Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 27: SCRAPBOOKS
Scrapbooks Before 1929
“Two Letters from Manon Cornett
Concerning the Versailles Affair”
The Lexington Herald, March 22 and 24, 1921
By William Manon Cornett (1882-1956)

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TAGS: William Manon Cornett, Lura Parsons, murder in Harlan County, race relations, Negroes, hangings, lynchings, Woodford County, Republican party, southern Appalachian mountains, ‘mountain whites’, Versailles KY, educators, Berea College, Revolutionary War, Hardmann crime, mob law, rural police force

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SCRAPBOOKS BEFORE 1929: “Two Letters from Manon Cornett Concerning the Versailles Affair” 1921

In a letter to The Lexington Herald editor, William Manon Cornett (1882-1956) questions the handling of mob violence by the officials of Woodford County, Kentucky, and compares the vigilante actions in Woodford County to those surrounding the Lura Parson‘s murder trial in Harlan County, KY.

Lura Parsons was a Pine Mountain employee who was raped and murdered on the Laden Trail as she walked from Dillon Station to the Settlement School on September 7, 1920. The assailant of the Pine Mountain worker was wrongly identified as a Negro who was working on a nearby logging operation and who was unjustly brought to trial for the murder. Many viewed his arrest and conviction through their racist lens and PMSS Director Katherine Pettit and many of the Pine Mountain staff saw his trial as unjustly managed and worked to clear his name and to identify a local veterinarian as the perpetrator of the crime.

A newspaper clipping of the two letters was collected by Pine Mountain, as it relates to a local event in the history of the School. (See an image of the clipping in the GALLERY below.)

WILLIAM MANON CORNETT: Background

William Manon Cornett was born in Hazard, Perry County, Kentucky, on September 9, 1892. His father was Eli Cornett, elected Deputy Sheriff and then Sheriff of the county. Manon Cornett, after attending the University of Kentucky for one year returned home to work as the appointed Deputy County Clerk and later as Deputy County Sheriff under his father’s watchful eye until 1912. He then was appointed as the private secretary to Congressman J.W. Langley, a fellow Republican, and moved his family to Washington, D.C.

In 1915 Manon Cornett returned home to Hazard where he engaged in several businesses including real estate and coal interests. In 1920 he was appointed Deputy Insurance Commissioner of the Commonwealth by John Craig and moved his family to Frankfort. He was in Frankfort in 1921 when he wrote the two letters to the editor.

Manon Cornett was married to Clara Belle ‘Pet’ Eversole, a daughter of Joseph Castle Eversole and Susan Combs Eversole. Her father, a prominent attorney, was one of the victims of the infamous French-Eversole Feuds in Hazard in 1909.

Manon retired in Florida and was assaulted by a mobster wielding a baseball bat that left Manon incapacitated for the remainder of his life. He was returned to Kentucky where he died on May 3, 1956.

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In a brief biography by Bill James for “Find a Grave,” he is recorded as

“… a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, A 3rd degree Mason, belonging to Hazard Lodge No. 676, A. F. & A. M.’ and a member of Hazard Lodge No. 145, I. O. O. F. (Odd Fellows), which he served as noble grand for four years; and also was a member of the Willard Lodge, K, of P., of Yerkes, Ky.; Hazard Tribe, I. O. R. M.; & Elizabeth Chapter, O. E. S., of Hazard.”

He was a major stockholder in the Blue Grass Coal Corporation and a major contributor and solicitor of funds to support the WWI war effort. He was also a stockholder in the Blue Grass Coal Corporation. During World War I he took a very active role in helping with the war drives as one of the popular speakers of the day. Manon Cornett is buried in Lexington, Kentucky.

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GALLERY: “Two Letters from Manon Cornett Concerning the Versailles Affair” The Lexington Herald, March 22, 1921 and March 24, 1921

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SOURCES

For additional family history, see:

FAMILYSEARCH: Kentucky Death Records – William Manon Cornett

FINDAGRAVE: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSsp=48552836&GRid=108047519&

WIKIMEDIA: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Manon_Cornett.jpg

For a discussion of the Lura Parson’s case see this correspondence from Katherine Pettit to Mabel Mullins, April 19. 1921: https://pinemountainsettlement.net/?attachment_id=28781

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Title	William Manon Cornett
Alt. Title	Manon Cornett ;
Identifier	https://pinemountainsettlement.net/?page_id=39199
Creator	Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.
Alt. Creator	Ann Angel Eberhardt ; Helen Hayes Wykle ;
Subject Keyword	William Manon Cornett, Lura Parsons, murder in Harlan County, race relations, Negroes, hangings, lynchings, Woodford County, Republican party, southern Appalachian mountains, ‘mountain whites’, Versailles KY, educators, Berea College, Revolutionary War, Hardmann crime, mob law, rural police force
Subject LCSH	Cornett, William Manon,  — 1882-1956. Pine Mountain Settlement School (Pine Mountain, Ky.) — History. Harlan County (Ky.) — History. Education — Kentucky — Harlan County. Rural schools — Kentucky — History. Schools — Appalachian Region, Southern.
Date	2016-Nov-19
Publisher	Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.
Contributor	n/a
Type	Collections ; text ; image ;
Format	Original and copies of documents and correspondence in file folders in filing cabinet.
Source	Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Language	English
Relation	Is related to: Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections, Series 09: BIOGRAPHY
Coverage Temporal	1882 – 1921
Coverage Spatial	Pine Mountain, KY ; Harlan County, KY ;  Hazard, KY ; Washington, DC ; Frankfort, KY ; Florida ; Lexington, KY ;
Rights	Any display, publication, or public use must credit the Pine Mountain Settlement School. Copyright retained by the creators of certain items in the collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Donor	n/a
Description	Core documents, correspondence, writings, and administrative papers of William Manon Cornett ; clippings, photographs, books by or about William Manon Cornett ;
Acquisition	n/d
Citation	“[Identification of Item],” [Collection Name] [Series Number, if applicable]. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY.
Processed By	Helen Hayes Wykle ; Ann Angel Eberhardt ;
Last Updated	2022-09-17 hw ; 2024-07-21 HW ; 2024-08-21 aae ;
Sources	FAMILYSEARCH: Kentucky Death Records – William Manon Cornett FINDAGRAVE: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSsp=48552836&GRid=108047519& WIKIMEDIA: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Manon_Cornett.jpg

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