Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1922-07-05
COLSON-BALL FEUD
Continued from page l.

L CullIOi llINC. Al IsAN
trouble is not in the mountains.
Frankfort has its responsibilities.
Frank 7. Ball is not an eXcep-
tional murderer. His criminal
career is the natural product OF
sentimental pardon-parole sys-
TEN. Convicted of murder in a
county where convictions are
hard to secure and ordered to
confinement in the state. peniten-
tiary for l;fe, he went free after
two years because his ilealthi was
failing, his family was in need
and he was a reformed man. He
safd.soifinfs=if tita1fes.s-f'1etrrc''4i
beasd- slaiaagassdl eiAaassssssesssss
Back at home he took Gp the
old quarrel. Last week he
led his clan back to the battle.
His son was killed. He and one
other may die. Neither ne nor
his son feared the law. He had
tested it before and knew its
weakness.
Bell county does not stand
alone. Breathitt saw four men
killed in an election quarrel last
fall. Later woman who resist
ed a mob at the Breathitt county
Jail was killed for her interior
ence. Pike has a CHASTITY list of
murders Perry, fletcher and
Harlan have piled up a murder
record that disgraces the state.
Meanwhile the release of murder
| ers at Frankfort has increased
the murderers at large, The
communities suffer because OF the
sentimental ideas at Frankfort.
Murderers returned become a
menace to their communities.
Officers of the, law hesitate to
in1ict punishment. Murderers
ale feared. Testimony given by
parole agents working through
out the state shows that the
agents dare not disclose the
names of their informants. lest it
lead to new murder. Citizens
are afraid to testify in the courts
against returned murderer.
The infection spreads. The
returned murderers set up law
unto themselves. They put a gun
at their side and move in and out
among the people. The first to
offer them offense is killed, and
this adds to the fear Of the peo-
pie. The punishment IS made
more difficult end the lawless ele-
ment has gained additional terri
tory at the expense Of the law.
The story of Frank Ball reads
like fiction. 1t is hard to believe
that authorities fof aa3 istate0gov-
.ernlne1lt would relaese upon the
peopie9of the statecia fnasl. who
had such record. Yet it was
Done, and he has IeIigagtbinia
other general fight which has
had fatal result. l9Yb6 0rit
He was a candidate for sheriff
Of Bell county in 1905 Before the
republican primary. Rice John
son defeated him for the nonina-
ton. Disappointed, Ball sought
out Jack Bolen, a barber, who
had supported Johnson. A wordy
alteration occurred in Bolen's
shop. The Court of Appeals said
Bolen would have probably come
to harm at that time had not cit
liens interviewed.
When circuit court convened,
Bolen told the grand jury of
Balls threats and Ball was in
dicted. That night Ball shot
Bolen while he was seated in his
barber chair reading paper.
Ball was arrested and taken to
Richmond for safe keeping.
Balls wife went to Richmond
to visit him. After casual
search she was permitted to go
in. Later, when attendants took
him his food. he confronted them
with a revolver, and forced his
release.
Ball then made his way to
Rose Hill, Zee county, Va, where
his father was sheriff. The req
uisition papers of the Kentucky
governor were not honored. He
remained there during the fall.
In January Johnson was sworn
in as sheriff of Bell county. He
organized a posse and crossed
the state lille into Virginia. Here
the Ball faction had barricaded
Frank Ball in a log house and a