Pardonable

By Brian C. Becker, Ph.D.

: Lou Bettigole could not believe his good fortune. Recruited to travel the country as a reporter for the school newspaper, Lou was first assigned to cover the 1899 baseball season.

For the baseball-loving 17 year-old; an unexpected telegram from New Haven interrupted his dream assignment. The Yale Daily News was now sending him to the country's most dangerous locale, Clay County, Kentucky. Clay County had recently seen a string of one revenge murder after the other, in the long-running Baker-Howard feud.

Several blocks away from Lou's hotel in Manchester, Kentucky lived the man at the center of the feud, thirty-three-year-old James "Big Jim" Howard. A stoic, contemplative man; Big Jim had tried to broker a truce between the families.

Lou and Big Jim soon met and began to spend time together walking throughout Clay County. The two men felt comfortable opening up to each other, and quickly became the closest of friends.

With the feud news waning, the Yale Daily News sent a telegram asking Lou to stay on for a few more weeks to monitor the hotly-contested Kentucky Gubernatorial election between Republican William Taylor and Democrat William Goebel.

Several weeks later on election day, Taylor received two thousand more votes than Goebel.

That was far from the end of this election, however. Committees met and hearings were held to investigate the voting. Despite the rancor and fighting, Taylor was inaugurated in December. But soon, the Democrats lodged formal protests.

In late January, Lou traveled back to the state capital, Frankfort. There, he could feel and see tension in the air with armed men from both parties patrolling the city.

On the morning of January 30, Lou left a key at his hotel's front desk for Big Jim Howard who would be arriving on the 10:30AM train. The friends planned to meet in the plaza in front of the State House just after Noon.

At 11:15AM, Lou was standing near the State House when he saw a man point a rifle from the third floor of a nearby building. Seconds later, the man fired. The bullet hit William Goebel as he was walking in the plaza. In the chaos that ensued, Lou could not locate Big Jim Howard until late that evening.

The two friends spent the next few days together, as Democrat operative Judge James Cantrill swore in William Goebel as Governor on his deathbed. Goebel's untimely death calmed the political fires in Kentucky, however, as Goebel became a martyr in Kentucky. By then, Lou and Big Jim had returned to their respective homes.

Lou was finally settling into a routine at home and thinking pensively and what a great experience he had in Kentucky on his walk home from Yale. When he walked into his home, his parents greeted him at the front door with frowns and a telegram from a Kentucky friend.

"FRANKFORT POLICE ARRESTED BIG JIM HOWARD AS GOEBEL'S MURDERER. JAMES CANTRILL WILL BE THE JUDGE AT TRIAL. COME QUICKLY!"

Lou raced back to Kentucky, as he worried about the fairness of a trial with Judge Cantrill, the appeals process in Kentucky, whether Big Jim's family could survive with him in prison for months or even years, and how long it might take Kentucky to elect a Republican Governor who might consider pardoning Big Jim. It was a lot to take in, even for a "seasoned" eighteen-year-old reporter.

Fortunately, The Yale Daily News and the New Haven Register agreed to cover Lou's expenses in exchange for publishing his accounts in the newspapers … and in this book, Pardonable.

Note: The characters and main stories from Pardonable are typically accurate to history, including the feud, the election protests, the assassination, and the murder trials.

The exception is Lou Bettigole's role in Kentucky. He was a baseball-loving Yale freshman during 1899, but he never traveled to Kentucky as a reporter nor befriended Big Jim Howard.

Lou Bettigole was in fact the great-grandfather of the author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798350921861

Book preview

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© 2023 Brian Becker

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBN 979-8-35092-185-4 eBook 979-8-35092-186-1

Contents

ASSISTANCE WITH RESEARCH AND WRITING

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 23

CHAPTER 24

CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER 27

CHAPTER 28

CHAPTER 29

CHAPTER 30

CHAPTER 31

CHAPTER 32

CHAPTER 33

CHAPTER 34

CHAPTER 35

CHAPTER 36

CHAPTER 37

CHAPTER 38

CHAPTER 39

CHAPTER 40

AUTHOR’S NOTE

For My Mother, Joanne (Bettigole) Silberberg Becker

Clay County Families

Howards

Adron Howard (1783-1867) Married Hannah Lewis (1781-1862)

John Jefferson J.J. Howard (1817-1900) Married Elizabeth McCarthy Jenkins (1822-1900)

Adrian Ballanger Bal Howard (1843-1912) Married Mary Polly Lewis (1843-1919)

James Big Jim Ballanger Howard (1865-1954) Married Mary Reid (1876-1935)

Earl Wayne Howard (1895-1988)

Edna May Howard (1898-1984)

James Ballanger Junior Howard (1900-1974)

Whites

Hugh Lowry White (1776-1856) Married Catherine Caine White (1780-1850)

Daugherty Daugh W White (1812-1875) Married Sarah Ann Watts (1824-1905)

Congressman John Daugherty White (1849-1920) Married Alice Harris (1856-1935)

Laura Rogers White (1852-1929)

Elizabeth Bessie Woods White (1862-1950) Married Samuel Wilbur Hager (1858-1918)

Bakers

Robert Boston Bob Baker (1800-1871) Married Sarah Ibbie Sally Rogers (1802-1843)

Baldy George Washington Baker (1837-1898) Married Rachel Strong (1837-1886)

Gardner Baker (1870-1959) Married Icythenia Thena Robinson (1872-1957)

Wiley B Baker (1867-1950) Married Lushaba Shabie Howard (1867-1943)

Thomas Paul Bad Tom Baker (1860-1899) Married Eliza Allefen (1858-1879)

James Wellington Baker (1881-1919)

Garrards

Governor James Garrard (1749-1822) Married Elizabeth Mountjoy (1759-1832)

Colonel Daniel Garrard (1780-1866) Married Lucinda Jane Lucy Toulmin (1790-1849)

General Theophilus Toulmin T.T. Garrard (1812-1902) Married Lucinda Lucy Burnham Lees (1832-1887)

Colonel William Toulmin Garrard (1871-1928) Married Nellie McDowell (1868-1932)

New Haven Families

Bettigoles

Avraham Bettigole (1803-1860)

Nathan Bettigole (1838-1910) Married Minnie Kobre (1841-1904)

Louis Bettigole (1881-1971) Married Rose Efland (1891-1943)

Shirley Bettigole (1912-1996) Married Nathan Silberberg (1911-2003)

Joanne Silberberg (1940-) Married Benton Becker (1938-2015)

Brian Becker (1966-) Married Grace Chung (1969-)

Adam Becker (1969-) Married Tracey Marshall (1973-)

Robin Tacchetti (1972-) Married David Tacchetti (1970-)

Eflands

Itaka Ifland (1743-1813)

Zelman Ifland (1773-1847)

Israel Gersha Ifland (1807-1880) Married Merka Shneyer Ifland (1825-?)

Morris Efland (1839-1920) Married Justine Bat Itsrach (1840-1897)

Harry Efland (1862-1933) Married Ida Rappaport (1863-1928)

Rose Efland (1891-1943) Married Louis Bettigole (1881-1971)

Shirley Bettigole (1912-1996) Married Nathan Silberberg (1911-2003)

Joanne Silberberg (1940-) Married Benton Becker (1938-2015)

Brian Becker (1966-) Married Grace Chung (1969-)

Adam Becker (1969-) Married Tracey Marshall (1973-)

Robin Tacchetti (1972-) Married David Tacchetti (1970-)

ASSISTANCE WITH RESEARCH AND WRITING

I’m indebted to Adam Becker, Grace Becker, Karen Becker, Kira Becker, Joanne Becker, Scott Becker, Wally Becker, Steffani Burd, Ed Cohn, David Fink, Richard Haber, Jesse Judish, Robin Tacchetti, Scott Smiley, and Jeff Steele for their review, and to Craig Hillsley for his editorial assistance.

In addition to the family lore I heard over the years from my mother, grandmother, great-grandfather, and their family; I am also heavily indebted to the many fine historical works and references that the Clay County Genealogical and Historical Society and others have compiled over the years on New Haven, Yale football, major league baseball, Kentucky politics, and the Baker-Howard feud.

PROLOGUE

Time seemed to stand still for a few minutes that cold January morning of 1900 in Frankfort, Kentucky for eighteen-year-old Lou Bettigole. Hearing church bells ringing off in the distance, Lou peered down at his watch to confirm that it was indeed 11AM on the dot. Several minutes later, the teenage reporter from Connecticut caught a glimpse of a non-descript man approaching the plaza in front of the State House. Lou couldn’t help but notice that a circle of military guards surrounded this middle-aged man.

Non-descript in his physical appearance, William Goebel was anything but that to Kentuckians in the political arena. The Democratic candidate for Governor from last November’s election, Goebel had chosen to dispute the election results. The voters had elected the Republican candidate, William Taylor, who had been inaugurated more than a month ago. Since the Democrat protest began, Frankfort had seen threats of physical violence from both sides. First, scores of armed Democrats patrolled the Frankfort streets. In response, mobs of Republican mountain men from Eastern Kentucky arrived by trainload in Frankfort, themselves fully armed.

Lou had been reporting on the Kentucky election for several months from Manchester, Kentucky—the county seat for Clay County. With the impending threats of violence being newsworthy for the readers back in Connecticut, Lou had traveled north and west to Frankfort to report on the protest several days earlier.

This morning after checking his watch, Lou glanced up to the State House itself and then to the building on its right, where he noticed a third-floor window open on this shivering January morning. Curious, Lou looked more carefully where he spied a man looking out onto the plaza from the open window. Turning back inside the office, the man seemed to be moving around different parts of the rifle. Not familiar with hunting rifles having grown up on the city streets of New Haven, Connecticut; Lou took a few seconds to realize what was happening. The man was loading the rifle with an intent to fire. By then, it was too late.

Hundreds of people walking about the plaza and the State House froze in their tracks when they heard the boom of the rifle. At 11:15AM, William Goebel was shot and dropped to the ground on the plaza.

The shots caused such commotion in the plaza that it was impossible for Lou to run after the assassin. The teenage reporter could not even locate an available policeman to provide a description of the shooter. In fact, the crowd of police and guards created so many concentric circles around Goebel that Lou couldn’t see whether the shot had been fatal. Thinking that these concentric circles resembled the ripples in a pond after a rock fell in, Lou could not understand why none of the policemen ran towards the shooter. Realizing that the location of the gunshot might be hard to track by sound alone for someone whose sight was focused elsewhere at the time, Lou began to wonder if anyone besides him had actually witnessed the shooting.

Lou’s two hours of training as a reporter for his college newspaper did nothing to prepare him for being in the middle of this apparent assassination attempt. As a student, he learned of the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and several European monarchs; but learning about an assassination and being present for one were two completely different experiences. He was tempted to simply use his train ticket to flee back to the safe environs of Yale College, but Lou knew he would need to stay in Kentucky for at least a little while longer. To say this unnerved Lou would be an understatement, as his sweaty palms and his struggles for breath provided another display of how he was feeling.

Finally catching his breath after a few minutes, Lou forced himself to calm down and think critically. He knew that he must find his friend from Clay County, Big Jim Howard, with whom he had offered to share his room at the Board of Trade Hotel. Lou retraced his morning steps and he remembered his activities leading up to observing the shooting. In particular, he had spent the early morning hours at the hotel completing his math lesson prepared by his local tutor, Laura White. Then, he had left a key at the front desk for Big Jim, before ambling out to the plaza.

Lou had known Big Jim for months during Lou’s reporting of the Baker-Howard family feud in Clay County. The leader of the Howard clan in recent years, Big Jim found himself right in the crosshairs of the Baker family leader, Bad Tom Baker, trying to establish a truce while at the same time defending his family. A stranger to Lou four months ago, Big Jim had become like family to him over this time, as the two men had enjoyed many talks, walks, celebrations, and meals together.

Lou could think of no one better to speak with now than Big Jim, both for his friendship as well as his experience. But Lou knew that Big Jim expected to be very business that day, as he told Lou, I will do everything I can to secure a pardon from Governor Taylor. I can’t count on an appeals court overturning my murder conviction. With a Republican still in office, I really need the Governor’s pardon.

In his pronounced loaping style, Lou walked back to the hotel. Big Jim was not in the lobby nor in Lou’s room.

CHAPTER 1

Until a few months ago, Lou Bettigole had not traveled far from his home in Connecticut. Rather than the hills and farms of Kentucky, Lou grew up in a large immigrant family in the industrial Northeast.

Nathan and Minnie Bettigole counted themselves very fortunate, as the 1800s came to a close. Avoiding the harsh antisemitism, lengthy military service, and never-ending pogroms in their native Russia, the Bettigoles had enjoyed good fortune in their new home of New Haven, Connecticut. They had managed to raise and support a family of ten boys and two girls.

Nathan appreciated his new country, but also understood that America’s streets were not paved with gold as he lectured their youngest child, Lou, We are not exactly poor since we always have enough to eat without any large debt, but we haven’t saved any money. That will be the fortune for our children and grandchildren. God willing.

In New Haven, the Bettigole family enjoyed some freedoms available that had never been available to them in Russia. Their extended family and friends who remained in Russia continued difficulties. Saul Hodesh wrote to Nathan from Russia in 1887:

My friend, we miss you here. But you were right to leave. Six Cossacks came into our house and dragged both of our boys into the Tsar’s army. They wrecked our front door and our kitchen in the process. I don’t think we will see our boys ever again. I thank God that we don’t have any girls. I hate to think what the Cossacks would have done to them.

Within a few more years, the pogroms and violence had worsened, as Miriam Levy wrote to Minnie in 1890:

A Russian shopkeeper was robbed, so the police stormed through the houses of all the jews in town. The police identified our son, Arthur, as the robber. So, he has been sent to prison in Siberia. Arthur was innocent, but what can we do?

The move to Connecticut in 1886 seemed like it took a lifetime of planning and sacrifice. Minnie and Nathan had saved their money for twenty-five years in Russia by skipping meals, making do without new clothes, and otherwise living as frugally as humanly possible.

Lou celebrated his fifth birthday in New Haven in November 1886 with a cake that Minnie baked for him, Happy birthday, my young one. Please see if you like this chocolate birthday cake. Lou finished most of the cake all by himself.

By this time, Lou had started attending Kindergarten at The Winchester School on Gregory Street. With its iconic circular front door and red bricks, Winchester was barely a stone’s throw from Yale College. The school was named for the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, situated just down the road on a seventy-five-acre campus.

Nathan and Minnie encouraged their children to study hard and earn high marks at school. While Nathan and Minnie loved Lou dearly, they both had to admit that he had never found a passion in school. He rarely received anything but mediocre marks. Still, the schooling accomplished its purpose. Lou not only studied mathematics, science, and history; but he also learned English. By the time Lou entered Hillhouse High on Orange Street in 1895; he could speak and write English like a native—a level of knowledge his parents and older siblings could never attain.

Lou loved being part of such a large and loving family. At family gatherings, his older brothers and sisters often arrived with chocolates and other confectionaries for their baby brother. On special occasions, they even took him out for his favorite ice cream at Mutt’s.

Minnie and Nathan were loving parents to Lou and encouraged him to pursue the things he liked—exploring New Haven by foot and talking to anyone and everyone. As a youngster, Lou walked with his parents or siblings. But as he got older and took longer walks, the family gave Lou permission to walk throughout New Haven—as long as he made it home for dinner.

Lou loved the walks not so much for the exercise or the scenery, but really to speak with new people. He was not discriminating, as he might converse with factory workers, baseball players, retirees, politicians, and even young children. Also, Lou found himself speaking with newly-arrived immigrants, negroes, and people with a wide array of religious affiliations. There was something in Lou’s demeanor that made people comfortable and allowed them to open up to him.

The Bettigole family did not observe all of their religious traditions in America, but they still held fast to some of the older rituals passed down through the centuries. Lou followed the pattern of his older brothers in October 1894 with his Bar-Mitzvah at Temple Mishkan Israel on Audubon Street. His speech that day reflected his interests as he turned thirteen:

I find myself having attained the traditional age of adulthood in our religion while I await several more years to reach this milestone in modern day America.

And what a country America is to live in during 1894. We have major league baseball, Yale football, railroads crisscrossing the continent, ice cream, and Ferris Wheels.

But, we also have freedom that our families that remain behind do not have back in the old countries. Today, let’s pray to celebrate our freedom and also to end the senseless and violent antisemitism in Europe.

While the Bettigole family could not afford to take much leisure time or pay for expensive holidays, they managed to visit the sights of New Haven and the surrounding areas. A favorite family destination was, of course, the beach in the summers whether it was West Haven, Old Saybrook, or Mystic. These were special days for Lou, as he told his brother George, I dream about one day living on a beach where it is warm all year round. I know that sounds crazy, but it would be so nice.

Money was constantly a burden, but the Bettigoles considered themselves happy poor, as they always had plenty to eat and an ever-changing place to live. Young Lou barely memorized an address before his family would move again for lower rents or larger living quarters. One year, they lived at a white house on 180 Liberty Street in New Haven proper, and another year they moved to a red house at 16 Rose Street in a section known as Hamden. Later, they moved a few blocks south to another white house at 175 Congress Avenue back in New Haven.

As his older siblings moved out of the house during his high school years, Lou adapted to the quiet afternoons and evenings at home with a lot of reading. He could not get enough of the newspapers. Famous yellow journalists popularized sensational stories of murders, affairs, and international espionage. Lou recognized these articles for what they were, but he still had to admit he enjoyed the entertainment.

While Lou enjoyed the sensationalistic coverage of crime and politics, he could spend hours perusing stories on sports. As he told his less interested father, Dad, did you see this? The Boston Strongman is going to defend his title again. And look over here on this column—a story about the great pitcher Cy Young. Still, I am glad most of the sports reporting around here is for Yale football. They have the best program in the whole country, and they are right in the heart of New Haven. We should be very proud of that.

Lou, I love to go to the games or the wrestling matches with you. But, I am going to have to rely on you to read the articles. I have finally picked up enough English to get by, but reading long articles is very hard for me, my son. Thank you for reading them to me, Nathan replied.

School couldn’t compete with walking around the neighborhoods of New Haven for Lou’s attention. Still he managed to enjoy certain parts of school, including some of his research assignments. In middle school, he presented a summary of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. As a junior in high school, he drew a map showing the path of gold prospectors in the Yukon.

He employed his newly-found mapmaking skills as a high school senior on his final product, The Hatfield/McCoy feud and other family feuds in Eastern Kentucky. His classmates chuckled at the feudists’ colorful and menacing nicknames like ‘Devil Anse,’ ‘Cottontop,’ and ‘Bad Frank,’ but quickly fell back to attention when Lou described the gory details of the many stabbings and shootings in the Eastern Kentucky counties of Pike, Breathitt, and Clay.

CHAPTER 2

The feud. The feud. James Howard learned about his family’s feud with the Baker family before he could even count to ten. Everyone in Clay County knew the famous feud story that the Bakers had aligned with the wealthy Garrard family, while the Howards’ wealthy alliance was with the White family. Still, young Howard children like James needed to memorize three rules for life while growing up in Clay County:

The Bakers started the Clay County feud.

Don’t trust a Baker.

Never ever marry a Baker.

The son of Adrian Ballenger (Bal) and Mary (Polly) Howard, James was known as the Appomattox child of the family. Born in 1865 several months after Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant agreed to peace terms ending the Civil War at Appomattox, James’ parents hoped that their son could one day become a peacemaker himself in the bloody feud that had infested Clay County for decades.

Polly Howard gave birth to three boys in succession named John, James, and Wilson. The boys had less than two years separating them, and they were thick as thieves. They spent nearly every waking moment together as youngsters; with James leading his brothers into town, out on the creeks, or through the woods.

Polly and Bal found them to be a handful, but Polly had a trick up her sleeve whenever she needed them to be quiet. They loved her feud stories. Polly offered stories on the Hatfield/McCoy feud over in Pike County and violent fighting in Bloody Breathitt County that the boys always enjoyed. But their ears perked up when she got to the stories from their own Clay County. One night, John Howard asked his mother, So, what was the name of that Baker man who started the whole feud?

Polly smiled because she knew her boys could recite these names by heart, but she responded, What became the feud all started back in the 1840s when your father and I were just little kids ourselves. There was a man by the name of Abner Baker, living right down the road from when we are right now. He had it in his mind that his wife, Susan, wanted to be married to someone else. Abner Baker suspected a man named Daniel Bates. Of course, Daniel Bates had no interest in marrying Abner Baker’s wife. But no one could convince Abner Baker. The more he thought about it, the madder Abner Baker became. So, one day, Abner Baker shot Daniel Bates in the back. Poor Mr. Bates did not survive.

Knowing there was more to the story, Polly paused and waited for the next question, coming from young James, Mom, didn’t they arrest that bad Abner Baker and put him in jail, though?

Polly nodded as she continued, Well, they tried. You see, Abner Baker moved out of the county—and even moved out of the United States into Cuba—once he was charged with murder. He was safe from the Clay County, but for some reason he decided to come back to Clay County. It was a bad decision. He got arrested. Then, he had a trial in the court. And later he was hung from a noose for his punishment, Polly paused to make sure the boys were still awake, The way it got into the feud was that the Bakers were sad that their cousin was hanged, and the Garrards supported them. Your grandfather and other Howards supported the White family at this trial since they were all friends of Daniel Bates. But that’s how things go. One person gets mad, and then another. Pretty soon, you have one whole group in a feud against another group. By the time Abner Baker was hanged, we had our own feud right here in Clay County.

Wilson Howard had closed his eyes, but he still had enough energy to blurt out one last question before he fell asleep, What happened next, Mom? Don’t stop telling us the story.

Polly could see all three boys drifting towards sleep, so she continued in a clear monotone voice intended to be conducive to sleeping, So, the next Baker in the feud story was William. His wife was named Matilda. Around 1850, one of your cousins by the name of Frank Prewitt was murdered. No one confessed to the murder, but the police thought it was either William or Matilda Baker. They were both arrested and put on trial.

Polly realized the boys had all fallen asleep, but Bal was still sitting next to her with his eyes closed. So, she concluded as if the kids were still listening, "It turns out that Matilda was kissing Mr. Prewitt even though she was married to William Baker. I hope you boys will never do that when you grow up. Well anyway, then it also came out that one day Mr. Prewitt decided that he didn’t want to kiss Matilda anymore. So, he told Matilda to stay away from him. All of this came out in court. The Bakers still say that some of the Whites and Howards lied