"The Larkin Liles Saga" - Part 3: The Fight

 THE FIGHT

In those days, such an encounter was the delight of the village idler, and he ran to witness it and to participate in its excitement, without the fear of a stray bullet or an accidental thrust of a knife between his ribs.  A crowd quickly gathered and made a ring about the fighters as they went at it man to man in manly fashion, no holds barred, until the fight became so fast, fierce, and furious and the uproar so great that deputy sheriff, Harry Parker, was called upon “to command the peace.”  This he did, and forthwith arrested both belligerents and hauled them before Squires Thomas Parker and W.S. Parker, justices of the peace, and upon June 2, 1836, at a preliminary examination, Larkin Liles was held in the sum of $1,000 bail for his appearance before the grand jury of Lewis County, then sitting at Clarksburg the county seat.  Larkin promptly furnished bond in the amount named with Nelson Plummer (his father-in-law), Benjamin Shepherd, William Sparks, John Thomas, Jim Williams, William McEldowney, and Pleasant M. Savage as sureties.  The witnesses summoned to appear before the grand jury were deputy sheriff, Harry Parker, Richard Pell, and Stephen Bliss.

On the 8^th day of June, 1836, with Walker Reid as circuit judge (Reid being the first Lewis County Court Clerk) and Thomas G. Paine, the commonwealth attorney, the grand jury was composed of Thomas Henderson, John W. Doyle, Naboth Sparks, Alexander Thompson, Joshua Howard, Joseph Watkins, Jr., Richard D. Taylor, James Givens, Richard W. Davis, John Halbert, William Harvey, Robert Parker, Matthew Thompson, Stephen Halbert, Spencer Cooper, Daniel Halbert, Stephen Bliss, Rowleigh F. Bullock, Joseph Wilson and James Briggs (We are at a loss to account for twenty persons on the Grand Jury.)

The grand jury returned a true bill of indictment charging Larkin Liles with the crime of mayhem, committed on the person of his late antagonist, Edward Campbell, by biting off his lower lip.  This bail was fixed at $500, which he again promptly executed with the following sureties, Benjamin Shepherd, William McEldowney, Pleasant M. Saveage, and John Thompson, all prominent citizens of the county.  Liles’ attorney was Horatio Bruce.

Larkin pleaded not guilty.  A jury composed of Sylvester Veach, Solomon Davis, Job Parks, John McClain, Jonathan Lusk, Samuel Ruppolee, William Wade, Burr Harrison, Israel Thomas, John Munford, Alexander Irvine, and Elijah Hendrickson, failed to reach a verdict, and the trial was continued till the following day.  In delaying tactics, which would do credit to present day litigation, the trial was laid over till the nest term of court and his bond was reduced to $200.  These bondsmen were Chancy B. Shepherd, and Charles C. Marshall.