The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1907-07-26

jim HARGIS
SCOTT FREE
Prosecution Quits Because
witnesses Failed to Appear
Judge Moody Forces Trial to Be-
gin With Only 20 of 90
Witnesses Present.


charge Of procuring the murder of DR..
Cox, at Sandy Hook, last Saturday,
the verdict of the jury being render
ed under instruction from Judge
Moody, one of Gov. Beckham's ap-
pointees, to return such a verdict.
This action was taken following Judge
Moody's action in forcing the trial
to proceed with but 20 of the so Com
monwealth witnesses being present,
the absent ones including many of the
most important ones.
The prosecuting attorneys said 1t
would be a farce to go into trial
without having evidence to corrobor-
ate the stories of Asbury Spicer and
John Smith. Special Judge Moody
accordingly instructed the jury to find
the defendant not guilty and Hargis
was released from custody.
This marks the close of the prose-
cution Of Judge Hargis for the whole
sale Breathitt murders which has car
ried him through four trials, and
which has cost him many thousands
of dollars.
The acquittal CT Judge Hargis in
criminal procedure and his convic-
ton in the civil courts is considered
a strange result He is nevertheless
now free of murder charges,the Cox
killing being the last for which he
was to have been tried.
DR.. B. d. Cox was assinated on
the streets Of Jackson, April -, 1902,
while going to the Arlington Hotel TO
attend a patient Asbury Spicer and
John Smith have since confessed to
the murder their stories dove failing
in almost every particular except as
to who fired the fatal shot. In June,
1906, when the trial of Hargis for bail
in Jackson in the Cox case was in
progress, Asbury Spicer confessed to
assisting in the assassination of Cox,
saying he, Abner and Smith were hid
under a shed of a stable on Judge
Hargis' premises and that Ebert Har-
gis, brother Of James Hargis, was
standing on the street a short distance
away and signaled them with Ian
tern of the approach of DR.. Cox. AS
Cox walked down the street he was
shot and MORALLY wounded. After the
shooting the confessors say that the
three men walked over to the yard
of Judge Hargis' residence where
Judge Hargis, Ebert Hargis, Ed
Callahan and others were standing
and reported their deed.
Yes, boys, you made him below
like a bull" Judge Hargis is alleged
to have said, addressing Spicer, Smith
and Abner.
The following July %, Town Mar
shall James Cockrell, of Jackson, was
shot at Jackson from the court house
and near the Hargis store. He was
taken to Lexington where he died in
a hospital. On May 4, 1903, James
B. Marclum, an attorney at Jackson,
was assassinated while standing in the
court house door. Confession of John
Smith, Asbury Spicer, Curtis Jett and
others have implicated members of
the Hargis clan in all. Of these muir
ders.
Hargis was twice tried in Fayette
county for the killing of Jim Cockrell.
The firstptrial resulted in hung jury
and Tie last one In acquittal by a
Scot county jury summoned to Fay
,sette.
In July, 1906, Hargis was tried in
Beattyvilae for Marcums murder and
acquitted. The Sandy Hook Proceed
ing is the last chapter of the Hargis
prosecution in the criminal courts.
Asbury Spicer was never indicted
because he turned States evidence
and the charge against John Smith
was filed away for the same reason.
The Cox case was taken to Elliott
county on a change Of venue. The
damage suit of the Cox heirs against
Judge Hargis and others is yet to be
+~;do In Tho Eovatta Cirmuit Court