Evening Star Newspaper, March 26, 1931, Page 41

ONGE NOTED KILLER}: NOW TOWN PASTOR Conversion of Feudal Slayer Brought About by Effort of Invalid Woman. BY A. B. MACDONOLD. €5ecial Dispatch to The Star. LEXINGTON, Ky, March 26 (N.AN.A).—In the century-old Baptist Church in Union City, Ky. the Rev. Curtis Jett put out his right hand to greet me, and I saw the thumb and forefinger were gone. “Curt” Jett, the preacher, was once the nowneus feudist of Breathitt County, “wild dog of the mountains,” killer of men in broad daylight on the court house steps. When he was sent to the Kentucky Penitentiary to serve 8t the same time two life sentences for the murder of two men, he refused to work in the prison shops. When they whipped him to force him to work, he deliberately cut off his thumb and fore- finger so he could not work. It was the very !ortflnger he used to call qufl]y his “trigger finger.” It had aunched the bullets that slew nobody knows how many men. Prison guards said he was the worst and wildest convict that ever came to the Kentucky State Prison. They tried to take the terror from the mountains. ‘They stripped him and tled him as one would a wild animal and lashed him with whips, starved him, hung him by his wrists in the dark of a dungeon cell, but they could not break his spirit nor tame him. For 10 years he was & Tebel convict and a wild man. And then—an_ invalid woman who had read of him“sent him a Bible and wrote him a letter and said: “From now on, every day, every night, I will be praying for you. When you lie down, when you rise, always, u will know that a bedridden woman praying that you'will find peace.” She wrote him each week, begging him to read the Bible she had sent him. One nl‘ht. in the silence and loneliness of his ce]l, the “wild dog of the moun- tains,” as they had named him, fell to his _kn m:ndpnyzdm—menmume in his life. For the next five years in prison he read and studied the Bible. He got to know it almost by heart. They set him to teaching the Bible class on Sundays. After serving 15 years and 6 months he was paroled, and the other day the congregation of the little Baptist Church in Union City, which was founded 118 years ago, licensed him to preach. Feud Took 100 Lives. ‘There I found him, with his charm- and I went with them Jog cabin home on Clear creek ‘where it winds through the hills, and sat by their fireplace, and as the logs crackied and the sparks sailed up the chimney he told me the story of his conversion, how he was “born again,” and likened his case to that of the apostle Paul, who had helped stone Stephen to death, but -(terwu.rd became a preacher of the Gospe! ‘To realize how radical was the chnng! in “Curt” Jett, one must know of the clan wars, vendettas and feuds of Breathitt County, “the dark ahd bloody ground.” in which more than 100 men were slain and in which Jett was one of the darkest and bloodiest figures. There have been many of these clan wars in Breathitt County, and they merged and overlapped one into an- other. It is hard to say where one feud was up for sheriff. James Cockrell, their enemy, was running for town ‘marshal. Hargis and Callahan were elected, but it was sald they stole the election, ‘and J. B. Marcum, a young lawyer, filed a con- test against them. A few days later Ben Hargls, brother of Judge James Hargls, and “Jim” Cockrell quarreled, both drew pistols and Cockrell killed Hargis. Judge Hargis committed Cock- rell to jail without bail. Dr. B, D. Cox, six feet tall, & kinsman of Cockrell, demanded his release and by that act sealed his own doom. Judge Hargis decreed that he must die. That night Dr. Cox was called out to see & sick man, As he returned, passing the Hargis barn, a fusillade of shots rnn{ out and Dr. Cox cried out as he fell “Oh Lord! ‘©h, Lord!” Baby Served as Protection. ‘“cun” Jett was one of those assas- sins. Jim Cockrell, the town marshal, be gan gathering evidence gbout the mur- der of Dr. Cox. One day, at high noon, he was standing on the corner of the town square when Curt Jett, in an upper window of the court house, shot him with a rifie. Cockrell cried: “My God, they've got me!” and fell dead. James B. Marcum, the leading lawyer of the county, who worked against Hargls, believed he was to be the next victim, but he had an idea that they would not dare to shoot him with his baby in his arms, so wherever he went THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 1931 his wife went with him and he carried their baby. It all came out afterward that Judge Hargis and Sheriff Callahan hired Mose Feltner to shoot Marcum in the back, but Feltner's nerve failed when he saw the baby in Marcum’s arms. When Hargls heard that he cursed Feltner and said: “You should have sent him and his brat both to hell. That kid will have to be killed when it grows up anywa: Curt Jett agreed to kill ercum. and he did it in broad daylight, while scores of people were on the court house square. As Marcum stood on the court house steps Jett came out behind him, shot him in the back, and after he fell shot him again, and then walked calmly into Sheriff Callahan’s office. But the climax and end to the feuds that had terrorized Breathitt County for years came when Beach Hargis, 22- ear-old son of Judge Hargis, entered his father's store, maddened by drink, and slew his own father. He shot five bullets into his body lnd Judge Hargis staggered back, crying "‘Mercy, mercy, my son, you're killed me!” With a premonition that he was to be killed, Judge Hargis had gone to Cincinnat! a month before and pa $1,500 for a steel and mahogany, silver- lated coffin, to await orders, and when e was shot his widow wire “Send the Hargis coffin at once.” Hargls was buried in it. 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E.Foucera&Co., Inc., Distribue torsof Medicinal Products Since1849, A drop on your handkerchief ‘"VAPEX sent to the penitentiary for life, served 10 years, was paroled and disappeared. What became of him is a mystery. Gradually the evidence around “Curt” Jett. Men who saw him kill Cockrell and Marcum, and were afraid to talk, grew bolder and ap- peared against him. He was convicted of the murder 6f Marcum and was sen- tenced to death. He got a new trial " (and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Then he was convicted of the murder of Cockrell and again sentenced for life. He is said to be the only man who ever entered a penitentiary to serve two life sentences at once. Later he confessed that he had slain Marcum and Cockrell, Silent on Life of Old. On the hillside rented farm where he has lived since he came from prison several years ago, by his own fireside, an old-fashioned splint-bottomed chair squeaking under the weight of his bulky form, “Curt” Jett sat and quoted | 92 Scripture, his ruddy face beaming with good-nature and a laugh always teady break out. “I can’t understand how a man so sensible and so good-humored and kindly disposed as you seem to be could shoot men down in cold blood as nnlu radio enjoyment by replac- the red and black earton. RCA RADIOTRON CO,, INC. {A Radie Corporation -/A-nlu Subsidiary} RCA RAD THE HEART OF YOUR RADIO RCA RADIOTRONS WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTORS Doubleday-Hill Electric Co. 715 12th 8t. N.W. 73 age. U s MAGIC SCO Pans glisten like new. .. in less time...with less work . . . at the magic touch of S.0.S. No extra MORE PADS - SAME PRICE you did,” T sald to him. “That was the old ‘Curt’ Jett did P he replied. “That was not me at all. The old ‘Curt’ Jett is dead. He died down in the penitentiary when I, the new ‘Curt’ Jett, was born again, on my knees, in the twinkling of an eye.” “That seems strange that a mnns whole nature could be changed quickly,” I said. “It is mysterious. It has always been so, Nicodemus, the great teacher, went to Jesus by night to learn how the new birth could occur. He asked, ‘How these things be?’ and.Jesus said it as mysterious as the wind that blows, but just as definite. You can't see the wind, but, it has force to wipe out whole citles. So’ is every one born of the spirit. You can feel it, but you can't explain it. Even my face ch: came as a little child.” He would not talk about his feudist 'hen God pardoned me, he wij | that all out, blotted it out forever, for- gave me, and I think most people have, £o I mever discuss the past. I hate all the things I did then,” h& said. (Copyright, 1981, by North American News- ) We radio made strong by new tubes w RCA Radlotrons, by ever 200 bix Do it tedsy! way. 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To escape from- this vendetta, Jett's father moved out: of Breathitt County and took a farm near Union City. “Curt” Jett was then 2 years old. He grew up to be six feet tall, a rough, whisky-drinking, pistol- toting rowdy, and he went back to Breathitt County and joined his uncles and his cousins in 2 new feud they were then waging, which came to be known as the Hargis-Cockrell-Cardwell Breathe your cold away “Registered U. 8. Pat. Off. rme over Station WBAL euw Saturday 9:3 0:00, Eastern standard tis om— Avoid the Dangers of . Rancm O1L in StaLe CoFrFeg Indigestion, Headaches, Sléeplessness now traced directly to this Rancip OiL soap or powder to bother with. Just wet the pad—and rub. 15§ 9cll. .. 25c of l 1-Ib. Plain Pound Cake. .... .ca. 25c & A ,ea. 15¢ | 1-Ib. Rainbow Pound Cake. . ,ea. 25¢ ’ Lux Toilet Soap 3 20 Bread Supreme 2 4500 Whole-Wheat Bread 55 ped Loaf -« Victor Bread Big N. B. C. Premium Salted Flakes % 27c|N. B. C. Crested Hobbies Pan Loaf Angel Food Cake.... Apple Sauce Cake.... Listen to the Vapez radio evening from . !t grew out of a race for town mar- shal of Jackson, the county seat. Jerry Cardwell, a railroad detective, was the Republican candidate. The Hargises— John, James, Ben and A]ex—l)emo- crats, put a candidate in the field against Cardwell. “City of Sudden Death.” John Hargis and Cardwell met on & frain and began shooting at each other, Hargis was killed. Later Al Little, a friend of Cardwell, was killed by Jesse Flelds, and then Fields was slain by Mose Feltner, a Hargis man. About that time “Curt” Jett arrived in Jackson and joined the Hargises, who were his uncles. Jackson, with only 1,000 population, was then known as the “City of Sudden Death,” so many men had been shot down there. Judge James Hargis, “Curt” uncle, was king of the Hargis clan. He was the wealthiest man in the county. He and his brother owned the Hargis Mammoth Department Store in Jack~ son, which was separated by a muddy from the county court house. 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