Back in 1974, The Winchester Sun published an article about the home of Clark County pioneer William Clinkenbeard (built about 1790). This ancient structure, which still stands, was identified by local historian Kathryn Owen and her research companion Callie Hodgkin. The discovery resulted from their investigation of a “family feud” that climaxed in “a Civil War era gun battle between the Gay family and the Price family.” (James Price had purchased the house from Clinkenbeard’s heirs in 1844.)
My interest was in the feud, which I had not seen referenced anywhere in local lore.
According to Ms. Owen, “The incident that led to the Clinkenbeard house’s rediscovery was a family quarrel that began before the Civil War and culminated in about 1863 with the shooting death of the Prices and the wounding of one of the Gay clan.” She added that “the warring families met on the Paris Road and shot it out. Gay, who recovered from his wounds, was tried for the murders of the two Prices but, defended by the noted attorney John Boyd Huston, was acquitted.”
This feud captured my interest and led to a long search for the story. As issues of the Winchester Chronicle from that period have not survived, it took many years before I stumbled onto the story from other documented sources.
One of the protagonists in the affair was James P. Gay (1823−1901), a well-to-do farmer who lived on Paris Road in the old homeplace of Matthew Anderson on Hoods Creek. On the other side was Col. James Price (1801−1865) and his young son John W. Price (1833−1857). James, also a farmer, was one of the wealthiest men in Clark County. At the time of the rencounter, the Prices lived in the old Clinkenbeard house, which stood a mile or so north of Gay’s home.
It seems that James Price’s wife Charlotte was a writer, and she published fictional romances under the non de plume of “Molly Broom” in The Ohio Farmer, a widely read weekly publication for farmers. One of her stories described a family living in her neighborhood that, “from mismanagement of its head, suffered much domestic affliction resulting in disastrous consequences.” Word got back to Gay that the family ridiculed in the story was his own.
When Gay encountered Colonel Price, he accused Price of being responsible for his wife’s story, which the colonel denied. Then on Saturday, June 6, 1857, Price and his son were riding on horseback on Paris Road. The father was intercepted by Gay, also on horseback, who fired a double-barreled shotgun at Price, who fell from his horse, to all appearance dead. John, the son, hastened to the spot, upon which Gay drew a revolver and fired with fatal effect.
Gay then rode away.
Both victims initially survived the shooting. Young Price died of his wounds the following Wednesday. Colonel Price recovered, but only lived until 1865. Father and son are buried in Winchester Cemetery.
Gay was arrested for murder and held on bail of $10,000. He was brought to trial a year later in Clark Circuit Court. The attorneys in the case were among the top of their profession. The prosecution team included W. H. Caperton, Chilton Allan, and William S. Downey; John B. Huston, Garrett Davis, and James F. Robinson argued for the defense.
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According to Kathryn Owen, the highlight of the trial “came after Mrs. Price testified that she saw the Gays emerge from their house bearing firearms heading for her home.” Huston took the jury to the Clinkenbeard house, “where the members observed for themselves that one house cannot be seen from the other.”
The jury announced a not guilty verdict that, surprisingly, “was received by the large crowd of spectators with marked manifestations of satisfaction and approval.” Gay later operated a coal yard in Winchester and was elected to several terms in the Kentucky House of Representatives.
I have been unable to find a record of the trial. It’s uncertain what source Ms. Owen found that described “a gun battle” and more than one Gay involved in the affray.
One newspaper account left another mystery to solve: “As the Lexington and Covington train was passing a couple of miles this side of Winchester, Kentucky, on Saturday, the body of a man was discovered lying near the road, and still a little farther on, another body lying in a similar condition was seen. The parties were Col. James Price of Clark county, Kentucky, an old and esteemed citizen, and his son, a fine promising young man.”
I am unaware of any railroad in Clark County at that early date. However, the Covington and Lexington Railroad made a stop at Paris and from there connected with a stagecoach to Winchester. The cited article, which appeared in an out of state paper, may have misstated the train for the stagecoach.
