Kentucky Blood Feud - The Revenge of Bad Tom Baker | 2

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2019

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Civil War forced the warring families of Clay County into an uneasy truce. The Garrards, Whites, Howards, and Bakers found themselves allied as they fought for the Union. But the war brought new challenges: the Northern army destroyed Clay County’s salt mines in order to keep them out of the hands of the South, and the Emancipation Proclamation brought an end to slavery, which had helped make salt mining so profitable.

The Garrards and the Whites were so rich that they were able to withstand these pressures on their businesses. But the poorer Bakers and the Howards soon found themselves fighting over scraps of land and timber. And in 1898, a business dispute led “Bad Tom” Baker and “Big Jim” Howard to assassinate members of each other’s families, starting a wave of killings and arsons so bloody they would reshape the state.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:18.0	Imagine that it's 1857, 6 o'clock in the evening, on a bitterly cold day in Manchester, the seat
0:24.3	of Clay County nestled in the foothills of southern Kentucky's mountains.
0:29.0	You blow into your hands, desperate for warmth, your stomach rumbles.
0:33.0	You long for just a spoonful of your wife's hot stew, but it's your job to make sure
0:37.3	the prisoners and their cells have enough food and blankets to get them through the night.
0:41.6	And you're not about to let any complaints get to TT Garrett.
0:44.6	You know how much money he spent getting you elected head jailer.
0:53.1	As you head inside and toward the back of the jailhouse, one of your wards speaks off
0:57.1	an old timer with a grisled beard.
1:02.1	Well, thank you, Sam.
1:03.4	My wife made it.
1:04.4	I'll tell her you said so.
1:05.6	Say, you think we can get some tobacco in here?
1:08.2	Might make the time go easier for us if you know what I mean.
1:11.0	Wish I could, but you know the rules.
1:12.8	Oh, come on, son.
1:14.5	Sheriff White's jailer used to let us chew and smoke if we could pay for it.
1:18.4	You've heard these complaints before.
1:20.1	The White family ran the jail and the county courthouse for years.
1:23.6	Last year, the rival Garrett family beat them out in local elections and took over control.
	...

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