The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1878-12-19
p. Li'f is''AiaA4Ltr NJ % Aoiliuitltidl- ]
BLOODY BREATHITT.
An ACCOUNT OF THE CIVIL WAR
IN KENTUCKY.

e. IN KENTUCKY.
r. Town Out Of the WOrId-"I.Oeal
r OptiOn"-Different Stories Of the
Origin Of the History OF tbs
a FeudS-Number Of the Killed and
/ Wounded UnknOWn-The Governors
u lnactiOn.
\ reporter Of the COmmsFcjGi took
=. the train last Monday afternoon al the
Short line Depot. eiL route tGr the seat
a Oi war IL bredJhitt county. Arriving
u al Mt. Sterling at : o'clock that even
, ing, he spent the night there. and. on
!. Tuesday morning. mounted horse
and started on his Journey over the
- mountains. Those who have never
made the trip from Mt. Sterling 10
q. Jackson. ihe county seal OF RTeaihitt
county. can form but little idea of the
difficulties that are Ia he encountered
on the terrible roads. and no man will
. certainly ever desire To make The trip
a second time without he has some
q very pressing business urging him 0n.
The road SeN en miles ont OI Mt Ster-
| ling Is very good one, but after going
| that far, the traveller begins Ia get an
? idea Of what Is before him, and the
! longer he rides the more diSagreeable
does the road bpcOIne. From Mt. Ster-
. ling To Hazel Green, IN Wolfe county,
the distance - forty live miles, and
, about O'Clock on TUESDAY evening the
, Commercial reporter rode up to the
Day House, in that little village. and
put up for the night. Ii had been
pouring down rain since II o'clock in
the morning, and the growing lire in
the old fashioned fireplace WAS indeed
a cheerful sight 10 the chilled reporter
The next morning it commenced SNOW
ing hard, but as the prospect was that
ii would continue throughout the day,
the reporter continued his Journey,
and at =. VI. found himself in Jack
son. On the road the people informed
him that it was as much as mans
life was worth tn attempt to enter the
streets of jackson. hut feeling that
they estimated the danger as being
greater than il really was, the COM
nleTciGi representative pushed on and
found his judgment had not deceived
him.
! THE SCENE OF THE FIGHTING.
Jackson is a little town of about 20
or 600 inhabitants. IL is situated at
the narrow point of the great loop in
the North Fork Of the Kentucky
| River. The stream makes Il great bend
| known rs the Pan Bowl Bend, seven
miles around and but seventy OF eighty
feet through the narrOwest part of the
neck. Here a tunnel has been cut and
a mill erected. There are three or four
stores, four or five houses where
| travellers are entertained, a pOStOfiice,
log jail, small Court House, Il black
smith shop, and score OF more of
dwelling houses. There are no bar
rooms III town, for local option was
voted in the county some time since,
and those who desire Whis6ey have to
| get ii at the drug store on the sly, or
| procure IT from some of the moon
sinners. When the Commercial re-
porter rode into town not sign of life
was to he noted anywhere except in
three or four houses, where smoke was
issuing from the chimneyS; not man,
woman, or child was on the streets,
and no lights were to he seen in the
windows, although it was quite dark.
| Riding up to twO-StOry frame house,
which had the appearance of being a
tavern, the reporter got off his horse
and knocked at the door. 4 cheerful
voice said Come in;" and when the
door was opened lady, surrounded by
three or four children, was sitting by
| the fire.
| "Can | procure shelter for myself
and horse tO-night?' said the reporter.
The lady hesitated before she re-
piled, but finally said she presumed he
could. Just then an old gentleman
stepped on the porch behind the re-
porter, and informed him that he could
stay all night. After putting up the |
horse, and partaking of warm sup
per, We gathered around the fireplace,
and the subject of conversation was
the war in Breathitt"
The reporter soon ascertained that |
his hosts name was VIM. Combs, and |
that he was the iailer of the county, |
and one of the prominent citizens. |
Mr.. Combs was present at the time the |
| tight OncHrred in Jackson, and wit
messed all of the bloody scenes of those |
memorable days. The reporter inter
viewed him thoroughly; also a lawyer
named Howard, and ascertained the
following facts regarding the Breath
lit county feuds:
THE BEGINNING OF THE STRIFE.
Ever since the close of the war
| BTeathitt county has been cursed by a |
| bitter and relentless strife between Il |
number of men, who regarded the civil |
| law almost in the light of Joke. |
They are the kind of men who think |
they have Il right tO settle all disputes
with the bowie knife. the revolver or |
| the rifle, and they have 4 great con-
| tempt for the officers Of the law. Dur |
ing the rebellion they were permitted |
to do pretty much as they pleased, and |
no doubt got 50 used to killing their |
enemies on the slightest preteXt that
| they could not or would not leave off |
the habit when they were called upon
to do so. While it is more than prob |
able that politics had something to do
with the matter, the facts do not |
prove that this alone was the cause of |
/ the breach between the parties. In |
| fact, il is hard to tell what originated /
the feud, for the reporter talked 10 sew
eral parties about il, and each one told |
different story about it. For in
stance, one said the whole thing began |
by the stealing of a watermelon by a
| little boy, who was chastiSed for il 10y /
the owner of the melon. This raised \
| the ire of the boys father, and the re-
suit was a pitched battle between him
and the owner of the melon. and the |
subsequent killing of great many \
men. Another version of the affair is |
/ that at the close of the war a number |
of men got together and resolved upon |
going over the country and seiZing up-i
on any animal, gun, pistol, saddle, etc,
that had United States brand upon /
| 1t, representing themselves as United /
States officers; that they collected to-
| gether a large amount Of plunder in |
this way, and fell out over a division |
| OF the SpOilS. Another account is that |
| one OF the little boys set atiOat a SLAM |
derOuS story about a Miss COckerill, |
| and that her friends took the matter /
in hand, and resolved to punish her
traducers. Whether the stories are
true or not, no one but those directly |
interested will, perhaps, ever know. 1t |
may be that one of the reports is true,
and that the others are false, or it is |
probable that all of them are true, and /
that each circumstance had something |
to do with raising the bad blood he
tween the parties.
THE FIRST FEUD.
The difficulty first broke out between
Capt. Bill StrOng'S party and some /
men by the name of ANY. They
fought each other until Strong trf- |
umphed over his enemies and extermi- |
mated them. Then the Jetts and the
Cockerills took it mp, and the war
ragged between them with more fury
than ever. Jerry Little shot and killed |
COrtice Jet, and was in turn shot bv
Jett's brother. This was in 1874. and
they carried things TO such a high pass
the Governor had to send a company
Of militia TO quell the mob. Five
companies were sent there in Septem-
Der and remained until December. Asl
soon as the soldiers appeared upon the
scene, the YiOlatOrs of the law took
to their homes in the mountains, and
remained there until the troops de-
parted. None Of them were ever pun
ished for lawlesSness. After the
troops left hOstilitieS were resumed.
and fights occurred AT nor N-arv Ion0I