C.P. Stivers, (or Christopher P. Stivers) was one of roughly 20 white men lynched between 1900 and 1950 in Kentucky. Due to his race, gender, and his position as Police Judge in Manchester, there was considerable documentation of Stivers’ life and death. Stivers was born in December 1891 to James W. Stivers and Lucy T. Stivers in Kentucky. Christopher Stivers was their fourth child, and he was one of seven children. Growing up in Manchester, Clay County, Kentucky, Stivers worked on his family’s farm until he enlisted in the Army. Stivers served in France during World War I, and stayed in France through 1919 before returning to Manchester. According to his death certificate, at the time of his death Stivers was 40 years old and married to Lizzie Stivers.
In 1932, Stivers was supposed to serve as a witness in a grand jury investigation of the death of Alfred Neal, an African American man who had been killed. Many newspapers claimed that Stivers was killed in the same spot as Neal. According to newspaper articles, on April 16, 1932 as Stivers was walking down the main street in Manchester, a red sedan with its windows painted white stopped and shot him before speeding away. The police identified the car in question and took chase. The police also discovered that the phone lines had been cut by the assassins facilitating their escape. Yet, after locating the car, the police arrested Frank McDaniels for murder and his aunt, Mrs. Martha Roark, who was arrested for conspiracy to commit murder for harboring her nephew. News of the arrest led to riots. Clay County sheriff and the circuit judge requested troops to quell the violence, but the request was denied by Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon.
The Alfred Neal case was reopened and Hugh Hornsby was also indicted. The jury could not agree on Hornsby’s guilt in the Neal case and the case was dismissed. Frank McDaniel was also brought to trial for the killing of Stivers. He was found guilty and was given a life sentence. McDaniel attempted to get a mistrial and appeal but both were denied by the appellate court.
Two other men were also indicted in the Stivers killing, but the only person named in the press was Tom Baker. Baker was found and arrested in Ohio, along with nearly $40,000, of which $30,000 were in stocks and bonds, while the rest was in cash. Facing extradition back to Kentucky, Baker argued that he would be killed in Kentucky because, according to Baker, the Stivers and Bakers were engaged in an ongoing violent feud. The idea of an Eastern Kentucky feud quickly caught the imagination of the national press and while Baker’s motion to be tried in Ohio was denied, he was extradited back to Kentucky under a heavily armed caravan, sporting submachine guns and tear gas grenades.
The trial for Baker was set for January 1933, but no further reference to the trail has been found. In 1933, Frank McDaniel attempted to appeal his sentence but it was upheld. No further reference to either of the other two men indicted has survived in the historical record. In 1934, Stivers’ brother sued the Louisville Times for libel after misrepresenting the so-called “feud” and was awarded $10,000. Stivers is buried in Manchester, KY.
