The Tolliver Martin Feud
On June 22, 1887, the batle was fought which settled for all time the controversy between the Tolliver faction and the Martin or Logan Faction in Rowan County. No other feud in Kentucky had given the State officials so much trouble. The Governor sent the military arm of the government to Morehead on several occasions: so long as the soldiers remained everything was quiet, but immediately upon their withdrawal, the trouble was renewed. Govenor J Proctor Knott did everything he could to settle the feud but all efforts failed. At one time the Attorney-General, P Wyatt Hardin went to prosecute the cases which were tried before a special judge. All that Hardin suddeeded in doing was to get some of the Tollivers indicted for carrying concealed deadly weapons.
The Governor succeeded, at one time, in having a treaty of peace signed by the leaders of the factions in which they swore that they would keep the peace for all time and which they did actually keep for nearly a year. This peace was terminated by the fight in which young Will Logan was killed. After this, Cook Humphrey and Craig Tolliver agreed to leave the State forever, and this agreement was kept for about 4 months.
During the session of the Kentucky Legislature in the year 1887, there was a joint resolution passed by the general assembly for the purpose of investigating the troubles on Rowan County.
The joint committee from Senate and House, appointed pursuant to this resolution, made its report through Hon John K Hendricks, chairman, on March 6 1888. This report was in part as follows: "Your committee finds from the evidence that the feud and lawlessness in Rowan County commenced in August, 1884, and grew out of the election of W Cook Humphrey as sheriff of the county. On the day of the August election, one Solomon Bradley was killed in a street fight and a dispute arose as to whether Floyd Tolliver or John Martin did the killing. Bradley was a Republican and a friend and partisan of Humphrey, and from the date of that killing and for some months afterwards the feud parook of a political nature. Cook Humphrey and his followeres representing Republican faction and Craig Tolliver and his followeres a Democratic faction.
On December 2, 1884, Floyd Tolliver was killed in a barroom brawl by John Martin.
On December 10, 1884 Martin was assassinated at Farmers, in Rowan County, while in the charge of officers of the law under a forged order to bring him from the Winchester jail in Clark County, to Moerhead, to stand his examining trial. From that time forward, open murders and secret assassinations followed in quick succession until June 22, 1887, when the principle leaders of one faction were murdered in an attempt to arrest them. From August 1884 to June 1887 there were twenty murders and assassinations in the County, and this in a county whose voting population never, during this period, exceed 11,000. Also during this period there was not a single conviction of murder, manslaughter or wounding, except for the killing of one Hughes who was not identified with either faction.