American History Tellers - Kentucky Blood Feud - The Revenge of Bad Tom Baker | 2

Episode Date: December 18, 2019

The Civil War forced the warring families of Clay County into an uneasy truce. The Garrards, Whites, Howards, and Bakers found themselves allied as they fought for the Union. But the war brought new challenges: the Northern army destroyed Clay County’s salt mines in order to keep them out of the hands of the South, and the Emancipation Proclamation brought an end to slavery, which had helped make salt mining so profitable.The Garrards and the Whites were so rich that they were able to withstand these pressures on their businesses. But the poorer Bakers and the Howards soon found themselves fighting over scraps of land and timber. And in 1898, a business dispute led “Bad Tom” Baker and “Big Jim” Howard to assassinate members of each other’s families, starting a wave of killings and arsons so bloody they would reshape the state.Support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Imagine that it's 1857, 6 o'clock in the evening, on a bitterly cold day in Manchester, the seat of Clay County, nestled in the foothills of southern Kentucky's mountains. You blow into your hands, desperate for warmth. Your stomach rumbles. You long for just a spoonful of your wife's hot stew. But it's your job to make sure the prisoners and their cells have enough food and blankets to get them through the night. And you're not about to let any complaints get to T.T. Garrett. You know how much money he spent getting you elected head jailer. As you head inside and toward the back of the jailhouse, one of your wards speaks up, an old-timer with a grizzled beard.

Hey, Bowling. This slop ain't half bad. Who made it? Well, thank you, Sam. My wife half bad. Who made it? Well, thank you, Sam. My wife made it. I'll tell her you said so. Say, you think we can get some tobacco in here? Might make the time go easier for us if you know what I mean. Wish I could, but you know the rules. Oh, come on, son. Sheriff White's jailer used to let us chew and smoke if we could pay for it. You've heard these complaints before. The White family ran the jail and the county courthouse for years. But last year, the rival Garrard family beat them out in local elections and took over control. You got lucky.

You're not part of the family, but you've long been a supporter of the patriarch, T.T. Garrard, and you've been rewarded. Yeah, yeah, I know. But it's a new day, and the Garrards are going to start running the jails a little differently. Who knows? Maybe I'll be sheriff one day. I wish you the best. The garage are good people. The whites have been running this jail and courthouse a long time. And sorry to say I've been through both many times, but here's hoping I never have to deal with another jailer after I'm done here. I'm going to stay clear of... You hear something? I sure do. It's the damn wind outside. Getting you guys some

extra blankets. No, no, that's not what I mean's the damn wind outside. Getting you guys some extra blankets. No, no, that's not what I mean. I heard something else. Will you check? Fine, I'll check. But it better just be a raccoon and not your sweetheart trying to sneak you in cake, Sam. Nothing out here, Sam. I'm betting it's just... Hey, what happened? You okay? Damn it! They shot me! They shot me!

Hey, let me out! Let me... I'll go get help! It's too late, Sam. I'm a dead man. You tell my wife and the sheriff it's one of them white boys. I saw him clear... clear as day. Hang in there, man. Hang in. But you know it's no use. The ceiling of the jail fades as the life drains out of you. You're about to die just for winning an election and for being allied with a Gerard family

you wish you'd never picked aside. Hey, this is Nick. And this is Jack. And we just launched a brand new podcast called The Best Idea Yet. You may have heard of it. It's all about the untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. Listen to The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Sachi Cole.

And I'm Sarah Hagee. And we're the hosts of Scamfluencers, a weekly podcast from Wondery that takes you along the twists and turns of the most infamous scams of all time, the impact on victims, and what's left once the facade falls away. Follow Scamfluencers on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American History Tellers. Our history, your story. The killing of jailer John Bowling signified the increasing danger of being aligned with one of the two warring factions in the Baker-Howard conflict. It was the longest and most violent blood feud in America, lasting nearly a century in Clay County, Kentucky.

The blood feud was dominated by two powerful families in Clay, the Gerrards and the Whites, but it soon drew in the Bakers and the Howards, close kin who became the foot soldiers in this war over political control and precious natural resources. While the Civil War brought a rare pause in the family fighting, it also devastated the salt works in the region. The Whites and the Gerrards both fought on the side of the Union and voluntarily surrendered their valuable salt wells for destruction to keep them out of the hands of the Confederacy. But the Whites and Gerrards were wealthy and powerful enough to withstand such a blow to their business. Their Bakerd and Howard kin were not. After the war, the Bakers and the Howards began fighting over land to regain their financial footing. This led to the bloodiest

period of all, a phase in the long-running feud that threatened to bring the rival families to the brink of destruction. This is the second episode in our two-part series, Revenge of Bad Tom Baker. In 1849, William Baker walked into his house and came across a startling sight. His wife, Matilda, stood over

the body of a man drenched in blood. William knew his wife had been having an affair with the man, but it wasn't clear why she had bludgeoned him to death. Still, there was no time to think. William's pride would not let him allow his wife to be arrested for murder. The pair wrapped the man in a blanket and pulled him out to the edge of the woods where they buried him in a shallow grave. Unfortunately for William, a dog soon found the corpse and dug it up. Both William and Matilda were arrested. At his trial, someone raised the possibility that William Baker and the murdered man had recently had a bad business dispute. Baker was found guilty of murder and scheduled to be hanged a few months later at the same gallows where his cousin, Abner Baker, was put to death five years before. William Baker never once cast blame on his wife, though he continued to proclaim his innocence. Most of Clay County suspected worse. The man

Matilda had killed was a Howard. The Howards were closely aligned with the powerful White family, sworn enemies of the Gerrards, and the Gerrards were close kin of the Bakers. The dead man's family, the Howards, were furious. Though William Baker had been convicted, they reasoned, the true murderer of their kin was getting away free. But Baker's allies, the Gerrard family, objected too. To them, William Baker was going to be put to death for something he did not do. The Gerrards tried their hardest to defend William Baker in court, but again, the Whites used their legal and financial influence to best The Gerrards tried their hardest to defend William Baker in court, but again, the whites used their legal and financial influence to best the Gerrards, just like they did with Abner Baker. A few months later, Baker was hanged while town residents looked on.

For both the Gerrards and the Bakers, the hanging of William Baker provoked outrage, and they vowed to retaliate. But the Gerrards were not hasty people, they were long-range planners, and their leadership was perhaps the most strategic of all. Theophilus Gerrard, known as T.T., had worldly experience. He had served as a captain in the Mexican-American War in the late 1840s and traveled to California to try and make his fortune during the gold rush. Although he didn't find gold, he did experience the nation outside of Appalachia

and saw potential to expand his family's salt enterprise. Most importantly, he realized that accumulating political offices on the state level would benefit his family in the long run. If he could influence the state of Kentucky to invest in Clay County, it would be good for his business and for the rest of the community. T.T. was serving in the state senate in 1861 when the Civil War broke out. He immediately signed up to head the 7th Kentucky Infantry and was appointed colonel. He recruited some 10,000 men from Clay and surrounding counties to fill eight companies. People in southern Kentucky thought highly of T.T. He was a thoughtful, deliberate man, had a college degree, and continued to run his family's saltworks company as well.

He had even managed to stave off bankruptcy during the long economic depression of the 1830s and steered the family business towards growth. T.T. was also a lifelong Southern Democrat, but like others from his community, he chose to fight on the side of the Union. Though his business had always depended on slavery, T.T. had gotten assurances from President Lincoln's administration that the war was focused on the states in rebellion, not on neutral border states like Kentucky. Lincoln was still two years away from issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. Plus, keeping the Union together was of utmost importance to T.T.'s family business. He had valuable customers on the Atlantic coast. He needed to avoid being cut off from them and from new markets elsewhere in the country. On the other side of the blood feud, James White, who had inherited the White family salt works from his father Hugh, also rushed to the Union side. As a Republican, he felt a loyalty to Abraham Lincoln, but he was

also looking out for his family's business interests, much like T.T. and the rest of the Gerrards. Most of the Bakers and Howards joined the Union forces as well. And for a long time, the rival families who had fought so bitterly were allied, if uneasily. But while the Salt families of Clay County left the region to fight Confederate forces, the war drove the Confederate army further into Clay. Salt was not only an important mineral for diet and for curing food, but also for dyeing uniforms, and the rebels desperately needed a salt source. In the fall of 1861 and again in 62, Confederate troops invaded the salt works along Goose Creek and made off

with thousands of pounds of salt from nearly every family's salt works. The Civil War also wreaked havoc in the town of Manchester, as foragers from both sides came looking for food for their troops and animals. But salt was the most sought-after prize, and the Union was willing to go to great lengths to keep it out of rebel hands. Imagine it's late October 1862, and you're a Union captain. Today, you're directing some 500 of your men to blast a salt mine on the Goose Creek River in the foothills of southeastern Kentucky. Your contingent is from Maine, and though they understand the rationale of keeping this precious mineral away from the Confederates, they've been grumbling about the waste of

such a valuable commodity. You shout orders to get things started. Lieutenant, the people of this town have taken as much salt as they can for personal use and are safely away, so let's open the cisterns. Yes, sir. The lieutenant runs along the edges of the well nearest you, barking orders to stay clear of the gushing water. This fresh water being forced into the briny wells will make it impossible for any Confederate forces to evaporate enough water to

make salt. And just to make sure they don't try, he also orders the destruction of every object used to pump and evaporate and burn off the water. Captain, all of these ponds will be flooded by day's end, and we will make sure every last pipe, drill, and furnace is destroyed too. Good. Take a hundred men and have them scoop up whatever they can reach on the banks and carry back to the freshwater. No disrespect, Captain, but my mother would give her eye teeth for just a cupful of this stuff. Is there any way to simply blockade these wells and save them for the Union? Frankly, these men have better use in Cumberland than blowing up the water farms of these pie

eaters. Just then, you see a woman who who seems to be in her forties, running towards you. She's struggling to hold the hoop and ruffles of her dress out of the muck around the salt wells, and she's covering her ears against the deafening noise of the destruction. Ma'am, you must go back home. It's dangerous out here. I don't want... Miss Garrett, I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you. What seems to be the problem? Captain, I did not realize you were going to be blowing up our wells this far north.

Yes, ma'am. I'm afraid all of this salt has to be kept away from the rebels. My orders come from the General. It's a shame, though, I know. My husband wrote me if this would happen. I thought this one was far away enough that the Confederates would pay no mind. I'm very sorry, Mrs. Garrett. Your husband, T.T., is a patriotic and practical man. If there was any other way... All right, then. Please, let my daughters come and gather more salt for us to store. Who knows how long this godforsaken war will go on. Ms. Garrett, I'm afraid I must destroy

the wells now. The powder is ready and we have to clear out by nightfall. Union thanks you for your sacrifice. At this, she turns and slowly walks away. You wish there was another option, but that's the price of war, you think. You scan the horizon, wondering how this ravaged land and the people who live here will recover. But there's no time for that now. You have your orders and quickly turn back to your men. All right, Lieutenant, gun one ready. Clear front. Get those wells. Although the Salt families of Clay County fought well in the Civil War,

and some members even earned top honors from President Lincoln himself, they came home to a jarring new reality. Conditions in Clay County had changed dramatically. Leaders on both sides of the blood feud, T.T. Garrett and James White, had accepted the need for Union forces to blow up their wells to keep the salt out of Confederate hands. But the families assumed that the federal government would reimburse them for these losses. But the government, still burdened by debt and a devastated national economy, did not. After the war, only a few wells in Clay County were in good enough condition to be restored. Adding insult to injury, salt domes were

discovered in a nearby county, and this sent Clay County salt prices plummeting. The new competition shook the very foundation of wealth for the local families, and then the lumber and coal industries moved in. For the people of Clay County, life was about to change even more drastically. After the Civil War, the families made a play to further dominate politically. Led by Daugherty White, who had taken over as patriarch after his brother James' death, the White family focused on taking the local seats of Clay County. Meanwhile, T.T. Garrett's family concentrated on state or national offices. Clay County was now firmly a Republican stronghold, so T.T. and his

family, as lifelong Democrats, made a calculated decision to focus outside the region. In this way, the Whites and the Garretts controlled separate spheres of power and focused on recovering what was left of their salt businesses. Though united in a common cause during the war, the four families returned to chilly relations after the war, and it wasn't long before more violence broke out. In 1866, more killings rocked the families. This time, it involved a sheriff, a White, and a man related to the Bakers, Dale Little. Dale was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sheriff Will White was harassing a friend of Little's, accusing him of plotting a jailbreak. Sheriff White, Dale Little, and the third man argued in front of the courthouse doorway.

In the course of a few minutes, the dispute pulled in several people, including two more White family members. One of them was none other than Daugherty White, the leader of the Klan. In the fracas, someone pulled a pistol and shot Dale Little and his friend. They both fell dead. The event infuriated the Bakers. Dale Little was their close kin, and they believed that Sheriff White had pulled the trigger. The Whites were arrested, but then quitted, which only served to make the Bakers even angrier. This and other sporadic acts of murder and arson punctuated Clay County during Reconstruction. But eventually the families would realize it was the business competition from the outside

they should have been worried about. New arriving investors had all the money in the world to outbid local families for the nearby coal fields and timberlands, and certainly the cash to start building railroads into the area. All this feuding was just a distraction from the real enemy. Rich companies from the East Coast and even England were moving in and looking for virgin forests to cut down. They worked together with railway companies

to drive further and further into the mountains, and with the help of rail cars, the large corporations no longer had to rely on local workers to float the logs onto riverways. But while the Gerrards and the Whites had enough money over several generations to keep their families secure, the Howards and the Bakers weren't so fortunate. They clung to their civil service jobs and fought fiercely over what timber fields they still owned. They both held significant acreage of forest, and as demand for lumber increased, the Howards and Bakers tried to make deals with outside logging interests.

They tried to make themselves indispensable by offering their services as surveyors. No one knew these forests better than them. And they made sure their kids got wage jobs hauling and clearing trees. And they built homes, barns, and outhouses for the logging barons. But these opportunities soon fell apart. Both the Bakers and the Howards realized that the big logging companies from outside were only interested in turning a profit. It dawned on them that they were mere workers.

They would never be investors like their cousins, the Whites and the Garrods. They desperately wanted to hold on to the financial independence they had before the Civil War. And in order to reclaim their lost status, they once again turned on each other, stealing land. Richard Bandler revolutionized the world of self-help all thanks to an approach he developed called neurolinguistic programming. Even though NLP worked for some, its methods have been criticized for being dangerous in the wrong hands. Throw in Richard's dark past as a cocaine addict and murder suspect, and you can't help but wonder what his true intentions were. I'm Sachi Cole. And I'm Sarah Hagee. And we're the hosts of Scamfluencers, a weekly podcast from Wondery

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Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. On February 21st, 1875, Daugherty White, the 62-year-old head of the White family, tied up his legs and hands with a rope as tightly as he could, then leapt into the freezing cold Goose Creek River. Workers fished out his body some hours after he drowned. His family wept in disbelief, although he had been acting strangely for a few days. Daugherty's death by suicide

was an eerie reminder of the other suicide committed by his brother decades earlier. John White had shot himself in the head after his tenure as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Daugherty had one son, a 26-year-old politician named John, like his brother. But John had no interest in taking over the day-to-day operations of his family's businesses in Clay. He was a lawyer by trade, as well as a U.S. congressman. He had his sights on higher political office

and was wary of getting involved in the violent feud. This left various white cousins to run things in Clay County. But without a clear-cut leader to keep the younger white men out of trouble, there was also no one to keep their allies, the Howards, in check. Soon they began to make mischief. And with the coal mining and timber companies buying up more and more land, both the Howards and the Bakers started to feel ever more protective of their property. Imagine it's the summer of 1874.

It's about midnight in Appalachia, and all you can hear are the scores of frogs singing outside your cabin. It's oppressively hot and humid, but that's not the reason you still can't get to sleep. It seems your tossing and turning has bothered your wife. Oh, I'm sorry to wake you, Hester. The baby would have woken me soon anyway. What is bothering you? I can't stop thinking about my cousin's letter.

What's wrong with St. Louis? We could make a fresh start there. Have you lost your mind? My entire family, your entire family is here. If we moved, we'd never see them again. Esther, it's just that even though the Constitution says we're free, we are not. Mr. Baker still owns the land we farm, don't forget. He isn't the worst of the lot, but I can tell he's going to ask me to pay him back for the seed and the equipment. And damn it, Esther, it's never going to end. We've been working this land for generations and now my cousin can offer us a good... Oh my Lord, what is that? You leap out of bed and grab your shotgun. Then you hear men. You peer through the gap in the

wood of your cabin door. In the moonlight, you can see some young men chasing a pig through the barley. Rows and rows of the crop you and your wife have worked so hard to grow. Who on earth is it? It's the Howard boys. The Howard? Shh. Should we get Mr. Baker? They're leaving.

They're just drunk. Sure of that. Will you tell Mr. Baker in the morning? We can't sell that barley now. It's been trampled by pigs and... No, I won't you tell Mr. Baker in the morning? We can't sell that barley now. It's been trampled by pigs and... No, I won't bother, Mr. Baker. You know, this is the fourth time I've seen those boys traipsing around either his crops or mine.

They're saying it's their boundary line. And I don't know, if Baker can't keep the Howards off his land, what's to make them think that they can't simply take our harvest next season? You prop the shotgun back in the corner and settle into a chair near the window with a blanket. You've given up on sleep for tonight. Esther, it's time for us to take our kids and head north. Things are only going to get a whole lot worse with the Bakers and Howards.

I don't intend to be in the middle of it. By the mid-1870s, T.T. Garrard had lost interest in keeping any sort of feud going. He was much more focused on recovering the wealth his family lost during the Civil War and perhaps leaving a legacy beyond Clay County. He was still negotiating with the federal government to pay his family back for destroying its salt mines and taking away his slaves. Garrard was also working on getting pensions for himself and fellow Mexican-American

war soldiers and acting as a representative for state and national meetings of the Democratic Party. Besides all this, Gerard was traveling throughout Kentucky and Ohio to meet with logging and coal mining interests to see how his family could do business with them. He was a busy man, but by the mid-1880s, T.T. was getting old and was virtually blind from an eye disease he had contracted during the Civil War. Time was precious to him now, and he had little interest in things that did not immediately benefit his family or community. But T.T. had never made peace with the Whites, and certainly not with the Howards, and much of the younger generation, still driving the feud, were unknown to him. He was on his fourth marriage and had at least 13 children, though they tended to be sickly. Half of them died by 1890. T.T.'s contemporary,

Darty White, on the other hand, had plenty of healthy children and grandchildren. Most of them had respectable jobs as sheriffs, judges, schoolmasters, and county clerks. And like the Garrard clan, they also were not interested in chasing each other with shotguns or causing mischief. So it was clear that by the 1890s, the patriarchs of the White and Garrard families were more invested in adapting their families and fortunes to the new century that loomed. They were no longer concerned with keeping their baker and Howard kin on the short leash, and they probably couldn't have even if they tried. For the most spiteful, the most hair-triggered, and the most vicious man in the Clay County feud was about to emerge. In 1899, this man,

Bad Tom Baker, would bring not only Clay County to its knees, but the entire state of Kentucky. Thomas Baker was a grandson of one of the founding Bakers. Born just before the Civil War in 1860, Tom was brash, bossy, smart, and known as the best shot in all of Clay County. While still in his 20s, he emerged as the head of the Baker clan. In the late 1890s, Tom forged a tenuous business partnership with a member of the rival clan, Israel Howard. The pair pooled their boating resources and cut timber in the rich forest along Crane Creek. But trouble began between the two in April of 1898 when Tom purchased a promissory note worth several thousand dollars owned by Israel's father.

Tom insisted that Israel pay off his father's note from his share of the timber business. Israel countered that Tom had been cheating him from the business and thus the debt had already been paid. The disagreement escalated to an angry impasse. One day, when both families were stacking logs on the edge of Crane Creek, Tom Baker took action. He threw a sharp drill bit at Israel's father, who ducked and then swung a log hook at Tom. Both parties then drew guns, and Israel fired, grazing Tom. Other young men jumped in to defuse the situation before anyone was killed. More cool-headed relatives on both

sides heard of this incident, and in the safety of their offices in the city center, proposed a truce until they could work out the financial differences in court. But they did not inform their families at Crane Creek of this truce, or more likely Tom, Israel, and their families decided to ignore it. A fuse had been lit. When Tom, Israel, and the families convened at the courthouse a few weeks later, someone started a fistfight, and the Howards beat up most of the Bakers. But it was only a fistfight. Tom Baker was determined to retaliate, and he would use deadlier means.

A day later, he had his chance. While hiding in some bushes, Tom and his brother shot and killed two Howard men and seriously wounded their father. Things were only about to get worse. On Thursday, April 7, 1898, 33-year-old Jim Howard was riding his horse from his home in Manchester toward the outskirts of town to collect the bodies of his dead brothers that Tom Baker had shot. As he was riding, someone hiding in the side of the road shot Howard, hitting him in the leg. Although he was in pain, Howard was determined to keep going and collect his brother's remains. Still on horseback, he encountered the father of Tom Baker, who was walking on foot.

After a few heated words, Jim Howard shot Tom's father. He didn't just shoot to kill, though. He shot Mr. Baker 25 times with careful aim so that he avoided vital organs. Tom Baker's father died a few hours later in horrific pain. Jim Howard knew Baker's family would quickly retaliate. Scared about what was certain to happen next, Howard galloped to Manchester and asked the county judge, a white, for protection. It didn't take long for everyone else in Manchester and Clay County to anticipate a full-scale attack by Tom Baker. Women and children hid in their homes, and even John Howard knew that the judge and sheriff deputies, largely comprised of his white kin, could not protect him or his family.

Howard fled to another county. Across the United States, newspapers started to take notice of the blood being shed in Clay County. In fact, reporters could scarcely keep up with it over the next two years, as ambushes, arson, and murder occurred almost daily. The state of Kentucky faced a decision. Could it save resource-rich Clay County from itself, or should it let it burn to the ground? Twice, the governor sent out militia to quell the violence, as some of it had already spread to adjacent counties like Harlan and Laurel, and the governor was afraid it would keep spreading.

Business leaders and politicians took notice. If the governor could not stop the bloodshed in Clay, they warned, the railroads would stop building in southeastern Kentucky, forcing the region to lose out on the progress of the world outside Appalachia. But despite these efforts and warnings, in Clay County, things only got worse. Tom Baker was enraged by the fact that Sheriff Will White helped Jim Howard leave the county unpunished. He also knew it was only a matter of time before he was captured and convicted for the murder of the two Howard men he shot. The county judge, clerk, sheriff, and jailer were all from the White clan, and he had no intention of letting any White send him to jail or to the gallows. Tom was ruthless and vengeful. So on June 6, 1898, Tom Baker simply laid in wait for Sheriff Will White and shot him.

Worse, he used dynamite bullets. Later, Baker even bragged about this to newspaper reporters milling about the city. A Chicago reporter asked Tom about a rumor that he'd used special explosive ammunition to kill White. Tom replied, I reckon you might call it explosive. It killed him, didn't it? He continued, I call my gun a Winchester. It's a good one, too. I got it about a month ago

from a man who got it from John White, the brother of the man I killed with it. I heard they was using dynamite bullets, and so I sent the feller for some of them bullets and the gun, and he got them. With this, Tom's companion, another Baker, pulled some of the dynamite bullets out of his pocket and showed it to the reporter.

After killing Sheriff White, Tom Baker went and hid out in the hills of Appalachia, and eventually his own home, surrounding himself with armed family members. Tom and his brother had 25 sons between them. A week later, though, Tom surrendered himself to a Manchester judge under the promise that he could be tried in another county. The judge agreed to this, thinking Tom's absence from Clay County could help the feuding cool down there. He sent Tom and his teen sons to Knox County and also made arrangements for Jim Howard, who was hiding in Harlan County, to be transported to Laurel County and stand trial there. But over the next few weeks, while Tom and other various bakers and Howards awaited their trials in other counties, members of their extensive families continued to feud. A young Gerard was

killed on his way home from church services. A woman and child related to the Bakers were shot and killed in their own home, and so many young men killed each other that people stopped burying their loved ones for fear of being attacked at the gravesite. In late July of 1898, Tom Baker, still in Knox County, was convicted of murdering Sheriff Will White. The following May, Tom Baker appealed his life sentence for the murder, and against all odds, a circuit agreed. They allowed him to be released on bond while awaiting a new trial, this time back in his hometown of Manchester. A week before he was released, Tom secretly sent word to his relatives that he planned to come home and seek complete extermination of the Howard clan. The Bakers managed to have six large crates of new guns and ammunition shipped to them in clay and armed many people in their extended family, including women and children. In public, to reporters and anyone who cared to stop by the jail and see him,

Tom Baker maintained that he had no intention at all of going back to Manchester and causing trouble. He swore up and down he would remain outside city limits until his new trial. But when he was released in June of 1899, Tom Baker came straight home to Manchester, claiming that his enemies had threatened his family and he had no choice but to come home and protect them. The governor had already heard rumblings of the intended return and sent a few hundred troops, even a Gatling gun, to guard Baker, if only to keep the women and children safe and to force the feuding families to cool off. But the final trial of bad Tom Baker would draw fierce enemies and loyal supporters together and provoke another deadly confrontation. wouldn't be chasing it if I didn't believe that the world needs this product. In each episode, the entrepreneurs get 90 seconds to pitch to an audience of potential customers.

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If Paul asked you to do something, it wasn't a request. It was an order. I'm your host, Brandon James Jenkins. Follow Criminal Attorney on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Criminal Attorney early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Imagine it's June 10th, 1899. You're standing with some other women in the shade in front of the Clay County Courthouse. Even though it's just nine o'clock in the morning, the heavy layers of your fanciest dress

are making you sweat uncomfortably in the heat. You're fanning yourself as fast as you can. But your cousin Emily is much worse off than you are. Emily, the wife of bad Tom Baker, is accompanying her husband while he stands trial for the murder of Sheriff Will White a year before. You want to convince Emily to go back home. She is nine months pregnant and extremely uncomfortable. Emily, please, let's take the carriage back. This is no place for you. I'm fine, cousin. I intend to see my husband exonerated. He needs me here. You don't really

think Tom needs anyone here. Tom appears fully confident on his own. He's not tall, but he's not short, with piercing dark eyes and a full mustache. And he's drinking to pass the time. And you know when he drinks whiskey, his temper is bad. While he's never laid a hand on his own family, you've seen him beat a man to within an inch of his life for just complimenting his wife. You turn nervously to your cousin. For God's sake, Emily, that baby could come at any minute. You should be lying in bed and waiting for the doctor. Why, you haven't even

had anything to eat or drink since yesterday. And what if these men start fighting? I'm fine. This tent is comfortable. And look at all these Howard yellow bellies. They're going to stay right by that wall and not do a damn thing. My husband is the best shot in all of Clay County, maybe Kentucky. They wouldn't dare. Your cousin can be stubborn. Maybe husband is the best shot in all of Clay County, maybe Kentucky. They wouldn't dare. Your cousin can be stubborn. Maybe if you can get her to think of her baby's health, you can convince her to leave and keep both out of harm's way.

But just as you're about to plead with her again, you see a man in a fancy suit tinkering with some kind of wooden stand and umbrellas. Oh, look, a photographer. Emily, wouldn't it be something if you and Tom got your picture taken? They're going to put his picture all over the papers anyway. Why shouldn't you get something out of it? Get a photo for your child to have. Well, I suppose. Sure, I'll ask Tom.

You walk your cousin to the entrance of the tent where Tom is being guarded. Soon enough, you see both Emily and Tom walk out of the tent, laughing. Emily brushes his hair with her hands, as guards nervously watch from just a few feet away. You clasp your hands, watching them. They make such a handsome couple. Before you can process what's happening, your cousin is screaming. Tom crumples in Emily's arms, almost knocking her over. Guards rush forward to catch him. Chaos breaks out in the tent, and you look around frantically for the shooter. Somehow, someone managed to shoot Tom Baker in broad daylight,

surrounded by hundreds of Kentucky guards. You're no stranger to violence, but this brazen act leaves you shuddering. Bad Tom Baker was shot and killed by an assassin from more than 75 feet away. The governor's troops traced the bullet's path from the porch of Sheriff Beverly White's house, diagonally across the street. Malicious stormed Sheriff White's property and found the gates locked and the doors barred. By the time they broke in, no one was in the house, but there were dozens of guns and plenty of ammunition.

One of the guns contained a freshly expended cartridge. Yet again, a white had bested a baker, even if this baker was the most murderous one of all. As for Jim Howard, at his trial in Laurel County, he was convicted of killing Tom Baker's father. However, the Secretary of the State of Kentucky sent for Howard, offering to meet him about a pardon for his crime. Tom Baker's father. However, the Secretary of the State of Kentucky sent for Howard, offering to meet him about a pardon for his crime. But the day of Howard's arrival in Frankfurt,

Governor William Goebel was assassinated and Howard blamed for the shooting. He was eventually acquitted of killing the governor and largely thought to have been framed, but he spent the rest of his life under a cloud of suspicion. After the assassination of bad Tom Baker, violence in Clay County largely subsided. Many people left Clay to find jobs or get an education in other regions of the United States, and the railroads never materialized because businessmen were afraid of property damage caused by the lawlessness there. Many elders and their sons had either died from violence or moved out of the area, taking their families with them to escape the bloodshed. Local lore says that by the turn of the 20th century, there were only three women eligible for marriage living in the boundaries of Clay County. Finally, in 1903, the Howards and the Bakers, as private armies of the Garrards and the Whites,

signed a truce. But there were still occasional flare-ups of violence, each one striking fear in the residents of Clay that the Baker-Howard feud would resume in full force. In 1904, a family allied with the Bakers and one allied with the Howards started a fight over a broken beer bottle at a dance. It quickly escalated from fists to guns. Two men were killed and several wounded. And over the next 15 years, there were several instances of arsons and shootings. And then in 1919, at least six Baker men were killed in different ambushes. But the county remained relatively peaceful until one last horrific event in 1932. An unknown sharpshooter assassinated Commonwealth attorney Frank Baker at his uncle's

house, eerily reminiscent of the assassination of Baker's uncle, Bad Tom, in 1899. By the turn of the 20th century, America had come to think of the Appalachian region blood feuds as personal, cultural, or even genetic. Newspapers printed story after story about the men of extended clans pitted against each other using arson and assassination as weapons. In 1890, the New York Times wrote

that Kentucky had two kinds of people, those who lived in the mountains and those who did not. The mountain people, it said, shied away from economic development and moved into more remote regions so they could live without being criticized for their, quote, hereditary, squalid, unambitious, stationary life. In 1908, a Pennsylvania paper wrote that one

especially bloody family feud, likely referring to the Baker-Howard one, started because a drunk father shot another for making fun of a child's trouser patch. The mountain region of eastern Kentucky was singled out as being unique. To the outside world, it seemed like it produced individuals who had defective character. They were thought to be more savage, more degraded, more lawless than other Americans. It was assumed that they were simply born this way. But this myth was created by sensational newspapers and penned by journalists in large cities who were ignorant of the nuances of these isolated communities. The Baker-Howard feud was like many blood feuds,

a dangerous, long-running series of conflicts, stemming for a need by isolated people to avenge real or perceived disrespect. But in one way, the feud was different. It took place in a rapidly changing market economy and was spurred by a struggle to obtain and keep dominance in a region that produced two of the most valuable commodities in 19th century America, salt and timber. The legendary founders of the long-running feud, Hugh White and Daniel Garrett, were able to exploit the region earlier and more successfully than most Appalachian families. And as their economic power grew, so did their need for

political control and the extreme lengths they went to to consolidate their hold on a remote community. But the dirty work was left to their kin, the Bakers and the Howards, whose names would forever be tied to America's longest and bloodiest feud. Next on American History Tellers, we'll be taking a break for the next few weeks while we prepare to bring you more about the people and places that have shaped America and our values. We'll be back on January 22nd with a new story about the West and the most precious resource of all, water.

From Wondery, this is American History Tellers. If you like American History Tellers, you can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Lindsey Graham, for Airship. Sound design by Derek Behrens. This episode is written by Julia Bricklin, edited by Dorian Marina.

Our executive producers are Jenny Lauer Beckman and Marshall Louis, created by Hernán López for Wondery. Or maybe you're robbing a bank. Based on the real-life false alarm that terrified Hawaii in 2018, Incoming, a brand-new fiction podcast exclusively on Wondery Plus, follows the journey of a variety of characters as they confront the unimaginable. The missiles are coming. What am I supposed to do? Featuring incredible performances from Tracy Letts, Mary Lou Henner, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Paul Edelstein, and many, many more, Incoming is a hilariously thrilling podcast that will leave you wondering,

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