Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-07-02

many years ago StuIuy DCoteh iniAiAi
grants made themselves homes, the
only law is the law of clans, as strong
to-day there as it was in the Highlands
500 years ago, says the New York Her
aid. Let man be killed in dispute
over stolen shoat, a 500 blackboard
or a paltry raft of logs-and they Kill
them there for just such things as
these-his kinsmen kill his slayer, and
thenceforth ever ready rifles keep
popping until one or the other OF the
families is practically exterminated.
Such feud is that now being waged
between the Bakers and Towards,
which in fourteen months, has cost
six lives and caused the authorities to
decide on sending into Clay county
, special judge and prosecuting attor-
ney, under a strong State Guard, TO
bring the murderer of Tom Baker to
far different justice than that vowed
by his widow, who, over his body,
pledged her young sons to avenge
their fathers death.
Bloody as has been the Baker-How-
ard feud, there are others still more
bloody in Kentucky's history, feuds
that have lasted generation, feuds
that have numbered their victims by
the dozens. A feud begun, in troops
of twos and threes, with rifles ready,
the participants have secured the
mountains in search of their enemies,
ready, with murderous weapons, as
soon as some turn in the road brought
their foes into view.
The first fued of importance in Ken
lucky was the Hill and Evans vendetta,
which began in 1929 and continued for
more than 20 years. The leaders were
practieing physicians and they became
enemies through a dispute over slaves.
1t was probably the most terrible fued
ever known in the United States, for
the members of the two families would
fight wherever they met DR.. Oliver
p Hill was the leader of one faction,
and DIR. Samuel Evans led the other.
Their bloody battles terrorized the cit
liens of Garrard county. Altogether
n men were killed.
One of the first feuds to start after
the war was the Strong-Amy feud, in
Breathitt county, Capt. Bill Strong and
John Amy being the respective leaders.
This feud lasted So years, and one man
year was killed. The two forces met
In field one moonlight night, and
when the firing was over there were
five dead men and several badly wound
ed.
The Howard Turner feud in Harlan
county was the next important feud
In this 80 men We're killed and much
Nv
fire. The fued ran for ten or twelve
years. and no man was punished until
Wilson Howard, one of the leaders,
killed a man who did not belong to
either faction, and was hanged for the
crime. This broke up the feud.
Another feud that cost the State
great deal of money was the Martin
Tolliver feud, of Rowan county. Craig
Tolliver was the most desperate man
that ever led feud, and he terrorized
the people of Morehead and Rowan
counties until they were afraid to call
their souls their own After the State
had spent more than 100000 in efforts
to put down lawlessness, Governor ].
Proctor Knott gave it up and told
Boone Logan, then a young lawyer of
Morehead, that the people of the coun-
ty would have to be all shot before he
would do anything more.
Logan mortgaged his home and
bought $500 worth of rifles and am
munition and armed 100 of the most
determined men in Rowan county. He
then swore out warrants for the arrest
Of Tolliver and his men. They began
shooting at the posse which had gone
to serve the warrants. Logan had sec
reted his men around the hotel in
which the Tollivers had taken refuge
and had posted many of them along
the road that Tolliver would be likely
to take when he left the house. The
firing became so heavy and bullets en-
tered the plank hotel SO rapidly that
Tolliver and his men ran out and tried
to escape only to be caught in a cross
fire. Three Tollivers, including Craig,
were killed and several others wound
ed. The rest left the county and the
feud ended after % men had been kill
ed
Then came the French Everitt feud
OF Perry county, with Fulton French at
the head of one faction and Judge II.
G. Everitt, of the Clay County Circuit
Court, at the head of the other This
leuu RACED Tor ten years and SO men
died with their boots on.
The last and in many respects the
worst Kentucky has experienced is the
Baker-Howard feud, which is now being
waged so furiously. 1t has been stated
that feud between the Bakers and
Whites existed over half a century ago,
but this is untrue. The present ven
delta began only a little more than a
year ago. Three months ago only the
county of Clay was affected. Now the
counties of Perry. Jackson. Owslev
Laurel and Breathitt are involved. and
there is no telling how far the war will
spread unless vigorous measures are
quickly taken.
The recent attempt to assassinate Jason
w. Bowling, at Bogtown, when the as
sassins mistook Chris jackson, brother
'n-law of Tom" Baker. for him. because
ae was riding Bowling's horse has arous-
cd the largest and most powerful element
If mountain fighters. Jason Bowling Is a
leader among his people, and has always
been opposed to the manner in which the
White family has conducted the affairs of
Clay county. He owns a farm near Bog
town, and recently received reliable infor-
nation that he would be. the next man
killed by the Whites and Towards. and
that one of their spies would call on him