A recent column referred to the 1860 hanging of Hezekiah Clem for the killing of Benjamin Irvin. At that time, the circumstances of the case were not known but recent research in the Harlan County Circuit Court records at the Kentucky State Archives have discovered the file of the case.Both Hezekiah and his younger brother John were indicted for Irvin's killing. At the request of the defense the trials were separated. It appears that some people and witnesses in the case believed that it was John Clem who had done the stabbing but as Hezekiah was convicted and hung for the crime, the events are reconstructed on that basis.
While reading the following, it must be remembered that drinking alcoholic beverages was common and within reason, socially acceptable to a degree not true today. People also stayed at the homes of others more readily in a day and age of slower transportation.
Several events during the day of Wednesday, July 7, 1859, are mentioned in the case transcripts. Early that day there had been a fight between John Clem and Jim Middleton and Benjamin Irvin had apparently loudly rooted for Middleton which annoyed John Clem considerably. He is said to have kicked Irvin and threatened worse if Irvin did not hush.
Mike Howard testified that Hezekiah Clem had drawn a knife on him earlier in the day and that he believed it was the same knife in evidence. William Turner testified that Howard had been "drinking pretty smart" and had wanted to fight Clem.
The old man had been drinking considerably early in the day and had gone to sleep at Dr. John B.A.T. Mills' house, either on the porch or in the yard near the porch. Clem saw him sleeping and took a large stone and dropped it on or near his head, possible in spite over Irvin's support of Middleton in the fight with John Clem earlier.
At this point, Irvin got up and began to walk up to Hezekiah Jenning's house. Clem followed him and as Irvin went to put his leg over the gate to Jennings' house, Clem hit him in the side. Thinking he had only been hit with a rock, Irvin went on up to Jennings' porch and called out to Jennings.
It was not until some time later that it was discovered he had been stabbed, apparently with a pocket knife. Irvin accused Clem of doing it although Clem denied it. As Irvin's condition appeared serious, Dr. Mills was summonsed. Mills believed the wound was serious, but not necessarily fatal.
A calf bawled and Clem and Jennings went out to see about it. Clem went on down and kicked a dog off William Turner's calf with Jennings thus returning to the house earlier than Clem. While they were out, Jennings' wife Elizabeth and their daughter Alabama found a bloody pocket knife on the floor, but according to the testimony in the case this was no the only bloody pocket knife found that night. Frank Unthank testified he had found a similar knife at the corner of the courthouse, which was also bloody.
By morning, Irvin seemed worse. His sons were summonsed. Hugh Irvin testified that he came to town to bring his father home. "He rode my horse. He said on the road that he must die. He got down once. He then stated that he could not live and did not believe he could get home. At the ford of the creek he said Clem had stabbed him, that he was getting over the gate at Jennings' when the wound was inflicted, that Clem followed him up to Jennings', that Mills was sent for and he stayed at Jennings' that night."
Irvin made it home and lingered through Saturday. The Irvins called on Dr. Pearson Daniels to attend their father. Daniels testified that he bled him (a common medical practice of the time) and gave him medicine but he doubted Irvin would live. He testified that just before Irvin died he got up and went out in the yard and nearly fell if his son had not caught him. They brought him back in the house and he died a short time later from internal bleeding.
At some point the night of the stabbing, Hezekiah Clem had spent some time at Lewis Farmer's stone house, lying down to sleep for a few minutes but then going out again, speaking a while with Leonard Farmer and then apparently being arrested as there is testimony by a couple of people in the house hearing some one say to Clem "You are my prisoner."