xt7b5m625h5r https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7b5m625h5r/data/mets.xml Logan, Boone. 1885  books b92-133-29323389 English s.n., : [Morehead Ky. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Rowan County (Ky.) History. Letters to the Sentinel-Democrat (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) pertaining to the Rowan county feud and other matters  / Boone Logan. text Letters to the Sentinel-Democrat (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) pertaining to the Rowan county feud and other matters  / Boone Logan. 1885 2002 true xt7b5m625h5r section xt7b5m625h5r 













BOONE LOGAN'S LETTERS

            TO TIlM

    SENTINEL-DEMOCRAT



       (NIT. STERLING, KY.)

     PERTAINING TO THE

ROWAN COUNTY FUED

   AND OTHER MATTERS.


 











POONE LOGAN'S LETTERS


         AND OTHER MATTERS.
                            -0-

To the Citizens of Kentucky:
   I see that his Excellency, Gov. S. B. Buckner, in his message to the
General Assembly of Kentucky, refers to the troubles in Rowan Coun-
ty, Ky., and to some extent comments on the same, and also refers them
to the report of the Adjutant General, and from an extract from Adju-
tant General Hill's report, I see he claims to have obtained from good
citizens of Rowan County facts conducing to show that I incited the
election riot of August, 1884, and that I used my influence, in connec-
tion with others, to prevent persons guilty of crime from being indicted
by the grand jurors of Rowan County. These charges were made against
me when I was a candidate for Commonwealth's Attorney before the
Democratic Convention in the Fourteenth Judicial District, and in July,
1885, I wrote and published a letter, together with statements of the
grand jury and some other citizens, which refute said charges.  I
herewith give in full said letter:
                                  MOREHEAD, Ki-., July 30, 1885.
    Mr. Editor:-There has been much said through the press of this
and other States concerning the Rowan County troubles and my con-
nection therewith, which I have allowed to pass unnoticed, not because
there was any truth in it, but from the fact that I did not desire a news-
paper controversy. I have learned by experience that it is impossible
to please those who have made up their minds not to be pleased, and
especially that class of humanity, in whose blood and bones inherent
malice and hate burn and blaze to the exclusion of every generous
thought and noble impulse, and nho can see everybody  vices e-.cept
their own and nobody's virtues. In retiring from the prosecution of
the men on trial for killing Benjamin Rayburn, this class of individu-
als were ready to condemn me for tailing to perform my duty as County
Attorney, and had I not done so, it uwould have met their disapproval
in that they Wcuklc have said I was playing the part of a Judas in the
prosecution, and I am aware that uniust criticisms will be offered to
what I maly say now.
   The broadest and most profuse statements made against me were
published as an interview between the editor of a Republican paper at
Mt. Sterling and Miss Sue Martin. When M3iss Martin is placed upon
the witness stand and asked as to the truthfulness of the charges she

 




                                ( 2 )
 made against me to this editor, she says she told him that said charges
 were the rumor of the country, but that as to herself she knew nothing
 about it whatever, save what she heard, and when asked from whom
 she heard it, she said that it had been soylong back, and that she had
 been so grievouslv troubled that she hadl forgotten wbo told her these
 statenents. But the editor represents her as.stating these charge as
 facts within her owo   personal T;njhledge. rlise things she claims to
 lav. bSpeard as rtimt of the bvighhleoed are.about a; follows:
     That I attyised the grand jury to paws the matters by and not inves-
 tights Dor imlict the persons W10o forged tlte order for those who killed
 John Martin a4 1Faruers, and tht I also advised John C. Day and Floyd
 Tohiver, at tae August electaon-of 184, "to kill fouror five of the damned
 Radiwcrdk.  Now. I d'enounce esieli an  everv ode of these statements
 as a base and diabolical falsehood, as well as all of the statements pur-
 porting to come fronm the mouth of Miss Martin on that occasion in ref-
 erence to me, and I defy Miss Martin or this editor, or any one else, to
 prove these statements  I say that' they can not Gwove the charges or
 any one iota of them by an, respectable or responsible person; and I
 now ask Miss Martin, this editor, or any one for them, to come forward
 and prove these charges against me, and if they cannot, they owe it to
 themselves, to the people who have listened to and read their state-
 ments an( tome to retractthem. I now demand it as a matter of justice
 at their hands to do one or the other. I here offer the statement made
 by the grand jury of the Rowan Circuit Court. who sat at the February
 term 1885) of said court, and is the only jury that has been impaneled
 in our court since Martin was killed. Two of the grand jurors, J. W.
 Nickell and Robert Keesee, have moved West, and Thomas Ham lives
 quite a distance in the country, hence I did not call on them to sign this
 statement, which is as follows:
   "We the undersigned persons state that we are members of the grand
 jury of the February term, 1885, of the Rowan Circuit Court, and that
 while we were thus engaged, nor at any other time, did Z. T. Young di-
 rectly or indirectly try to prevent us from finding an indictment against
 the persons suspected of the killing of John Martin.  We further state
 that the only case in which said Young said anything to us on the sub-
 ject of finding an indictment was when we asked his advice on finding
 an indictment against W. C. Humphrey for aiding in the killing of
 Floyd Toliver, and Mr. Young told us 'he did not think the evidenge
 sufficient to warrant a conviction against Humphrey, and this is the
 only instance in which we asked Mr. Young's advice, and the only case
 in which he gave us any advice upon the subject of indictments at said
 term of said court.           J.. A. Nickel,      R. R. Cassity,
                               Benj. Thompson,  'John Scott,
                               William Barbe'r,  R. E. Mcintire,
                               J. W. R., Johnson, 'R. A. Roberts,
                               Z K. Phelps,       E. H. Hamilton,
                               J. K. Swimm,      Z. P. Johnson.
                               A. B' Bumgartner.
    This 23d day of July, 1885.
    It will be remembered from this statement that I did not, as stated
by Miss Martin, try to induce the grand jury to pass the 'matter of the
'killing of John Martin by without investigation by said jurors. The
statement made by them shows that I said nothing to thekn on the subject
and that instead of trying to get rid of Sheriff 'Humplhrev, and do him
an injustice, as has been heretofore stated, I advised the' grand jury not
to find an indictment against him. While I believed him to be guilty
'of the eharge, I did not/believe a jury in this county would convict him,
he having ghe benefit of prestige of being sheriff of the county, and in

 




                              ( 3 )
addition to this I. believed an indictment against Humphrey! for this of-
fense would strongly tend-to renew the troubles here which .had seem-
ingly become quiet. The evidence against Humphrey was this: That
he offered a man two hundred and fifty dollars to kill Floyd Toliver,
and that Humphrey, Martin and others went to Farmers on a certain
occasion, where Toliver lived, armed with pistols and guns and acted in
a rather. threatening wanner toward Toliver, and that a few minutes be-
fore Martin killed Toliver, they, Humphrey and Martin, as he and
Humphrey walked along up the street, said, ".I will, free him from his
bond before sunset." Toliver was then under bond, charged with kill-
ing Bradley. Martin killed Toliver with Humphrey's pistol. This was
the evidence that the grand jury asked my advice on; and as the charge
made against me of ordering Day and Toliver to kill four or five Radi-
cals, I here give you the statements of W. A. Caudill, J. W. Johnson
and H. Al. Keeton, which shows that statement untrue.
    "We certifv that we were at Morehead, Ky., on the first Monday in
August, MM, and were in the yard of the Court House when the fight
occurred in which Bradley was killed and Sysemore wounded, and we
saw Z. T. Young in the yard and heard him hollow before the shooting
began to part the parties, and Young remained in the yard and never
went where they were fighting, and John Day and Floyd Tolliver came
up in. an opposite direction from where Young was, and Young did not
have an opportunity to say to Day or Tolliver to go and kill those Radi-
c.l, .and we think that accusation against Young is untrue. We further
state that we have never heard anyone say they heard Young make
such a Statemnent.                           W. A. CAUDILL,
                                              H. M. KENTON,
                                              JAS. NV. JOHNSON."
    I see that the Courier-Journal has been pleased to state, from some
cause, that I induced the Sheriff to summons W. WV. Phillips as one of
the Aa1gistrates to try the parties charged with murdering Ravburn.
This is also untrue, and I here give the statement of the Sheriff, which
I say. is true, so far as I have any knowledge of it. It is as follows:
    "This is to certify, that it is not true that I selected WV. W. Phillips
to act as an examining Court to try the parties charged with the mlurder
of Ben. .Rayburn, at the instance of Z. T. Young. I believe Phillips to
be an honest, good man, and for this reason I selected him myself. and
without advice or suggestion from Young, and the report in the Courier-
Journal to that effect is wholly untrue, and does Young and myself an
injustice..           A. J. McKENZIE, Sheriff of Rowan County.
    I have been sqverely criticised for what I did and said in the trial
when Pearce was on the stand as a witness. The facts as thev occurred
there were perverted by the press. It was known before Pearce was
put on the stand that he -intended to retract, hat he had stated in his
confession, and while Hon. F. K. Prichard,. counsel for defendants, was
examining Pearce, I asked Prichard and the Court to allow me to ask
him some questions as I was personally interested, he having, together
with Rayburn, attempted to assassinate me, and from what he told me,
and front-what lie was then saying, I knew I could show his statesent
on the witness standfalse. Afteraskiiglkiiiuaifew questions, andshow-
ink him up in bad light as to his previous statemients concerning the
log,. the rock and other facts and -circumstances, showing conclusively
that he eould not have described these thing so accurately without havs
ing been there, and hence that he; must have been telling the truth in
is confession and a lie on the stand when he retracted hi confession.
nd just at this time Gen. Hardin whispered to me and said that he had
m'objection to my asking him any question thlt 1 might desire to show
the confession made to me by Pearce was voluntary and notsuperin-

 






                              ( 4 )
duced lay any unfair means up on my part. I immediately stopped and
said to the Court that I had desired to ask Pearce suflicient questions to
show that what he was swearing to was a lie, and that his confession
was true. And I also stated that Gen. IlardIiin objected to my question-
ing the witness, and that I should ask him nothinitg further, wHereupon
I stopped my examination. And when this was said by me Gen.'T-ardhi
arose and said that statement should not go unelhallenged, and that lie
believed that Pearce was swearing the truth and ma(le quite a sensitive
little speech, saying that he wanted to know who should Ce-ntrol the
case, he or I. In response I said I had given the control of the case up
to him and did not desire to take it away from hliml. I 1lso stated to the
Court that Pearce's statement made either way (lid not atiect the guilt
or innocence of the prisoners on trial. Whether Pearce and Rayburn did
or did not shoot aue in either case it furnished no excuse to the prison-
ers to unlawfully shoot laybaurn. I also added that I knew Pearce was
swearing to a lie, and I now submit it to a fair public whether or not it
was admissible for me to show the man who for a few dollars had
watched the roadside to shoot my life out, could not be shown up as a
liar by me when I was able to do so and whether I did wrong in saying
what I did.
    It will certainly see l strange to the public that one thus outraged
should have been prevented from bringing -ut the facts as they are and
showing up this would-be assassin in his true light. I dare say that
there is a good per cent of menl who would have shot him in his seat
had they been treated by Pearce as I was.
    It will be remembered that I was a stranger to both Pearce and
Rayburna, and they undertook their bloody job for i.0 and what they
could steal off my person, the thought of which is shocking to the civ-
ilized mind. I might state that in the trial just closed the Court gave
the parties on )0oth sides great latitude in investigating all the troubles
in Rowan, and in no instance was there a single fact proven which con-
nected me with any of the crimes committed in this county, or even
tended to show it in any way. And an account of the false statements
made by the papers against ie I asked Gen. Hardin to prefer charges
against me and give me a trial on theta, and lhe resp)ondled that lie citld
not make any charges against me, nor did he know of any otl-;irse that
I had committed, nor of anyone who would be willing to mnalke an afli-
davit to the charges, and I told him to simply state theta and I would
answer them and take the iproof, and he said he could not go into a side
show of that kind, and I nowV demand of my accusers an imvestig ation
of said charges, and if they dlo not give itto ne, I serene notice on then
now that I will go before the nextgran d jury of this eounty andl denluand
an investigation, and if guilty, want theta to indlict me, anid if not, I
want them to sav to the w-orld that they could find no proof against ime.
This is all that I 'eando, and when done 1 feel that I will satisfy all htli-
est and fair-thinking men that I have no power to compel a prosecution
by any one.
    Mr. Editor, I hope you will do me the kindness to give this space in
the colw-nas of your paper, and oblige          2. T YoUNG.
   I went before the Grand Jury and asked an investigation of said
charges against me at the August term of the Rowan Circuit Court,
1885, and said Grand Jury investigated same and reported that they
could find no evidence against me, and I also give you what a few of
the newspapers of the Fourteenth Judicial District said concerning my
response to the charges made by enemies when I was a candidate for

 






                              ( 5 )
Commonwealth's Attorney. I stumped the district, challenging my
enemies to prefer specific charges against me, which they failed to do.
Here is what the Flemingsburg Times-Democrat of October 9th, 1885,
says:
    As previously sted, ol.  T. Young spoke to a crowded audience
at the tbe Court House Monday. His speech was a masterly review of
his connection with tbe troubles in iowan, showing clearly that his
course had been one of peace and not one of bloodshed. He met and
refuted every charge that had been made against him of a sufficiently
specific nature to be met and combatted. One favorite charge with the
Republican press has been to say Humphrey was not allowed to hold
the office of Sheriff of Rowan (County because he was a Republican.
In refutation of that Young cited the well known fact that all the
county officers of Rowan, save himself, were elected as Republicans,
and held their offices Rs such, and that the reason Humphrey had to
give up the office of Sheriff was that he could not give bond for the
collection of the levy and revenue taxes, and for that reason the office
was declared vacant by Judge Stewart, a Republican. He also explod-
cii the charge that he "set up" the Grand Jury for the August term of
the Rowan Circuit Court, by citing the fact which is, or should be,
known by every intelligent man, and certainly to every attorney,
that that Jury was Pelected six months before the August term
of Court by Conmissioners appointed    by Judge Cole at the
Februarv term of Court. nearlv five months before the killing of
Rayburn and burning of the Martin house. He also denied in toto the
allegiation that he had procured or solicited in any way the presence of
George T. Halbert at Rowan Circuit Court, or that he favored his elec-
tion, but that on the contrary he voted for G. A. Cassidy, of this place,
and that he afterwards asked Halbert to appoint said Cassidv as special
prosecuting attorney, but that he refused to do so, and appointed Geo.
E. Roe. He further demonstrated, as clearly as he possibly could, that
he had not advised the Grand Jury at the February term, of the Rowan
Circuit Court not to find an indictment against the murderers of John
Martin. He also showed that instead of Humphrey being driven out
of office because he was a Republican, he NYoung) had more right to
say that his life had been attempted and he had been driven from home
because he was a Democrat who held an office in Rowan County. At
the close, he invited any one who had any question he desired to ask
him, or who was not satisfied with his explanation on any point, to
make it known, and he defied his enemies to controvert any of the
statements he had made, but no one offered to question the truth of a
single one, although W. C. Humphrey and several of his Rowan County
backers were prominently resent. The speech occupied about two
hours in delivery and was listened to with marked attention by the
large audience, and many who had conne there opponents of Taylor
Young went away his warn friends and supporters
   We like to see fair dealing. We dislike to see a man falsely ac-
cused. It is the noblest instinct implanted in the human breast which
impels us to espouse the cause of one we believe to have been wrong-
fullv accused, and that sentiment is making Z. Taylor Young friends
everywhere. We said some time since that if Young's accusers could
establish by proof the truth of a single one of the numerous charges so
freely insiuated against him, we would "drop him like a hot potato."
But on the contrary, instead of their bringing forward testimony to
prove their truth, he now takes the bull by the horns and proves, as far
as it is pomble for a man to prove a negative, that there is no truth in

 






                                ( 6 )
 them. Those who are howling at his heels should "sIbo up' Or shut
 Up.
     The Carlisle Atercury has this to say of my speechat that pl;wvc
 under date of October 1., 1SS5:
   On M'nalavt   last Col. Z. '. Youug, ctaitiilwlatol.f'r v11w l1ioerqll tivpvn:1-
 ination for jommonwealth's Attorney in this Judicial District,,lddres-
 ed a large crowd of people in our Court House, and in. prepsnteiag his
 claims to the people in his earnest atid manly way, won at niqniber of
 them to his support. He said that having been born and raised il
 Nicholas County, he came before her people with that degree of. pride
 usually felt by one cominglback to his own people and friends, and that
 while he disliked, to enter into a discussion sJ personal to inmself, he
 would do so as a matter of right and in justice to his good name. .. He
 had been charged with the most Ieinous offenses known to the aupals
 of crime, and when he demanded proof from his accusers, they. onlyre-
 plied with the cry that he was too smart to be caught. -Se.HJd bpeen
 charged with ordering the mirdering of mhen, but when he akedjfor
 proof, the cry was, "You have done it, butwe can't proveit." Hle.lad
 been charged with selling out in the discharge of hi.duties as an Qoficer,
 but when asked forproof it was not forthcoming.-Ue.had been charged,
 with corrupting juries, but. when he asked proof it could not be fur
 nished. He had been charged with fixing courts, but when he asked,
 proof, it was said he had acted one way and voted another
     In his most earnest tones he denounced his accusers and. defied
 them to substantiate one of their charges and he would retire from the
 field.
     Taken alto ther, it was a very frank and strong statement of his
 case and made hiim a number of supporters.
     The following is the' comment of the Vanceburg Courier on my
 speech at that place:
     According to previous announcement Col. Z T. Young spoke at the
 court house last Monday afternoon. The audience was fairly good as to
 number, and comprised the substantial, solid and Intelligent people of
 the neighborhood, who were attracted not so much by the weirknown
 force and ability of the speaker as to learn from his-own lips the history
 of the Rowan troubles and his connection therewith. To these subjects
 the principal portion of his address were directed. It was a minly de-
 fense of himself, and his denials of any unlawful or unholy alliance
 with the iaw-breakers and rioters of that county were so strongly sus-
 tained by the most incontrovertible evidence that there was left in the
 minds of his hearers no longer any groundwork upon which to base a
 belief of guilt. - The charges of his enemies were scattered like chaff,
 and the flimsy scraps of slander caught up one by one and torn to-shreds
 before the eves of the auditors. So complete was his denial and so eon-
 vincing the evidence to sustain that denial that many who had hereto-
 fore been skeptical openly declared their belief in his innocence. Eveh
 a leading Republican of the District, a  lawyer of superiorability who is
 actuated in all things by a spirit of fairness, declared -that there was
 nothing against him'but rumors. From the first outbreak of difficulties
 in Rowan until the cnlminatibn' thereof, all events with which his name
 has been in any way connected, were taken up in regular form and
 handled'in such a masterly manner that all attempt to connect him in any
 way with the outlawrv of Rowan, fell under the weight of testimony
 bv which his ontradictions were sustained. Had his enemies one-haff
tfie proof of' his guilt that bo has of his innocence; -there would be

 







                              ( 7 )
strong reason for the doubts they claim to possess. . A it is, they ac-
knowledge,. when penned to. the point, that they are in possession of
nothing but 'rumors, and all efforts to run these rumors down have
proven fruitless..  
    As the matter now stands his enemies must hasten'to bring forward
some evidence to sustain them 'or their charges will fall  With crushing'
weight upon their own heads andproduce a reaction of public sentiment
that cannot be checked. The belief that Colonel Young is being perse-
cated by a gang of political shitepokes and slanderers is gaining ground,
and the bo d and manly manner with, which he defies his accusers in
every portion of the' district is winning for him good' friends and gold-
en opinions. the idea of fair play is prevalent, and the Democracy are
determined that no more unholy alliances shall' be ma4e-. no more cal-
umniation allowed to the detriment of any candidate in the fight.
    The following is what the Licking.Valley Scorcher says, after quot-
ing a part of an interview by a Yeoman reporter with Hon. -James An-
drew Scott, who is now a member of the present house of representatives:
    "We extract from James Andrew Scott's letter to the Yeoman the
following: Taylor Young is a magnificent specimen of physical and in-
tellectual manhood. He is about six feet high, weighs about two hun-
dred pounds, has dark hair and moustache, and keen,,brown eyed. He
has a fine form, a handsome face, and a way of looking you full in the
eye that almost convinces you that he is a deeply-injured man. He is
courtly and magnetic in his manner, is a ready debater and a good law-
yer; altogether, he is probably' the brightest, ablest man, of his. age in
the mountains. His enemies concede his great ability, but, say alsothat
he is the meanest man in Eastern Kentucky. This is not true. No man
ever stood closer or 'longer by his friends than Taylor Young. I[No mat-
ter what they do, though to stand by them may drag down and engulf
him, in the hour of their trouble he is there to stay. He never forgets
an act of kindness, and is steadfast in his friendships."
    The Scorcher says, editorially, that "Mr. Scott ought to have said
further that he was generous to a fault, and incapable of doing a vicious
or a mean act. As County Attorney of' Rowan County, he has rescued
it from financial ruin, improved its public highways, reduced the burr.
den of' taxation, and whenl he made an effort to reform 'its public
morals by bringing offenders to justice, he was set upon and an at-
tempt made 'to assassinate him on the public highway  The efforts
of his enemies to bring him into public contempt have been sec-
onded by a venal .press and the strong arm of the State invoked to
aid in the dirty work. He has defied his enemies to complicate him
with any crime; and to-day he stands on the summit of victory, look-
ing down contemptuously on the parties who would destroy-him. The
people of that di-trict will vindicate him by electing him Common-
wealth Attorney, and in so doing they will honor themselves and do
justice to a much injured man."
   The following from the Greenup Gazette:
   Z. T. Young, Esq.,' addressed the citizens of Greenup at the 'Court
House Monday at one'o'clock.: His speech was a defense -of himself in
connection with the Rowan County trouble. He reviewed' the history
and circumstances of the Rowan county trouble and-his connection with
the same clear thtough, ,vindicatifig from his standpoint, his honor and
standing officially and personally.' He denounced his accuseran liars
and scoundrels and defied them to prove that his conduct in the trouble
in his county had not been proper and straight as an official and a gen-

 






                              ( 8 )
tleman. Mr. Young isearnest, and if his enemies have any proof of his
guilt they should bring it forth, or forever hold their peace. They owe it
to him and the public. He in going to make a determined fight for the
nomination for the office of Commonwealth's Attorney in this district.
If he should be so fortunate as to secure it, we have no doubt he will
make s brilliant and aggressive campaign.
    None of these papers supported me in my canvass except the Flem-
ingsburg Times-Democrat. I desire here to say that I did not submit my
claims to the convention, not because I was skeptical of the result of that
body, but I believed it best for the harmony of the party that I should
decline making the race. I had no doubt that I would be nominated had
I continued to be a candidate.
    That the origin oi the trouble of August, 1884, may be properly un-
derstood, I will give a few general facts: In August, 1884, one John Mar
tin and one Floyd Toliver had a difficulty, and Martin swore that he
would kill Toliver the first opportunity he had. Martin, on one occa-
sion, went to Farmers in company with others, armed, and went to the
house of Toliver, it was believed, with the intention of killing him, but
Toliver avoided him by keeping in the house.
    In the following December Toliver went to Morehead, which was
the first time after the trouble in August previous with Martin, and on
this occasion John Martin shot and killed Toliver.
    Thus, you see, that the "Martin faction" committed the first wrong
    The next wrong was committed by the "Toliver faction" by their
taking John Martin out of the jail at Winchester and shooting him at
Farmers, from the effects of which he died.
    The next outrage was committed by the Martin faction. They hired
Pierce and Baburn to waylay the public rord and shoot me in March,
1885.
    Thus the wrongs went on; a violation of the law on one side
brought on another. There was three attempts made to assassinate me
after I was waylaid and shot. I herewith give the confession of Ed
Pierce, the hired asisin, which was published in the paper of Eastern
Kentuck at the time it was made. The statement is as follows:
    OwIIxGsvu.z, Ky., May 28.-A   fe  days     Ed Pierce, a
noted deperado of the mountains, who was captured in Greenup and
lodged in jail atthisplaceon an old charge ol robbery now proves
to be rare jase. and his capture will asurdly lead to tie arrest and
conviction of all the guilty parties engaged in the recent disgraceful
proceedings in llowan County.
    Col. Z. T. Young and his son, Allie, arrived in this place Monday
evening, and, in company with Hon. J. M. Nesbitt, a prominent at-
torney of this place, repaired to the jail, where quite a number soon

 






                              ( 9 )
congregated by the report that Pierce had sent for the Meow Young
for the purpose of making a "clea breast" of the part he had taken in
the "Rowan war."    When brought ought of his cell, Pierce re-
fused to talk in the presence of so many. All then left the j  save Z.
T. Young and Mr. Nesbitt. To these gentlemen it is maid Pierce made a
confession. Learning these tacts, your correspondent wont to the jail
on the following day and obtained from Pierce, in substanee, the fol-
lowing statement:
    "iie was visited at his home some time in January by David Martin,
brother of John. who offered him 2 per day and all the whisky he
wanted to go with him to Rowan and assist him. Pierce refused to go.
Martin made two other trips before he consented to go with him. He
went, and on that occasion formed the acquaintance of Sheriff Cook'
Humphrey. On this trip he and eight or ten others, whose names we
give, including Humphrey and his deputy, Bumgardner, went into an
arrangment to go into Morehead one night during Circuit Court and
mob Jeff and Alvin Bowling, John C Day, Z. T. Young and, others.
Humphrey was to look over the ground andl report to the rest of them,
who stopped within a quarter of a mile of town to view the expediency
of the mooal at that time. Humphrey reported a good nutber in town,
and some of the gang weakened and then Pierce went home. After
this Humphrey axd Miss Sue Martin came after him and he went back
to Rowan. -He was handed a list, with some seven or eight names on it,
including that of Z. T. Young, and told that he would be paid 50 for
killing Young and 25 for each of the others. In company with one
Ben Rayburn, he watched the road between Morehead and Queen City
two days to kill Jeff Bowling, but Bowling failed to come along.
    "A short time after this Stewart uiumgarduer, the Deputy Sheriff,
came to Ben Martin's house, where Pierce and Rayburn were being
harbored, and told them that Young had been employed to go to the
country and attend-to a suit on Saturday, March 7, and that would be
the time to get him. The arrangments were made. Bumgardner was
to accompany Young to the trial but Young was not to be 8hot while in
company with Buumgardner, as that would throw suspicion on him. They
stayed the night before at Ben Martin's, and when Young and Bum-
gardner passed by Young was pointed oat to them by -Miss Sue Martin
from the window of an upsars room, who told them to take a good
look at him, so they could easilv recognize him. They then went and
stationed themselves on the road and watched for Young until he came
back. Ravburn did the shooting, firing two shots. When they went
back that night Mrs. Ben Martin was very indignant because they had
failed to kill Young. She said she would get old Clate Jones and they
wo Id kill Young. Humphrey paid them 7.50 a piece for what they
had done and they went home. The evening before the shooting they
were sent a pint of whisky by Miss Sue Martin, which was to be drunk
on the occasion of the shooting of Young.
    'Humphrey again came and prevailed on Pierce to return. On
this occasion he was boarded by Captain James Carey in Morehead, and
Humphrey gave him a Winchester rifle. They did nothing more on
this tip th to fire on Bowling, Day and Allie Young in Morehead,
when a general shooting mtchi tooks place between the two parties.
When the. Tolliver side was reinforced to such an extent as to cause a
retreat, they intended to bushwhack. Some of the Martin party became
doubtful al;out success. So they concluded to go to the governor to