| Y/M/D | Description | Place |
|---|---|---|
| 1905/00/00 | Intending to collect fees for using Reelfoot Lake, Judge Harris, son of James Harris, forms the West Tennessee Land Company, angering nearby residents who rely on the lake for fish and its wildlife to supplement their diets and incomes. | Reelfoot Lake State Park, TN, Tennessee |
| 1908/04/00 | Masked thugs, known as the 'Night Riders', begin rampaging with impunity - threatening, whipping, burning and murdering throughout the region. In Kentucky, they will murdered a black man named Dave Walker, along with his wife, daughter and baby. | |
| 1908/10/19 | A mob known as the 'Night Riders', abduct West Tennessee Land Company lawyers, Cap Quentin Rankin and Col Robert Z Taylor, from their rooms at Ward's Hotel in Walnut Log, TN, and force them into the woods. | Reelfoot Lake State Park, TN, Tennessee |
| 1908/10/20 | Searchers find the corpse of Quentin Rankin, he had been shot and hung. Unkown to them, Robert Taylor had escaped into the lake and hid under a log as the mob discharged their weapons into the lake. | Reelfoot Lake State Park, TN, Tennessee |
| 1908/10/21 | After swimming to the other side of Reelfoot Lake, Robert Taylor finds safety with a cooperative farmer who provides food, medical aid and informs the authorities. | Tiptonville, TN, Tennessee |
| 1908/10/22 | Governor Malcolm Patterson calls up the Tennessee State Militia to restore order and offers a $10,000 reward for bringing in the murders, dead or alive. Fifty suspects will be arrested. | |
| 1908/10/27 | Tid Burton, a ringleader of the Night Riders, confesses to authorities that he lured Capt Rankin and Col Taylor to Walnut Log Hotel, discloses identity of 50 of his confederates and implicates J F Carpenter. | Tiptonville, TN, Tennessee |
| 1908/11/00 | The First Tennessee Regiment, commanded by Col W C Tatum of Nashville guard 'Night Riders' suspects at Camp Nemo, Reelfoot Lake. | Reelfoot Lake State Park, TN, Tennessee |
| 1909/01/00 | A jury finds eight 'Night Riders' guilty and sentences six of them to death. | |
| 1909/01/00 | Judge J E Jones presides at the Night Rider trials. Attorney-General D J Caldwell works as prosecutor and Hon R A Pierce as chief counsel for the defense. | |
| 1910/00/00 | The Tennessee Supreme Court overturns the convictions of the six 'Night Riders' found guilty of murder due to improper jury selection. | |
| 1914/00/00 | The State of Tennessee acquires Reelfoot Lake. | Reelfoot Lake State Park, TN, Tennessee |
| 1977/02/07 | "In The Miro District" a short story by Peter Taylor, grandson of Robert Z Taylor, about about his grandfather's escape, is published in The New Yorker. |
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