He was fatally shot on November 9, 1908, over a feud precipitated by Duncan Brown Cooper for his editorial comments in the paper.

During Carmack's tenure with the Appeal, his editorials began an interesting dialogue with another famous Tennessee journalist, Ida B.

Wells, known as the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement", was also not one to withhold her opinions and spoke out about the plight of African Americans in the post-Reconstruction era in the South.

Crying "race riot," other armed whites joined the police and captured over thirty African Americans, including three of the store's owners: Tom Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Will Stewart.

Carmack failed to secure reelection to a second Senate term, being succeeded by former governor of Tennessee Robert Love Taylor, and returned to the practice of law.

Narrowly defeated by Patterson, Carmack returned to journalism, becoming the editor of the Nashville Tennessean, then a prohibitionist daily.

Perhaps in large measure because of the spectacular and violent nature of his death, Carmack was memorialized by the Tennessee state legislature.

They commissioned a large bronze statue of Carmack, which was erected on the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol building and stood there until May 2020.

[4] The bronze statue was designed by Nancy Cox-McCormack in 1924 (dedicated in 1927), and engraved with several quotes from Carmack on its surroundings and pedestal.