An Eye for an Eye

Shortly after assuming command, Watt Moorman led the Regulators in pursuit of Jackson’s killers. They apprehended three McFadden brothers, Moderators responsible for Jackson’s death. The McFaddens were tried before a kangaroo court in Shelbyville in October 1841. The brothers confessed and were convicted by acclamation of the townsfolk. Elder brothers Bill and Bailey were hanged. The third youngest brother was spared. Watt Moorman won the acclaim of his Regulators and Shelbyville citizenry.

The Regulators may have avenged Jackson’s murder; but the bloodshed was by no means over. The feud ruptured again when a man named Stanfield accused a former Regulator named Hall of hog theft. A confrontation in Shelbyville resulted in Stanfield killing Hall. In a curious twist to the taking of sides, Hall’s friends turned to the Moderators to avenge his death. The Moderators apprehended Stanfield who lived at the home a Regulator named Runnells. Stanfield escaped the Shelbyville jail. He and Runnells were ambushed and murdered by Moderators led by John Bradley and Hall’s brother James.

The dispute escalated when Moorman’s enemy John Bradley next became leader of the Moderators. Each side pressed charges against the other. Judges in courts sympathetic to their respective sides dismissed all charges related to the Hall, Stanfield and Runnells’ murders. James Hall was subsequently murdered.

James Cravens organized a second opposition to Moorman and the Regulators. Former Moderators joined Cravens Reformers; but he refused to accept the worst blood soaked Moderators, including their leader John Bradley. With the worst of the feud mitigated by moderation, Cravens and Moorman signed a peace treaty July 24, 1844. It didn’t last.

Next Week: Enough is Enough
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Ride easy, Photo-art by Jim Hatzell
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