The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-02-13
A MOUNTAIN BATTLE.
Six Men Killed in Fight Between
Officers and Mountaineers.

Knoxville, Tenn, Feb. 13-A special
to the Journal and Tribune from its
Middlesboro, KY, correspondent says:
Six men are dead and as many more
are dying as the result of battle be-
tween officers from Middlesboro and
mountaineers. The battle which was
one of the most desperate in the history
of mountain warfare occurred between
4 and o'clock last evening atLee Turn
er's Quarter house saloon, three and
half miles from Middlesboro. Last
month some mules and other goods of
Turner's We're levied on in payment for
debt and few nights ago it is al
legged, he, with others went to Virginia,
where the property had been taken. Sc
cured what was formerly his. and re-
turned to the Quarter house. Deputy
Sheriff Watt Thompson summoned
posse of ten or fifteen men for the pur-
pose of arresting Turner at his saloon.
The Louisville & Nashville railroad re-
fused to convey the officers to the sa-
loon and they walked through the
mountains. Turner had heard that an
attempt would be made to arrest him
and he and his men, 10 in number, gave
the officers a warm reception The sa-
loon was we'll suited for an attack like
this. 1t was built of logs and was sur
rounded by a 80 foot fence, in which
loop holes We're cut so that the inmates
could shoot at outsiders. Turner's
surrender was demanded. His reply was
a round of shots. Charley Cecil, of Mid
dlesboro was riding a pony in plain
view of the Turner men, Some one
raised a window of the log house and
shot Cecil who fell dead. Instantly the
man at the window fell back pierced by
half a dozen bullets. Then the firing be-
gan in earnest. The officers scattered,
and hiding behind trees, poured gall
ing fire into the mountain fortress. In
the fight John Doyle, a railroad man,
was badly wounded, perhaps fatally, and
Simon Bean, another railroad man was
shot in the hand. The town men gath
cred closer around Turner's place un-
daunted by the shots which whizzed
around them As soon as Cecil was kill
ed his companions determined to burn
Turner's rendezvous, and in the midst
of the battle a man applied a torch to
an exposed side of the building. Soon
the building was in flames. Several or
the mountaineerS came to the window
and were Immediately shot down. The
members of the posse, surrounding the
barricade, were determined to let none
escape. Lee Turner and several of his
friends, however, in some manner es-
capped, and he is now at Mingo mines.
eight miles from Middlesboro Several
of his men persisted in the flames
All sorts of rumors are affoat, one be-
ing that five Turnerites were killed by
the rifles of the attacking men and that
five m ore persisted in the flames. 1t is
also believed that the posse lost more
men than one. and that some OF the
Middlesboro fighters may now be lying
dead or dying in some of the hollows
surrounding the quarter house. Some
of the deputies came in with their
rifles over their shoulders. They state
that half of the men are still at the
quarter house, and that they will re-
turn with reinforcements. 1t is feared
that the trouble is not at an end. Tur-
ner is not a man who is easily cowed,
and it is believed that he will organize
a hand and ayenge the death of his
friends and the burning of his saloon
Turner is a brother of wild BilI' Tur-
ner, who was killed some years ago:
The quarter house" is known far and
wide because of the number who have
been killed within it's confines. Placing
Yesterdays number of deaths at six,
SO persons have. been killed there, and
twice that number wounded.