ly road in the county. Though
Young heartily disclaimed any connection with either side, he was
accused by the Martins of being a well-wisher of the Tollivers. Again,
as in the Bumgartner case, no arrests were made. However, when Ed Pierce
was convicted some time later of highway robbery and jailed in
Montgomery County, he confessed to waylaying Taylor Young but put the
blame of the actual shooting on Ben Rayburn. Pierce said it was plotted
by Sheriff Humphrey who assured him and Rayburn of all the whiskey they
could drink and two dollars a day while they were watching for Young;
when they had killed him they were to receive two hundred and fifty
dollars.

After that, one Sunday morning, Craig Tolliver, who was town marshal of
Morehead, accompanied by a half dozen men, went to the home of old Ben
Martin, father of John. Craig told Mrs. Martin that he had warrants for
the arrest of Cook Humphrey and Ben Rayburn. At first she said the two
were not there, that only her daughters, Sue, Annie, little Rena, and a
married daughter, Mrs. Richmond Tussey, were in the house. It was a
fact; her husband and her two sons, Will and Dave, whose lives had been
threatened, had gone to Kansas.

The Tollivers, however, were not to be deceived. They had seen Cook
Humphrey, carrying his gun, enter the Martin house the evening before.
The house, a two-story frame with the old part of logs stood at the foot
of a hill about thirty feet from the road. Tolliver's band, including
Mark Keeton, Jeff Bowling, Tom Allen Day, John and Boone Day, Mitch and
Jim Oxley, and Bob Messer, were well armed. They demanded that Humphrey
and Rayburn surrender, saying they had warrants for their arrest for the
attempted assassination of Taylor Young. The two men asked to see the
warrants and when the documents of arrest were not forthcoming they
flatly refused to surrender. Then Craig Tolliver stationed his crew in
the bushes all around the Martin house. Watching his chance he finally
slipped inside and up the narrow stairway. Humphrey spied him, rushed
forward and striking his gun discharged it in Craig's face. Craig fell
backward. Wiping the blood from forehead and cheeks he hurried out into
the yard.

Sue Martin dashed past him headed toward town for help. But no sooner
did she reach the county seat than she was arrested and put in jail.
Craig and his crew were still surrounding the Martin house, and finally
one of them called out that if Rayburn and Humphre