The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-09-30
This record of IL victims to the re

This record Of l victims To the re-
sentiment Of the CockrellS anC 10 slain
by the wallHargiS fraction to the
fcud. all since about 1870, in addition
to persons wounded in notable en-
counters. does not take account Of the
manifold conflicts that resulted in
wounds not mortal or serious.
When Thomas Sewa]l, intent upon
discharging a duty that hill etiquette
transferred to him, shot Judge CARD.
we'll in the back, something like public
spirit asserted itself, and be fled to
Madison county. further west; but not
far away. On Muddy creel: he en-
countered Thomas Dunbar, KIDS
man OF the Cockrells, and killed him.
For this attempt to maintain the
vendetta he was arrested, and bis
trial resulted in sentence 10 I'M
prisonment for life. He served for y
years, when he was released by the
governor. His conviction and i'm
prisUnment did not deter his brother,
William Sewall. from lengthening 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 o!
these men. He was not even tried
for the crimes.
There were days and months at the
tine when no hostile shots were hred
Breathits wore 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 ad-
vantage over that OF the CockrellS in
being the more numerous, and II 1T
was more active the record Shows that
the Cockrells pointed their guns more
accurately and shot more fatally.
The feud spirit grew 81 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 unWrltten
law. Ebert Hargis shot and killed
Henry Barnett, whose otfeDse seems
J to have b, en- that he had become
/ known as an adherent, for sy npatheic
reasons, to the Cockrell family and its
reseutnents. 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 q
shot in the back from Tom Sewall,
ravenged the murder of Sally Hayes
by killing John G. Hargis. The shoot
ing Of Charles Everett, another Cock
rell sympathizer. by Ben Hargls fol-
lowed, and not long afterward the
same Hargis shot and wounded, but
did not kill, Tom Cockrelrs brother
in-law, Sam Lentzf0rd.
At this time the feud occupied all
the time and thoughts Of tie parties
to it. They sought in many ways to
secure advantages over each other,
often by trick and device.
Tom Cockrell was especially offen-
sive t. the Hargis party as the leader
CT the opposing faction, and it was de-
sirable to get rid If him. Ben Hargis
laid plan to get Cockrell into a Sd
loon and kill him. Coclsrell fell into
the trap, but in the attempt at assas-
sinaUion Ben Hargis Was killed and
Tom Cockrell was only wounded.
James Hargis was county judge.
His otice was to maintain the peace,
but the feud spirit inspired and in
furated him, and ne shot and killed a
man named Smith who had become a
member Of the Cockrell family by
marriage.
Business and general affairs were
not generally disturbed in the county
by these occasional encounters of the
two factions. Elections vert on. the
nominations for local offices being
more or less affected by the 3eud.
The Cockrells were not numerous
enough to control in the elections, and
they did not enjoy being ougvcted by
the Hargises. Judge James Hargis'
election, as well as 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 anG for this otTense 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 Cockrell. Not long
afterward James B. Marcum was shot
and killed in the court house at Jack
son. Curtis Jett and Thomas White
are ncw serving life sentences for
committing this crime, which has
brought the Cockrell Hargis feud
prominently into notice.
1t 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 become attached
to the one Or the other have learned
to regard the feud 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 an arbltra-
tor has arisen, moved by a spirit OF
peace and loathing for murder to bring
about an agreement tc settle the ven
delta 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 uncoucern about the streets and
along the roads, the children some
times attend the same school, and