The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1903-10-02

sentiment Of the Cock re lis and IL slain,
by the SeWall III argis fraction to the
/ seudi all since % about 8 ~, 4 In add tion.
to persons wound led .ins table en-!
counters, does not take ,acco ounb of the,
manifold conflicts tia resul ted = In
j wounds not mortal or; serious.
Wh hen Thomas Sewall, intent upon,
i discharging duty that hill tiquette
transferred to him, shot ] Judge Oard- =
i well:in the back, something like public
spirit asserted 4. itself, /, and he fled to
Madison county further vest; but not
1 far away. On Muddy creek he en-,
countered Thomas Dunbar, kins-
man OF the yCockrells, and killed him.
. For. this attempt to maintain the
vendetta he was arrested, and his
trial resulted in q sentence to inn
/ prisonment for life. He served for IL
years, when he was released snby the
governor; His conviction and Inn
prisUnnent did not deter his brother,
William Sewall, from leng gthening the
family record OF crime. Jerry South
and fillmore Brown had been witness
es OF the murder, OF Dunbar, William
Sewall shot, but did not kill, both OF
4 these men. He was not even tried
i| for the crimes.
There were days and months at the
tine when no hostile shots we're fired.
| Breathits wore an outward air Of
peace, but at the same time the feud
was becoming more intense and was
enllsting on one side or the other a
widening circle Of persons connected
by birth, marriage or sympathy with
tile Cockrells and Hargsses.
The Hargis family enjoyed an ad-
vantage over that Of the COckrellS In
being the more numerous, and If it
was more active the record shows that
the COckrells pointed their guns more
accurately and shot more fatally.
/ The feud spirit grew 30 strong as to
assert itself superior to the tradition
that in feud fight women and chill
dren were always immune from the
assassin's violence. Such controversies
were to be carried on by men only,
and women need never>be at all anx-
ious about their own safety.
!, a Hargis violated this unwritten
law. Ebert Hargis shot and killed
Henry Barnett, whose offense seems
) to have b. Ell that he had become
known as an adherent, for sympathetic
reasons, to the Cockrell family and It's
rcsentments. Sally Hayes was an eye
witness 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
shot in the back from Tom Sewall,
|'revenged the murder OF Sally Hayes
by killing John G. Hargis. The shoot
ing or Charles Everett, another Cock
rcll Sympathizer, by Ben Hargis fol
lowed, and not long afterward the
same Ilargis shut and wounded, but
did not kill, Tom Cockrell's brother
in-law, Sam Lenlzford.
At this time the feud occupied all
the time and thoughts of the parties
to 1t. They sought in many ways to
secure advantages over each other,
often by trick and device.
Tom Cockrell was especially often
sive to the l1argis party as the leader
OF the opposing faction, and it was de-
sirable to get rid of him. Ben Hargis
laid a plan to get Cockrell into sa-
loon and kill him. Cockrell fell into
the trap, but in the attempt at assas-
sination Ben Hargis was killed and
Tom Cockrell was only wounded. f
James HargiS was county Judge.
His 3tlice was to maintain the peace,
but the feud spirit inspired and in
furated him, and he shot and killed a
man named Smith who had become a
member of the Cockrell family by
marriage s. 49,. IS t;{l
Business and general affairs were
not generally disturbed In the county
by these occasional encounters of the
two factions. Elections went on, the
nominations for local offices. being
more or less affected by the feud
The Cockrells were not numerous
enough to control in the elections, and
they did not enjoy being outvoted by
the Hargises. Judge James HargiS
election, as we'll us that OF Sheriff
Callahan, was protested by james b.
Marcum Of Jackson, Callahan was
Hargis's brother-in-law. DR.. Cox
openly expressed his participation In
the protest and for this offense was
shot and killed.
But other victims were soon to be
sacrificed to crafty the resentment Of
the Hargis faction. Curtis Jett shot
and killed John Cockrcll Not long
afterward James b. Marcum was shot
and killed in the court house at Jack
son. Curtis Jett aud Thomas White
are now serving life sentences for
committing this crime, which has
brought the Cockrell Hargis feud
prominently into notice.
II has taken so years Of this sort OF
strife to deaden the moral sense OF
Breathitt county to the lawlessness
that the Cockrell and Hargis differ
ences have brought about. Those on
either side who have becume attached
TO the one or the other have learned
to regard the fcud as matter quite
outside Of the law, a matter to be set
tied, as their own private affair, be-
tween the two families. 1t does not
appear that at any time ain arbtra-
tor has arisen, moved by spirit OF
peace and lOathing for murder to bring
about an agreement to settle tile ven
detta that can only be terminated, II
pacific settlement is not reached, by
the death Of the last male survivor OF
one OF the families.
Yet these people move with appar-
ent unconcern about the streets and
along the roads, the children some
J times attend the Same school, and
CockrcllS and Hargises have been
known to gather in the same
churches. But the poison is moving
In the blood all the time.