Although religious influences were active in the camp, some miners would drink and get rough.  Whiskey was plentiful at Jellico and the towns nearby.  Drinking and shootings occurred nearly every day.  Most every Saturday and Sunday, men shot each other to death.  It was not safe to go there on any business, especially in the evenings, for shootings were liable to commence at any time.

One Saturday evening, I went over to Jellico for a hair cut and shave.  The barber shop was nearly on the state line, dividing the town.  A young barber newly located there from Cincinnati was doing my work.  I was partly shaved when a fight commenced just outside the door on the pavement.  The door was open and the barber could see the fight.  His hand trembled so that he could not hold the razor.  Steady fighting was going on in less than twenty feet from us.  I could not see them as I reclined in the chair, but I tried to encourage him to finish shaving me.  I told him I did not think that they would bother us.  Suddenly he said, his voice trembling, "Oh! he's got him down with his knife in his hand and going to cut his guts out." "Go on and shave me", I said.  "I can't", he said, "I'm afraid I'll cut you." Suddenly the fight quieted down and the crowd moved away from in front of the barber shop.

I waited a while for the barber to get his composure.  He said to me, "I'm going to leave this wild town."  As I lay in the chair, he began to lather my cheek again.  He had done this several time before, trying to steady his hand.  As he was about to commence shaving me, he backed behind the chair.  I lifted my head slightly and looked toward the door.  There I saw Billie LYONS, one of the worst gun fighters in Kentucky or in Tennessee.  He stood in the doorway with two revolvers, one in each hand.  He was bare-headed and with blood on his face.  He looked desperate.  As I was still reclining in the chair, LYONS stepped forward and peered closely into my face and then quickly left.  That got the barber to shaking again.  Six heavy revolver shots rang out, fired slowly as if at an object, sounding close by.  Then it became very quiet again.  At last the barber finished shaving me.  I was told that he left town the following week.  I had been in the chair nearly one hour and a half.  All others who were waiting their turn had left.  I was the only one that kept his seat in the shop.

The fight was between Marshal LOGAN of the Kentucky side of Jellico and LYONS, who lived on the Tennessee side.  LYONS was very troublesome when on a drunk and would carry a rifle and parade the streets for trouble.  One Sunday afternoon, Thomas LEYSHON and myself were passing by the Bear Dive, a notorious place, where many of the fights occurred, when a shot rang out.  Many men rushed out of the door way.  In a short while, some few of them returned and went into the building.  LEYSHON said, "Let's go in and see what the trouble is."  He knew that LYONS was operating the Bear Dive and that more shooting might take place at any moment.

After going into the room where the drinking bar was, I noticed a middle aged colored man lying on his back and shot through the neck.  I could see he was dying fast.  He motioned feebly with his hand to a white man named Tom BRENNAN as if he wanted to speak.  BRENNAN kneeled down by him and placed his ear close to the dying man's lips.  Suddenly BRENNAN cried out as if in pain.  The dying Negro had sunk his teeth into his cheek.  It was his last dying effort.  BRENNAN and the Negro were companions in gambling.  Both worked the mine that I had charge of.  In a few days BRENNAN was unable to work.  His cheek had swollen badly, but after a month's suffering it healed up again.  It was LYONS who fired the shot that killed the Negro.

There was a marshal on the Tennessee side of Jellico named WOOLWINE, a fearless officer.  He and LYONS had some differences with each other.  All knew that it was only a question of time when shooting would take place between them.  One Saturday night and Sunday morning a great deal of shooting was going on.  WOOLWINE and LYONS were shooting at each other.  LYONS was standing in the door way of his Bear Dive.  Several others were mixed up in the shooting.  Officer WOOLWINE fell over dead and then a shot fired from a railroad hotel killed LYONS.  Several men were killed before the shooting quieted down.