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Poeif? Justice h tmtucky. 'Jedge Jtm^Hirgi^ the "King cf Brenthig, %unty," Whose Scepter Was a Shotgun, Is Slain by His Own Son In His Store at Jackson. One Bight not long ago a rider made hia way . up Hell For Snrtin-creek through the darkness. His mule stum bled over the bowlders. Now and then he.drew-up at a safe distance from some mountain shack huddled in tKe shadows of the pines.. As be called the door opened silently. No light was shown, but the man of the cabin step ped silently oat. his Winchester over his arm. ready for what might come; "J?dge Jim Hargis was kilt today by his son Beacher." was the low voiced word of the messenger. The man of the cabin turned silently to take the good news to his wife. The Paul Revere of the mountains clucked to his mule and rode on, carrying the news that peace had come to a trou bled country. When the drunk crazed son of Jim : Hsrgis shot his father dead in his store at Jackson, Ky., there fell a ruler whose sway over his little kingdom was as absolute as that of the czar of Russia. For years there had been no law in Breathitt county, Ky.. but that of Jim Hargis' shotgun and the Hargis gang. The richest man in the county, a politician of great power and for a long time county judge, Hargis kept his turbulent constituents under ped out from the throng and cocked the shotgun he had been carrying over his arm;- * "I want to say. doc," he remarked pleasantly, "that I ain't got nothing special agin you. I always liked you personal." With that he fired a load of buck shot into the body of the wounded doctor, who must have died instantly. Dr. Cox had a close friend, a lawyer, James B. Marcum. He was not pleas ed when he heard that his friend bad been murdered. He was. In fact, in censed. Moreover, he had the nerve to say so: He went around Jackson say ing what be thought about the case. There was no particular mystery about It. Every man in town knew the names of the three men who had shot Cox from the dark, knew where they stood when they shot him and how one of the three had hesitated until the other two threatened him. Only nobody said much about it above a whisper, with the solitary exception of Lawyer Marcum. He very well knew that he was sending out an invitation to death, wltb lt. S. V. P. engraved in the lower left hand corner, but some bow whenever he thought of his friend, the doctor, which was pretty CURT JETT OPENED FIRE ON HIM. foot by the might of powder and shot.; nearly all the time, he just couldn't I keep still. But three months passed and there eume no sign from the Hargises. Law yer Marcum got careless. One day he stood talking with an other man In the courthouse doorway. J Hargis looked across the street from his store and saw him. With the judge was Sheriff Callahan. "Go git a gun, Ed," said the judge. | "There's goin' to be somethin' doir>'. 1 reckon." At that instant somebody inside the courthouse fired, and Lawyer Marcum fell dead. Sheriff Callahau ran across the street, closed and locked all the courthou'so doors and admitted not a soul all that day. The same night the assassin was smuggled out. But three men had seen him. He was Curt Jett, who had so obligingly slain Dr. Cox as he lay moaning on the ground. The killing of Marcum made a stii even in Jackson, and Jim Cockrill on the opposite side of the fence from the Hargises. was heard to sav he reckoned he'd have to take steps. It wasn't more than a few days latei ;:.':it Curt .let; walked into the bole dining room where Cockrill was sitting By that same powder and shot he died with his boots on. The feud that the Hargis clan has waged; against all its opponents in Breathitt county began not long after the close of the civil war?so far back that the real cause of its origin Is wrapped in obscurity. It is only re membered that one of the Hargises was the first victim. He was shot as he stood one night in his sugar camp, with his arm over the shoulder of his newly married wife; Vengeance was sworn by the Harrises, and Breathitt county since that time has been indeed a dark and bloody ground. Scarcely a year has passed without one or morej murders growiug from that single rifle j shot in the dark nearly half a century ago. Just how much blood was spilled be fore Judge Hargis and his outfit had closed their grip upon the towu of Jackson and the county of Breathitt will never be known exactly, but the story is a fearful one. Aud perhaps it was only the peculiarly cold blooded and open manner of the assassiuutioa of Dr. B. D. Cox that accounts for the publicity that followed it Dr. Cox was not a feudis't He mere-j :>?;1 opened fire on him. Cockrill jump ly dared to disobey au order from Har gis to leave the county. He had no in timate relations with either the Har gises or the anti-Hargises. He was a practicing physlciau and in some way had been made the legal guardian of one of the Cockrill boys, whose family bad been for years opposed to Hargis. The acceptance of such a job was a tactical error, for it attracted the atten tion of Judge Hargis. "I have been ordered to get out of Jackson." Dr. .Cox told his. friends one day when he walked down through Main street "I've got to get out of here or "die,. they tell me. But I ain't going to go. Here's where I've lived and here's where I'll die when my ;tlme comes. I ain't going to carry any firearms either, Jinx Hargis can kill me safe enough if he .wants to.. It's no see carrying .firearms., anyhow. I wouldn't shoot anybody frpm behind, but if. Jim Hargis is. going to shoot me that's the way. he'll do It." > That was the way he did it sure i enough. That very night as the doctor fwas going back home after making j a call on a sick man he was shot in I the back from the dark. He felt In his tracks and lay there groaning. A crowd quickly gathered, and the dying doctor pleaded with them to kill him. "For God's sake, boys," he moaned, "put another charge Into me. I'm go ing to die anyhow. Finish it up quick." One of the bystanders was Cnrt Jett, one of the Hards gang. He step ed up, and Jett fled. Fighting in the open was a new game to him. Twc days later came a clear, sunny day. Cockrill, walking down Main street, crossed the street in front of the court house. As he did so Curt Jett leaned out of an upper window and shot him down with a Winchester rifle. So well j known were the circumstances and sc geueral the expectation of trouble thai the moment Jett showed himself at the window several voices called to Cock rill to look out But they were toe late. Cockrill fell dying. . Jett leaned out of the window and pumped a few more bullets into the body in the street. "I want to Bee,- him squirm!" h* shouted. Cockrill accordingly squirrr ed for a few seconds before he died. Every soul in Jackson knew all&bo?1 what happened. It was as public as c dog fight Yet not a move was mad? to arrest Curt Jett until after,.troop; had arrived. Indeed, a young lawyei who told a visiting newspaper man what he bad seen begged the reportei to give bim time to. get out of town before he printed a stpry about It H< got out of town, too, and stayed oat . There wasn't any trouble in Jacksor so long as the troops stayed. Hargh bad given the word, and his word was aw. Jett was convicted of the mur der of. Marcum and is -serving a life sentence. Hargis never was puniahe?! for any one of the many murders ol which he was guilty. The Times and Democrat IS NOW PUBLISHED Twice-a-Week AT $1.50 Per Annum. ? # ? o o ? ? 8 0 t? .9i O OME) TO OTJR emng Saturday, , 6th and 7th, i One of Schloss Bros. & Go's. Expert Cutters and Fitters will be here to take your measure. Scores of New Styles?Hundreds of Smart, New Appro priate Fabrics; the services of one of the Most Expert Cutters and Fitters in the land?these are the advantages we offer you at our Annual Spring Opening conducted by the Great Tailoring House of SchloSS BrOS, & CO., of Baltimore and new york. Who are sending one of their oest mien especially for this grand event. Come in and meet him and see the new things for Spring. You will be under no obligation whatever. We'll cordially welcome you anyway. Be sure to come in. Be sure to come in GLOV CLOTHING, SHOES, HATS AND MEN'S FINE FURNISHINGS. t 9 0 G ? ? Mr. Josher? Miss Auteek. wouldn't you like to change your name? 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