The Detroit times., 1911-04-20
DEADLY KENTUCKY
FEUDS RENEWED
Latest Killing in Bloody Breathitt
County Promises a New Align
ment of Killers.

ley on the Perry County line. III
Breathitt county IL will mean ne"
strife between the Hargises and thu
Galatians. In Clay county II vii
mean new strife between the How
ards and the Bakers.
These feuds may be called the old
est OF the long line that have giyeI
Kentucky so tragic a history. The
former goes back unbrokenly 10 thu
civil war, with connections leading
IL thirty years behind that period
The latter sprang from a Quarre
over three walnut logs in the fall o
1897. Together they have cost -
lives. When Devil Anse" White
shot down Deaton and Begley a weel
ago he made the feuds one, and
new page has been opened In The
roster Of casualties.
sDevil ,Anse" White Is not the fig
ure his name would make him seem
Devil Anse" Is a name TO conJure
with In the mountains Of Kentucky
but that Is because the greatest Hat
field of them all bore IL. The Hat
fields belonged along the West Vir;
ginia border; the Whites belong 10
Clay county, long way to the south
west. Between the "Anses" there is
as much difference as there is be
tween their home communities.
For all that. howver White has
had conspicuous parts to play in the
feud tragedies Of the last 10 years.
His family has been identified with
the Howard-Baker strife since its be-
ginning. tom" White, his brother.
Is serving q life sentence for COM
plicity In the killing Of James B. Mar
cum. John Abner, his brother-in-
law, was killed year ago in Jackson,
the capital of Breathitt county. II
was because Jason Deaton was
brought to trial for this murder that
Deaton lay in wait for Devil Anse, !"
and was killed instead of killing.
All His Life a Feudlst.
White has been living among en-
mites of this kind for all the SO
years of his life. He first came into
fame, however, by telling about feuds
and not by taking part In them. That
was In 1905, when the assassination
of lDr. B. d. Cox and James B. Mar
cum reached the courts. The prose-
cution's first surprise came with the
calling of Devil Anse" as witness
for the state. On the stand he told
how, when Thomas Cockrill was on
trial for the killing of BENJAMIN Har-
gis, Judge James Hargis, a brother
OF the murdered man, had called him
to his office and given him 45-cali-
Der revolver, telling him to mold him
self ready to do as Instructed" When
the instructions came. White testi-
\ fed, they called for the shooting down
OF i've of the witnesses for the prose
cution, DR. B. ID. Cox, ]. b. Marcum,
James Cockrill. Mark Cockrill and
William Vaughn. .--
When White left the courtroom ar
ter giving this testimony. his life was
threatened by Hargfs adherents. He
was surrounded In the hallway and
only the gathering of the Cockrills
about him, IL was said, enabled him
to make his escape. From that time
on he considered himself a marked
man.
AS the trial dragged on the ties that
bound Whites family to the Hargis-
Callahan affair were frightened. In
1906 Asbury Spicer turned states
evidence to tell how Robert Deaton-
q brother of Jason Deaton-had told
him Judge Hargis wanted to see him
Judge Hargis offered Spicer, his
brother Jesse and Ebert Hargis sl0C
apiece to kill DR.. Cox, Asbury Spicel
testified. Finally Jesse Spicer and
Ebert Hargis did kill the physician
he added.
During a second time on the stand
Asbury Spicer told how Judge Hargii
sent him after Tim" White, while
Sheriff Edward Callahan sent him al
ter Curtis Jet, to whom the killint
Of Marcum was to be intrusted. 4
few days later-May 4, 1906-Mar
4 cum was killed, as Cox had been OF
April 10, 1902. Marcum was sho
down on the steps Of the Breathit
county courthouse. Cox was sho
down in the street, within stones
throw.
Bound In a Feud Alliance.
When Curtis Jet was called to th'
stand he told Of finding Judge Hargis
Sheriff Callahan and John Abner sit
< ting together in Judge Hargis's store
discussing the killing Of DR.. Cox
I whose life had been forfeited as {
result OF the killing Of Benjamin Har
gis. Abner's presence In the groul
was the second link In the chain tina
should have bound Devil Anse" L
the Hargis cause.
In spite of the danger in which
his brother and his brother-in-law hat
been placed. however Devil Anse
TUNED states evidence when Judg
Hargis and Sheriff Callahan wer
brought TO trial for having planne,
the Cox and Marcum killings. Tom
White, as has been said, went 4
prison for life, but John Abner wa
acquitted.
Marcum's killing had been the thiI
ty-eighth in the feud in Is months
Judge Hargis and Sheriff CALLAHAN
were acquitted of the charges lai
against them as a result Of the mul
der OF the attorney, and with that tn
killing started anew. James G.. Def
ton was the first of the new series
\ Soon Robert Callahan announced a
attempt on his own life.
That announcement was one OF tn
strangest incidents Of the Hargis- Ca
lahan feud. II was not believed a
first, but Callahan had been desper
ately wounded. although by whom
was never determined. Since tina
time several other attempts on hi
life have been made. and IL was onl,
few weeks ago that the sheriff an
nounced his intention OF leavinI
Breathitt county. even though II woul,
look as II he were quitting under fire
Judge Hargis has also been take,
from the leaders OF the feud III