Argosy, Vol. 1 (1882) — page 26: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ON THE TRAIL tome. I had been the means of saving the life of Tom Auckland and had done. a similar service for Zach Peters, and yet the service in each case was pre- ceded by the deepest kind of humilia- tion. Men don’t forget such things, and, as I viewed it, it was very doubtful whether I would receive similar con- sideration when the tables were turned. My aim was to run the conversation in the direction of the missing news- paper men, for hints were dropped that Montgomery was not the only repre- sentative who had entered this region and never got out again; but.my com- panions were cautious. To me the talk of the two mountain- eers was exceedingly interesting, for it gave me a vivid knowledge of the lead- ing vendettas that have terrorized that region at intervals for a full half cen- tury. The origin of the famous feuds in Kentucky has generally been of a poli- tical nature. One party having obtained control of affairs has pushed its power so far that some of the members, of the least standing, perhaps, come to blows; blood is shed, and probably a life taken. Then the factions take sides and support the belligerents, and within a few weeks the feud is on between powerful political enemies, though perhaps all belong to the same party. Such was the beginning of the latest feud in Clay County. For more than a half century the White family were the political rulers of the section, and, walled in from the outside world by hills and mountajns, they held their own against the opposing faction in their own party, for no new citizens came into the coun- try. In 1897, Will White’s term of office as sheriff expired, and his brother, Ben White, Jr., who had been Will’s deputy, became a candidate for sheriff. The power of his family and friends seemed absolute, but their management of af- fairs was such that the Phillpotts, also Republicans, formed a coalition with the Democrats and nominated Gilbert \ OF A MYSTERY. t7 Garrard for sheriff. Although the nor- mal Republican majority in Clay County was a thousand, Garrard came within less than a hundred votes of election. The campaign was bitter, and intense hostility developed between the Whites on one side and the Garrards, Phillpotts, and Bakers on the other. When this feeling was at the intensest point, A. B. Howard, a friend of the Whites, and Tom Baker, a strong supporter of Gil- bert Garrard, became involved in a quarrel over a judgment against How- ard which Baker had brought. Such an act is looked upon by the Kentucky mountaineers as of so unspeakable meanness that it constitutes a mortal insult. The Bakers and Howards naturally went to fighting, and, as a matter of course, the Whites sided with the How- ards and the Garrards supported the Bakers. Will White roundly abused the Bakers to old Mrs. Lucas, who told them that White had threatened to kill all of the Baker family. Learning of this, Tom Baker armed himself, and, meeting Will White, shot and killed him. This act roused the latent devil of the Whites, and, as the reader will recall, Tom Baker, while at Manchester, awaiting trial and under protection of the State guards, was shot dead, in June, 1899, from an adjoining house by an ally of the Whites. This added fuel to the feud, which raged more fiercely than ever. Going back a few years, the French- Eversole feud of Perry County was an- other illustration of a similar state of affairs. The Eversoles were the politi- cal bosses of the section, and none but they and their friends could be elected to Office. Fulton French made the at- tempt, failed, and hostilities opened. Beginning with a trivial encounter, a mountain war was set on foot which cost the State of Kentucky more than a hundred thousand dollars a Ad filled thirty eight graves, POTS! Bratch: