Immediately after the assassination of Marcum, and for a long time
afterwards, conditions at Jackson were terrible.
There was consternation among all who had in the least degree
incurred the enmity of the tyrants who now controlled both county
and town. Judge Hargis appeared in the newspapers with a lengthy
accusation against the dead man Marcum, practically declaring that the
assassination was a good deed and deserved.
Many relatives of Marcum, the Cockrells and their sympathizers, left
town and sought refuge elsewhere.
No one dared travel the streets of Jackson at night who was not sure
of the protection of those who held it in their grasp. Churches were
deserted; for many months no services were held.
It was with the utmost difficulty that any person could be brought
to even speak of the matter in any way. Everybody was suspicious of
everybody else.
In the meantime the murderers were still at large. No earnest effort
had been made by the "authorities" to apprehend them. It would not have
been difficult to have done so, for it was an open secret as to who
they were. The difficulty lay in getting witnesses to talk. Some of
these left town and placed themselves beyond the jurisdiction of the
court, and absolutely refused to return unless protected by troops.
B. J. Ewen, who was with Marcum at the time of the murder, had at first
declared that he did not know who the assassins were. Judge Hargis and
Sheriff Callahan admitted that they saw the slayer in the court house
corridor but had failed to recognize him. Then, like a thunderbolt from
a clear sky, came the announcement that Capt. Ewen had decided to tell
the facts as he knew them, even at the risk of his life. He did so,
charging Jett with the actual shooting of Marcum, and Tom White as an
accessory.
The Hargis faction laughed at this declaration, hinted broadly at
perjury, pointing to the fact that Capt. Ewen had already stated he
did not know the assassins, and that therefore his declaration was not
entitled to belief.
Ewen explained his change of attitude in the matter by saying that, at
first, he had decided to keep his knowledge to himself, for his own
protection, but that since then he had come to the conclusion that it
was the duty of a citizen, who respected the law, to tell what he knew,
even if he risked his life in doing so. He told the story, time and
again, without a tremor,--outwardly at least.
Jett was arrested at Winchester without a struggle and taken to
Jackson. The Governor at once forwarded troops to the ill-fated town
and martial law continued there for several months.
The presence of the troops somewhat reassured the citizens. Many of
those who had departed returned. The grand jury assembled and jointly
indicted Curtis Jett and Tom White, who had also been arrested.
Many exciting events took place during the presence of the troops
at Jackson, but order was gradually restored and people took heart.
Services at the churches were resumed, after months of suspension.
In the midst of one of the trials Capt. Ewen, who lived in camp with
the troops, not daring to return to his own fireside, saw his house,
his home, the fruit of many years of labor and saving, go up in flames.
It was not accident. It was the reward for his fidelity to good
citizenship and his willingness to tell the truth.
Ewen also declared that bribery had been attempted by certain parties.
Later on the matter was aired in the courts, but nothing ever came of
it. Ewen removed from Jackson after the trials.
No one acquainted with the situation in Breathitt at that time doubted
for a moment that Jett and White were but the tools of men higher up.
It is not our province to make charges based upon mere rumor, but this
may be said without fear of contradiction--that the testimony brought
out at the various trials which followed established utter corruption
on the part of those whose duty it was to see to it that the guilty
parties were brought to justice.
These "officers" stood idly by, permitted men to be shot down while
calmly watching the proceedings, and made no attempt whatever to arrest
them. When outside pressure and extraneous influence and help at last
forced investigations and the criminals were apprehended and brought
to the bar of justice, these "officers" visited the murderers in
jail, supplied them with delicate food, money and counsel, consulted
witnesses, hunted up persons willing to serve as defense witnesses for
a consideration, drilled them, tutored them, and through intimidation
and threats of death forced men to commit the crime of perjury to save
the necks of the assassins.
Let us cite an example: A young man of previously good repute, a school
teacher, was indicted in the Harrison Circuit Court at Cynthiana, where
the trials of Jett and White occurred, for having sworn falsely as a
witness for the defendants. He was found guilty as charged. When the
judge pronounced sentence, the convicted man broke down completely and
admitted his guilt, but pleaded in extenuation of his crime that high
officials of Breathitt County, enemies of Marcum and Cockrell, had
coerced him into becoming a witness for the defense and had drilled him
for hours so he would make no blunders in the prepared testimony.
His story had the true ring about it. So pathetic was the story told by
the young man, that both judge and State's attorney instantly released
the man on his own recognizance, although he asked to be sent to the
penitentiary, where he might be reasonably safe from assassination.
Let us see where the County Judge Hargis, and Sheriff Callahan were at
the time of the Marcum assassination. Let us examine their actions;
they speak louder than words. The reader may draw his own conclusions
and arrive at them without assistance.
Both the county judge, Hargis, and Sheriff Callahan hated Marcum and
had been his sworn enemies for a long time. The statements of Feltner
made by him to Marcum from time to time implicated both these officials
as the chief conspirators, although Mr. Marcum at the time he gave out
his statement to the press, refrained from quoting their names. He had,
however, done so to the writer on several occasions.
At the time of Marcum's assassination Judge James Hargis and Sheriff
Callahan were seated comfortably in front of the Hargis store.
(Probably the seats had been reserved in advance so as to be certain of
not missing any scene or act of the tragedy.)
They had an unobstructed view of the court house door, were bound
to have seen what occurred there, yet continued to sit unmoved, and
never made the least effort to locate or ascertain the assassins. They
appeared not in the least disturbed, certainly exhibited no surprise.
Why should they? The conclusion is irresistible--but we shall let the
reader draw it.
Capt. Ewen testified that he was standing at the side of Marcum when he
was killed. Marcum was leaning heavily upon his shoulder. Just before
the shots were fired Tom White passed by the two men, turned and gazed
into Marcum's face. Marcum said "that's a bad man, and I'm afraid of
him." The next moment the shots were fired.
As White passed Marcum the latter turned his back to the rear of the
corridor and the witness Ewen turned with him. This put his face to the
rear of Marcum and he recognized Curtis Jett and saw him standing there
with a pistol in each hand.
Marcum having fallen to the floor, Capt. Ewen stepped out of doors
to save his own life. The position of Jett and of his gun made Ewen
believe that he would be shot next. A few moments later Jett appeared
at the side door of the court house, looked out, then walked calmly
down the steps and mingled with the crowd.
Tom White, so the testimony of other witnesses shows, was standing in
front of Day Brothers' store just before the murder. An acquaintance
invited him to take a drink. He refused, saying he had not time, that
he was looking for a man. He caught sight of Curtis Jett, motioned to
him, and the two entered the side door of the court house. White then
passed on through the corridor to the front door, and in the manner
detailed attracted Marcum's attention, while Jett took his position
behind him. White immediately turned to the side of the front door to
escape the bullets he knew would be coming.
After the murder Jett and White came immediately together again at or
near the jail and walked down the street unmolested.
Tom White had come to Jackson several days before the murder,
ostensibly to secure work, but only one man was introduced to prove
that he made any sort of attempt to obtain employment. Jett and White
were seen together before the shooting and immediately afterwards.
It was the contention of the Commonwealth that the defendants had been
hired to do the murder. One need only read the statement of Marcum to
see with what hellish coolness and deliberation these plots had been
arranged.
The defense was precluded, of course, under the circumstances, from
relying upon the plea of self-defense, so it proceeded at once to
hatch up an alibi. This, however, proved so transparent a fabrication
that the jury ignored it altogether and promptly returned a verdict of
guilty against both of the accused. The sentence was for confinement
in the penitentiary for life. But for the persistency of one juror,
who refused to join in a death verdict, they would have been hanged,
perhaps.
Curtis Jett was a sworn officer of the county at the time of the murder
of Marcum, _a deputy under Sheriff Callahan_. He was proven guilty also
of the assassination of Cockrell by shooting him from the court house,
the temple of justice, prostituted and turned over to the service of
murderers by those in control of it.
Jett's record previous to these assassinations was bad. Twice he had
been accused of rape, had repeatedly been confined in jail on various
other charges, for shooting at persons with intent to kill, for
malicious shooting and wounding and had been indicted for the ruin of a
young girl. He was a moral degenerate. His very appearance proclaimed
to the physiognomist the cruel, heartless nature of the man. His chin
was short and receding, the cheek bones prominent, hair bristly red,
eyes deep set and countenance scowling and bad.
Jett had been for a time confined in the Louisville jail until his
trial at Cynthiana. While in prison he had given the jail officials no
end of trouble on account of his violent disposition toward the other
prisoners. One and all feared him.
After his removal to the penitentiary he pursued similar tactics for a
time, but there they broke him. He is still confined and is now said to
have become a model prisoner. It is said he intends to preach after his
release,--it must be remembered that a life sentence in Kentucky does
_not_ mean confinement for life.
Judge Hargis and Callahan were in due time arraigned for various
murders in connection with the feud. Although Curtis Jett, John Abner,
John Smith and Mose Feltner (who figures so prominently in the Marcum
statement), confessed in one way or another that the accused were the
leaders in the assassinations of Dr. Cox, Cockrell and Marcum, the
chief conspirators, for whose benefit the murders were done and who had
furnished the sinews of war--money and ammunition--they were acquitted.
The widow of James B. Marcum, regardless of the verdicts of acquittal
rendered in the various murder trials of Hargis and Callahan, brought
suit in the civil courts and secured a judgment against them for
several thousand dollars for having been the instigators of the murder
of her husband. The judgment was paid without appeal.