Days of Darkness (9 page)

A street scene on Court Day in Hazard, seat of Perry County and center of the vicious French-Eversole feud that almost wiped out the town. Courtesy of The Filson Club Historical Society.

If there were good guys in the French-Eversole war, they were Joe C. Eversole and his father-in-law, Josiah Combs. Eversole, a Hazard merchant, opposed Fulton French and the big land companies he represented. For his trouble he was killed. Courtesy of Martha Quigley.

Fulton French, attorney, merchant, and agent for eastern coal and land companies. His heartless dealings with mountain residents embittered Joe Eversole and sparked the feud between them. From the
Courier-Journal
, Louisville, courtesy of Martha Quigley.

“Bad Tom” Smith, a gunman hired by French, the confessed killer of Joe Eversole, in a sketch from the
Cincinnati Enquirer
, 1894. Smith's hanging in Breathitt County in June 1895 drew throngs. Courtesy of
Kentucky Explorer Magazine.

Craig Tolliver, an elected lawman who at times showed little concern for the niceties of the law. A leader of the Tolliver forces in Rowan County, Craig was killed in a shootout on the streets of Morehead in 1887. From
Days of Anger, Days of Tears
, courtesy of Juanita Blair and Fred Brown.

Daniel Boone Logan, young Morehead attorney who put an end to the Martin-Tolliver feud by leading a small army that wiped out most of the Tollivers. He later became a prominent businessman in Bell County. Courtesy of Pauline Asher Logan.

the American Hotel and Saloon, Morehead. Legend has it that when Craig Tolliver expressed a desire to own the hotel, the owner sold it to him for $250 and left town. Tolliver may be the fourth man from the left wearing, strangely, a white hat. From
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly
, courtesy of Morehead State University Special Collections.

the state militia pitched their tents on the lawn of the Rowan County Courthouse in Morehead in 1886 in another futile effort by Governor Procter Knott to restore order. From
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly
, courtesy of Juanita Blair and Fred Brown.

the Morehead Normal School, which grew to be Morehead State University. A son of feudist Z. T. Young helped obtain state funds for the fledgling school. Courtesy of Morehead State University Special Collections.

the state militia on guard in Morehead. When the militia left, the feud resumed. From
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly.
Courtesy of Morehead State University Special Collections.

with the South Fork of the Kentucky River in flood, a Clay County logger steers his log raft toward a downstream sawmill. It was over such logs that the trouble between the Bakers and the Howards erupted, resulting in the ambush killing of the Howards and the eventual murder of Thomas “Bad Tom” Baker. Courtesy of the Matlack Collection, Photographic Archives, University of Louisville.

Tom Baker's home on Crane Creek near Jess Hollow as it looks today. Soon after the Baker-Howard fight on the log raft, someone (possibly Jim Howard) shot at Bad Tom as he sat on his porch. The bullet missed him and lodged in the door frame. Photo by Stanely DeZarn.