B. Fult French was the last one of the alleged conspirators to die, and while he was always considered by many as the real leader of the plots which resulted in many of the anti-Hargis faction passing to the great beyond, he died a peaceful death, last winter, at his home in Winchester. It was to this place that French removed from Hazard after the extermination of the French-Eversole feud in Perry County.
The first of the many legal battles resulting from the death of James B. Marcum was waged here in Winchester the year following his death, his widow, Arbellah Marcum, choosing this city in which to file her claims for one hundred thousand dollars damages because French, one of the alleged conspirators, was a resident of this city. It was an easy matter to get services on the other three alleged conspirators in Clark county, as they had to pass through Winchester three or four times a week going to and from Lexington and Jackson.
The trial lasted five weeks and was, perhaps, the most sensational civil proceeding ever fought in Kentucky. Mrs. Marcum was awarded a judgment against Jim Hargis and Ed Callahan for eight thousand dollars damages, but the judgment was the smallest part of the expense to the defendants, as it cost them thousands of dollars to bring hundreds of witnesses from various parts of the mountains and keep them in Winchester for weeks.
Even with the conclusion of the Marcum suit the legal troubles of the Hargises, Callahan, and French had just begun, and for a period of seven years they were before the courts, either to defend themselves or some of their alleged henchmen, and while neither of the four alleged leaders were ever convicted, their large fortunes and once[Pg 64] powerful influence had waned when their legal battles were over.
At the time Jim Hargis was first accused of procuring assassins to kill Marcum, he was the Tenth District Committeeman of the State General Committee of his party, and continued to hold that office until public sentiment forced him out, but when he was killed by his own son, he had lost the political prestige of the leaders who for years stood by him, and he died virtually an obscure resident of Jackson, rarely heard of outside the confines of Breathitt County.
Following the death of Hargis, it was generally believed the old feud had died with its leader, but to those who were opposed to the Hargis faction, Callahan loomed up as the leader of the faction, and every few weeks the old feudal spirit would begin to boil, and this continued until Callahan became the victim of an assassin.
Parting Shot Opens Gusher.
An oil well which it is believed will be in the five-thousand-barrel class and will cause the opening of an extension of the famous Cushing field, near Muskogee, Okla., was started to flowing by a twenty-seven quart shot of nitroglycerin made as a parting slap by the owners, who thought the well was worthless.
This well was sunk in the sand in the edge of the Oilton oil pool. It showed no signs of being productive, and there were no productive wells around it. The owners were about to abandon it, but decided to try one more shot of nitroglycerin. Then the oil spouted all over the lease.