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.