Just two weeks afterwards, a man by the name of LAWSON came to me and said he was a deputy sheriff; that he was looking for a man who went under different assumed names.  He showed me a hand-bill and a cut of the man he was looking for and offering a reward of three thousand dollars for his arrest.  He was accused of robbing a store in Ohio; of killing the watchman, and of burning the store down, with his brother.  His brother paid the penalty by hanging.  The deputy told me that he was a very desperate man and a good shot with a revolver.  If he got the drop on you he was quick to use it.  I do not know whether the deputy ever caught him or not.  He told me he got a glimpse of him in Texas and had followed him this far into Kentucky.

Another incident closely followed the above.  I discharged a colored man.  His work was to place empty cars and to couple them to the incline rope.  This he failed to do one day, causing a delay in the movement of coal.  I went to the bottom of the incline and placed the cars on until another man took my place.  About four o'clock that evening, I was standing in the blacksmith shop door.  The discharged man whose name was MOORE, approached me in an excited manner and said he wanted his pay.  There were two strangers with him.  I told him I would be at the office about five o'clock.  The office was nearly one mile away.  I noticed he had one hand in his side coat pocket as if he had a gun.  He kept his side toward me and he was also in a stooping position.  One of the men in the shop said that fellow is going to shoot FRANCIS.  I leaped quickly from where I stood, upon him.  I caught the wrist of the hand in his coat pocket and at the same time, with the other hand, I closed on his throat, shutting off his breath completely.  We scuffled a few minutes, then I threw him to the ground.  I loosened my grip on his throat and quickly struck him a hard blow between the eyes.  Then I quickly jerked his hand from his pocket.  He had an open knife in his hand.  This I took from him and threw it away.  He cooled down and I told him I would see him at the office and pay him off.  This was done.

He laid around a few days.  I had blackened both his eyes.  He sent another man to me to ask me if I would let him have a job digging coal.  I gave him the job.  While his eyes were still swollen a miner asked him who hit him.  He answered back that a good man did it.  He seemed to be proud that he had had a fight.  Anyway, we got along without any further trouble.

The next trouble that I had was with a man named MALLICOAT.  He worked for the company, cutting timber by contract to be used as props or rail ties.  He had four sons.  The two oldest were inclined to be peaceable, but the two youngest were just the opposite.  They always carried a gun.  The father also was hard to get along with when under the influence of whiskey.  The MALLICOATS and the PERKINS were related to each other.  Both families were natives of Kentucky and Tennessee.  All of them were of fighting stock and stood by each other in any trouble that should arise.  My trouble with Mr. MALLICOAT came about by my lending him a 16 foot log chain.  This chain was often used to place over the top of the mine cars when a cracked link or draw bar was unsafe in letting the car down the incline.  He borrowed the chain from me for one day.

A few days later I told him that I needed the chain and could not get along without it.  About three weeks afterwards, on pay day, he came to the window at the office and I asked him again for the chain.  He began cursing me and the chain.  I was sitting on a high stool counting the payroll money which I had carried over from the Jellico express office.  My revolver was on the desk close by.  I picked it up and pointed it toward him.  He had a large rock in his hand ready to throw it at me.  When he noticed the gun in my hand, he left suddenly, still cursing out loud.  Among the men who were waiting to be paid was Sheriff LAWSON of Whitley County.  He came to collect taxes and fines off the men.  The sheriff got MALLICOAT a short distance away.  He had been drinking and was pretty wild.

In my position in the office, I could hear his voice still cursing me.  I did not want any trouble with him so I went out to talk it over with him and be friendly.  When he saw me, he broke away from the sheriff.  He had a large knife in his hand, and held his arm high as if he would strike when he got close enough to me.  I stood still and put up my hand for him to stay back.  He now looked wild and thought he would scare me with his cursing and looks.  It was up to me to stop him.  I quickly drew my gun when he was about ten feet away.  I had it pointed at his forehead.  When he saw that I would not take his scare he suddenly dodged behind a large post close by him.  He was still cursing loudly.  I know he was surprised because I did not run from him.