| Page 9 and whiskey had been blamed for most of the hard name. So it came that the state took the quaint method of making the county good by a process known as "local option," and Breathitt, like some of the others adjoining, had been voted bone-dry. Such forcing of godliness has never been of much avail and those natives who desired liquor to quench their thirst never had to go far to satisfy their cravings. Moonshine and apple-jack flowed all morning and some of those had been imbibing heartiest had passed the maudlin stage and became quarrelsome. The Allens and the Gambles had been passing a jug freely and had reached an ulgy stage of insobriety. It will be remembered that it was these men who had uttered threats against the law taking Jason Little into custody. They had not, however, voiced any threats against the court or shown and designs upon the establishment authority up to this point. A few minutes after the court had recessed , John Aykman, who was numbered among their adherents, stopped William Freeman ( who was supposed to be a mulatto) and asked him what he was doing in Jackson. Freeman gave some inoffensive reply, whereupon Aykman declared; " No damned negrah can bring guns to this town to keep me out." Akyman was plentifully plied with corn liquor and had a high powered Ballard rifle in the crotch of his arm. "Give him hell." Was the advise of Alf Gamble who stood near by. " Gimme a drink, en I'll give 'IM more'n hell," Akyman replied. One of the Allens handed him a bottle of brandy and after taking two large gulps from it Aykman drew closer to the mulatto and said: " Dam you, Freeman, you've al'ays been again me- now I'll give it to you." Handing Alf Gamble his rifle, Atkman pulled a pistol from his belt and deliberately shot William Freemna in the face. The colored man reeled, tottered and then fell to the roadway, face foremost. All of this had not gone unnoticed by a brother of the victim, Daniel Freeman. With a cry of rage and despair he dashed from where he had been standing near Breedin and Hogg's store in an effort to give William aid and assistance. To reach his brother's |
| Stories of Kentucky Feuds |
| Guns Bark in Breathitt-part 2 |
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| Page 5 dead with a bullet wound in her thigh. In substance here is the explantation that her husband made, later, of her untimely demise: " I rode up to my cabin on my mare, dropped the reins and dis-mounted. She had been raised a family pet, and when I started through the door my horse followed me. Those that say I rode into my place on horseback lie. " I led the mare out through the rear door, and when I came back in I unstrapped my pistol and laid it, belt and all, on the mantel-piece. Soon afterward my brother-in-law, Joseph Conner, took it up and started shooting at a pailing around around the door. I remonstrated with him. " Conner didn't have any more ammunition and mine was getting low, so I didn't want him firing my gun. He refused to give up the pistol so I tried to take it from him and, in grappling for its possession, the weapon was discharged. " The ball entered my wife's thigh, but she did not say anything about being wounded, nor did she show any signs of uneasiness until a few hours afterward when a doctor was sent for. The doctor was busy and couldn't come right away and while we were doing all we could for her, my wife died." Following the taking off of Mrs. Little it appears that the Conners decided to press charges against the husband. A warrant was sworn out charging Jason Little with having caused her death, and he was placed under arrest by Constable James W. Lindon on the 19th day of October, when he was brought before the Judge Burnett. Here it is necessary to deviate a little, because the judge becomes an outstanding figure in this chronicle. Judge John W. Burnet was a young man, about twenty-six years of age, a fair lawyer and of prepossessing apperence. He was tall, straight as a pine tree, with hair, moustache and goatee as black as the spades of night. He was not a "mountain man." His birth-place had been in Virginia, just where, the judge was a bit secretive in telling-but it was known that he had departed hurriedly from the Old Dominion in consequence of having"killed his man." Burnet had made many friends in Jackson, which is attested from the fact he had been elected county judge. He was not, however, of pacific inclinations and was rather fond of a fight. When he committed Jason Little to jail without bail, word came |
| Page 6 to him that relatives and friends of the prisoner were hatching a plot to rescue him form duress. Such a warning was not to be taken lightly. Besides the Littles, who were of prolific family and of many branches, there were the Gambles and the Allens, and their kinfolk to be reckoned with-in all a young army was in the making. Judge Burnet voiced his opinion that while the jail might be strong enough to hold Jason Little it was in no state to stand a siege, so he ordered the prisoner to be taken to the city of Lexington for safe keeping. This action on the part of the Judge Burnet did much to lay the groundwork for the trouble that was to follow. And here comes the strange intertwining of the sentimental and the mercenary. In those days, in Breathitt a dollar bill was a rarity, and to change a note of higher denomination was almost an impossibiltiy, so fees, especially fees that were derived from the state, were not to be sneezed at. All who had a connection with the courts eagerly sought a way to get any or all allowances that were made from that quarter. Jason Little had been twenty-four days in jail in Lexington, the Circuit Court with the Judge Randall presising, was about to convene. Sheriff John L. Hagins, who overlooked no chance to run up court costs where the good money of the state, would flow in return, was smugley contemplating his trip to Lexington for the prisoner and who he would take along as hie deputies, when he was apprised that others had stolen a march on him. Court was being held in Perry County with the Judge Randall on the bench, and thither Shade Coombs, Charlie Little and Alex Hargis journeyed and represented to the circuit judge that Shade Coombs and the sheriff had come to an agreement that one or the other would go to Lexington to return the man accused of killing his wife to Jackson for trial. Coombs was sufficiently persuasive as to be able to convince the judge that he was acting in authority and good faith that the necessary order was made out to permit Hagins" or his deputy" to bring back the prisoner. Sheriff Hagins happened to be away from Jackson while this was taking palce, but Coombs had to return to the county town in order to egt the signature of the Circuit Court clerk in order to make his order official. It was while this was being obtained that |
| Page 7 the sheriff's brother learned of this move and sent word to Hagins at South Fork Quicksand to hurry back or he would be euchered out of his fees. When Sheriff Hagins arrived in town he went straight to the office of the Circuit Court clerk where he called for the order of the Judge Randall, and when he saw that this had been properly executed, he determined to act upon the authority of his office, so, calling his men to act as deputies, he set out to overtake those who were with Coombs. By taking side trails and short cuts over the hills he was able to overtake the Coombs party at Hedges Station the next morning. In addition to the two men who had gone down to Perry County with Coombs, there were others, or six in all in his party. Haggins had only three men with him, so the first matter to be settled was one of fee splitting. Shade Coombs made the novel proposition that inasmuch as there were ten men on their way to bring Little back, they would divide equally that is, four of them should go as his deputies and four as the deputies of the sheriff. This was agreed upon, and by this arrangement Charles Little, a cousin of the prisoner, became a member of the Hagins' party. On the way to Mt. Sterling those who started out with Shade Coombs persistently boasted what good shots they were and how they how ill Hagin's men would fare if they started trouble. Charles Little, even though he was now one of the sheriff's men, went so far as to declare; "I'd die rather than go back to Jackson without taking my cousin along with me." Things reached such a pass that Coombs suggested to Hagins that he and his men act as guards under Coombs and split the fees on that basis upon their return. It was this proposal that made the sheriff suspicious that a sentiment, after all, was uppermost and that the real design of the others was to effect the prisoner's escape. The boisterous talk of the men who came with Coombs subsided when they took the train at Mt. Sterling, but, when they reached Lexington, Shade Coombs and Alex Hagins were missing. "What became of them?" the sheriff asked Charlie Little. " Oh, they went off to a saloon to get a drink." " You're trying to play some trick on me," was the accusation he hurled at the "deputy" who had been forced upon him. |
| Page 8 " On my honor I am not-if any one tried to take the prisoner away from you I'd shoot him on the spot." So much for Little's words. A short time the sheriff found him, in the company of Shade Coombs, trying to convince the Lexington jailer that they were vested with the authority to take Jason Little back to Breathitt. " I am the sheriff of the county," Hagins declared, " and the order those men have was obtained by fraud. I demand the prisoner." With this empasse confronting him, the jailer refused to recognize any of the claimants, so the next move was an application to obtain the prisoner before the county judge in Lexington on the part of Little and Coombs, which was refused. Next day they tried to get a writ of habeas corpus before the circuit judge which was also turned down, and upon the final instructions of the court Jason Little was turned over to the Sheriff. All these various maneuverings through the courts had taken time, but as soon as Shade Coombs, his brother Buck, Alex, Hargis and Charles Little found that their efforts had been without avail, they departed immediately for Jackson, leaving Hagins, his deputies and the prisoner to return without their company. The sheriff, anticipating trouble, decided to take a circuitous route to Hedges Station but found momentous news awaiting him on his arrival there. Breathitt had gone on another rampage! Monday, November 25th, had been set by Judge Randall as the day for the Circuit Court to convene. Court days were events of great importance to such communities as the county town of Breathitt. From over the mountains, from the far reaches of its length and breadth, on foot, on horse and muleback most of the populace came to hear and to see. It was their one great diversion. It combined everything from horsetrading to shopping, it promised thrills and excitement. The grand jury had been empanelled and instructed, with the approach of the noon hour, and the court had adjourned for dinner. There was tensity in the air; one or two incidents transpired that had an ominous look. As has been said preceding, Breathitt was an "outlaw" county |