| for the tragedy. Because of the old score against Anse White it was determined that two might die as well as one, so, at the last minute, it was decided to include him in their murderous adventure. Callahan followed a given route in bringing the goods that he purchased in Louisville back to his store. These he had shipped to a small station on the Lexington and Eastern Railway where the merchandise could be transferred handily to his boats on the Middle Fork. These were carried to the mouth of Long's Creek, where the water being too shallow for the boat's burden, the goods were transshipped to land and freighted over the road to Crocketsville. It was customary for White to assist in the transference of the goods that came over this devious route and the plotters surmised that he would be caught off his guard while he was thus engaged. The most of Friday afternoon was put in by Dock Smith and Andy Johnson, accompanied by a couple of the others on the banks of the Middle Fork waiting for the arrival of the boats of Callahan. It was nearly sundown when they returned to Abe Johnson empty handed and with nothing to report. Other sources of information, however, bore the news that Callahan had come back to his country and that it was only the course of time before he would again be at his store. Plenty of whiskey was now procured and the final details of the marauding expedition were gone over and tested out. The hours sped by-midnight came and passed with the eight or ten men still talking and drinking. Two o'clock in the morning came-the three Johnsons, told off to bear false testimony should the occasion evenuate, were required to be on their way. The last cautions were given to them and they departed toward Jackson while Dock Smith, Andrew Johnson and three of the Deatons Jim, Bob and Dan-started off for the river. This route presented less obstacles than had they tried to find their way over the hills in the darkness of the night. First, they made their way to Granville Johnson's where they awakened some of this family and were provided with a supply of provisions. Next, they borrowed a boat belonging to Granville in which to make their way to Long's Creek. Soon after the five of them got into the boat it was seen that the craft was too small to bear them to their destination. It leaked horribly and shipped water with every twist of the current. James Deaton was for continuing the voyage even though the most of |
| Stories of Kentucky Feuds |
| Those Who Take Up The Sword-part 2 |
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| page (6) Perry County. Their kinsmen sought out the men whom they believed guilty of this crime and demanded that they be prosecuted to the limit of the law. These two had been assassinated beyond the limits of Breathitt and it appeared to the Deatons that "justice" would be equally if not fairly dealt and the culprit punished. Strange interferences, however, developed. Witnesses and other adjuncts of the trial showed the signs that hidden fingers were playing upon the strings. Then it turned out that some of the four mankillers had an alliance with Callahan and that he was beholden to them. Open charges were made by the Deatons that Callahan had a finger in the murders and that there was no chance to force the prosecution to its rightful ends as long as Callahan was able to exert an influence. "Remove Callahan or give up any hope that these assassins will be punished," was the logic of those who opposed him. These happenings alone would indicate that Ed. Callahan had drifted right back into the turgid stream of feudal killings, maddling with the courts and despicable dealings from which he had hoped to be delivered only four years before. The four killers were soon to be brought to trial in Perry County. The time was getting short for action. The day of reckoning was coming. An accounting must be had and the slate cleaned. The conspirators, and they were many, who now sought Calla. han's life laid their plans well. They chose a time when the storekeeper of Crocketsville could receive no warning of their movement. This time there were to be no mishaps. The biggest game that had been sought to bag was to be slain without an error. On the Sunday before the first of May in 1912, Callahan set out, as was his custom, for Louisville to do the buying and re-stocking of his store. He chose a circuitous route, as he had done many times before. This took him down the river and thence back into Jackson, which he did not reach until the next day. The former sheriff took his time while at the county seat. He met and joked with old acquaintances and loitered about the streets until the afternoon train started west. He made no effort at concealment or avoidance of his enemies. The man knew danger lurked in every shadow and around every corner. He no longer page (7) |
| ruled by the virtue of the office he once held-he could command an element of fear, it is true, and there were many with whom he brushed shoulders, whom, he knew full well were sufficiently courageous to put a bullet in him, front or back. This was no mawkish sort of bravado with which he was endowed, it was bravery of the first water for him to appear in daylight on the streets of Jackson. He made no pretense of hiding his destination or when he was about to return. Before he set foot aboard the train for Louisville, the word had been passed that the time had arrived for his life to be snuffed out and a plot was being hatched for his undoing. As had been said Fletch Deaton resided in Jackson-what conversation regarding Callahan or the means toward his removal from this earthly sphere took place within the walls of his home is a matter of speculation. That there were discussions of this character is a matter of court record. More, in the long contact which those who took lives as a means of settling debts of hatred had with the courts, they had learned that the most successful method of evading the law was through the subterfuge of the alibi. First there was the plan to slay to be laid-after this, or coincidental, was the larger question of saving the hides of those in the plot by means of presenting evidence that while they might have been somewhere, yet in theory they were not there but somewhere else. Ed. Callahan must have had a premonition of all of this talk that centered about himself. While chatting with a friend at the depot the remark was passed that he was looking well and apparently had recovered entirely from his experience of two years before. "I'm feelin' fit," said the sheriff (he had not lost his title even though it was nearly a decade now since he held public office) "but I feel thet some day they're goin' to git me. Sometimes I git a creepy feel in' thet I aint long fo' this earth. Guess I'm gettin' old er some thin'." Those were his last words as he got aboard the train-prophetic they were to a greater degree than Ed. Callahan knew. At the home of Fletch Deaton, his son James, Red Tom Davidson, Dock and Govan Smith, as well as others who were lined up in opposition to the sheriff, gathered. They talked long, low and deeply. page (8) |
| Late in the night they were joined by others-dark visaged men from the mountains and the gullies, relatives of the Deatons and the Smiths, as well as of Levi Johnson, the young man who met his death down in Buckhorn. They had a tale to tell of the route that Callahan had taken, what he had done and whom he had seen from the time that he stepped off the gallery of his home until he arrived in Jackson. They had watched him board a gasoline launch in the shallow waters of Long's Creek with his son-in-law, Clif. Gross who took him down the river to a railway station where the Lexington and Eastern Railway crosses the Middle Fork. Others reported that they had seen him at Beattyville. Word had also been gleaned that Callahan would be gone for a week and that he would use his usual circuitous route to return to his store, Now the fragments of all of this information was sifted and a train of definite procedure was outlined. It seems that Fletch Deaton decided to leave most of the work at hand to the disposal of his son James Deaton who resided on Caney's Creek not so far from the home of the Callahans. Jim returned to his home on Tuesday, and from that time on the mysterious weaving of the web that can always be traced in the feudist killings, commenced to be spun. On Wednesday the mysterious whisperings began to circulate through the ranks of the Deaton clan. Trusted adherents were given messages that were to be respected and obeyed. Dock Smith met Andy Johnson on the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River. "Jim Deaton wants to see you tonight at his home," was the word that was passed to Smith. "Any thin' new?" "Jim wants me en you to help finish 'um," said Johnson. "Jim seys he's countin' on us two fo' thet wu'k, Hev you-all got you' gun?" "No-hits up to my pappy's." "Wal-you-all 'll be needin' hit-you'd bettah get hit." "I'll git hit to-night-whar'll I meet up with you?" "Down to Granville Johnson's place on the Orville branch," This was agreed upon and Dock Smith, after getting his supper, borrowed his father's gun and met Andrew Johnson at the appointed place and the two proceeded over the hills to James page (9) |
| Deaton's place. Again there was a long talk over the plans between the three. The web was beginning to be drawn tighter. The time had arrived where actual directions had to be sought. The upshot of all of this was the announced intention of James Deaton to start out on the following morning for Jackson to learn from his father if anything new had transpired. And Jim had another purpose for visiting the county seat. "Red Tom" David. son had a high-powered rifle of the latest type and this he desired to obtain. Mountain men knew the value of a good weapon when they set out on deadly work. Late on Thursday Jim Deaton returned. He not alone had obtained the rifle which he set out for but "Red Tom" loaned him his mule to make his journey back over the hills the more easy. "The o1' cuss aint lef' Louisville yit, 'cordin' to the wu'd in Jackson," was what Jim told them. "We-all hev plenty o' time to lay ou' tracks. Best thing thet we kin do is to talk the huU tp.ing ovah with the boys down to No'th Fo'k," was the way that James Deaton summed up the situation for the others. By North Fork he meant the home of a kinsman, another Deaton known as "Trigger Eye" and his brood of relations. There some six or eight of the clan spent the better part of the night in talk which resulted in the three conspirators-Dock Smith, Andy Johnson, James Deaton and his brother Dan, leaving well after midnight for the home of Abe Johnson which was located on the Middle Branch of the Kentucky River, and near the mouth of Long's Branch. They now were about ready to close in on their quarry. They were within the territory of their ancient enemy and within strik. ing distance for a deadly blow. It was here that Jim Deaton disclosed the part of the plan that had been hatched to evade- conviction if events should transpire that would result in criminal action. Gathering the members of the Johnson household together-after the necessary percautions had been taken that prying ears were not about, he said: "You, Abe with Billie and Willie will go up thar to Jackson so ez you-all kin swar thet we-uns thet is lef' behin' hain't been nowhar else but in the town. You'U hev to be thar Satu'day mawnin--en see thet you make you'se'fs jest ez noticebil ez kin be." This was agreed to by the three Johnsons. Then came the plans page (10) |