Book description
" Among the darkest corners of Kentucky's past are the grisly
feuds that tore apart the hills of Eastern Kentucky from the late
nineteenth century until well into the twentieth. Now, from the tangled
threads of conflicting testimony, John Ed Pearce, Kentucky's best known
journalist, weaves engrossing accounts of six of the most notorior
accounts to uncover what really happened and why. His story of those
days of darkness brings to light new evidence, questions commonly held
beliefs about the feuds, and us and long-running feuds-those in
Breathitt, Clay Harlan, Perry, Pike, and Rowan counties. What caused the
feuds that left Kentucky with its lingering reputation for violence? Who
were the feudists, and what forces-social, political, financial-hurled
them at each other? Did Big Jim Howard really kill Governor William
Goebel? Did Joe Eversole die trying to protect small mountain landowners
from ruthless Eastern mineral exploiters? Did the Hatfield-McCoy fight
start over a hog? For years, Pearce has interviewed descendants of
feuding families and examined skimpy court records and often fictional
newspapeputs to rest some of the more popular legends. John Ed Pearce
worked on the staff of the Louisville Courier-Journal for forty years
and was a widely published columnist. He was co-recipient of a Pulitzer
Prize in 1967.
