family Database (Originally found at http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bfulgham&id=I8700.)

•  Simpson - The Sins of Madison County, by Fred B. Simpson with Mary N. Daniel & Gay C. Campbell, 2000, pages 106, 117, 147, 154, 170, 173, 182, 183, 184, 187, 188, 191, 198, 221, 244

•  The Huntsville Daily Mercury - November 15, 1885, Contributed to Newspaper Abstracts by "kistacy home"

The Following Pages Link to this Page:
•  1896-7 City Directory
•  Record