Clayhole Cases Are Dismissed

Louisville Post, March 26, 1925

The state's famous Clayhole election day killing cases was dismissed from the court record for all time today, nearly three and a half years after four men were killed and 17 wounded in election rioting in Breathitt County.

Judge O. H. Pollard, acting upon a petition of 13 men under indictment, and four widows whose husbands were victims of the 1921 disturbance, dismissed the cases.

The judge sustained their petition which asserted that the state would be put to great expense to prosecute the case, and that testimony undoubtedly would be so conflicting that no jury would be able to determine the guilt of those under indictment.

Motions for dismissal of the cases were made yesterday. It was the second time an attempt had been made to petition the cases out of court; the previous petition having been presented in 1922.

The alleged successful attempt to prevent the November 8, 1921, election in Clayhole precinct resulted in the slaying of Asberry Combs, Cleveland Combs, Ethern Allen, Democrats, and George McIntosh, Republican. The ballot boxes were destroyed and the balloting terminated.

Several months later the grand jury returned indictments against Leslie Combs, French Combs, Shade Combs, and George Allen, Jr., charging them with murder in connection with the death of McIntosh. At the same time Will Barnett, Willie Davis, Will Campbell, Alfred Barnett, Andy Barnett, Marion Barnett, Ed Davis, Ed Combs, and Chester Davis, Republicans, were indicted for murder in connection with the death of the three Democrats. All of the defendants later were indicted on charges of conspiracy to prevent an election.

A change of venue to Boyd County was obtained when it was alleged that the two factions had attempted to effect a compromise by which the indictments were to be dismissed.

Democrats Found Guilty

At the first trial in Catlettsburg, Boyd County, the four Democrats were found guilty and sentenced to prison for terms ranging from five to 15 years. The nine Republicans who testified against them in the conspiracy charge pleaded immunity on the ground that they had incriminated themselves in their testimony. Subsequently the conspiracy charges against them were dismissed.

On appeals decided by the Court of Appeals, the sentence against the Democratic defendants were reversed on the ground that defendants were denied the right to offer testimony purporting to show that the Republicans had planned an attack on Clayhole precinct, the largest Democratic precinct in the county, and thereby elect a Republican ticket, or a large part of it.

The action of the lower court in dismissing the conspiracy charges against the nine Republicans also was reversed by the Court of Appeals. The court held that the statute under which the dismissals were granted did not refer to common law offenses.

Will Barnett, the first of the Republicans to go on trial at Catlettsburg in February 1923, was found guilty of manslaughter and conspiracy. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment, and when in June of that year, the Court of Appeals denied his motion for a new trial, accepted the sentence. Trials of the other defendants were postponed.