Albuquerque evening citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1905-1907, 1907-07-22
,HARGIS ONCE MORE IS
FREE OF MURDER
CHARGE
Clan Held JOllifiCdtiOn at San
dy Hook. Before He
Went Back To
Prison.
FtUD|ST'S MEETING
WITH BITTER ENEMY
Cold Chances Exchanged But No
Opportunity Offered for TrOu-
BILE Because of Crowd
Gathered at the

Sandy Hook, KY, July 22.-Ac-
quilted once more after another fias- |
CO of a trial on a murder charge, |
Judge James Hargis of Breathitt |
county, is off for his native land of |
feuds in the Kentucky mountains.
He will make a large part of the !
journey by stage, for Sandy Hook |
is thirty miles from railroad. 1t
was to this fact that the prosecutors,
Attorneys Byrd and Waugh, attribut-
ed their inability to secure a convic-
ton. Justice is impossible in Ken
lucky" they declared bitterly, and
their only course was the one they
took-to throw up the case and let
the judge go free.
Special Judge William Moody,
Governor Beckham's appointee to
hear the case, declared before his de-
parture that he had no choice but to
instruct q verdict of mot guilty"
Held Jollifcation.
The prosecutors knew the trial was
to begin Saturday and should have
come prepared.
The Hargis clan held a jollifcation
before they left for home.
"In the mountains" said Judge
Hargis, "every man is his own sheriff
and executioner."
He was accused of completely in
the assassination of Dr.'C. b. Cox of
Jackson, a foe of the Hargis clan.
Breathitt county judges refused to
hear the case; Special Judge Carnes
abandoned it after asking state troops
to protect him, and change of venue
was finally taken to Sandy Hook up
on the ground that a fair trial was
impossible at Jackson.
Feudists Meet.
This little incident shows the ter
rible intensity.
Late in the afternoon Tom Cock
rill, who slew Ben Hargis, brother
of the senator and Judge Hargis,
came over to the hotel to talk with
a friend. He leaned back in a chair
against column.
Presently Elbert Hargis big,
fine-looking fellow, youngest of the
three surviving Hargis brothers,
sauntered over from the court house
with John Abner, strong Hargis
man. None of the three men saw
what was coming. Cockrill's back
was toward the court house, and
Hargis and Abner were on the steps
not five feet from Cockrill when each
saw the other.
The situation was thrilling. The
look of utter surprise that flashed
into each face was a revelation. None
was looking for such an encounter
Not an eyelid quivered. There was
not the slightest sign of recognition
on the part of any one of them. The
muscles i'm their faces went as tight
as fine steel bands. There was never
a finch, or CULVER, or gesture to be-
tray what was going on within the
breasts Of the three men as they
faced each other.
1t was over in an instant Cockrill,
without changing his accent, went on
talking. Hargis and Abner passed by.
A few moments later Cockrill slow
ly sauntered over to the court house.
What is a Feud.
Why do the men of the blue Ken
lucky hills go out in the morning
with deadly hateful purpose and re-
turn in the evening with the blood
of their neighbors on their hands?
"The mountains know no law.
Each individual is judge and jury to
himself Wronged every man is his
own high sheriff and the executioner
of his enemy"
The speaker was Senator Alex. H.
Hargis, brother of Judge Jas. Har-
gis, on trial here for the alleged kill
ing of DIR. ID. b. Cox.
He was explaining while a crowd
stood listening the beginning and the
conduct of feuds what the spirit was
that lay behind KentuckyS CHASTITY
record of shootings and stabbings. Be
hind him stood the little court house
where Henry Clay once spoke; to his
right, the Hargis headquarters; to his
left that of the ant-Hargis faction
q Not a face changed in the crowd
as the senator went on. 1t was moth
ing new to them. They had sucked
these beliefs in with their mothers
milk. They did not understand how
Teu-DlOOded, muScled, spirited men
could settle their quarrels in any
other way If man shot down your
brother il was your simple duty 10
hunt him down and avenge the mem
ory of the dead man. 1t seemed
strange to them that outsiders should
come in and ask questions.
"Talebearing plays a big part the
senator continued. This man or that
man will go TO one side ana report
that the other side said so and Sc
about it. Then the reply is taken tC
the opposite faction. Hard feelings
are so famed into fiercer flame, and
the first thing anybody knows there
is another killing. And so the feut
goes on from generation to genera
ton"
Senator Hargis had five brothers
He has lost three in the feud,
The situation in this little noun
tain hamlet is felt rather than seen
one is subtly conscious of an atmos-
phere of tragedy.
But here the feudists are avOidinG
each other. They do not sleep be
meath the same roofs or eat at tht
same tables Captain Ben Even, on'
of the hercest feudists, made his trlI
10 the trial over the mountain a
night.
Metal Market,