The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1904-03-25
Will Probably Throw Some Light
Upon one of the Most Terrible
Tragedies of the Kentucky
Mountain Country.
Widow of Prominent jackson
Lawyer Makes Fight in Court
--Murder Plot Charged.

of life bereft OF that which was Its
chief interests.
Fondling her manly little sons,
who resemble their father In form
and feature, the widowed mother
trembles to think that the venom of
the murderers may not have been
spent In making her children father
less, but that the time may come
when the assassin's bullet may strike
them down also. She knows that
should her suit be unsuccessful the
! only result will be to add to her list
of dreaded enemies, but with the
blood of her murdered husband cry
Ing out for justice, she Is making a
fight to avenge his death. The Bit
terness of undyiug hatred for those
who she believes to be guilty of the
crime has perhaps lent her strength.
The four men whom Mrs. Marcum
charges with the responsibility OF her
widowhood are James Hargis, Alex
I Hargis, Edward Callahan and B. Fui.
ton French.
James Hargis Is County Judge OF
Breathitt county. He has long been
powerful In county and congressional
district politics. He Is Democratic
leader In State politics, member of
the Democratic State Central Com
mittee, personal friend and political
counsellor of Gov. Beckham.
Alex Hargis Is former Democratic
State Senator. He Is shrewd mer-
chant, who, with his brother, has
been successful In Jackson, and has
amassed what, In that part OF the
State, Is considered and immense for
tune.
Edward Callahan Is High Sheriff OF
"Rloody Breathitt." He was ap-
pointed by Judge Hargis alter an
election In which such fraudulent
practices were resorted to that the
Appellate Court held the election
void and the Office vacant. He Is a
Hargis henchman, and was formerly
of the clan sCallahan in the Strong
Callahan feud In which much blood
was spilled.
Fulton French Is a man of means,
who resides In Clark county. He
was at orc. line the leader of the
French faction In the sanguinary
French. Eversole feud In Perry county.
He Is a friend OF Callahan and the
Hargis brothers, and was employed
by the Hargis brothers to defend Cur
tbs lett. He Is now under indictment
at Cynthiana tor the subornation of
perjury In the case. 1t Is charged
that he procured perjnrers to swear to
an alibi for "Wild Dog" Mr.. French
was not In Jackson when Mr.. Marcum
was murdered.
These are the four men against
WHOM Mrs. Marcum Is waging war.
Either of them can command more
money than she has ever had during
her life. Each of them has a large
personal following In the mountains.
In mountain affairs, a personal fol-
lowing counts for much In courts of
law.
Not since the Indians tomahawked
infants, Drained women and exhaust
ed their fiendish ingenuity In devils
ing horrible tortures by which to pro-
long the agony of their prisoners OF
war, has there been perpetrated In
Kentucky a series OF crimes OF such
peculiar atrocity as that which cul.
| minated in the murder of James B.
Marcum and caused the eyes OF the
civilized world to be focused at once
upon the little mountain town of
! Jackson, which had already earned
the sinister appellation, The City of
Sudden Death"
DR.. d. B. Cox was marked" 1t
was known that he would be killed
When the fatal shot was to be fired
was not definitely known. That 1t
would be fired from ambush was
known, for that was the method of
those who take human life In Jack
son. DR.. Cox was practicing ply.
sician. He avoided as much as pos