(ROWAN COUNTY)
The royal murder at Serajevo was the spark that set the world on
fire. It would be silly, however, to place the blame of the world war
upon it. To find the real causes of the appalling tragedy one must go
further back.
So it is with the great Rowan County war. There were many agencies at
work that contributed, little by little, but none the less surely, to
that state of anarchy which disgraced Rowan County and Kentucky during
the eighties. The evil influences which initiated it were: Politics
and Whiskey. A weak-kneed, yea, corrupt administration of justice
permitted its continuation. The reign of terror which continued so long
unhindered could have been crushed in its infancy with any sort of an
honest, determined effort at law enforcement.
A verse or two of Mulligan's "IN KENTUCKY" finds excellent application
here:
"The bluegrass waves the bluest
In Kentucky;
Yet, bluebloods are the fewest (?)
In Kentucky;
Moonshine is the clearest,
By no means the dearest,
And yet, it acts the _queerest_
In Kentucky.
"The dove-notes are the saddest,
In Kentucky:
The streams dance on the gladdest
In Kentucky:
Hip pockets are the thickest,
Pistol hands the slickest,
The cylinder turns quickest
In Kentucky.
"The song birds are the sweetest
In Kentucky:
The thoroughbreds are fleetest
In Kentucky:
Mountains tower proudest,
Thunder peals the loudest,
The landscape is the grandest,
AND POLITICS--the damndest
In Kentucky."
In the long continued struggle which brought Rowan County into
disrepute, many families of high reputation, men of wealth and
influence, as well as men of reckless, undaunted, desperate character,
were pitted against each other. Officers of the law, lawyers, judges
and politicians of more than ordinary ability and reputation,
quarreled, disputed and excited such unreasoning passion as to result
in bloodshed. After that the dogged, stubborn determination of the
different factions admitted of no other settlement of the controversy
save by the arbitrament of arms, a war to the death.
Patrick Henry cried out before the Virginia Convention: "Gentlemen may
cry peace, peace, but there is no peace." In Rowan County, too, men
cried continually for peace, yet there was to be no peace until anarchy
had almost depopulated the county and its name had become synonymous
with outlawry. The only alternative left was to leave the country or
fight. Some did leave, most of them remained and fought, fought with a
courage worthy of a better cause.
The courts appeared powerless. The officers were themselves bitter
partisans. The government of the State, when applied to for troops
to assist in restoring order, sometimes refused aid, owing to a
technicality in the law, and thus was precipitated the famous bloody
battle at Morehead, in which many men were killed and wounded.
It may be well to add that Rowan County was not a remote, inaccessible
region where civilization had made but little progress, as was the
case along the border of West Virginia and Kentucky, the scene of
the Hatfield-McCoy war. Good roads and railroad communication had
introduced to Rowan County even then a civilization which should have
made the bloody conflict impossible; it certainly made it inexcusable.
It is difficult to produce a fair picture of the political upheavals
and complications which eventually led to and resulted in so much
bloodshed without going behind the actual outbreak of the feud. While
this necessitates the narration of incidents of purely local interest,
and may, therefore, not grip the interest of outsiders, a patient
reading of it will develop the fact that it is indispensable to a true
understanding of the history of this war, and also that it teaches a
moral.
As early as 1874 political quarrels arose, engendering bitter hatred,
between prominent, wealthy and influential men of Rowan and surrounding
counties. At that time it was hoped and generally believed that the
difficulties would be forgotten as soon as the heat of the political
contests had abated. But as the years passed factional division grew
more and more pronounced. Citizens who had theretofore held aloof
from the disputes, were gradually and surely drawn into the vortex
of strife. As is usual and unavoidable under such circumstances, many
desperate, degraded characters attached themselves to the various
factions. These would commit deeds for pay, from the commission of
which the more circumspect employers of them shrank in fear. In such
wars the hired assassin always finds lucrative employment. He becomes
the blind tool of the coward with the money, and the greater the
compensation the more horrible his crimes.
The innocent but direct cause of the political struggle to which we
must refer, was the Honorable Thomas F. Hargis, who, in after years,
rose to the highest judicial position in the State. His father, before
him, served in the constitutional convention of the State in 1849 and
was a very distinguished Kentuckian.
When the great rebellion broke out, Kentucky soon began to suffer the
distress and horrors of civil war. It at first declared its intention
to remain neutral. Governor McGoffin refused to furnish troops to
the Union army and attempted to enforce neutrality by maintaining a
"Home Guard." This brought on many conflicts with the State Guards.
It became at once apparent that the two bodies of troops were nothing
more than partisans. The Home Guards often employed their military
power and authority in harassing and mistreating actual or suspected
sympathizers with the cause of the South. The State Guards, on the
other hand, used their influence and made every exertion toward turning
the tide of public sentiment in favor of the Confederacy.
The sudden invasion of Kentucky by the federal troops was greeted with
joy by the Home Guards, who made no attempt to repel it or to preserve
the State's neutrality for which purpose they had been organized. The
larger portion of the Home Guards, in fact, at once joined the Union
army. The State Guards disbanded and a majority of them joined the
Confederates. The division of Kentucky was now complete.
In the general rush to opposing armies we find Thomas Hargis donning
the grey and fighting for the "Lost Cause" as captain until the close
of the war.
Returning home, he studied law and was admitted to the bar. The date
of this admission, an unimportant point it may seem, was nevertheless
responsible for the internecine strife of after years.
In the year 1874, Captain Hargis, who had already won prominence as a
lawyer of ability and sagacity, was nominated by the democratic party
as its candidate for judge of the circuit court. Opposed to Hargis
in this race was Geo. M. Thomas, afterwards United States District
Attorney for the District of Kentucky. He was the nominee of the
Republican party. The race was exceedingly hot and spirited from the
beginning. The contest became bitter. It was charged by the friends
of Thomas, among whom were not only the Republicans whose nominee and
choice he was, but enemies of Hargis in the ranks of his own party,
that he was not eligible to the office because he had not attained
the requisite age, and that he was still further disqualified from
holding the position of Circuit Judge because he had not been licensed
as a lawyer for a sufficient number of years. These reports were
industriously circulated against him. Appreciating the danger of such
a rumor in a contest like this was, and knowing that only a prompt
refutation and repudiation of the charges could prevent his signal and
disastrous defeat, he hastened to obtain copies of the records of his
age, and of the date of his admission to the bar from the records of
the Clerk's office.
At the time of his candidacy Hargis was a resident of Carlisle,
Nicholas County, but when admitted to the practice of the law had
resided in Rowan County. So the records of his admission to the bar
must be obtained there. He, therefore, went at once to Morehead and
instituted an examination of the records, but to his consternation
it revealed the astounding fact that the only record and evidence of
his admission to the bar had been mutilated and destroyed; the pages
containing them had been cut out from the books. Added to this was the
unwelcome discovery that the family Bible had also been mutilated in so
far as it contained the record of his age. The charges of ineligibility
had been widely circulated and published in the newspapers and Hargis'
inability to refute them for lack of record evidence now gave them the
stamp and color of truth. The Republicans, and the personal enemies of
Hargis among the Democrats, were jubilant, while his friends flatly and
broadly accused Thomas' friends and supporters of the crime of stealing
and destroying public records. This further increased the already
bitter feeling. The friends of Thomas now charged that if any such
records had ever existed Hargis himself had stolen and destroyed them.
The result of it all was that Hargis was defeated by his Republican
opponent, and this in a district theretofore always safely Democratic.
The close of the contest brought out another truth no longer to be
denied or overlooked. Every circumstance and condition existing after
the election pointed clearly to the fact that something more than
factional, political animosity, common in all hotly contested races
for position, had been awakened and that in the hearts of many, malice
had taken deep root. Each succeeding election only augmented the bitter
feeling. Desire for revenge, and, what at first seemed but political
excitement and zeal for the favored candidate, now caused friends of
old to cancel their friendship and the most prominent leaders of the
opposing factions regarded each other no longer as merely political,
but as personal enemies.
In the year 1876 the Legislature of Kentucky created a Circuit Court
for Commonwealth proceedings alone, the new district being composed
of the same counties as the old. Hargis again announced himself a
candidate for judge of the newly-organized court. This time he was
elected with an easy majority. He continued in this office, which he
filled with signal ability, until in the spring of 1879, when an event
took place which opened to him the road to still higher honors, and
also still further fanned the flame of political and personal strife.
The event referred to was the vacancy created on the bench of the Court
of Appeals as the result of a tragedy enacted upon the streets of the
capital of the State, at Frankfort,--the assassination of Appellate
Judge J. M. Elliott, by one Thomas Bufford. The tragic death of this
able jurist horrified all Kentucky.
His slayer pleaded insanity. The trial jury on first ballot stood
six for conviction and six for acquittal on the ground of insanity.
Finally, the verdict of the whole jury declared him insane. He was
transferred to the Asylum at Anchorage where he remained but a short
time. He escaped to Indiana where he remained because our requisition
laws were then not sufficient to enforce his return to Kentucky.
Immediately after the death of Justice Elliott an election was ordered
for his successor and Judge Hargis again became a candidate before
the Democratic convention. A number of able and distinguished jurists
opposed him before that body, many of these much older and experienced
than he. In spite of the powerful opposition brought to bear against
him, Judge Hargis again succeeded in obtaining the nomination, another
proof of his political influence as well as of his talents and
abilities as a lawyer and politician.
This last and most important success of Hargis aroused anew the malign
hatred and envy of his numerous enemies in the camps of his own party.
The old charges were renewed, remodeled, rehashed, renovated and added
to, as the occasion demanded. The story of his wilful, felonious
destruction and mutilation of court records was republished and more
extensively circulated than ever. Newspapers, circulars, hand-bills
and letters telling the story were scattered throughout the district,
posted up at all public places, on fences and trees along the highways,
thus increasing factional enmity to a dangerous intensity.
Opposed to him in this race was Judge Holt, a Republican politician and
lawyer of prominence, and of unassailable purity of character.
The contest between these men was waged with spirit with the result
that the mantle of Judge Elliott fell upon Judge Hargis. During
the canvass Judge Hargis, through the _Courier Journal_ and other
newspapers, had denounced the persons over whose signatures a number
of the scandalous accusations and derogatory charges had been made, as
liars, calumniators and villains.
Thomas M. Green, editor of the Maysville _Eagle_, also correspondent
of the Cincinnati _Commercial Gazette_, had been most persistent in
industriously keeping the disparaging accusations against Hargis in
the columns of the Republican press of the country. Editor Green was,
in consequence, singled out by Hargis in his card to the _Courier
Journal_ as the chief offender, assailing him in most bitter terms.
Green applied to the law for redress and instituted suit for libel in
the Jefferson Circuit Court at Louisville, asking for a large sum in
damages.
Early in the spring of 1880 the case came on for trial. Hargis waived
all questions of jurisdiction which it had been expected he would
use as a defense. He somewhat staggered his enemies by admitting
responsibility for the article upon which the suit was based, and
declaring his ability to prove the charges made against Green as true.
The trial lasted for many months. It was minutely reported in the press
of the country and read everywhere. Even now the angel of good fortune
did not desert Judge Hargis. He won the case.
During this period the controversy between Green and Hargis had very
sharply aligned the friends and enemies in Rowan County. So complete
was the breach that the thoughtful ones looked forward to open, actual
hostilities. Hope of compromise disappeared as time passed.
A storm so long brewing is apt to accumulate extraordinary force. A
fury long pent up will break loose with greater fierceness. The strife
had penetrated every neighborhood, almost every household. Any public
occasion, especially the biennial election, was looked forward to with
dread. Minor political contests, waged in these elections, served
to open old sores and to inflict new wounds, adding material for the
spirit of revenge to feed upon.
At that time the Australian ballot system had not yet been introduced.
The _viva voce_ system was in vogue, and bribery in elections was,
therefore, much more common than it is now. Candidates practically
bought their offices. The voter cast his vote publicly; it was recorded
publicly, and cried out publicly. In this wise the buyer of the vote
controlled the seller, and, very often, vote sellers were driven _en
masse_ to the polls like so many sheep, a cause of innumerable election
fights.
Another successful instigator of trouble on election day was the
free and promiscuous use of liquor with which candidates treated and
influenced the voters. Election contests frequently excite the most
staid and conservative citizens, but when whiskey is added it is
certain to arouse passions which might, otherwise, have slumbered on.
Such were conditions in Rowan County on the day of election, August,
1884.
A hot political race was on between one S. B. Goodan, the Democratic
nominee for sheriff of the county, and W. C. Humphrey, commonly known
as Cook Humphrey, the Republican nominee. The county being almost
equally divided politically, the contest was close. Each of the
candidates was wealthy, influential and extensively related. Money was
used without stint, barrooms were thrown wide open at Morehead, the
county seat, and principal town of the county, as well as at most other
precincts in the county.
The town was crowded with excited, angry, drunken men and all through
the day there were fist fights and brawls. During one of these, the
prelude to the conflict which afterward attracted the attention of
the American press, John Martin, son of Ben Martin, a wealthy farmer,
was struck down and seriously injured. He immediately sprang to his
feet, drew his pistol and a general pistol battle followed. When the
smoke had cleared away, Solomon Bradley was found dead, Adam Sizemore
severely wounded.
The death of Bradley, a good citizen, who had taken no part in the
fighting, and the wounding of Sizemore and Martin proved of fatal
consequences. Bradley was one of the most influential Republicans of
the county. He and John Martin were members of the best families and
extensively related even in adjoining counties. The Martins were known
to be ambitious and brave men. It appeared that Martin received his
wounds at the hands of Floyd Tolliver, a brother of Craig Tolliver,
who afterwards attained such unenviable notoriety and bore the
distinction of being one of the most cruel, bloodthirsty desperadoes
Kentucky ever had the misfortune to own as her son, and whose tragic
death on the day of the memorable battle at Morehead some years later
was heralded throughout the country.
John C. Day, the then acting Sheriff of Rowan County, was charged with
the shooting and wounding of Sizemore.
The first blood had now been spilt; more was bound to follow. Even the
most hopeful became convinced that a long and bloody conflict could
no longer be averted. Those best acquainted with the state of affairs
knew, and rightly predicted, that the law would not be invoked to
settle the trouble and punish the offenders. "A life for a life" was
the motto that henceforth governed the factions, now arrayed against
each other in open, desperate warfare.
The wounding of Martin by Floyd Tolliver placed the latter and his
friends and relatives in a dangerous position. They knew the Martins
would not pass lightly over the matter. Their numbers and influence
made them dangerous adversaries. Floyd Tolliver lived at Farmers, a
small village on the Licking river, a station of the Chesapeake & Ohio
Railway, which traverses the county and passes through Morehead. The
Tollivers also were a large family. Floyd, believing himself in danger,
now turned to his relatives and friends for assistance. They responded
promptly, armed and organized. The Martins, the Sizemores and the Days
did likewise, thus dividing the county into four factions, composed of
determined, courageous and desperate men.
During the Circuit Court following the murder of Bradley the grand jury
returned indictments against John Martin, Floyd Tolliver and Sheriff
John C. Day for malicious shooting and wounding and murder. Bail was
granted, bonds were readily executed and the cases continued until the
next term of court.
In December following the fight of August, 1884, Floyd Tolliver and
John Martin, who had recovered from his wounds, came for the first
time face to face outside of the court room and when not in custody
of the officers, since their fight. They met in a barroom, a place
never suitable for enemies to meet. Had both men been duly sober
trouble might have been averted. But, flushed with liquor, the old
grudge soon got in its work, a dispute arose, their hands reached for
their pistols, the shining weapons flashed for a moment, then belched
forth fire and flame,--a cry, the dull thud of a falling body--Floyd
Tolliver lay prostrate upon the floor--dead.
Martin was immediately arrested and conveyed to the county jail. To
his friends the killing was a shock. They were fully convinced that
Craig Tolliver and the other brothers of Floyd Tolliver would seek
summary vengeance. Grave fears were entertained for the safety of John
Martin in the old jail. Rumors of the organization of a large Tolliver
mob increased anxiety and apprehension with each fleeting hour. But,
as much as the Tollivers were feared, and the more they threatened,
Martin's friends bravely prepared to protect him at all hazards. Thus
the aggressiveness of the Tollivers was counteracted by the bold
defiance of the Martins.
The County Attorney, Mr. Young, was one of the ablest and most
fearless Commonwealth lawyers in Kentucky. By his enemies, and they
were numerous, he was regarded as wholly unscrupulous. They refused
to credit him with even one pure thought, or action, emanating from
a noble impulse. But unbiased investigation of the facts of this
matter clearly shows that Mr. Young did his duty in this particular.
He was perfectly acquainted with the character of the men arrayed
against Martin, and was not the man to be deluded by their repeated
declarations that the law would be permitted to take its course. At
the risk of antagonizing the Tolliver faction against himself Mr. Young
promptly directed the removal of John Martin to the Clark County jail
at Winchester for safekeeping. County Judge Stewart saw the wisdom of
it and issued the order for the removal, which was accomplished without
mishap.
As soon as it became known that their intended victim had escaped them,
the Tollivers, furious and raging, gathered in large force, spreading
terror wherever they appeared. "We can wait--" they said, "there is
another day coming. John Martin must be brought back to Morehead for
trial and then--just wait."
December 10th, 1884, was the day set for the examining trial before
County Judge Stewart at Morehead. Before that day arrived, the unusual
activity of the Tollivers, the ominous collection of all the members
and friends of that family, the frequent but secret meetings, had been
quietly, but nevertheless keenly observed by Judge Stewart. He was
convinced that if Martin were brought back to Rowan County at this time
of ferment and excitement he would suffer a violent death at the hands
of his enemies, and that any attempt on the part of the officers and
friends of the prisoner would precipitate a conflict the magnitude of
which could not be foretold.
In this opinion Judge Stewart was sustained by Attorney Young. After
a careful investigation of the state of affairs the court decided on
an indefinite postponement of the trial. The order to the jailer of
Clark County, directing him to deliver Martin to officers of Rowan
County, was suspended on the 9th day of December, but unfortunately
(fateful neglect!) the order of suspension was not communicated to the
Clark County jailer. The wife of John Martin had been advised of the
postponement of the trial. The faithful woman who had already suffered
untold anxiety and fear for the safety of her husband, felt relieved
and hastened to Winchester to inform him of the action of the Court of
Rowan County.
As soon as the Tollivers were informed that the trial would not take
place, and that, therefore, Martin would remain at Winchester for an
indefinite time, they convened in a council of war to discuss plans of
campaign.
A raid upon the Winchester jail was suggested, but the leaders, though
desperate and brave enough to have attempted and dared anything, did
not believe that such an undertaking would meet with success. They
advised strategy instead of force.
On the 9th of December, on the same day that Judge Stewart canceled
the order for delivery of the prisoner by the jailer of Clark
County, an order was delivered into the hands of A. M. Bowling, town
marshal at Farmers, directing him to demand Martin from the jailer
at Winchester and to convey him to the county jail at Morehead. The
order also directed the jailer of Clark County to surrender Martin
into the custody of Bowling. The plot was shrewdly planned. The order,
forged, of course, would open the doors of the Winchester jail without
difficulty, and the prisoner must, therefore, become an easy victim on
his way to Rowan County.
Bowling, a Tolliver clansman, engaged four other members of it to
accompany him to Winchester,--Hall, Eastman, Milt and Ed Evans. Four
men to convey a handcuffed prisoner! It was deemed best to send a
sufficient number to prevent outsiders from interfering in the final
act of the inhuman drama staged by Craig Tolliver and his henchmen.
On arriving at the jail at Winchester, Bowling presented his order,
which was signed (?) by two Justices of the Peace of Rowan County
and which directed the delivery of Martin to Bowling. The order
was carefully drawn in the usual form, and had every appearance of
genuineness. A few minutes after John Martin's wife had bidden her
husband good-bye at the Winchester jail, Bowling presented his order
for the delivery of Martin.
While the wife was at the station awaiting the arrival of the train
which was to carry her homeward, little dreaming that she had clasped
the hand of her husband warm with life for the last time, the prisoner
was aroused by his keeper and told to prepare for his removal to
Morehead. Martin at once became suspicious. He remonstrated against
the transfer, but the jailer produced the order. The prisoner pleaded
long and earnestly. He explained to the official that he had received
definite information through his wife that on account of the danger
that awaited him at Morehead the county authorities of Rowan County had
indefinitely postponed his removal. He insisted that Bowling and his
companions were his deadly enemies; that every surrounding circumstance
pointed to treachery, and that his delivery into the hands of Bowling
meant nothing more nor less than assassination.
The jailer turned a deaf ear to his entreaties. He argued that a
refusal to comply with the imperative order of the Rowan County Judge
would involve him in trouble. He had no right to believe the order
forged. It bore the stamp of genuineness. It seems to us, however,
that a more circumspect officer, informed of the conditions and
circumstances surrounding the prisoner, acquainted with the dangerous
state of affairs in Rowan County as the result of which Martin had been
removed to Winchester, would have held the prisoner until he could have
communicated with the authorities at Morehead. Disobedience to the
court's orders, intended for the protection of a helpless prisoner,
could not have been subject to censure, especially when the forgery
of the order was later on established. He might easily have verified
the genuineness of the paper by telegraph. Blind obedience often works
injury. Threatening disasters through blunders of commanding officers
have often been averted by the disobedience of inferior officers, who
preferred facing court martial rather than become a party to useless
slaughter and defeat.
John Martin was delivered to Bowling and his companions. Securely
shackled, he was marched to the train. Doubtless he suffered the
same mental agony as does the man on the way to the scaffold. It was
pathetic chance that Mrs. Martin boarded the same train. She entered
another coach, entirely ignorant of her husband's presence in the next
one.
While this occurred at Winchester, Craig Tolliver and his band had
already assembled at Farmers, ready to play their part in the cowardly
deed. Armed to the teeth, they were posted at and near the railway
station, impatiently awaiting the arrival of the train. The night was
dark and disagreeable, perfectly suited for a hold-up.
Presently the flash of light pierces the gloom, the shriek of the
engine whistle echoes mournfully through the night. The train bearing
John Martin thunders toward the station. The air-brakes wheeze, the
train slows up; the conductor cries "All out for Farm--" He does not
finish the call of the station. A pistol is thrust into his face. Armed
men board the engine and cover the engineer and fireman. Others enter
the coach in which Martin is sitting, handcuffed, utterly helpless,
surrounded by Bowling and his confederates.
Martin sees the men enter and instinctively realizes that his end has
come. He attempts to rise to his feet. Instantly shots are fired.
Martin sinks back upon his seat, lifeless, his "protectors" calmly
witnessing the murder.
Martin's wife, in another coach, had up to this time believed her
husband secure in his cell at Winchester. But the moment she heard the
shots, unaccountable, undefinable dread seized her. Instinctively she
rushed to the scene of the tragedy and found her suspicions realized.
There lay the blood-covered body of her husband, literally torn to
pieces and perforated with leaden messengers of death. All that the
faithful, grief-stricken wife could do was to order the remains taken
on to Morehead. Martin was buried amid a large concourse of sorrowing
friends and relatives. The solemnity of the occasion accorded ill with
the many suppressed, yet none the less ominous threats of terrible and
swift punishment of the murderers.
The news of the cowardly assassination spread like wildfire over the
county. The war had begun in earnest. From the day John Martin's body
was consigned to the grave, the angel of peace departed from Rowan
County. For more than three years a reign of terror was to sweep over
it with all its attendant horrors, cutting a wide path of desolation
and misery. Deeds of violence now occurred at frequent intervals. All
manner of crime went unpunished by the law. The whole machinery of the
law was rotten, the officers of the courts being themselves partisans,
in some instances very active as such.
Mr. Young, the county attorney, was the first to feel the wrath of
the Martin faction. While riding along the road on Christi Creek he
was shot from ambush and painfully, but not fatally, wounded. The
perpetrators of this deed were not definitely known, but Young's
friends claimed to have certain information that the men who attempted
his assassination had acted under instructions from the Martin faction,
which had openly accused Young of playing into the hands of the
Tollivers, and had even gone so far as to allege that he had with them
connived in the murder of John Martin.
Whether he was or was not a Tolliver sympathizer, another murder
committed soon afterwards was laid at the door of the Tollivers,
to avenge, it was charged, the wounding of Mr. Young. Under the
circumstances this gentleman determined to and did remove from the
county where his life was evidently no longer safe. He located in an
adjoining county. At the succeeding election his son was elected to the
office his father had vacated.
The murder above referred to was that of Stewart Baumgartner. Cook
Humphrey, the Republican Sheriff, had appointed him a deputy. On the
17th day of March, 1885, Baumgartner rode along Christi Creek, when,
almost at the identical spot where Mr. Young had been fired upon, he
was shot and instantly killed--from ambush. No one was ever indicted
for that killing, but it was generally believed, charged and never
denied that Craig Tolliver's subordinates were the murderers.
Shortly after the death of Baumgartner, and during the month of April,
1885, Cook Humphrey and a stranger, afterwards ascertained to have been
Ed. Pierce of Greenup County, Ky., appeared on the streets of Morehead,
heavily armed and followed by a number of Martin sympathizers. This
act of defiance called forth bitter denunciation from the Tollivers
and their friends, among whom was ex-Sheriff Day and Jeff Bowling, men
of reckless courage. The leaders of the opposing factions assembled
every available man, and provided them with arms. The most determined
preparations were made to fight out their differences on the streets
of Morehead. Humphrey's headquarters were at the Carey House, a hotel
owned and operated by James Carey, an ex-captain of the Union army
and a very influential citizen. The Tollivers occupied the Cottage
Hotel near the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway depot, then owned by Dr. R.
L. Rains. As quickly as possible a message was forwarded to Craig
Tolliver, absent from Morehead at the time. He came, accompanied by a
number of Tollivers from Elliott County. The battle opened fast and
furious. A continuous fire from many guns kept the citizens of the
town in terror for many hours. The balls whizzed through every portion
of the ill-fated village. Storehouses and dwellings were riddled. None
dared to enter the streets, or expose his body for an instant.
The Carey House apparently bore the brunt of the firing. Hundreds of
balls struck and shattered the slight frame structure. The Tollivers,
beside superior numbers, had the advantage of position. Their
marksmanship was better, too. Humphrey and his clan soon realized that
a charge upon their position would mean their annihilation. So at
an opportune moment the Carey House was abandoned and the Tollivers
remained in undisputed control.
In spite of the long-continued, heavy firing, an unremitting fusilade
of many hours' duration, there were no casualties. The battle, however,
exercised such a terrifying influence over the peaceable citizens of
the town that all that could left.
Morehead, in fact the county, was now in a state of anarchy. The
matter was reported to the Governor, who immediately ordered General
John B. Castleman, then Adjutant General of Kentucky, to Morehead
to investigate conditions there and to discover the causes of this
shameful lawlessness. General Castleman, in company with others, went
to Morehead and interviewed the adherents of the different factions
and leading citizens of the county. This commission, on completing its
mission, reported its findings to the Governor. The result was that the
leading spirits in the feud were summoned to Louisville, Ky., where
a _compromise_ was patched up between the belligerents. Both sides
pledged themselves to return home, to lay down their arms and to cease
to molest each other. This proceeding brought into prominence H. M.
Logan, Judge James Carey and Cook Humphrey as adherents of the Martin
faction and Craig Tolliver, Dr. Jerry Wilson and others as the Tolliver
faction leaders.
The agreement entered into at Louisville, intended to restore peace,
effected the opposite result. It prevented prosecution of either side
for the Morehead riot. The leniency extended by the authorities merely
emboldened and encouraged the warring parties--the truce was violated
by both sides within a short time after it had been agreed to.
The factions charged each other with insincerity, of secretly
maintaining armed bands and preparing for renewed hostilities. Within a
few weeks after the compromise at Louisville, conditions in Rowan were
as bad as ever, nay--worse.
As we have stated, the shooting of Young, the County Attorney, had
been charged to the Martin faction. In retaliation for this crime
the Tollivers had murdered Sheriff Humphrey's deputy, Baumgartner.
Subsequent developments then seemed to directly implicate Cook
Humphrey in the shooting of Young, and this led to a renewal of
active hostilities. It appears that immediately after the treaty at
Louisville, Ed. Pierce, the man who had so mysteriously appeared on the
streets of Morehead in company with Cook Humphrey on the day of the
riot, was arrested in Greenup County and taken to Bath County for trial
on a charge of robbery. A jury found him guilty. He was sentenced to
the penitentiary for a long term. While confined in jail previous to
his trial, he admitted his participation in the shooting of Mr. Young,
implicating also Ben Rayborn of Carter County, a man but little known
in Rowan County. In his confession Pierce claimed to have been employed
to kill Mr. Young by the sisters and family of John Martin, and that
Sheriff Humphrey and Baumgartner, his deputy, had aided and assisted in
arranging the details of the plot.
Humphrey and the Martins indignantly denied every word of Pierce's
confession, and asserted that he had been bribed by Mr. Young to make
it for the purpose of destroying the prestige of the Martin family in
the county, and to furnish the excuse for further outrages.
Humphrey and the Martin family were now put under constant surveillance
by the Tollivers. The Martin homestead, situated about one mile from
Morehead, became an object of special vigilance. Finally, on the
evening of the 27th day of July, 1885, the Tolliver spies reported
to their leader at Morehead that two men had been seen around the
Martin home. Instantly everything was in commotion at the Tolliver
headquarters. Craig Tolliver, Jeff Bowling, T. A. Day and others, all
sworn enemies of the Martins, surrounded the homestead in the dark of
night and remained on watch until morning.
Shortly after daylight a stranger, afterwards recognized as Ben
Rayborn, in company of Sue Martin, a young woman of much native sense
and energy, emerged from the house and "robbed" a beehive in the yard
without having discovered the enemy. Rayborn was heavily armed. His
presence convinced the Tollivers that Cook Humphrey was in the house;
they now determined upon open attack. But to avoid possible failure of
the plot it was deemed necessary to increase the force. A messenger was
hurriedly dispatched to Morehead.
A short time afterwards the Tollivers had assembled a force of
twenty-five or thirty men, among whom were many of the most violent men
of Rowan County.
At nine o'clock Craig Tolliver had stationed this force at every
point of vantage. Then he and Bowling appeared at the front door with
Winchester rifles gleaming in the sunlight. For the first time the
inmates of the house seemed aware of the presence of the enemy. There
was apparently no chance of escape. Every door was securely guarded.
Tolliver was met at the door by the brave Martin girls who demanded
an explanation for the intrusion. Tolliver demanded the surrender of
Cook Humphrey and any other man or men that might be with him. The
girls stoutly denied the presence of any one save the members of the
family. Tolliver knew this to be false. With his own eyes he had seen
Rayborn that morning. He charged the girls with duplicity and forced
his way into the house. No one was found on the first floor. Then they
attempted search of the upper story. At the stairway a shotgun suddenly
belched forth fire and flame into the faces of the Tollivers. Craig's
face and part of his body was filled with shot, the gun stock shivered
to pieces in his hand. He sank upon the steps and rolled helplessly at
the feet of his companions. Bowling miraculously escaped unhurt.
Craig Tolliver was immediately placed upon a horse and sent to Morehead
for repairs. The others, not daring to force the stairway, went outside
and contented themselves with firing through the doors and windows. The
fusilade continued incessantly for a long time. Black smoke hung like a
cloud over the premises. If the Tollivers hoped to force the surrender
of Humphrey and his companion by mere intimidation, they soon saw their
mistake. These two men were brave to the core. Besides, they preferred
to die fighting rather to being mercilessly butchered as helpless
prisoners. They remembered the fate of John Martin.
Finally Humphrey managed to make himself heard through the din and
crash of battle. He informed his assailants that he was there in the
house and that by virtue of his office as sheriff of the county none
but the coroner had the legal right to arrest him. The Tollivers
sneered at this speech. They had not come to uphold the law; they had
succeeded in trapping the enemy, and meant to use the advantage they
had gained. Hours thus passed. All day the guns roared into and from
the house. The sun was sinking rapidly toward the western horizon;
the shades of evening grew longer. As long as daylight lasted the
assailants had kept covered and protected, held at bay by the brave
defenders. But in the dark of night, the end must come. They could not
prevent a simultaneous attack from the entire force of the assailants.
Surrounded on every side, escape seemed well-nigh impossible. Yet
Humphrey essayed to make a sortie with his companion, hoping thereby to
draw the fire of the enemy upon themselves and to thus at least relieve
the women in the house of further danger of death which had threatened
them every moment throughout that long day. It was a desperate
undertaking, with ninety-nine chances in a hundred against its success.
But Humphrey was brave, and so was Rayborn. As expected, the instant
they emerged from the house a shower of balls greeted them. They ran
for their lives. Rayborn sank, rose and fell again, to rise no more.
His body was riddled. Humphrey, however, seemed possessed of a charmed
life. Though his clothing was torn to shreds, his body received not a
scratch.
Satisfied now that there were no more men in the house, the Tolliver
clan crowned their infamous day's work by setting fire to it. The
inmates escaped without even necessary clothing. The body of Rayborn
was left lying where it had fallen until the next day, protected from
mutilation by dogs and hogs by a rail pen which had been built around
it by the heroic Martin girls.
The excitement that prevailed in the county when the news of the
cowardly attack upon the Martin home became known, can better
be imagined than described. The lover of law and order was
terror-stricken. The question was asked in whispers--"Where will it all
end?" The County Judge was a well-meaning man, but utterly incompetent
as an officer, possessing none of the qualifications for such an office
in a county like Rowan at such a time of lawlessness and anarchy. He
was weak and timid. Always in fear for his life, he completely lost his
head.
Warrants were at last issued upon the affidavits of the Martin girls
against Craig Tolliver, Jeff Bowling and a number of others, charging
them with murder and arson. An examining trial followed. At that time
such trials were held before two justices of the peace. One was said
to be a Martin sympathizer; the other stood accused of being under the
thumb of the Tollivers.
The court's decision gave color to these suspicions. One of the
magistrates decided for commitment of the prisoners to jail without
bail; the other declared that no offense had been proven. Under
the law then existing this disagreement of the court permitted the
murderers to go _free_.
The trial was a pronounced farce. Afterwards some of the parties were
indicted by the grand jury for arson, but none was convicted and the
murder charges against them all fell.
Jeff Bowling, one of the most desperate of the Tolliver faction,
removed from the county of Rowan a short time afterward, and settled
in Ohio, where he continued his career of crime, evidently believing
that there, as well as in Kentucky, none dared molest him. He saw his
mistake too late.
It appears that his mother-in-law had married a wealthy farmer named
Douglas, of Licking County, Ohio. It had been due to the persuasion
of Douglas that Bowling left Kentucky and settled in or near his Ohio
kinsman. Bowling had resided there but a short time when Douglas was
found one morning in his barn--murdered. The finger of suspicion
pointed to Bowling as the only one who had a tangible motive for the
commission of the crime. He was promptly indicted, tried and sentenced
to death, but the sentence was finally commuted to life imprisonment.
He served seven years of his time and moved to Texas.
Humphrey, after his miraculous escape from the Martin house, had
become thoroughly convinced that it was impossible for him to longer
continue in the office of sheriff and resigned, William Ramey being
appointed and qualified in his stead.
Craig Tolliver for a time absented himself from Rowan County. He turned
up in jail at Cincinnati, imprisoned on the charge of robbery. He was
tried, acquitted and returned to Rowan County, when trouble started
anew.
Several killings occurred in the county during the year, some of which
had, however, only remote connection with the feud. John G. Hughes was
killed by a mob styling themselves "regulators." Wiley Tolliver, son
of L. H. B. Tolliver, was killed about Christmas, 1885, by one Mack
Bentley, during a drunken row.
Early in 1886, the murder of Whit Pelfrey, at Elliottsville, Rowan
County, came near precipitating another outbreak. He was stabbed and
killed by Tom Goodan, brother of S. B. Goodan, a prominent Tolliver man
and brother-in-law of Jay, Bud and Wiley Tolliver. Pelfrey, known as
a strong Martin sympathizer, was an influential citizen and wealthy.
Goodan was tried for this murder, but acquitted.
The year 1886 brought with it an annual election at which all county
officers were to be chosen. Each faction had its candidates in the
field. It may, therefore, be easily imagined that neutral citizens
remained in a state of constant anxiety and apprehension.
Cook Humphrey and Craig Tolliver roamed through the county at the head
of large forces, frequently entering the town of Morehead and parading
the streets in defiance of each other.
On July 2nd, 1886, it being County Court day, a warrant of arrest was
placed in the hands of Sheriff Ramey for the arrest of Humphrey, who
was in town that day. The officer went in search of and found him
near the store of H. M. Logan. An altercation ensued between the men,
both drew their pistols and began firing. Friends of both parties
became involved and the shooting became general. When the fight was
over it was found that the sheriff and his son and deputy, were both
dangerously wounded, while W. O. Logan, H. M. Logan's son, a youth
hardly twenty years of age, was killed.
Immediately after the fight the factions retired to their headquarters
and prepared for another conflict. The County Judge was prevailed upon
to demand troops. His request was readily granted and a detachment of
State Guards, commanded by Major K. W. McKee of Lawrenceburg, hastened
to the scene of the trouble.
When July 3rd came, the citizens, women and children, trembled with
fear of a bloody conflict. At the quarters of the factions guns and
pistols were cleaned, oiled and loaded, cartridge belts filled--every
preparation made for battle.
Then the long-drawn notes of a bugle floated in the morning air--the
astonished people peered through the windows and beheld in the court
house yard a long line of soldiers, their guns and bayonets glistening
in the morning sun. There was a sigh of relief--danger had passed for
the moment.
The troops remained at Morehead until some time in August. It was
due to their presence that the election passed off without violence
and bloodshed. When Circuit Court convened, the Commonwealth was
represented by the Honorable Asher C. Caruth, Commonwealth Attorney of
the Jefferson Circuit Court, and afterwards member of Congress from the
Louisville District.
As at this time practically every citizen in the county was aligned
on one side or the other, it seemed impossible to secure juries that
would try cases impartially and without prejudice. This state of
affairs did not escape the attention of Mr. Caruth. The result of
his investigations of affairs in Rowan County resulted in a _nolle
prosequis_, qualified by certain conditions, of the charges against
the Tollivers and Humphrey. His proceeding in this respect is contained
in the following report to Judge Cole, presiding judge of the Circuit
Court:--
Hon. A. E. Cole,
Judge of the Rowan Circuit Court.
Under your appointment I have acted as Commonwealth Attorney pro
tempore at the special July and present August term of the Rowan
Circuit Court. I have given the felony docket, over which alone,
under the present law, I have jurisdiction, careful study and
attention. I have also investigated as thoroughly as a stranger
to the people of Rowan County could do in the limited time of my
service, the causes which led to the present unhappy condition of
affairs, and have sought to find a remedy for the evils afflicting
this people.
I find it to be the opinion of the law-abiding citizens of all
parties that the public peace could be best secured by the
continued absence from the county of Rowan of the acknowledged
and recognized leaders of the two rival factions--Craig Tolliver
and Cook Humphrey. Against the former there is now pending one
felony charge, that of false arrest and imprisonment. Against
Humphrey there are three indictments for felony on the docket,
each for conspiring, etc., to commit personal violence. I have
the written request of each of these persons accused to suspend
further proceedings in their cases, coupled with a promise on the
part of each to leave the county of Rowan never to return unless,
temporarily, to attend the funeral of some immediate relative....
The persons charged to have been injured by their acts also
request this disposition of the pending cases. It is the opinion
of the members of the grand jury now in session, and of the vast
majority of the citizens of the county, that this disposition
of the cases will do much to restore peace and confidence to
the community. After full consultation with the members of the
bar residing here or practising here, with the commander of the
forces now stationed at the county seat, and with citizens of high
position and authority in the Commonwealth, and considering the
_uncertainty of the criminal trials_, I am convinced that this is
the best available method to secure the end in view. No harm can,
by this means, be done the State, because, should the agreement be
violated, the cases can at once be set for trial and prosecutions
made.
The following written agreements were then signed and attested:
Asher G. Caruth,
Commonwealth's Attorney pro tempore,
14th Judicial District:--
I request you to suspend any further proceedings in the cases now
pending in the Rowan Circuit Court against me, and promise that I
will remain away from the county of Rowan permanently. Should I
ever return to said county I am willing that the cases shall be
redocketed and the trials proceed. I will leave said county on
or before the 8th day of August, A. D. 1886. In this agreement I
reserve the right, in the event of the death of any of my immediate
relatives, to return to attend their burial, but I must immediately
thereafter leave the county to permanently remain away.
(Signed) CRAIG TOLLIVER.
Attest: D. B. Logan.
A similar agreement was prepared and signed by W. C. Humphrey, attested
by G. A. Cassidy.
We do not wish to criticise Mr. Caruth's course in this matter, but
it occurs to us, and must occur to the reader, that the practice of
compromising with outlaws proves a weak-kneed administration of the
law. It seems that a man or set of men may terrorize a community as
pleases them, then demand of the authorities immunity for crimes, on
certain _conditions prescribed by the criminals_. Mr. Caruth acted for
the best interests of the community, as he believed. Aware that juries
were partial or prejudiced, he realized that trials in Rowan County of
either of the factions would result in injustice one way or another.
The Grand Juries were corrupt and accustomed to wreak vengeance on
some and whitewashing others. The selection of trial juries was so
palpably unfair that visiting lawyers commented upon it and afterward
testified before the legislative committee to that fact. Several court
officers were undisguised partisans. It seems to us, however, that
these cases might have been removed from the county and tried elsewhere
upon a change of venue. At any rate, the compromise effected by Mr.
Caruth proved not only unsatisfactory, but ill-advised. The success
of his scheme was founded upon the belief that the parties to the
agreement would adhere to the pledge to leave the county. He did not
understand the character of Craig Tolliver. To secure his signature
to an agreement that would put an enemy out of his way was one thing,
to make him keep it, another. Tolliver remained absent from Morehead
long enough to assure himself that the indictments against him were
dismissed, when he promptly returned. Although the compromise was
based upon the understanding that if either returned except under the
conditions recited in the agreement that the indictments against the
party so returning should be redocketed and revived, _this was never
done_. Tolliver was free to continue his career of crime. Humphrey
kept his word, and never violated his pledge. He sold out his earthly
possessions in Rowan County and bade farewell to his native State.
Previous to his election as sheriff Humphrey had been a highly esteemed
citizen, a man of exemplary character, of amiable disposition. His
fatal connection with the feud was mainly due to his unfortunate
selection of Stewart Baumgartner as his deputy. The latter was a
citizen of Elliott County, where he had a reputation for violence and
desperation. Pursuing the same course in Rowan, Humphrey's association
with him made him many enemies. Baumgartner's connection with the
Martin faction compromised Humphrey; thus step by step he was thrown
into the whirlpool of trouble. The formerly quiet, inoffensive citizen
grew dangerous and violent; the dormant, unholy passion of revenge was
aroused. Humphrey became for the time being a character dreaded by
those that opposed him. At the time of his participation in the feud
he was yet in his twenties and unmarried. After leaving Kentucky he
went West, never to return to his native heath until after the death of
Craig Tolliver and his followers, and then only on special business.
With Humphrey gone, the Martin faction practically disbanded. Had
Tolliver observed the treaty stipulations as faithfully and honestly as
did Humphrey, this chapter might end here. The writer would be spared
the unpleasant task of continuing the record of violence, murder and
anarchy. It is evident that Tolliver had entered into this agreement
with the avowed purpose of violating it. He had every reason to believe
that Humphrey would observe it. He out of the way, there stood no one
to dispute Tolliver's undisputed sway in the county, especially at
Morehead. His adherents remained faithful and joined him. They did as
they pleased, in fact had things their own way. If the authorities
did not dare molest them, who should? A few of the citizens who had
attempted a mild protest against Craig Tolliver's dictatorship, were
easily intimidated by keeping them in constant fear of death or
destruction of their property.
Saloons were opened and operated without license. Magistrates refused
to issue warrants, knowing that such an act would forfeit their lives.
Had the warrants been issued, no officers could have been persuaded to
execute them. The residences and grog shops of the Tollivers resembled
and were arsenals. An effective and favorite method of Craig Tolliver
to rid himself of any, to him, undesirable citizens, was to send a
written communication to them, setting forth the fact that Rowan County
could dispense with their presence, and that on a certain day in the
near future certain funerals would take place unless they were gone
from the county. A funeral is not a pleasant function at any time, and
the prospect of one's own set for a definite time, has a tendency with
many persons to try hard to avoid it, if possible. It was, therefore,
not surprising that parties thus notified preferred absence from the
county to being principals at funerals. A few regarded those letters as
idle and meaningless threats, but the sincerity of the advice could no
longer be doubted or questioned when several prophesied funerals did
take place.
To detail the circumstances of the various killings that occurred
during that stormy period of Rowan County would prove tedious. Suffice
it to say, that from the first Monday in August, 1884, to the 22nd
of July, 1887, twenty-three men were killed in Rowan County. No
convictions were secured for any of these murders. But of this later on.
On October 20th, 1886, H. M. Logan was shot from ambush in the streets
of Morehead, while walking from his place of business to his residence.
The wound was dangerous but not fatal.
Judge Carey came in for a full share of the enemy's hatred and
vengeance. His hotel was frequently fired into at night by parties
armed with needle guns and large calibre Winchesters. His house assumed
the appearance of having been struck by a cyclone. Windows and doors
had been completely shot away and the walls perforated in a thousand
places. It required neither doors nor windows to admit daylight.
The Exchange Hotel shared a similar fate. It was managed by H. C.
Powers, another Humphrey adherent.
This kind of argument was convincing, more forcible than words or
letters. Powers and Carey both felt a sudden desire to remove from the
atmosphere of Morehead, concluding that Covington, Kentucky, possessed
greater allurements for the time being than did their home town. Both
remained away from the county until after the bloody, final battle at
Morehead in 1887. Unfortunately, we have no authentic account of the
leave-taking between the Tollivers and Carey and Powers. It must have
been very affectionate, since the Tollivers had exhibited such concern
for their safety, comfort and health as to persuade them so urgently to
remove to a happier and better land.
Howard Logan (H. M.) too, had enough of this joke about funeral
predictions. He could not see the point of it, and concluded that
Ashland, on the banks of the beautiful Ohio, would be the proper place
to recover from his labors and see the world. He also remained away
until after the annihilation of the Tollivers. There were a number
of others who seemed suddenly seized with a fever to emigrate. Among
them were John R. Powers, James E. Clark, a prominent lawyer, who
found a more congenial home at Unionville, Clark County, Missouri;
James Brain, a brother-in-law of Judge Carey; R. C. Humphrey, brother
of Cook Humphrey; both of whom settled in Missouri. Many others
"scouted" in neighboring counties until the return of peace. Judge
Tussey, brother-in-law of the murdered John Martin, on the advice and
persuasion of his wife, remained absent in Carter County and returned
only to take part in the final drama.
Nearly all of the parties who were thus driven from the county, were
men of wealth and business capacity. Removals continued. The magnitude
of the exodus may be realized by examining the figures giving the
population of the county seat, Morehead, from 1885 until the early
part of 1887. In 1885 Morehead was a flourishing town of more than
seven hundred inhabitants. Within two years this figure was reduced to
less than three hundred. More than _half_ the population had removed.
Private residences and storehouses stood empty, with windows nailed
up or were taken possession of by the Tollivers whenever it suited
their fancy. The Tollivers made up the population. The offices of
police judge and town marshal were filled by Tollivers. On June 1st,
1887, Craig Tolliver had the entire town under absolute control. He was
elected police judge without opposition. He did a driving business,
selling whiskey, without license, of course. The law as to obtaining
license to sell liquor applied not to him. He was above the law. He
took possession of the Exchange Hotel, which H. C. Powers had left
without a tenant, by right of conquest. Why should he have troubled
himself with renting property when houses stood empty, and he was
monarch of the town! The property of his enemies was his--the spoils of
war.
The Central Hotel was placed at the disposal of Tolliver by its owner;
the former leased it to Bunk Mannin and his brother, Jim Mannin. These
two were Craig Tolliver's constant associates. He had brought them from
Elliott County. Knowing their reputation as desperadoes, he created
them his body-guard. Bunk Mannin, bloodthirsty, brutal, but courageous,
believed he could serve his chieftain best by capturing the office of
town marshal. He set himself up as candidate and was elected without a
whisper of opposition. As town marshal and hotel keeper, he opened a
saloon at the Central Hotel, operating it in the manner of the one run
by Craig Tolliver, in violation of the law. Bud Tolliver was made a
member of the town council. Craig Tolliver's triumph was now complete.
The midnight carousals, the continuous discharges of Winchester rifles
and pistols, made night hideous. Persons of unquestionable courage grew
nervous. At this period the exodus of the inhabitants was greatest.
Social functions were out of the question. Adjutant-General Hill says
in his report to the Governor, after the final battle of July, 1887:
"One night while I was there the young people of Morehead had a
social at the home of a prominent citizen, and I was told that it
was the _first event of the kind which had occurred in the little
town for years_."
The Tollivers controlled the court and the grand juries. A witness
daring enough to indict them for their many offences was certain to be
indicted for some imaginary offense in return for his audacity. Thus
during one court, shortly after the "shooting up" of the Carey House,
two daughters of Howard Logan testified before the grand jury and
indicted one Dr. Wilson for participating in the riot. The same evening
the grand jury returned indictments against the two young ladies for
"false swearing."
The secrets of the grand jury leaked constantly. Every word of
testimony uttered before it was promptly and minutely reported to
the Tollivers. Mrs. Martin, who had been a witness against them on
several charges, was indicted for sending a poisoned turkey to a
Tolliver sympathizer. Is it a wonder that Attorney-General Hardin
stigmatized the whole machinery of justice in the county as "rotten"?
Is it a wonder that crime was rampant and of daily occurrence? Is it a
wonder that outraged manhood at last took the law in its own hand and
annihilated the outlaws?
Sometime in the latter part of 1886, or early part of 1887, H. M.
Keeton, constable of Morehead precinct, was shot and killed by Bud
Tolliver. Keeton, too, had been duly served with notice of the date of
his funeral. Remaining in the county, he furnished the body.
W. N. Wicher was shot and killed by John Trumbo, a Tolliver man.
At the February term of the Rowan Circuit Court (1887) Dr. Henry S.
Logan, R. M. McClure, John B. and W. H. Logan and Lewis Rayborn, were
indicted for conspiracy to murder Circuit Court Judge A. E. Cole, James
H. Sallee, Commonwealth's Attorney, and Z. T. Young. All the parties
indicted were prominent citizens and of such a character that those
not prejudiced against, and acquainted with them, at once declared the
charges false. The entire transaction bore the ear-marks of a shrewdly
laid plot to rid the county of these men, who had become objectionable
to _Czar_ Craig Tolliver because they had dared to criticise his rule.
The indicted parties were arrested and confined in jail, their bail
having been placed at an exorbitant sum. They were hustled off to
Lexington for "safekeeping." John B. and W. H. Logan gave bond and
returned to their home, about four miles distant from Morehead. Their
father remained in prison.
When it became known that James Pelfrey was the chief witness against
them, it seemed easy to see through the whole affair. Pelfrey's black
character was well-known by some of the Tolliver clan, and to this
unscrupulous man they had turned to effect their villainous conspiracy.
A suitable story was concocted and rehearsed. With it Pelfrey appeared
before the grand jury, and loaded upon his sin-stained soul the
dastardly, black crime of perjury. After their return home the Logan
boys lived quietly and alone, taking charge of the farm in their
father's absence. W. H. Logan (Billy) was a consumptive, twenty-five
years old, and almost reduced to a skeleton by the dread disease. His
brother, J. B. Logan (Jack) was a youth of eighteen.
On the 7th of June, 1887, a disreputable character named Hiram Cooper,
who lived in the neighborhood of the Logan boys, came to Morehead and
swore out a warrant against the Logan boys and their cousin, A. W.
Logan, charging them with confederating and banding together for the
purpose of murdering him (Cooper). This act was in pursuance of the
original plot to rid the county of the family, which, however, had
failed to some extent when the boys had succeeded in giving bail and
were released from prison.
Craig Tolliver, the police judge, issued the warrants. They were placed
in the hands of his confederate, Town Marshal Bunk Mannin, who summoned
a posse of _ten_ men to assist him in the execution of the warrants
against the two boys. Among these _brave_ officers were Deputy Sheriff
George Hogg, Bud Tolliver, Jay Tolliver, Cal Tolliver, Hiram Cooper and
one Young.
Completely ignorant of the impending danger, the boys were found at
home. The first warning they had of the approach of the assassins,
under the guise of officers, was the rapid firing of guns. The boys,
terrified, ran up-stairs, Mannin and Craig Tolliver rushing after
them. Jack Logan seized a shotgun, and over the earnest protest of his
brother Billy, fired into the body of Mannin, inflicting a painful,
but, unfortunately, not fatal wound. Mannin and Craig Tolliver
retreated from the house, while the boys waited tremblingly, with bated
breath, for developments. They saw there was no hope for them. The
smell of burning wood and clouds of smoke told them of their peril. By
order of _Judge_ Tolliver the posse comitatus had built a fire on the
porch intending to burn the house, and thus force the boys to come out.
The crackling of flames, the shouts and cruel, derisive laughter of the
brutal band outside presented a scene such as we read of with horror
in the stories of the Indian wars. Deputy Sheriff Hogg then _requested
permission_ to extinguish the flames. The other "representatives of
the law" consenting, a parley was held. Hogg went into the house and
offered the boys the alternative of surrender or death by fire. They
naturally chose the former, hoping against hope that some miracle might
yet save them, or that, perhaps, their appearing unarmed, might move
the band with compassion and mercy. However, before leaving the house,
they wished assurance that their lives should be protected. Deputy
Sheriff Hogg reported to Craig Tolliver, and that redoubtable officer
of the Commonwealth authorized him to _promise_ them protection. This
assurance was then communicated to the boys, supplemented by the
personal guaranty of Sheriff Hogg. The boys determined to leave the
house.
Billy Logan went down-stairs in company of Hogg. The younger boy was
yet reluctant to trust himself into the hands of Craig Tolliver and
Bunk Mannin, the town marshal, but being again assured that no harm
should come to him, he, too, followed and emerged into the yard. They
were led away some fifty feet from the house to near a spring. There
John Mannin opened fire upon the elder boy, shooting him in the back.
This was the signal for a general fusilade by Craig Tolliver, Bunk
Mannin and others. The boys fell dead. Not satisfied with their deaths,
the heartless assassins, among whom Town Marshal Mannin was the most
ferocious, trampled the prostrate forms, stamped them, and poured
volley after volley into the dead bodies, thus mutilating them beyond
recognition.
They were left lying where they had fallen, a gory, shapeless mass, the
glassy eyes upturned to the sky, in mute appeal to God to avenge this
horrible assassination. God saw, and retribution followed close upon
the heels of the inhuman wretches.
Deputy Sheriff Hogg testified afterwards that he ran away as soon as
the firing began. The murderers joined him, however, before he had
reached town. On the brow of a hill overlooking Morehead Craig Tolliver
halted the red-handed band and instructed them all to tell the same
tale--that the boys were killed in resisting arrest, and that their
killing had been an absolute necessity.
On the following day D. Boone Logan, a cousin of the murdered boys,
accompanied by H. M. (Hiram) Pigman and Ap. Perry, went to the
Logan homestead, and found and cared for the mangled remains of his
relatives. On that evening, upon their return home, they were warned
that they would share a similar fate in the event they attended the
funeral.
Up to the time of the murder of the Logan boys neither D. Boone Logan
nor Pigman had taken any active part in the feudal strife, indeed they
had carefully kept aloof from any act or speech that might in any way
connect them either directly or indirectly with the faction. Boone
Logan had attested the agreement signed by Craig Tolliver to remove
from the county. But beyond this he had remained neutral. Not content,
however, with foully murdering his young relatives, Craig Tolliver
sent to Boone Logan the exasperating message that he must leave, that
he, Tolliver, would rent his house, and hire Logan's wife out to make
a living for her children. By threatening D. B. Logan, Craig Tolliver
made the mistake of his life. He conjured up a storm which passed soon
beyond his power to control. When it broke loose in all its fury on the
22nd day of June, and the streets of Morehead ran red with blood, the
desperadoes experienced at last the lash of an avenging God.
Boone Logan made futile efforts to have the murderers arrested. After
several days had elapsed, Bunk Mannin, the town marshal, went to Logan
and told him that he wished to have a trial, and that the Tollivers
were also ready for trial. "But," said Mannin, "it must be understood
that we attend court with our Winchesters." Judge Stewart was also
notified by the Tollivers that they wished a trial, to which request
Judge Stewart made answer that he "would not hold a bogus trial" and
refused to try the case.
Logan, Pigman and Ap. Perry, in danger of their lives, yet burning
with indignation, entered into a solemn compact to effect the arrest
and trial of all the parties engaged in the murder of the Logan
boys. A resolution made by such men as Boone Logan and his friends
meant something more than mere words. They, too, were men of action.
They went to work in the preparation of their plan with coolness and
circumspection. Caution was needed indeed. They first attached to their
cause a number of men upon whom they could rely. Meetings were held
at secret places. Boone Logan was at once chosen as the leader in the
enterprise. In the prime of manhood, of fine physique and intelligent,
he was just the man to place at the head of such a hazardous
undertaking. Combining indomitable courage with prudence, sagacity and
coolness, he was also a man of unflinching determination. Such was the
man with whom the Tollivers now had to deal. Educated, a lawyer of
prominence, and a polished, quiet gentleman, one would scarcely have
picked him out as the man to oppose the outlaws, to attack them in
their very stronghold and give them battle.
Logan and Pigman avoided being seen in each other's company, yet the
Tollivers by some means had learned of their secret meetings, and,
growing suspicious, began hunting them high and low. To relate the
many narrow escapes these two men had from death would fill pages.
Every road was patrolled by the Tollivers, passing trains were
searched, inquiries made everywhere, and insulting messages sent to
Logan's family. Shrewdly he avoided any encounter, but with dogged
determination continued his preparations.
On the 16th day of June Boone Logan eluded the vigilance of the
Tollivers and succeeded in reaching Frankfort, Ky., where he asked
for, and was accorded, an interview with Governor Knott. To him
Logan related the existing conditions in Rowan County, the despotism
exercised by Craig Tolliver and his associates in crime, the horrible
murder of the Logan boys, for which no one had as yet been molested,
and asked for troops to effect the capture of the outlaws. The Governor
listened attentively to Mr. Logan's representations, but replied that
he had already sent soldiers to Morehead at the cost of many thousands
of dollars to the State, with no other result than aiding courts in
committing travesties of justice; that under the circumstances he could
not see his way clear to repeat his experiences with that county. He
then asked Logan what per cent of the population was actually engaged
in the trouble, and on receiving reply, answered that the good citizens
being so largely in the majority, they should be able to themselves
put down lawlessness. Logan admitted that he could find a number of
citizens who would be willing to aid him in arresting the outlaws if
they could secure the necessary arms. He asked the Governor for the
loan of a few guns from the arsenal at Frankfort, offering to give
satisfactory security for their safe return. The Governor explained
that such a course was unwarranted and a matter beyond his control.
Logan's face turned almost livid for a moment. He did not blame the
Governor, who acted under the law. But he became exasperated at the
thought that a band of murderers were under the law permitted to remain
in undisputed possession of his county, his home, while the Governor
seemed without authority to come to the rescue of order and to maintain
the dignity of the law. Courts had refused to do their duty; officers
championed openly the cause of the murderers; peaceable citizens had
been driven from their homes--anarchy reigned supreme. These thoughts
filled his brain. Before his mind's eye appeared the mangled remains
of his cousins. He feared for his wife and children at Morehead. His
home might at this moment be reduced to ashes and its inmates burned
or shot. The young man's eyes gleamed with a dangerous fire. His lips
quivered while the strong heart beat almost audibly with excitement,
indignation and utter disgust. At last he spoke, slowly, firmly, every
word full of meaning. It was then he made his famous reply, so often
repeated and commented upon:
"Governor," he said, "I have but one home and but one hearth. From
this I have been driven by these outlaws and their friends. They have
foully murdered my kinsmen. I have not before engaged in any of their
difficulties--but now I propose to take a hand and retake my fireside
or die in the effort."
Future events proved that these words were uttered for a purpose
other than mere dramatic effect. The flashing eye told plainly of the
passions that had been kindled in his heart, and the Governor could not
but admire the man's just indignation and determination to do what the
highest authorities in the State could not do.
The action of Governor Knott in refusing to send troops to Rowan County
has been criticised by those ignorant of the law and the powers of the
Governor in such cases. The law lays down the scope of his authority.
The power of the county had not been exhausted in bringing about, or
attempting, the apprehension of the criminals. He had already responded
with troops to protect the court only to find that the authorities
showed the white feather; that compromises with criminals had been
entered into; that juries and officers were corrupt, and when trials
had occurred had proved a farce. No doubt in his heart he wished for
Logan's success. The man had made futile attempts to live peaceably.
Now he intended to act in self-defense. The government cannot help
him--he must therefore help himself. A man's home, no matter how humble
it may be, is sacred as the King's palace in the eyes of the ancient
common law. To defend it from intrusion and attack is man's God-given
right, his duty; Boone Logan set about to retake his fireside.