The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-10-09
THE FEUDS OF BREATHITT
AND THEIR FATALITIES.

oCO4Sc oIlIlI, hI4Itu pS NndTLeS byEu-
THE COCKRELL SCORE.
John CT. Hargis, killed by Jerry
Cardwell.
Ben Hargis, killed by Tom CockreII.
| A. T. Bullock. killed by a. Cockrell.
B. Davis, killed by Tom Cockrell.
Elkanah Smith, killed by Bud Bo-
hanon.
Bud Allen, killed by Joe Haddix.
Susan Barnett, killed by Robert Sales.
Reuben Landrum, killed by Hiram
Miller.
j. w. Noble, killed by Jacob Noble.
Irvine Newgate, killed by Jerry
Noble.
Daniel Hays, killed by Wesley Cox.
This record of II victims 10 the re-
sentiment of the COckrells and 10 slain
by the Sewall-Hargis faction to the
feud. all since about 1870, in addition to
persons wounded in notable encounters.
does not take account of the manifold
conflicts that resulted in wounds not
mortal or serious.
When Thomas Sewall, intent upon
d~ischarging a duty that hill etiquette
transferred TO him. shot Judge Card
we'll in the back, something like public
spirit asserted itself. and he fled to
Madison county, further west; but not
far away. on Muddy creek he en-
cOuntered Thomas Dunbar; a kinsman
of the Cockrells, and killed him.
Fol this attempt to maintain the ven
delta he was arrested, and his trial re-
suited in a sentence to imprisonment
for life. He served for II years, when
ne was released by the governor.
His conviction and Imprisonment did
not deter his brother. William SewalI.
from l~engthening the family record of
crime. Jerry South n Fillmore
Brown had been witnesses of the muir
der of Dunbar. William Sewall shot.
but did not kill, both of these men. He
was not even tried for the crimes
There were days and months at the
time when no hostile shots were fired.
Breathitt bore an outward air of
peace, but at the same time the feud
was becoming more intense and was
enlisting on one side or the other a
widening circle of persons connected by
birth. marriage or sympathy with the
Cockrells and Hargises.
The Hargis family enjoyed an adj
vantage over hat of the CockrelIs in
being the more numerous, and if it was
more active the record shows that the
Cockrells pointed their guns more accu-
rately and shot more fatally.
The feud spirit grew so strong as to
assert itself superior to the tradition
that in a feud fight women and chill
dren were always immune from the
assassin's violence. Sue controversies
were to be carried on by men only,
and women need never be at all anx-
Gus about their wv safety.
A Hargis violated this unwritten law.
Ebert Hargis shot and killed Henry
Barnett, whose offense seems to have
been that he had become known as
an adherent, for sympathetic reasons
to the Cockrell family and it's resent
ments. Sally Hayes was an eyewitness
to the shooting. Not long after she
was shot and killed by John G.. Hargis.
The response was speedy and fatal.
Jerry Cardwell, the brother of Judge
Cardwell. who had been wounded by a 1
shot in the back from Tom Sewall,
reIenged the murder of Sally Hayes by
killing John G. Hargis. The shooting |
of Charles Everett, another Cockrell
sympathizer, by Ben Hargis followed.
and not long afterward the same Hargis
shot and wounded, but did not kill,
O4i Ia i"N SSSAAA
Lentzford.
At this time the feud occupied all
the time and thoughts Of the parties
to it. They sought in many ways to
secure advantages over each other.
often by trick and device.
Tom Cockrell was especially offensive
to the Hargis party as the leader of
the opposing faction, and it was de-
s.. =. -ol ia &c I;~o o., JT,--, |
aid a plan to get Cockrell into a saloon
and kill him. Cockrell fell into the
trap. but in the attempt at assassIna-
ton Ben Hargis was killed and Tom
was only wounded.
James Hargis was county Judge. His
office was to maintain the peace. but
the feud spirit inspired and Infatuated
him. and he shot and killed a man
named Smith who had become a menu
Der of the CockrelI family by mar
riage.
Business and general affairs were not
generally disturbed in the county by
these occasional encounters Of the two
factions. Elections went on, the nom-
for local offices being more or
less affected by the feud.
The Cockrells were not numerous
enough TO control III the elections, II
did not enjoy being outvoted by
the Hargises. Judge James Hargis'
election. as we'll as that of Sheriff
Callahan. was protested by James B.
Marcum of Jackson. Callahan was
Hargis' bother-in-law. DR.. Cox
openly expressed his participation in
the protest and for his onense Vas
and killed.
But other victims were soon 10 be
sacrificed TO crafty the resentment Of
the HargiS faction. Curtis Jet shot
and killed join Cockrell. Not long at-
terward James 3. Marcum was shot
and killed in the court house at Jack
son. Curtis Jett and Thomas White are
serving life sentences for commit
ting this crime, which has brought the
Csckrell-Hargis feud prominently into
l. h,- +al-a, ~ x-aarS IS 49, -