after the Stars released him, returning to a position in the postal service. Around this time, a former Syracuse University professor, Dr. Joel Gibert Justin, had been experimenting with firing artillery shells with gunpowder rather than compressed air, culminating in his failed invention of the "Justin Gun". Fascinated, Walker designed and patented an outer casing in 1891 that remedied Justin's failure. The first of his four patented inventions, Walker invested in the design with hopes it would be in great demand, but the shell never garnered enough interest. On April 9, 1891, Walker was involved in an altercation outside a saloon with a group of four white men exchanging racial insults. Members of the group, including bricklayer Patrick "Curly" Murray, approached Walker and reportedly threw a stone at his head, dazing him. Walker responded by fatally stabbing Murray with a pocket knife. A compliant Walker surrendered to police, claiming self-defense, but was charged with second-degree murder (lowered from first-degree murder). On June 3, 1891, Walker was found not guilty by an all-white jury, much to the delight of spectators in the courthouse. He returned to Steubenville to, again, work for the postal service, handling letters for the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad. On June 12, 1895, Walker's wife Arabella died of cancer at 32 years old; he remarried three years later to Ednah Mason, another former Oberlin student. The same year, Walker was found guilty of mail robbery and was sentenced to one year in prison which he served in Miami County and Jefferson County Jail. After his release during the turn of the century, Walker jointly owned the Union Hotel in Steubenville with Weldy and managed the Opera House, a movie theater in nearby Cadiz. As host to opera, live drama, vaudeville, and minstrel shows at the Opera House, Walker became a respected businessman and patented inventions that improved film reels when nickelodeons were popularized. In 1902, the brothers explored ideas of black nationalism as editors for The Equator, although no copies exist today as evidence. Walker expanded upon his works about race theory in The Equator by publishing the book Our Home Colony (1908). Regarded as "the most learned book a professional athlete ever wrote," Our Home Colony shared Walker's thesis on the victimization of the black race and a proposal for African-Americans to emigrate back to Africa. Ednah died on May 26, 1920. Widowed again, Walker sold the