"The Larkin Lies Saga" - Part 8 - About Sheriff Parker & The Conclusion

 

ABOUT SHERIFF PARKER

Sheriff Parker lived for many years after the death of Larkin Liles, and finally moved to Maysville, Kentucky, where he and his wife died at the home of their son-in-law T.K. Ball.

Before giving an account of some of the descendants of this famous sheriff we wish to duplicate the obituary of Sheriff Parker as it appeared in the Maysville Republican, under the date of December 5, 1868. It is as follows:

“An old citizen gone--- Mr. W.B. Parker, whose illness was noticed in our last issue, died on Wednesday morning last at half-past three o’clock.  He was in the 80^th year of his age.  The name of “Uncle Buck Parker” has been to us as familiar as a household word since the earliest of our recollections.  He was among the oldest of our citizens, was celebrated as a hunter in his younger days, and known far and wide as a publican.  His friends were legion, and as to enemies he had none.  But all that was earthly of Uncle Buck has passed away.  He has been gathered to his fathers, full of honors and full of years; but his good name lives after him, and many who have been the recipient of his kindness mourn with the family, who have been thus afflicted.  His funeral took place on Thursday afternoon, at two o’clock, from the residence of his son-in-law, T.K. Ball, and was largely attended.”

Two of Sheriff Parker’s great grandchildren are Mrs. Lida T. Pollitt and O.P. “Pat” Tannian, of Vanceburg. Great-Great-Great Grand children are Mary Catherine (Mrs. Go. M.) Plummer and Preston Pollitt.

In order to connect Sheriff William B. (Red Buck) more definitely with the present generation, a few statistics are not out of order.  The High Sheriff was born in 1788, and died, as we have noted, in 1868, at the age of 80.  His son was Leroy Preston Parker, who was born Oct. 19, 1817, and died April 16, 1877, the same year which saw the passing of his close personal friend, William Cottingham Halbert, whom we have noted as the Administrator of Larkin Liles’ estate.  Leroy Preston Parker’s children were Lucy Catherine, born Dec. 15, 1845, and died Nov. 2, 1919.  She married the late Judge James S. Pollitt, and was the mother of the late Orville (O.P.) Preston Pollitt, who was county clerk here from 1898 to about 1918, and was County Judge when the present Court House was built in 1939, and whose son, Preston Pollitt, now lives on the farm of his late father.  The second child was Thomas Beverly Parker, born April 17, 1849, and died Jan. 19, 1914.  He never married.  The third child was John I. (Jack) Parker, born Feb. 15, 1854, and died April 23, 1925.  He married Eliza Voiers.  They had one daughter, Lena Morton Parker, who died in her twenties.  Jack Parker was in the hotel business for many years operating the old St. Nicholas Hotel, at 3^rd an Main, across from the C&O Depot.  The next of the children was Mary (Mollie) Preston Parker, who was born Sept. 7, 1857, in the old McKellup house in Vanceburg, and died July 27, 1937.  She will be remembered by many of our middle aged citizens.  In 1875 she married the well known Colonel C.L. Tannian, (born Feb. 22,1857, died May 9, 1938.)  Their children are Mrs. H. carr (Lida Tannian) Pollitt, who lives on West Second Street in Vanceburg, Eugene Tannian, now deceased, and Col. Orville Preston (Pat) Tannian.  This makes the latter three great-grandchildren to the famous Sheriff Red Buck Parker, and Mrs. Pollitt’s daughter, Mary Catherine (  Mrs. Geo. M. Plummer), and Orville Pollitt’s son Preston, great-great-grandchildren.

It will be noted that the names ‘Preston’ and ‘Beverly’ have run consistently through every generation.  Of children of the original, William B. Parker, we have no other record than the son Leroy Preston Parker, although there were others, relatives have told us.  Of Leroy Preston Parker’s children, there were others who died very young, and we have listed only those who reached maturity.

And now a word for those whose information have made this story possible.  As we have indicated, much of this has been handed down from one generation to another.  As one of the trio whose work and research have made this possible, we the other two can only say that if it had not been for the work of Amos Howard, we could have accomplished very little.  Always with a nose for history, Mr. Howard has kept careful record of the things told him by his parent and grandparents.  It was Mrs. Abigail (Aunt Abbey) Cooper whose mother, “Aunt Edie” Liles (1842-1920) who was seven years old when Larkin Liles was killed, who told us about Larkin who used to be at her father’s house when she was a child, quite frequently.  She told us that “Doctor Liles looked like Larkin.”  This was Dr. J.D. Liles who died in 1937, and whom many remember well.   The late Judge George Morgan Thomas, who was School Commissioner in 1849, and was present during the Clarksburg trials and has often spoken of it to the late R.J.Heinisch and the writer.  Likewise former Judge Wm. C. Halbert has told us details which his father, the administrator of the Liles Estate, have related to him.  Thus we have talked to no less than TWO persons who had seen him in the flesh, and Judge Halbert and Judge A.H. Parker’s fathers had also known him personally.  From 1914 to 1920 Mrs. Edith Cooper Munro and the writer had discussed and made endless inquiries of persons then living about Larkin, and we were indebted to her and her sister, Mrs. Grace Cooper Mathewson.  These are granddaughters of “Aunt Edie” Liles, heretofore referred to.  Hon. Lovel Liles of Catlettsburg kindly put at our disposal his record of his ancestor. The late County Judge W.T. Stone  told us of personal recollection of his father “Uncle Zeke” St one.  The late Dr. J.D. Liles knowing of our interest in the subject, never lost an opportunity in his office or  on the s treets, to give us some new data that he had dug up.  Miss Gladys Cooper has told us many anecdotes that we might have overlooked but for her thoughtfulness.  The late W.H. Liles, and the late Granville Liles has related to us many happenings about our subject that had been handed down to them by ancestors.  Mrs. Jessie Adams, of Garrison, has helped greatly in establishing relationships and names, all of which add to the value of this manuscript, as Mrs. J.T. (Anna Lewis) Henderson has helped, in locating old graveyards, and genealogical data.  The late W.T. (Uncle Bill) Cooper (1858-1956) frequently related details which his father Wyatt Cooper, and mother Louisa Blankenship, both of whom knew Larkin well, had told him from childhood, and Manneth Forman, Garrison.  There may have been others, doubtless there were, and if we fail to recall their names at this late hour, we truly thank them, as we do those we have named.

This has been the labor of fifty years research, digging up bits of information jotted down and filed away (not too efficiently), trips to old graveyards in the heat of the noonday sun, trips to old archives in Frankfort, checking and re-checking, going for miles over almost impassable roads to check once more the date on an old gravestone.  We three have done our best, and compiled for posterity and his descendants, a tale of pioneer which is without parallel insofar as it has come to our knowledge.  We have tried to separate the authentic from the lore that has been handed down over a period of 126 years.  The witnesses who gave testimony before our little court of inquiry did not know that they were speaking to perpetuate history – they had no reason to ‘doctor up’ their story.  We have taken the details to which the great majority of our witnesses have agreed, and recorded them herein.  And while we would not want to go through the labor of it again, now that it is finished, we can look back and hope that the reader may find pleasure in persuing this tale as we had (now that it is behind us) in writing it.

"The Larkin Liles Saga" Part 7 - The Hog Story

 

THE HOG STORY

The following incident was told about Larkin Liles by the late Corbett Knapp, who was distantly related.

In those days it was the customer for hogs and other stock to run wherever they wished.  There were few, if any, fences in the rural areas one hundred and twenty years ago.  It seemed that one party had a very pernicious hog, which delighted in going any distance in order to get in Larkin Liles’ garden, where it uprooted sweet potatoes and played havoc generally.  Larkin had protested several times to the owner of this hog, who in turn acknowledged the hog’s guilt but claimed he was absolutely unable to keep it up ---that it would uproot or tear down any kind of fence in which it was confined.

One day, returning from a squirrel hunt, Liles passed by this neighbor’s cabin.  Finding the neighbor aforesaid sitting on a fallen tree trunk at the edge of the road.  He was greeted cordially and urged to ‘sit a spell’, which Liles did.  In the course of the conversation, Liles, who had his squirrel rifle laying across his lap with its muzzle pointing toward the neighbor, managed to maneuver the gun into a suitable position.  All at once the gun suddenly fired.  The bullet barely grazed the belly of the neighbor.

“My God, Larkin, you came pretty near killing me,” cried the neighbor, as he ruefully rubbed where the bullet had barely burned his skin.

Larkin, too was on his feet, examining the lock of his gun, with astonishment.  “Boy, that was a close call,” said Larkin.  “Can’t imagine what got into this fool gun!  I’m going to have to examine that fool hammer. Appears like it ain’t catching right.  Well, a miss is as good as a mile, I reckon.”

Larkin started on down the road toward his house, but paused and turned after taking a few steps.   “But now that I think of it, you sure are going to have to do something about that hog.  I just can’t have my garden rooted up any more.”

With that he silently disappeared down the road.

However, within the hour, the neighbor, three or four grown boys, and all the women folk were working like mad building a hog pen that took on the appearance of a block house of the Old Indian days, with huge sharpened posts driven into the ground two or three feet deep.   We presume Larkin’s garden was not again rooted up.

"The Larkin Liles Saga" Part 6

 

Not far from this scene there stood a small log cabin, which was still standing in 1924, and was owned about that time by one Robert Strother, who formerly operated drug store in Vanceburg and was the father of a former county attorney, John P. Strother, now (1962) living in Cincinnati.  Larkin did not die on the spot, but when someone found him they carried him to this cabin, where he was laid on the floor, and shortly afterwards died.  Stains, said to be blood stains, were visible on the floor boards 70 years afterwards, where they were seen by one of these writers.  This cabin was destroyed by fire many years ago.

Larkin was buried beside his father in the Arkanall Cemetery, Amos Howard has recently erected a monument of native stone at the grave, where a copper plaque now memorializes one of the historical characters of Lewis County.

The closer surmise of the date of Liles’ death will be found in Will Book D, page 328, under the date of August 20, 1849, where we find an entry as to the settlement of his estate.  The administrator appointed was William C. Halbert, Sr., the father of the late Judge Wm C. Halbert, and grandfather of Russell Halbert and Mrs. Frances Atkinson, of Greenup.  Upon Halbert’s motion the following appraisers were appointed:  William S. Parker, Seth Parker, (one of the witnesses to the famous fight as we have heretofore indicated), Milton Evans, and John J. Waddell.

The appraisal was set for the entire estate at $88.49, but on the day of the sale, which was August 31, the entire estate brought only $67.39 ½.  Liles’ famous rifle gun, which was appraised at $10, was bid in by Darius McKinney and brought $11.50.  When he died he had out 13 acres of corn by himself and had one-third partnership in another eight acres.  His entire farm crop brought $47.  The above statements give lie to the tales of some people that Liles was a shiftless, lazy, ne’er-do-well.  Anyone who put out that much corn in those days of primitive cultivation and harvesting would be anything but lazy.

Three years after Larkin’s death, his widow married Allen Yates, on March 15, 1852.  She is buried in the Liles Graveyard near Camp Dix.  Amos Howard has erected a stone to her memory.

"The Larkin Liles Saga" Part 5: Later Life

 

LATER LIFE

One story has it that as soon as Larkin left to go to the penitentiary his father-in-law tried to persuade his wife to sue him for divorce.  Of course after being absent for just a few days and learning of this from his wife, upon his return, a very bitter feeling developed between the two men, which we are to see later resulted fatally for Liles.

In going over the county records here, we find that Larkin was involved in numerous minor infractions with the law, something which the records do not show heretofore.  And reading between the lines, also, and listening to the stories told by members of the family, it will be apparent to the reader that something happened to Larkin that was to change the whole course of his life.  He was no longer the same man.  This change becomes evident shortly after his return from Frankfort and upon learning his father-in-law’s advice to his wife.  From then on, his feelings toward the father-in-law was one of cold hate, which did not auger a healthy future to the father-in-law. (According to present day advanced psychological research we find that it is not unusual for a person to experience a disintegration of personality following a traumatic experience or shock, such as that experienced by Liles when being sentenced to the penitentiary.)

Up to this time, there is no record of any animosity between the two men.  It will be remembered that the father-in-law signed his first bond.

Another story says that one day while hunting on a hillside, Larkin saw his father-in-law crossing a clearing some distance below and on the spur of the moment had taken a ‘pot shot at him with his trusty squirrel rifle.   The bullet struck the target alright, but distance had so far spent its force that it merely knocked the intended victim to the ground.  Plummer made nothing of the incident, but he knew that from then on it was just a question of his life or Liles’.  We must emphasize that these two stories are just tales, and we have no documentary evidence to support them.

However, from 1836 to 1849, Liles seemed to be the subject of numerous minor court actions.  Several times he was placed under a peace bond for allegations running from Sabbeth breaking and trespassing to shooting with intent to kill.  He, in turn in 1849, required Henry Liles, his brother, to be placed under a peace bond for a year.

The date of his death cannot be exactly determined.  Court records show that he was in court on April 16, 1849.  On the first day of the October term of Lewis Circuit Court, 1849, which bears the date of October 15, 1849, in two different cases an entry is recorded “that the presentment of this cause be abated as to the defendant Larkin Liles by reason of his death.”  We therefore know that he died sometime between April 16 and October 15, 1849.  His estate was appraised on August 20, 1849, so this pin-points it to the period between April and August, being most likely the last of July or first of August.  Tradition says he was born about 1790, but this cannot be verified.

The narration as to how he died involves a third version of the feeling between him and his father-in-law.  This version says that Plummer and Liles had a falling out over the treatment of Liles’ wife (Plummer’s daughter.)  To settle this dispute Larkin and Plummer agreed to settle it in what was in those days called “A-Fist-and-Skull-Court.”  When Liles suggested shooting it out instead of the “Fist-and-Skull” décor, Plummer agreed that they were to meet in the woods near the mouth of Mosby Creek at a certain time in the morning.  This they did, dodging from tree to tree, taking ‘pot shots’ at each other until Larkin made a lucky shot, hitting Plummer in the hip, thereby winning the case. It was said that no grudge was to be held.

Our last account has it that Plummer made a deal with one Paul Stillwell to assassinate Liles from ambush.  Biding his time, the assailant finally caught Larkin sitting on the creek bank fishing, about one half mile upstream from Blankenship Crossing, and stealthily slipping up from behind with sure range, shot Larkin in the back.  The location where he was shot is known today as Larkin’s rifle.

"The Larkin Liles Saga" - Part 4 : The Trial and Sentencing

 The case was finally brought to trial on Tuesday, September 28, 1836.  This time the jury was  composed of Dudley Calvert, William Kendrick, Joseph Hampton, John McDaniel, Thomas J. Walker, Andrew Henderson, William Wilson, William Barkley, James Wilson, Augustine Crwnes, Andrew Thompson, and Benjamin Fitch.  They found Liles guilty of mayhem, as charged in the indictment, and did “ascertain and determine that he undergo a confinement in the jail and penitentiary of this state for the term of one year,” and thereupon said prisoner was ordered back to jail.

But Larkin never went back to jail, nor is there any evidence tha he had ever been in jail during the court proceedings.  His old hunting companion and high sheriff, W.B. Parker, stood responsible for his appearance.  And now comes the most astounding tale in the history of court procedure.

The sheriff had planned on taking Liles to Frankfort within a few days.  However, Liles asked the sheriff if he would permit him to go home for a week or ten days to try to harvest some crops, cut sufficient wood for the winter months, and make some preparations for his year’s absence.

He asked the sheriff to designate a day in which to meet him at the county seat at Clarksburg.  This the sheriff agreed to and Larkin went back to his home on Kinney.  At the end of the agreed time, Liles appeared promptly at the sheriff’s house and announced himself ready to go to the penitentiary.  The sheriff outlined the plan to go to Vanceburg, catch a steam boat from there to Maysville, and go to Frankfort from there by stage-coach.  Thereupon, Liles suggested that he be allowed to make the journey ‘as the crow flies’ and hunt through.  This the sheriff agreed to and told him to be in Frankfort at a certain date.

At daylight on the day set, Liles put in his appearance at the residence of then Governor James Clark, and when a servant announced he had come over to go into the penitentiary.  His backwoods appearance rather shocked the servant and during the conversation Governor Clark came downstairs in time to hear part of it.  He stepped to the door and asked what the argument was about, and Liles informed him, as he had the servant, that he had come over to be put in the penitentiary.  Inquiring if he had breakfast yet, the governor invited Liles to come in for breakfast and tell him about his troubles.  When the narrative was concluded the governor dispatched a servant to the stage-coach inn with instructions to Lewis County’s high sheriff to come at once to the executive mansion.

Sure enough, Sheriff Parker arrived on the scheduled stagecoach and at once hastened to the governor’s house.  Conducting Parker to his private office, the governor verified every detail of Liles’ story.  He then inquired of Sheriff Parker, how he ever came to allow a prisoner convicted of a felony such an unheard of privilege.  “Because when Larkin told me he would be here this morning, I knew that if he was alive he would be here.  He’s just that kind of a man,” replied the sheriff.

The governor arose from his seat and said, according to a contemporary account, “I’ll be d……  Let’s have a drink.”  To which proposition both friends agreed with alacrity.

In the meantime, the governor called in another attendant and after a conversation, which the two Lewis Countians did not hear, the man departed.  In a short time he returned, bearing a rolled up official looking document.  It was a full pardon.  Handing it to Liles, the governor said, “A man as honest as you has no business in the penitentiary. Go back to Lewis County and behave yourself.”

Suffice to say, Liles walked back home across country as he had come and arrived home before the sheriff, who made the return journey by stage and steamboat.

The above story was later related by Sheriff William Beverly Parker.  Now comes a part of which there is no official record, but which has been handed down by members of the family for more than a century.

"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.