I have been unable to determine the first Nickels settling on or nearby the Mauk Ridge. Many of the eldest citizens say they were among the first settlers in the area and that there was no animosity between the Harpers and Nickels families until May 22, 1911.

Many of the men of both families were not abstainers when it came to taking a drink of good moonshine whiskey or any other intoxicant, good or bad, and often let everyone around know of their inebriated condition by firing their pistols.

Oscar Harper was a crippled young man that loved his booze and though harmless was most aggravating when drunk. Most people tolerated his annoyance and said that his drinking was to ease a feeling of self pity because of his crippled condition. I was told that he was never armed. He was just "one of the good old boys" that loved to drink and as he called it, "have a good time".

On the afternoon of May 22, 1911 Bob Nickels was traveling westward horseback on the Mauk Ridge near a spot that many might remember best as the Rex McDowell home. It was evidenced by Bob's loud occasional screams followed by the firing of his pistol that he was drinking ferociously. Just West of the McDowell home he turned South on another much less traveled country road or wagon trail.

A few minutes later Oscar Harper came along riding horseback. He was drunk and following Bob Nickels. Whether intentionally or not no one will ever know. He also turned South on the same wagon trail that Nickels did. No one ever knew why or all that happened that afternoon on that country trail except that Bob Nickels killed Oscar Harper.

Why kill a small, harmless, unarmed and crippled young man? the Harpers asked themselves. Many other people in the neighborhood knowing both parties well also wondered and whispered quietly to each other, "why"?.

Bob Nickels was questioned about the murder of Oscar Harper but Nickels refused to talk. Even to deny it.

The court was Circuit Judge, J.D. Hannah of Sandy Hook. The Prosecuting Attorney, John W. Waugh of Grayson. The Harpers could not understand the delay in getting an indictment for murder and a trial. They employed an attorney, J. H. Sparks from Olive Hill to investigate the situation to see if any evidence could be brought to get an indictment and a conviction. Every effort failed.

The torch of hatred and revenge between the Harper and the Nickels families had been lit throughout the ten miles from one end of Mauk Ridge to the other and neither family hesitated to let it be known. For the next ten years and more the vengeance and the animosity between the two families kept smoldering and everyone knew that real trouble was likely to erupt at any time.

The men of both the Nickels and Harpers were usually armed at all times and other people wondered when and where the explosion would surely happen.

Tuss Nickels was a nephew of Ed Nickels and Bob Nickels. Elmer Harper sold Tuss Nickels a buggy. He was never paid for the buggy. Tuss joked about the matter. A few years later James A. Harper was having what they called a "land sale". He was not selling his land. He was selling the live-stock, the farm equipment, the house-hold goods and everything but the land.

While at the sale Elmer Harper and Tuss Nickels got into an argument about their buggy deal and Tuss told Elmer that he would never pay him for it. They got into a fist fight that lasted for several minutes and the venom of both sides aroused. Several members of each family were at the sale and each family eye-balling the others and waiting for any movement from anyone. Later Jim Nickels said that if Elmer Harper had not accidentally fallen down as he walked toward the barn that day at the sale he would have killed him. Nickels said that he had "dead aim" on Elmer and was waiting for the man walking behind him to get out of line-of-fire when he accidentally fell.

On December 21, 1920 there was church at the old Mauk Church House that was just across the road from the present site where the W. P. A. later built a two-room native stone school building that still stands. Both Harpers and Nickels were there. Most of them were drinking heavily and shooting around the church. One of the windows of the church was shot out which fearfully disturbed the church.

Ed Nickels and Russell Harper had an argument that ended in a fist fight in the church yard. Ed's sister tried to intervene and she was knocked down. Nickels got on his horse and hurriedly left the church ground racing toward his home. Russell Harper immediately jumped on Estil Harris' horse nearby and started in hot pursuit after Nickels. Ed Nickels heard him coming and quickly stopped in the middle of the road near the McFarland place. He turned the horse crosswise in the road and stood behind it with pistol in hands aiming across the saddle. Russell Harper had not counted the shots that he fired in the church yard. When in close range he drew, aimed and pulled the trigger. His gun snapped. He had spent all the ammunition that his gun would hold in the Church yard. Then Nickels' fired. His first shot went high through the saddle skirt and into the horse. It knocked the horse down and with the second shot Ed Nickels killed Russell Harper.

I talked to Russell Harper's ninety year old widow. She told me "that old Ed Nickels had hidden behind a tree near the McFarland Place to wait for Russell to return home from church". Others that I talked to said that Elmer Harper went to the tree she spoke about later that night and trampled the grass and weeds down around the tree to make it appear that Russell had been ambushed and they would be able to make that plea during a trial in court.

Vengeance and hatred was on a violent rampage throughout the area. The officials in office at the time of the trial in 1921 were Edwin Porch Morrow, Governor. J. H. Woods, Circuit Judge of the judicial district. Fred M. Vinson, Prosecuting Attorney of the district and J. Brascue Greene, Sheriff of Elliott County.

Mathew Redwine and son John Tennyson were defending Ed Nickels.

I am sure that Judge Woods, living in Olive Hill nearby the Mauk Ridge, realized the perilous situation and called Governor Morrow for some protection during the trial.

Governor Morrow was known nationwide for his strong belief in law enforcement. In Lowell M. Harrison's book on Governors he cites that Morrow spoke out forcefully against the Ku Klux Klan. In February 1920 he called out the National Guards to protect Will Lockett, who was being tried for murder in Lexington. In 1921 he removed the Woodford County Jailer for failing to stop a lynching of Richard James. In 1922 he sent a platoon of the National Guards to Newport to quell a mill strike. Harrison further states that Morrow was so well known for his firm stand on law enforcement that he was offered a place as Vice President on a winning ticket.

It seems that Governor Morrow was quick to take action during any dangerous situation that existed where the people needed protection and only he could order the National Guards into Sandy Hook.

I was eleven years old when I saw a platoon of National Guard Soldiers riding horseback coming into Sandy Hook. A short time before I had seen my brother Bill return from service in a World War 1 uniform and I quickly recognized the "yoga-bear" hats and the "wrap around" leggings. I realized that they were a platoon unit of the National Guards.

They set up camp in "pup-tents" back of the Court House in my Grandmother Ward's pasture field that bordered the court yard on the North side and the Little Sandy River on the South. Their horses grazed in her meadow. The only exceptions were three of the soldiers at the end of the first day of the trial asked permission to go home with the sheriff, Brascue Greene and spend the night in his home. Judge Hannah and the Captain of the National Guard unit each gave their permission.

Instead of taking them to his home he took them to the home of one of his favorite moonshiner's. Three days later the sheriff and the three soldiers returned to court about half drunk and one of the horses had been shot in the flank.

Governor Morrow immediately removed the Sheriff Brascue Greene from office and appointed his brother, Elijah Greene to serve the remainder of the Sheriff's term.

The trial proceeded as scheduled. Prosecuting Attorney Vinson was able to prove the ambush story untrue. He had Harper's saddle with the bullet-hole showing as exhibit no.1 astraddle the railing in front of the court and jury.

During his closing arguments he walked over and climbed astride the saddle where he spent the last five minutes and as he talked he continuously moved a fore finger around the bullet-hole in the saddle. The verdict was 24 years in the penitentiary according to Russell Harper's widow and she added "that old Ed Nickels was out in five years".

Through almost eighty years there has been lots of conversations about the feud and the trial here in Elliott County. But more about the National Guards. Today I talked to an elderly man a former banker in Sandy Hook, who had just returned from Florida where he has spent the winters for years. I mentioned the trial to him. He said that he and another grandson of my grandmother's were at her home the morning the soldiers decamped. He said the three horses that were with the Sheriff and the three AWOL soldiers for three days and nights had saddle sores because the army saddles were not padded and the three days and nights had been too long for the horses to go saddled. The Captain ordered those three men to walk and lead their horses.

Since Frederick Moore Vinson (1890-1953), a noted jurist from Louisa Kentucky later became one of the Country's great Chief Justice's of The United States Supreme Court. I thought it proper that this bit of history be told.

After eighty years and more the first person that I told that I wanted to gather all the information I could and write a report on it was a Mr. Nickels. He said. "Now don't you start that damn thing again". I then mentioned it to a Mr. Harper and told him what Nickels had said. He laughed and said "That's crazy talk. People have intermarried so much out here the last three of four generations no one would know which side they were on. Do it.

It's history and needs to be recorded. There aren't many left that can remember it."