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Authors: John Ed Ed Pearce
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brought into town a barrel of applejack that had reinforced the courage of the jail attackers, but as night drew on the barrel grew empty and thoughts sobered. By Wednesday morning the Little forces had disappeared. Sheriff Hagins took over the courthouse, from which he had a clear view of the jail. Captain Strong and his men left for their homes on the North Fork.
But peace did not immediately descend on Jackson. With Sheriff Hagins and his men holed up in the courthouse and Deputy Charles Little and his men riding around town, no one seemed sure who represented the law. To make matters worse, Judge Randall, disgustedâand probably frightenedâsuddenly rode out of town for Hazard at daybreak without giving notice. By midmorning a mob roamed the streets, drunk and dangerous, firing into the air, some of them again shouting their intentions to storm the jail and take Jason Little. Nothing came of it. Sheriff Hagins tried to establish some order, and eventually the drunks sobered up and went home. By December 7, when Lieutenant Thompson of the state militia visited Jackson, he could report to Governor James B. McCreary that everything was quiet, that âthe excitement was nothing like so great as reported, and did not extend to the people generally.â
The lieutenant could be excused for being deceived by the apparent calm. He was not familiar with the county or its conflicts and had no way to detect the currents of hostility beneath the surface calm. Unfortunately, his report made the governor inclined to minimize the Breathitt conflict, and it was not until Judge Randall warned that hewould not convene a special term of court without the protection of troops that the governor took things seriously. On December 12, for the second time in five years, troops were ordered into Breathitt County. Even then Judge Randall did not feel secure in Jackson. He reentered the town quietly by night and showed up in court next morning flanked by soldiers.
With the help of troopers, Hagins and his men rounded up more than thirty men who had taken part in the violence. Twenty of them were taken to jail in Louisville and kept there until the following June, when they were brought back to Jackson under military guard and tried.
Jason Little was tried and found guilty but managed to get a sentence of life in prison and, after serving a little more than five years in the penitentiary, was pardoned and came home. Others took to the hills. Some came back and surrendered when things cooled off. Big John Aikman went over into Letcher County, where he was reported to be a hired gunman in the Wright-Jones feud. But Governor McCreary, irritated by the cavalier attitude of the Breathitt feudists toward the law, sent troops after him, found him hiding at the home of a half-brother, and brought him back for trial. He was sentenced to twenty years in the penitentiary but served only a little over a year before he was pardoned. He came home to Breathitt and got mixed up in the Marcum-Hargis War, the worst of the Breathitt blood-lettings.
The Little-Burnett feud was pretty well over. How many people had been killed is hard to calculate. Counting casualties in the Strong-Noble fights and the Strong-Amis feud, as many as seventy-five may have fallen. It was later estimated that more than a hundred were killed by the turn of the century, but such figures are estimates.
And little had been accomplished. At the election of a county judge to succeed the fallen Burnett, James Lindon was elected. Since Lindon was new to Breathitt County and had no long-standing ties to any faction, everyone assumed that he was an ally of his wifeâs brother, James B. Marcum, who would later become a main figure in Breathittâs worst feud. Charles Little, deputy sheriff and cousin of Jason, was elected sheriff to succeed Hagins. Any progress toward reform achieved in the Burnett-Hagins years was forgotten.
Mt. Pleasant, later renamed Harlan, looks placid
But peace did not immediately descend on Jackson. With Sheriff Hagins and his men holed up in the courthouse and Deputy Charles Little and his men riding around town, no one seemed sure who represented the law. To make matters worse, Judge Randall, disgustedâand probably frightenedâsuddenly rode out of town for Hazard at daybreak without giving notice. By midmorning a mob roamed the streets, drunk and dangerous, firing into the air, some of them again shouting their intentions to storm the jail and take Jason Little. Nothing came of it. Sheriff Hagins tried to establish some order, and eventually the drunks sobered up and went home. By December 7, when Lieutenant Thompson of the state militia visited Jackson, he could report to Governor James B. McCreary that everything was quiet, that âthe excitement was nothing like so great as reported, and did not extend to the people generally.â
The lieutenant could be excused for being deceived by the apparent calm. He was not familiar with the county or its conflicts and had no way to detect the currents of hostility beneath the surface calm. Unfortunately, his report made the governor inclined to minimize the Breathitt conflict, and it was not until Judge Randall warned that hewould not convene a special term of court without the protection of troops that the governor took things seriously. On December 12, for the second time in five years, troops were ordered into Breathitt County. Even then Judge Randall did not feel secure in Jackson. He reentered the town quietly by night and showed up in court next morning flanked by soldiers.
With the help of troopers, Hagins and his men rounded up more than thirty men who had taken part in the violence. Twenty of them were taken to jail in Louisville and kept there until the following June, when they were brought back to Jackson under military guard and tried.
Jason Little was tried and found guilty but managed to get a sentence of life in prison and, after serving a little more than five years in the penitentiary, was pardoned and came home. Others took to the hills. Some came back and surrendered when things cooled off. Big John Aikman went over into Letcher County, where he was reported to be a hired gunman in the Wright-Jones feud. But Governor McCreary, irritated by the cavalier attitude of the Breathitt feudists toward the law, sent troops after him, found him hiding at the home of a half-brother, and brought him back for trial. He was sentenced to twenty years in the penitentiary but served only a little over a year before he was pardoned. He came home to Breathitt and got mixed up in the Marcum-Hargis War, the worst of the Breathitt blood-lettings.
The Little-Burnett feud was pretty well over. How many people had been killed is hard to calculate. Counting casualties in the Strong-Noble fights and the Strong-Amis feud, as many as seventy-five may have fallen. It was later estimated that more than a hundred were killed by the turn of the century, but such figures are estimates.
And little had been accomplished. At the election of a county judge to succeed the fallen Burnett, James Lindon was elected. Since Lindon was new to Breathitt County and had no long-standing ties to any faction, everyone assumed that he was an ally of his wifeâs brother, James B. Marcum, who would later become a main figure in Breathittâs worst feud. Charles Little, deputy sheriff and cousin of Jason, was elected sheriff to succeed Hagins. Any progress toward reform achieved in the Burnett-Hagins years was forgotten.
Mt. Pleasant, later renamed Harlan, looks placid
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