Chapter VII: Part 7

The "liquor argument" is no solution of the sociological question in hand. During all those years that prohibition has existed in Breathitt, ostensibly so, at least, without apparent diminution of crime, without any receding of the murder wave, other counties, neighbors to it, we might say, have rejected local option laws, and permitted saloons without any apparent increase in the crime rate.

Reverting again to the spirit of the Scottish Highlander as responsible in part for the murder lust: Nearly all of southeastern Kentucky is peopled by the same stock. Jackson and Laurel counties have never been contaminated with the feuds which have raged on their very borders. Jackson County in all its history has not seen as many murders committed as have stained the soil of Breathitt in less than one year. Jackson County has never had a feud; its chief lawlessness has been the promiscuous sale of whiskey, illicitly, of course.

The argument has been advanced that the lawlessness which has disgraced Breathitt and other mountain counties is directly traceable to the contempt for law instilled in the growing up generations during the period immediately following the Civil War.

It doubtless furnished the foundation for the deadly feuds which have in times passed ravaged the border counties of Bell and Harlan. These counties were frequently subjected to invasion by rebel and Union troops, with their attendant elements of lawless camp followers, deserters and guerillas.

Kentucky attempted to remain neutral at the outbreak of the war. But the people divided sharply. The State Guards and Home Guards frequently clashed. They ravaged the country without regard to military proprieties or discipline. The civil authorities had been superseded by military courts which often dealt more harshly than wisely with the people they attempted to govern. In Harlan and Bell Counties bad blood was caused by these retaliatory invasions of rebels and Home Guards. Many men took advantage of the opportunity to wreak vengeance upon an enemy they had feared to attack single-handed and did so under the protection of the mass. Crimes went unpunished because committed under the guise of military operations. But in Breathitt County there did not exist a border war.

After all the matter sifts itself down to what has been pointed out in the introduction: Lawlessness can exist only so long as the good element of a community refuses to rise up against it, and suffers itself to be intimidated.

It should be needless to say that in a republic the people must rule supreme. By their formation of republican form of government they have declared themselves capable and willing to govern themselves, and to enforce the laws they have themselves made. If a people fails to discharge the duty of properly governing themselves, they forfeit their right of citizenship.

If a community persists in its refusal to avail itself of the right of self-government, that right should be abrogated until such time as it shall be able to guarantee not only willingness, but capability for self-government. Where anarchy exists, government has fled. Where a people supinely lay upon their backs and permit anarchy, are they longer entitled to the citizenship of a great state and of a greater nation?

The people of Breathitt County, by their long years of inaction and submission to terrorization by a few, have shown that they do not or did not consider themselves longer the most potent factor in the conservation of order in society. Public sentiment had lost its health. The people of Breathitt County owe it to their manhood, their county, their state, to the nation, to redeem themselves. For the horrors of strife there have been published broadcast to the world. "Breathitt" has become synonymous with blood, murder, anarchy, the world over. We have read of it in foreign newspapers.

The United States only recently demanded of Mexico that the disorders there, especially along the borders, must cease. The Federal government threatened that republic with war even, unless citizens of this country and their property are protected. Government might have found as good grounds for intervention in Breathitt during the past, and may yet--if the murder mills there do not some of these days shut up shop.

America demands of foreign governments protection of the lives and property of our citizens. Yet, owing to the complexity of our governmental structure, it may not extend that protection to its citizens within her own territory.

The outlawry along the Mexican border within the last three years has not been as great in proportion to size of territory and population involved as has been the destruction of lives in Breathitt County at intervals for years. Yet with regard to Mexico this government has seen fit to say that conditions along the border had become "intolerant" and must cease even at the risk of war.

The people of Breathitt County are citizens of the United States, as well as of their State and county. As such they ought to hasten to restore the good name and the honor of the country to which they belong, and of which they should be proud. The murderous, lawless Mexican bandit is no more a knave than the American guilty of similar atrocities.

There did come, a few years ago, a wave of reaction, an upheaval which brought into the limelight of publicity the fearful state of affairs existing there. Murders in the streets of the county seat and throughout the county had occurred with such frequency and boldness as to at last attract the attention of the press of the entire country. At last a man of wide prominence in the State was struck down. This man was J. B. Marcum, a United States Commissioner, and a trustee of Kentucky State College, as well as lawyer of prominence and a leading Republican.

The circumstances attending this murder and the prominence of the man slain aroused at last a storm of indignation throughout the land. Newspapers of other States condemned Kentucky so severely that public sentiment within the State itself became aroused and forced the investigations which revealed Breathitt County's history of blood and crime.

In spite of the most strenuous efforts from certain quarters to hush the matter up and to block investigations of the damnable plots and murderous conspiracies by men entrusted with the enforcement of the law, the public was at last made acquainted with conditions of affairs in Breathitt County, which presented a picture so harrowing and degrading that the civilized world stood aghast and for a time refused to believe.

* * * * *

Breathitt is a beautiful mountain county along the Kentucky River, scarcely forty miles distant from Lexington, the metropolis of the Kentucky Bluegrass, famous the world over for the refinement of her people.

Jackson is the county seat, a small but thriving town on the Kentucky River, built upon numerous hills, which give it an irregular, though by no means displeasing appearance.

Commercially, Jackson is prosperous, surprisingly so under the circumstances. How much more rapid and greater might have been its progress but for the deplorable epidemics of murder, none can tell.

Jackson is also the terminus of three railroads. The town has good schools and several churches, but church-going, schools and trading were sadly interrupted and at times completely stopped during the reign of terror which held Breathitt in its bloody clutches during the first decade of the present century.

It is impossible in a limited space to give more than passing notice to all of the feudal wars which have been fought from time to time in Breathitt County. To do so would fill a volume. What the reader finds detailed in this chapter relates principally to the Hargis-Cockrell-Marcum-Callahan vendetta. It is the most recent feud. What transpired during it is but a repetition of what had occurred in others.

The first widespread feud in Breathitt County originated immediately after the Civil War. In that national conflict the county furnished soldiers to the South and to the Union. John Amis and William (Bill) Strong raised a company for the Federal cause. It became a part of the so-called "Greasy Fourteenth," and was commanded by Col. H. C. Little.

It was in this regiment that the noted Amis-Strong feud arose. It was the first of a series of bloody internecine strifes in that county.

The hatred engendered during the Amis-Strong feud was more bitter than the sectional strife between the armies of the North and of the South. A feud between the two factions was not recognized to have existed, however, until about 1878.

In that year open and serious hostilities were precipitated by a fight during Circuit Court. In the battle Bob Little, a nephew of Captain Strong, was killed, and an Amis seriously wounded.

From that time on fights grew more numerous. Charges and countercharges were made on both sides. The county was in a ferment. Finally, nearly every family became involved in one way or another.

How many men were killed in this feud will, perhaps, never be known, but many graves were filled. In this connection it may be well to state that the county has rarely had a coroner and no records were kept of deaths. It is thus an impossibility to ascertain the number of violent deaths which have occurred in the past.

John Amis himself, the head of the faction of that name, was killed in 1873. The feud finally "burned itself out."

A few years after the termination of this one another started, under the name of the Strong-Callahan feud. Some of the members of the factions in the Strong-Amis feud also participated in this one. In this war Capt. Bill Strong headed his faction. Wilson Callahan, the father of Ed. Callahan, who figures so prominently in the Hargis-Cockrell feud, commanded the opposing forces.

A number of men were killed off before Wilson Callahan's death by assassination put an end to it.

The Jett-Little feud next stained the history of Breathitt County. It was brought to a close about fifteen years ago, and after the principal participants therein had all been killed off. As bad as conditions had been prior to 1878, they grew decidedly worse in that year, when Judge William Randall, the presiding judge of the Criminal Court of the district, was compelled to desert the bench in the midst of a court session to seek safety in flight. The county was in a state of revolution brought about by the assassination of Judge John Burnett, then the county judge. This crime was laid at the door of the Gambles and Littles. The uprising of the factions was precipitated by Judge Randall's declaration that his court would see to it that the criminals were punished. Judge Randall never returned to Breathitt County during his term of office.

During the latter part of the eighties another reign of terror was initiated, and continued until the close of the decade.

Lest we might be accused of exaggeration and sensationalism, we insert here the acrimonious, bitter correspondence between Governor Buckner and Judge Lilly, the presiding judge of the Criminal Court of the district which included Breathitt.

The letters are a matter of public record, and are instructive, interesting, and will no doubt materially aid the reader to understand the nature of frequent clashes between state, district and county authorities.

_Judge Lilly to Governor Buckner._

Frankfort, Ky., Dec. 5, 1888.

To his Excellency, the Governor of Kentucky.

Dear Sir:--From a full investigation and inquiry into the condition
of the affairs in Breathitt County, I am fully satisfied that the
civil authorities cannot hold a circuit court in that county and
enforce the law without the aid of the State Guard. That the people
are divided to such an extent that a sheriff's posse will not be
sufficient. Several murders have been committed in the county since
the last term, and the offenders are not yet indicted, and cannot
be, unless the witnesses can be protected. Charges are made against
a brother of the sheriff, and the son-in-law of the jailer, and the
witnesses cannot be induced to go before the grand jury unless
they have assurance of protection. There is a number of felony
cases in the court, which I think will be ready for trial....

_Governor Buckner's Reply._

Hon. H. C. Lilly, Judge 19th Judicial District,
Irvine, Kentucky.

Dear Sir:--I have fully considered your letter of the fifth inst.
in reference to the condition of affairs in Breathitt County in
which communication you say that you are "fully satisfied that the
civil authorities cannot hold a circuit court in that county and
enforce the law without the aid of the State Guard; that the people
are divided to such extent that a sheriff's posse will not be
sufficient; several murders have been committed in the county since
the last term, and the offenders are not yet indicted, and cannot
be, unless the witnesses can be protected; charges are made against
a brother of the sheriff, and the son-in-law of the jailer, and the
witnesses cannot be induced to go before the grand jury unless they
have assurance of protection." And you further say: "I, as judge
of the Breathitt Circuit Court, call upon you to furnish fifty of
the State Guard, properly officered and equipped, to aid the civil
authorities in holding said court and in enforcing the law."

It is needless for me to say that in a republic the employment of
the military arm in enforcing the law is of rare necessity, and
the occasion for its use should not be of doubtful propriety. The
law invests the civil authorities with ample powers to enforce
the observance of law, and expects those officers to exert their
authority with reasonable diligence. When this is done there is
seldom an occasion when the military arm can be employed without
detriment to the public interests and without bringing the civil
authorities into discredit. When a people are taught that they
are not themselves the most important factor in the conservation
of order in society, and that they must depend upon the exertion
of extraneous forces to preserve order among themselves, they
have lost their title to self-government, and are fit subjects to
a military despotism. I do not believe that any portion of this
Commonwealth has reached that degree of political degradation.

As far as Breathitt County is concerned, while there have been
acts of individual lawlessness, I do not find in your statement,
or from any other source, an evidence of any organized opposition
to the civil authorities. On the contrary, I am convinced that
a reasonable exertion of their legitimate power would cause the
masses of the people to rally to their support more effectually
than could be done in the presence of the military force. The
latter, whatever their numbers, could not influence, and ought
not to influence, the character of the testimony of a single
witness before the grand jury, but their presence would be a
confession of weakness on the part of the civil authorities before
they had made any attempt to discharge their duties, and to this
extent would lessen respect for their authority, and render the
subsequent discharge of their duties more difficult. A healthy
public sentiment, and not the presence of an armed force, is the
best support of government; and the powers conferred upon a circuit
judge, both as a judge, and as a conservator of the public peace,
are so unlimited that a firm and judicious discharge of his duties
will almost invariably mould public sentiment in support of his
judicial actions.

Under all the circumstances, I do not believe that the presence of
troops in Breathitt County is necessary to maintain the laws. With
every purpose to support the judicial tribunals in the effective
discharge of their duties, I feel constrained to decline the
request which you make to order a detachment of the State Guard to
Breathitt County. But if my own presence will be of any service
to you, I will take pleasure in accompanying you to the Breathitt
Circuit Court if you conclude, on reconsideration, to hold it.

In your letter, November 13th, you say: "I will not attempt to
hold courts at Letcher, Knott or Breathitt unless you send guards
along." This is a matter on which the Executive can take no action.
It is for the legislative department of the government to judge of
the facts which will justify an official in thus abdicating the
duties imposed upon him by law.

But on this subject I trust you will permit me, without obtruding
on your consideration any views of my own, to invite your attention
to an act passed by the General Assembly at its last session, and
approved March 9th, 1888. Amongst other things this act provides
that "if, at any term of circuit court, the presiding judge thereof
shall be absent ... it shall be lawful for any other circuit judge
of this Commonwealth to attend and hold such term of court, and
while so engaged he shall have and exercise all the powers and
authority of the regular judge of such court."

I am informed that under authority of this act, some circuit judges
have already interchanged courts, and if there are any reasons why
you prefer not to hold the court in Breathitt, I have no doubt that
many of the circuit judges would be willing to interchange with
you. I happen to know that Honorable Lucius P. Little is willing
to hold the Breathitt Circuit Court for you, if you will hold the
McLean Circuit Court for him....

Your obedient servant,
S. B. BUCKNER.

_Judge Lilly to Governor Buckner._

Irvine, Ky., February 4th, 1889.

Governor S. B. Buckner.

Dear Sir:--Your letter dated 14th December, and postmarked on the
18th, was received by me on the night of the 25th, at Jackson,
Breathitt County. On the third page you proposed to accompany me
to Jackson in the following words: "But if my own presence will be
of any service to you, I will take pleasure in accompanying you to
Breathitt court, if you conclude, on reconsideration, to hold it."
You were advised that the Breathitt court would begin on the 17th,
and I suppose your Adjutant-General had informed you that I had
decided to go and hold court if I could do so. I told him on the
morning of the eighth that I would go to Breathitt court. You must
have believed that I would leave Irvine for Jackson as early as the
morning of the 14th, and before you wrote your letter. Why did you
make such a proposition to me at the time you did? I fear you will
have a little trouble in making people believe that you made the
offer in good faith.

On page 4 of your letter you say "I happen to know that Hon. Lucius
P. Little is willing to hold the Breathitt Circuit Court for you,
if you will hold the McLean Circuit Court for him." I thank Judge
Little for his kind offer, and believe he made it in good faith,
but why did you withhold the information from me until it was
too late for me to confer with him. He lives in the western part
of the State. You must have known that I had no time to make any
arrangements with him. You must have known that the offer was
futile, and that it could not be carried into effect. Can you make
the public believe that you were acting in good faith?

In speaking of the application made to you on the 5th of December,
you failed to make any reference to the papers filed with it. Why
did you conceal from the public the fact that a majority of the
attorneys who practice at the Breathitt Circuit Court ... and
divers other prominent men, had requested you to send a guard, and
gave it as their opinion that the court could not be held without
a guard? I am at a loss to know why you sought to throw the whole
responsibility upon me.

That the public may know something about the condition of Breathitt
County at the time, it is only necessary to say that between the
first day of August and the fifth day of December, 1888, the
following men were killed, to wit: Lewis Taulbee, James Shockey,
David Barnett, and Isaac Combs, "Shooting Ike;" and the following
men were shot and wounded, viz: Crain Flinchem, John Smith, Jeff
Smith, Marion Lawson, Curtis Spicer, Luther Abner, John Campbill,
Jack Barnett, Pearl Strong, Wm. Frances, and Breck Miller. There
were also a large number of other felonies committed in the county,
and all this, in addition to the old docket, which shows a large
number of felony cases. Knowing their system of combining their
strength to help one another, to prevent any one being punished by
the law, I submit to you if it would not have been better if you
had sent a guard there to encourage the good citizens to attend
court. I held court there three weeks, and there was no outbreak,
that is true, and it is also true that we got no verdicts in
important cases. We tried four murder cases and had hung juries
in each case. Except those required to be in attendance, the good
citizens of the county were not there. Why were they absent? I
think it was because they thought it unsafe to be there. For the
same reason nearly all the attorneys who practice at that bar
failed to attend the court.

Theories look well on paper, but when you come to put them in
practice they often fail to work well. What do murderers and
outlaws care for theories. I hope you will not think I put it too
strong when I say that your course has given comfort, if not aid,
to those who are charged with crime. They feel that they are able
to prevent the civil authorities from enforcing the law, and, in
view of your letter, they feel that no help will be given the civil
officers, and hence they will do as they please.

Judge W. H. Randall, Judge Robert Riddle, Judge Cole and Judge
Jackson and other judges have thought it advisable to have a guard.
Judge Finley failed to attend his courts in Letcher, Perry and
Knott for several terms before his term of office expired. They,
like myself, had better opportunities of knowing the real status of
affairs in their counties than people who live far away, and do not
understand the people.

It has been published in the newspapers of the State that a certain
judge of the State held his courts in Breathitt County and had no
trouble. That judge, previous to his election, had been employed
as counsel for nearly every one charged with high crime in that
county, and, as a consequence, did not have to try them. On the
contrary, he was doing all he could to prevent their conviction
and to prevent the laws being enforced upon them. He is yet the
employed counsel of six persons charged with murder and other high
crimes in that court. Of course, he had no trouble. Who can say,
whether, if he had tried to bring them to justice, he would have
gotten along so easily. As the papers pretty generally throughout
the State have published your letter to me, I hope they will do me
the favor to publish this, my answer.

Hoping you will find it easy to answer the interrogations
propounded to you in this letter, I remain,

Yours respectfully,
H. C. LILLY.

_Governor Buckner's Reply._

COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE.

Feb. 8, 1889.

Hon. H. C. Lilly,
Judge Nineteenth Judicial District,
Irvine, Kentucky.

Dear Sir:--Your letter of the 4th inst. reached me yesterday. You
seemed to impute want of good faith on my part in offering to
attend you to the Breathitt Circuit Court. This charge on your
part is based on the erroneous and gratuitous assumption that
the Adjutant-General had doubtless informed me that it was your
intention to hold the Breathitt Circuit Court on the regular day.
The Adjutant-General informs me to-day that he did not himself
know that it was your determination to hold the court, and that
the remark you made to him on the subject left him in the belief
that you had not reached a determination as to what you would do in
the premises. You wrote me that you would not hold court in Knott
or Letcher, and in your conversation with me gave me no ground to
believe that you had concluded to hold the court in Breathitt.

My conclusion was therefore logical and necessary that you would
not hold the court.

Your assumption that I knew that you would hold it is therefore
entirely erroneous, and the decision you reach in consequence of
this assumption is fallacious.

You ask me a number of questions in your letter, but as you
proceed to make replies to suit yourself, and to reach conclusions
favorable to your own views, you spare me the necessity of giving
them any response. I limit myself to stating what alone is relevant
to this question, that having concluded that there was no necessity
of sending troops at great expense to the State, I offered to
accompany you so that, if my views should have proved erroneous,
I would have been on the ground to have called to your aid such
assistance as may have been needed.

As the session of court was to continue during three weeks, and as
you could have taken your seat on the bench at any time during the
term, there was ample time, after writing my letter, for you to
have reconsidered your determination, if you had been at Irvine,
where I supposed you were, and to which place I addressed my
letter to you, and to have gone afterwards to Breathitt long before
the term of court should have closed. So far from knowing that it
was your purpose to hold court, I had not the slightest idea that
you would do so, until I learned after the adjournment of the court
that you had held it. I am gratified that you did so, for it was a
demonstration that troops were not necessary for your protection.

In like manner there would have been time for you to have made an
interchange with Judge Little, by telegraphic correspondence, if
such had been your desire.

You seem to charge that I have aided and abetted criminal classes
by declining to place troops at your disposal in Breathitt County,
and attribute to their absence the non-conviction of criminals. If
their absence produced such a result in Breathitt County, their
presence at your court in Perry County should have produced,
according to your logic, a large number of convictions. But I am
advised that the result was the same in both counties. We must,
therefore, look for some other reason than the presence or absence
of the military to account for such uniformity of results. I
believe myself that the court is and ought to be, an important
factor in the administration of justice, and that the presence or
absence of the military should have no weight in its decisions, and
ought not to influence its actions.

You ask why I throw "the whole responsibility" of making an
application for troops upon you? It was because you were the judge
who made the application; who demanded protection, and averred you
would not hold court unless I sent guards along. There was no one
else with whom the responsibility could be divided, and as you must
have acted from your convictions of duty, I do not see why you
should seek to avoid the responsibility, or desire me to place it
where it does not belong.

I have no criticisms to make in reference to other judges who have
asked for troops, or in reference to Judge Finley, who, you say,
failed to attend certain courts.

These were occurrences under former administrations, and were
doubtless considered by the Executives of the time in the light
of facts, which I do not pretend to know. Much less will I offer
my comment upon the grave charges you insinuate against another
judicial officer in connection with the Breathitt court. But I
cannot refrain from expressing regret at what seems to be the
manifestation of feeling on your part, which does not impress me
as strictly judicial, but, notwithstanding this, I beg you to rest
assured of my desire to support your authority in every way that
the Executive can do, consistent with the public welfare. I have no
objection to your giving the fullest publicity to your letter.

Respectfully yours,
S. B. BUCKNER.

The last feud in Breathitt County, during which the most horrible assassinations were committed, was the Hargis-Cockrell-Marcum-Callahan vendetta.

The Hargises and the Cockrells claimed that the name is a misnomer--that no feud existed.

Capulet once said: "The Montagues are furnishing all the trouble and we are only innocents slaughtered."

Montague said: "The Capulets are making the war. We are only defending our lives and property."

An apt quotation, here.

A political race first engendered the bitterness which led to the murders narrated later on. In this race the Democratic candidates were elected, at least declared to have been elected. Their ticket was headed by James Hargis for county judge and Ed. Callahan for sheriff.

The fusion ticket, which was defeated _in toto_, contested the election, alleging fraud.

At that time one J. B. Marcum and O. H. Pollard were partners in the practice of the law. Marcum had accepted a fee for the contestants, the fusionists, and Pollard for the Democratic contestees.

Marcum and Hargis were said to have had a difficulty about a year prior to this contest, but the breach between them seemed to have been healed. Marcum had been attorney for the Hargises for a number of years.

It appears that during the taking of depositions in the contest case the first open rupture occurred. What actually transpired has been told in conflicting stories. It seems that Marcum, Pollard, James Hargis and Ed. Callahan were in Marcum's law office. They differed in regard to some testimony of certain witnesses and nearly came to blows. Pistols were drawn by some of the men and Marcum ordered each and all from his office.

Police Judge Cardwell issued warrants. Marcum at once surrendered and paid his fine.

Hargis declared his refusal to appear before Judge Cardwell, whom he regarded as an enemy, and had so considered him for years. He therefore surrendered to Magistrate Edwards, a personal friend. A controversy arose as to Justice Edwards' jurisdiction in the matter. The dispute threatened to create still further trouble, to allay which Mr. Marcum moved the case against Judge Hargis to be dismissed, which was done.

Here starts the war. In making the arrest of Judge Hargis, the town marshal, Tom Cockrell, assisted by James Cockrell, his brother, were said to have drawn guns on Hargis and that only the intervention of Sheriff Callahan prevented the two from killing Hargis. This the Cockrells indignantly denied. They asserted that in making the arrest of Judge Hargis they had used no more force than was necessary. Hargis swore they would pay for their audacity in drawing a gun upon his person, and he made good his threats, that is, others did make it good for him.

Numerous unsavory charges now began to be made first on one side and then the other. Marcum at one time charged Ed. Callahan with assassinating his, Marcum's, uncle, Capt. Bill Strong, who was shot from ambush in front of his home in either 1898 or 1899.

Callahan in turn charged Marcum's uncle, the deceased Capt. Bill Strong, with the assassination of Wilson Callahan, the father of Sheriff Callahan. Each faction charged the other with the murder of some one.

Shortly after this occurred a pistol duel between Tom Cockrell and Ben Hargis, in which the latter was shot and killed on the spot.

The two had met at a "blind tiger" saloon in Jackson and quarreled, with the result that both drew their pistols and fired upon each other. Before Hargis sank dying to the floor, he had succeeded in seriously wounding his antagonist.

The Hargises at once began an active prosecution of Cockrell and kept it up.

Dr. Cox had married a kinswoman of the Cockrell boys and had also become their guardian, both of them being under age. The Cockrells were also related to Marcum, who had volunteered in Tom Cockrell's defense for the killing of Ben Hargis. Marcum also was an intimate friend of Dr. Cox, who practised in Jackson and vicinity.

Not long after the killing of Ben Hargis another brother of Judge Hargis met his death at the hands of a man charged by the Hargis clan as being a Cockrell man. John Hargis was the man slain; "Tige" was his nickname. He was killed by Jerry Cardwell.

Hargis had boarded the train at Jackson on his way to Beattyville. Cardwell was the train detective. It is claimed that Hargis had been drinking and became disorderly. The conductor in charge of the train asked Cardwell to preserve the peace. As soon as Cardwell entered the car Hargis sprang to his feet and drew his gun. Cardwell and he fired simultaneously. Cardwell was wounded, Hargis shot through the heart. The Hargis clan always claimed that the killing of John Hargis was the issue of a well-laid conspiracy with the Cockrells at the bottom of it. They attempted to connect them with the shooting, but nothing ever came of it.

Dr. Cox, guardian and kinsman of the Cockrell boys, and J. B. Marcum, their cousin, were intimate friends and frequently discussed the foreboding aspect the community was taking on. Rumors came to them frequently now that they were marked for assassination. At first neither Dr. Cox nor Marcum gave them much credence. Finally, about the first of April, 1901, Marcum went to Washington on business. While there, Dr. Cox was assassinated. Marcum was convinced that he, too, was marked for death.

The proof in the case shows that Dr. Cox had left his home about eight o'clock one night to make a professional call. The conspirators had for many nights been watching his movements. He had almost reached the corner of the street diagonally across from the court house, and directly opposite Judge Hargis' stable, when he was fired on and he fell dead, riddled with small shot. After he had fallen to the ground the assassins fired another volley into his body and easily escaped.

There was persistent rumor at the time of the killing that the shots had been fired from Hargis' stable, but witnesses were afraid to swear positively about anything. Indictments against parties for the murder were not returned until some time afterwards.

It has been told that Judge Hargis had been heard to laughingly say, after the fall of Dr. Cox, "Great Scot! didn't he bellow like a bull when that shot hit him?"

While people in town entertained their own opinions as to the guilty parties, but refused to express them, the Cockrells openly charged Hargis with complicity and of having hired the assassins that committed the cowardly murder, and maintained, seemingly with good reasons, that Dr. Cox's only offence had been his friendly relation with the Cockrells and his interest in the defense of Tom Cockrell on the charge of the murder of Ben Hargis.

The next victim of the assassin's bullets was Jim Cockrell. He was murdered in 1912, in broad day, from the court house.

Jim had been active in collecting evidence for his brother in his coming trial for the Ben Hargis murder. Rumors had come to him that he would be killed if he did not desist. He continued, however, and ignored the warning.

By this time the Cockrells, Marcum and many other residents of the town kept closely within doors at night. No one traveled the streets without a lantern. This might have been some protection for absolute neutrals, but must have been only an increasing source of danger to those who had grounds to fear for their lives. Confinement at home was therefore the best and the only reasonably safe policy.

Cockrell was shot at noon, July 28th, 1902, from the second floor of the court house.

He was standing on the opposite side of the "Temple of Justice," talking to friends, when the shots were fired that took his young life. He was not dead when taken from the street. He was hurriedly removed to a hospital at Lexington the same afternoon, where he died on the following morning. Cockrell was town marshal at the time of his death.

Curtis Jett was later on indicted for the murder, together with others, and convicted, but not until after the death of Marcum was it that these prosecutions were set on foot. Marcum had repeatedly declared before his death that he had ample evidence to prove that Jett and two others fired the shots that killed Cockrell, and that the assassins had remained concealed in the court house the remainder of the day and made their escape at nightfall.

Jett and Cockrell had been enemies for some time prior to the murder. The week before the two had fought a pistol duel in the Arlington Hotel's dining-room. Neither was wounded, friends interfered, and the affair ended without arrests being made. Curtis Jett was a deputy sheriff under Ed. Callahan.

Capt. John Patrick, a fugitive "from injustice," as he put it, went to Lexington and there gave out a statement to the effect that he, one McIntosh and others had seen and recognized the Cockrell murderers. Patrick then left the country, but offered to return and testify if sufficient protection was afforded him. He did return and testified in the succeeding trials, although he dodged the officers sent after him for some time.

McIntosh was taken before the grand jury, but refused to testify. He was remanded to jail for contempt of court and remained there for four days. When finally he made up his mind to talk, he testified that he knew nothing whatever of the matter.

In the meantime, Jim Cockrell's brother Tom had secured a change of venue to Wolfe County, to be tried there for the murder of Ben Hargis. The trial was to take place at Campton. Cockrell was taken there under an armed guard of twelve men. He was himself given a gun for defence.

When the trial was about to begin Judge Hargis refused to have anything further to do with the prosecution of the case, alleging that the transfer to Campton was but a scheme to assassinate him on the road thither.

In the meantime Marcum had become a voluntary prisoner at his home. Clients that wished to see or consult him went to his house to do so. He appeared on the streets of the town but few times.

His fears were laughed at by some; the Hargis faction, including Callahan, pronounced him a coward. His end proved the correctness of his judgment and how well founded had been his fears.

The story of plots and conspiracies against his life, his many marvelous escapes from assassination, were graphically told by himself but a short time before his death. The interview occurred in Lexington on November 14th. He told the same story to the writer with whom he had been on intimate terms of friendship.

The story told to the Lexington reporters and given out in the press was as follows:--

"I will begin my story with last March (1902) when persistent
rumors had it that Doctor Cox and I were slated to be assassinated.

"Dr. Cox and I discussed these rumors frequently and I finally came
to the conclusion that they were groundless. I went to Washington
and stayed a month. While I was there Dr. Cox was assassinated.

"I was attorney for Mose Feltner. On the night of March 30th he
came to my home in Jackson, and stated that he had entered into an
agreement with certain parties (naming them) to kill me and that
his accomplices were to be three men whom he also named.

"He said that their plan was to entice me to the office that night
when they would kill me. He said he had been provided with a
shotgun and $35. to get me. He displayed the gun which was a new
one, had never been shot, and also exhibited to me the money. I
know he did not previously have the money.

"A few mornings later Feltner took me to the woods near by and
showed me four Winchester rifles concealed there, and stated that
he and three companions had been leaving them there in the day time
and carrying them about at night to kill me with.

"Of course he did not intend to kill me, but by pretending that he
would assassinate me certain persons, he said, would guarantee him
his acquittal in the coming trial for the killing of Jesse Fields.

"He continually led them on in this belief to secure his own
protection and immunity in the Fields murder case against him.
At the same time he continually warned me of the various plans
perfected to kill me.

"On the following morning after Feltner first warned me of my
danger, I sent my wife and little boy by way of a deep ravine two
hundred yards from my house in good rifle range. This was the only
place where assassins could conceal themselves and kill me at my
house, for by this time I had ceased visiting my office, and their
only chance was to kill me at my house. It was early in the morning
when my wife and little boy arrived at the ravine. They saw four
men carrying guns run away. My son recognized two of them, but did
not recognize the other two, one of the latter, Feltner told me
afterwards was himself.

"Finally, I decided to leave Jackson. In the early evening I went
to the Arlington Hotel with my wife and made arrangements to be
rowed across the river to the tunnel early the next morning and
board the train unobserved. Later in the day Feltner came to my
room and stated that the party I had seen had told them that I was
preparing to leave town, and that thereupon certain high officials
of the county placed four men at the depot, two men at the tunnel
and two men at the railway station to kill me.

"I took his word and did not attempt to leave town. I sent the next
morning for my wife and baby, and carried the baby in my arms to my
office, and at noon from there to my home.

"I was later informed by Feltner that a party was waiting in the
upper rooms of a store to kill me. He wanted to shoot me with a
rifle, but others insisted that he use a shotgun, saying that
Doctor Cox had been killed with a shotgun. After I passed by they
asked the man with the shotgun why he didn't shoot, and he answered
that with a shotgun he would have killed the baby, but if they had
let him have his way and he had been given a rifle, he would have
shot me through the head without endangering the baby.

"The night previous to my decision to leave Jackson my sister came
to me and warned me that another plan had been formulated to kill
me. Her informant was Mose Feltner, who was engaged until at a late
hour in discussing the best plan. When this meeting had adjourned
it was then too late to come to my house. So he went to my sister's
house in his sock feet and told her.

"I was awakened at daybreak Sunday morning, June 15th, by a
messenger who had ridden eighteen miles that night to bring me a
note from a friend who was also a friend of my enemies and who was
in their counsels. The note stated that two men would come to town
the following Tuesday morning; that court would adjourn at noon
and that an attempt would then be made to assassinate me in the
afternoon. I knew the men had been out of town but was inclined to
disbelieve their statement because I had not heard that court would
adjourn on Tuesday, in fact, I had every reason to believe that it
would not adjourn until Saturday. I asked every member of the bar
in regard to this and their unanimous opinion was that court would
not adjourn until Friday evening or Saturday morning. This also was
the opinion of the circuit court clerk.

"Tuesday morning I sent my friends ahead and slipped out to Day
Brothers' store near the court house, they having reported that the
coast was clear. Then I found out that the men selected to kill me
had sure enough arrived in town.

"I returned home at ten o'clock, for it was then getting too close
to my funeral time, if reports I had were true. _Court adjourned
just as the clock struck twelve on Tuesday._

"I do not mean to cast any reflections upon the judge. You can
explain it to suit yourself. But I assure you I kept to my room
that day.

"On another occasion I slipped away to visit my sister's house. On
the way I met a sympathizer of those whose enmity I had incurred. I
decided not to return and sent my two sisters and wife ahead. They
passed a ravine on the way and there saw two men with guns. Later,
after they had turned out their lights, they observed one man take
his station in front of my house, and the others, all heavily armed
and dressed as women, below my window in an adjoining garden.

"Last Sunday morning a messenger came to my house at daylight. He
had been sent by a neutral party who did not want me killed. He
told me that two men had arrived the night before and were to have
taken a front room in a house near by and from there ambush me. The
next morning I observed the window raised about four inches and the
curtain drawn, in which position the curtain and the window have
remained since. The men occupy rooms in that house and I suppose
the front rooms. I have not been even on the porch since I received
that message."

Marcum at one time had succeeded in escaping from Jackson. He remained away for some time. But when the leading officials of the county laughed at the idea that he would be in the least danger if he returned, he believed them. Lured by the reports that he would not be molested, and having considerable interests at stake, he returned home and went to his death.

Both Judge Hargis and Callahan gave out statements to the press to the effect that Marcum would be as safe at Jackson as anywhere. In the light of what occurred, this statement may have been true. The statements were ambiguous, susceptible of various constructions. He may have been as safe at Jackson as elsewhere, for it is quite possible that assassins were at his heels wherever he went.

On Monday morning a messenger from a distant part of the county rode hot haste to Jackson to warn him of renewed attempts upon his life. The messenger did not reach him in time. When he found him the bloody work had been accomplished--Marcum was dead.

The story of the assassination is horrible and pathetic. As has been said, despite all warnings Marcum had begun to feel safe again and resumed his interrupted law practice. He had business at the court house in connection with the reopening of the contest cases.

At eight o'clock Monday morning, May 4th, 1903, he proceeded to the court house with affidavits for filing. From the clerk's office he walked to the front door of the court house, and, facing the street, engaged in conversation with his friend, Capt. B. J. Ewen.

The corridors stretching out at his back were full of men. Marcum was leaning on Ewen's shoulder. The two men had been conversing for possibly three minutes, when, at 8.30 A. M., a shot rang out in the rear of the corridor. Marcum staggered and as he sank to the floor another shot fired. The first shot entered his back and the ball came out through the breast. The next shot passed through the top of his head and was doubtlessly aimed as he reeled.

Just before the shots were fired, one Tom White passed Marcum at the door and gazed into his face in a manner calculated to draw Marcum's attention. As White had passed, Marcum turned to Ewen and said: "That's a bad man and I am afraid of him."

The body of Marcum lay where it had fallen for at least fifteen minutes before any of his friends dared approach it.

Marcum's wife, on hearing of the murder of her husband, rushed to the court house, knelt by the side of the body and in the blood and brains that had spattered the floor, drenched her handkerchief. What sort of a vow she made then may be imagined. We shall draw the curtain over the scene of sorrow and grief at the home of the murdered man. He left a wife and five children.

Marcum had been a practising lawyer for seventeen years. He was, at the time of his death, a trustee of the Kentucky State College, a United States Commissioner, and represented the Lexington & Eastern Railway Company as well as other large corporations in a legal capacity.

THE REIGN OF TERROR.

Immediately after the assassination of Marcum, and for a long time afterwards, conditions at Jackson were terrible.

There was consternation among all who had in the least degree incurred the enmity of the tyrants who now controlled both county and town. Judge Hargis appeared in the newspapers with a lengthy accusation against the dead man Marcum, practically declaring that the assassination was a good deed and deserved.

Many relatives of Marcum, the Cockrells and their sympathizers, left town and sought refuge elsewhere.

No one dared travel the streets of Jackson at night who was not sure of the protection of those who held it in their grasp. Churches were deserted; for many months no services were held.

It was with the utmost difficulty that any person could be brought to even speak of the matter in any way. Everybody was suspicious of everybody else.

In the meantime the murderers were still at large. No earnest effort had been made by the "authorities" to apprehend them. It would not have been difficult to have done so, for it was an open secret as to who they were. The difficulty lay in getting witnesses to talk. Some of these left town and placed themselves beyond the jurisdiction of the court, and absolutely refused to return unless protected by troops.

B. J. Ewen, who was with Marcum at the time of the murder, had at first declared that he did not know who the assassins were. Judge Hargis and Sheriff Callahan admitted that they saw the slayer in the court house corridor but had failed to recognize him. Then, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, came the announcement that Capt. Ewen had decided to tell the facts as he knew them, even at the risk of his life. He did so, charging Jett with the actual shooting of Marcum, and Tom White as an accessory.

The Hargis faction laughed at this declaration, hinted broadly at perjury, pointing to the fact that Capt. Ewen had already stated he did not know the assassins, and that therefore his declaration was not entitled to belief.

Ewen explained his change of attitude in the matter by saying that, at first, he had decided to keep his knowledge to himself, for his own protection, but that since then he had come to the conclusion that it was the duty of a citizen, who respected the law, to tell what he knew, even if he risked his life in doing so. He told the story, time and again, without a tremor,--outwardly at least.

Jett was arrested at Winchester without a struggle and taken to Jackson. The Governor at once forwarded troops to the ill-fated town and martial law continued there for several months.

The presence of the troops somewhat reassured the citizens. Many of those who had departed returned. The grand jury assembled and jointly indicted Curtis Jett and Tom White, who had also been arrested.

Many exciting events took place during the presence of the troops at Jackson, but order was gradually restored and people took heart. Services at the churches were resumed, after months of suspension.

In the midst of one of the trials Capt. Ewen, who lived in camp with the troops, not daring to return to his own fireside, saw his house, his home, the fruit of many years of labor and saving, go up in flames.

It was not accident. It was the reward for his fidelity to good citizenship and his willingness to tell the truth.

Ewen also declared that bribery had been attempted by certain parties. Later on the matter was aired in the courts, but nothing ever came of it. Ewen removed from Jackson after the trials.