August 4, 1884 was an election day in Rowan County, Kentucky. During the day an argument erupted between Republican John Martin and Democrat Floyd Tolliver, resulting in Tolliver shooting and wounding Martin and killing one of Martin’s friends, Solomon Bradley.
This conflict would soon turn into a deadly feud in Rowan County now known as the Rowan County War or the Martin-Tolliver feud, the story of which we’ve told in this podcast: