The account of the Clayhole Election Fight as reported the following day, November 9, 1921, in the Louisville Courier-Journal, the state's largest newspaper:

Eight Die in Breathitt Battle

Eight men were killed and five wounded in a battle at the polling place at Clayhole Precinct, Breathitt County, as the polls were opened yesterday. Election officers and workers were among the slain.

Another worker was ambushed and seriously wounded before the battle, and the election clerk at Simpson precinct was shot to death late in the afternoon.

Another man was slain in Spring Fork Precinct on the eve of the election.

One was killed and two others wounded in a fight at Ravenna Precinct, Estill County, yesterday afternoon.

A Logan County banker was shot at a voting place in Auburn yesterday afternoon.

Nine men were shot to death and six wounded in a battle and during sporadic fighting in three precincts of Breathitt County today. Another man was shot and seriously wounded last night as a prelude to today's battling. Two voting places were reported shot up today and ballots destroyed. Telephone lines were cut and voters intimidated.

Eight Killed In Battle

Eight men were killed and four wounded in a pitched battle inside and about the door of Clayhole Precinct, twelve miles from here on Troublesome Creek, as the polls were opened this morning.

The slain are: Asberry Combs, 36 years old; Tom Center, 60; Cleveland Combs, 35; Leslie Combs, 35; Ephern Allen, 31; John Roberts, 30; George Allen, 30; and George McIntosh.

All the slain men were Democratic workers except Roberts and McIntosh, who were Republicans. All were married men with families.

The wounded are: William Barnett, 50, married, Republican, condition serious; Will Davis, 30, single, Republican; Ed Davis, 48, married, Republican; French Combs, 35, married, Democrat, condition serious; and Tom McIntosh, 25, single, Republican.

The others slain are: K. K. Spencer, Democrat, election clerk, shot to death late this afternoon at Simpson Precinct, 15 miles from here on Big Frozen Creek; and Sylvester Howard, Jr, 38, slain late yesterday at Spring Fork Precinct, near the Knott County line. The other wounded man was Lloyd Napier, 40, Democrat, husband of Democratic candidate for jailer; ambush on his way to Clayhole Precinct voting place, condition serious.

Battle Breaks Suddenly

The battle of Clayhole Precinct occurred soon after the polls were opened and sometime after the ambushing of Napier. Almost before one could realize that a fight was in progress, scores of shots had been fired and the victims were lying about the polling place, some dead and others dying.

According to one version of the affair, there had been reports last night that the election would be torn up when the polling place was opened this morning. The fact that telephone lines were cut gave strength to the belief that men were organized to carry on a fight.

Ed Combs, defeated candidate for county judge at the recent primary, who has been supporting the Republican ticket, is said to have led a party of men who appeared at the voting place and demanded a fair election after a voter had been challenged. The battle, according to this version, began when, after Combs refused to leave the room and take his followers away from the door, election officers attempted to remove him forcibly.

Woman Takes Part

Cleveland Combs, election clerk, was the first to fall. A witness to the shooting, who returned to Jackson tonight, said Mrs. Combs, who said she had overheard a group of men plotting a raid on the polling place and who appeared in time to see her husband slain, knocked a pistol from George McIntosh and shot him. She said McIntosh fired the shot which killed her husband, it was reported.

Efforts were made to reopen the polls after the fight, but it was found the ballots had been thrown into the creek, and few of them could be used. Few persons were courageous enough to approach the polls after the battle, it was said.

It is believed that the loss of this precinct may swing the county election to the Republicans. The precinct was the stronghold of the Democrats and was considered the key to the outcome of the election in Breathitt.

Second Version of Cause

Another version of the fight was to the effect it was caused by a dispute as to who was the authorized clerk of the election. Tom Haddix, Democrat, was certified by the Breathitt County Election Commissioners. Yesterday Cleveland Combs came here and made affidavit before the commissioners that Haddix was ill and could not serve. He requested that the ballot box be turned over to him. According to this version of the story, the trouble began when Haddix appeared at the polls and demanded to serve. Late reports here tonight, however, said the difference between Combs and Haddix had been settled before the fighting began.

Physicians from Jackson went to the scene of the battle on a special train from the Mowbray and Robinson Lumber Plant at Quicksand.

Leslie Combs and Cleveland Combs were cousins of State Senator Tom Combs, Lexington, and French Combs was a defeated candidate for the Democratic nomination for county court clerk in the recent primary. George Allen, until recently, was one of the county school supervisors, and he and Ethern Allen were nephews of A. A. Allen, jailer of Breathitt County.

Another Precinct Shot Up

Lloyd Napier, who was ambushed while on his way to the polling place two hours before the battle occurred, may die, it was reported here tonight. It was not learned who shot him.

Simpson Precinct, where K.K. Spencer was slain, is cut off front the rest of the county because telephone wires were torn down. Details of the shooting there are meager and it is not known whether voting was resumed after the fray. A rumor was to the effect the ballots were stolen last night.

The voting place at Buckhorn Precinct, on Troublesome, five miles beyond Clayhole Precinct was reported shot up and the ballots destroyed. The shooting occurred at 2 o'clock this afternoon. It had not been learned here tonight whether anyone was wounded. Telephone lines about this precinct had been cut also.

Owing to the lack of telephone communication, no details were learned of the Spring Fork Precinct shooting in which Sylvester Howard, Jr. met his death. Mart Pitts is alleged to have fought with him.