Johnny Martin
Johnny Martin was a man from Rowan County, Kentucky, who died during the Martin-Tolliver feud. He was being taken by train from a Lexington jail back toward Moorehead when armed men from the rival Tolliver faction boarded the train at Farmers and shot him while he was handcuffed. He was taken home to Moorehead, lived three days, and died there. His cousin, C. W. Martin, says a newspaper account of the death was partly inaccurate about where and how it happened, while an 1884 report said he was taken from the jail at Winchester by a mob and lynched, after the guards were said to have been shot with a forged order.
Cause of death, as reported: Taken from custody and lynched (disputed). His cousin C. W. Martin says a Tolliver faction group boarded the train at Farmers and shot him while he was handcuffed, and that a newspaper account was partly inaccurate; a later reminiscence says Tolliver men hanged him and then riddled his body with bullets.
Reported by: C. W. Martin, his cousin (family or their lawyers); news reports of the death in 1884 newspaper accounts (reporters); Ohio State Journal reminiscence, as told by a Willard, Ky. man.