Feudist, is one extremely common stereotype that Eastern Kentucky has. “In Days of Darkness the Feuds of Eastern Kentucky” by John Ed Pearce, Pearce delivers heaps of information thorough accounts of the people and their activities, all which made up the different feuds. These feuds being in Perry, Breathitt, Clay, Harlan, Rowan, and Pike county Kentucky. The image that arises is one of family loyalties, exploitation and uselessness of the law, and a sense of vulnerability for those caught in the crossfire.
John Ed Pearce probes into the difficulties and incentives for many of the well-known feuds in Kentucky 's history. He starts with an effort to find a common denominator during the feuds, but he then acknowledges that there is none. Feuding
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Those that are aware of Kentucky and Appalachian history will know the family names of the feuds described by John Ed Pearce. The feudist he went into detail about are the Martins and Tollivers of Rowan County, the Turners and Howards of Harlan County and the Hatfields and McCoys in the Tug River Valley of Kentucky and West Virginia. Pearce even made sure to include some lesser known feuds like the Hargis and Cockrell families of Breathitt County. Each feud is described by its roots, constant actions, and ending resolutions. The most wide-ranging account is of the Howard/Baker feud of Clay County. Rigid feelings and differences between the two families had occurred from early in the nineteenth century and continued because of numerous family members supported one another and retaliated vicious actions against their side. The incapability of law enforcement to put a stop to such violence is undoubtedly evident in this feud; local officers united with one side over the other, and in numerous counties requests to several governors for troops to suppress the violence were many times overlooked. Law enforcement in these stories seemed to be none existed most of the time as John Ed Pearce described it.
John Ed Pearce a past columnist and associate of the Louisville Courier-Journal, is an extremely entertaining writer. “Days of Darkness the Feuds of Eastern Kentucky,” provided important historical facts, such as the downfall of the salt industry in Clay County following the