Newspaper Articles 

The Feud INVOLVING 

MARCUM-SPICER-Hargis-JETT-WHITE

BREATHITT-JACKSON COUNTY

KENTUCKY FEUD REVIVED

Witness Against J.R. Marcum’s Murderers Shot Down by Enemy

Jackson, Ky., April 2, 1904

News was received here to-night that James Johnson was shot and instantly killed by Bummer Spicer at the mouth of George Creek, ten miles south of here.

Spicer was standing in a houseboat in the river and Johnson on a sand bar, and the shot was fired without warning and apparently without provocation.

Johnson is a nephew of J.B.Marcum who was assassinated in the Breathitt County courthouse door a year ago, and Spicer is a cousin of Sheriff Ed Callahan, a leader of the faction which is charged with bringing about Marcum’s death.

The presence of the militia in Jackson until nearly Christmas had a quieting effect in Breathitt County. Johnson is a son of Mrs. Mary Johnson, sister of Marcum, who was an important witness in the case against Curtis Jett and Thomas White, convicted of Marcum’s assassination. Spicer was arrested.

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