A Red-Hot Time in Lewis County, Kentucky: Blood and Fun Just Ahead!

 

Thanks to my cousin Raymond Hobbs for his help with this blog!



PREFACE: In presenting this blog, we present it based on the information provided by the newspapers of the day. We certainly do not mean any disrespect to the family involved.

In 1856, James M. English and Sarah Jane McGowan English of Robertson County, KY, gave birth to a daughter named Elizabeth A. "May" English.

Little is known about the English Family other than they had "become notorious all over this portion of the state."

Her brother, John English was once shot by his brother George English. An older brother Bill English was killed by a Vaughn man.  And George also lodged in the Carlisle, KY jail on burglary charges.

Elizabeth married John J. Crow on March 2, 1873 in Fleming County, Kentucky and had at least two sons and two daughters.

The family moved to Lewis County July 1897 after they were allegedly forced to leave Robertson County.

On February 11, 1898, Lewis County Constable Charles Cooper along with a posse made up of William Thacker, John Pollitt, and two Brewer young men went to the Crow residence located between Foxport and Petersville, to serve warrants on the family for trespassing and chicken stealing.

The entire Crow Family were "armed to the teeth", and a pitched battle broke out between the Crow family and the officers. Sources vary as to the details of the battle, but allegedly   Elizabeth shot William Thacker in the temple and one of the daughters allegedly began stabbing him and trying to cut his throat. Once source stated that John Crow, the patriarch of the family, was using an axe as a weapon and cut Mr. Thacker during the fight.

The officers returned fire, killing Elizabeth almost instantly and shot one of the daughters in the side.

After the battle, the family had a fight over the body of Mrs. Crow and the possession of her money, totaling $160, that she had in her jacket.

John Crow would not permit any postmortem examination and declared that he would kill the Coroner should he attempt it.

The next day, Saturday, February 12, 1898, Mrs. Elizabeth Crow was taken by a rickety wagon to Mt. Tabor in Fleming County for burial, with John, his daughters, and a child all sitting on top of the coffin, all armed to the teeth.

As for the charges for the rest of the family - they were arrested and were fined $7.00 each for the chicken thievery and trespassing.

The death of Mrs. Crow brought the passing of "one of the most desperate women that ever inhabited the mountains in this section of Kentucky."

By the end of February, the family left Lewis County and relocated to Nicholas County near the Robertson County line.

Oddly enough, William Thacker, who was shot, stabbed, and cut in the battle would be hanged by a mob in Flemingsburg just five years later for the killing of young John Gordon. Sources state that he had also killed Jeff Fields of Fleming County prior to the killing of Mrs. Crow.