The feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys wasn’t the only one in Appalachia after the Civil War. Just as bloody and almost as notorious was the feud between the French and Eversole families in Hazard, Kentucky, sparked by a conflict over outside interests’ rights to mine coal.
That feud, of which we’ve told the story in this podcast, lasted from 1888 to 1894.
On this day in 1894 an incident in that feud occurred in the Perry County Courthouse.
Judge Josiah Combs was the father-in-law of Joseph Eversole, who was a lawyer, merchant, and leader of the Eversole clan and who had been killed in April 1888, on his way to court in Hyden. Judge Combs had fled the area at the height of the conflict but by 1894 he felt things had settled down enough for him to return to his home. While talking with friends outside his house he was shot and killed.
Jesse Fields and Joe Atkins, members of the French gang, had been arrested and charged with the murder of Judge Combs. It was on this day in 1894 that their trial began.
The jury was selected and Judge Hall, who was presiding that day, began to hear evidence in the case. Also in the courtroom were several friends of the accused, all armed, as were the defendants. They were also very open about their intent to shoot the judge if he put Fields and Atkins in jail.
After hearing the evidence Judge Hall ordered the two defendants bond revoked and directed the sheriff to put them into custody. Immediately Jesse Fields pulled his gun and began to fire. Officers managed to get him under control while the judge fled the courtroom, going to a rooming house nearby for his own safety.
Meanwhile Joe Atkins forced the release of Fields, who ran out into the street and began firing into the house where Judge Hall was hiding, causing everyone outside to scatter for safety. Fields and Atkins then fled from Hazard.
Both men were soon recaptured and tried. Fields was sentenced to life in prison but was acquitted in a second trial and Atkins was sentenced to life but was released after serving 8 years.
