Editing Dark Corner Exhibit (section)

==BLOOD FEUDS & VIOLENCE==
Government programs incentivized distillers to turn legal, to report other stills, and even to become government agents. This caused fighting and feuding between individuals and families.

While there are many stories of inter-community violence, two hold particular importance.

===August 23, 1891: Mountain Hill Church shootout===
A Saturday altercation between the Howards and the Gosnells erupted at church the next morning. Reportedly, both parties had still been drinking that morning. Outside the tiny one-room log building, Joshua Howard took offense at Richard Gosnell not speaking to him, leading to a general battle between both families and their friends. Between 40 and 50 shots were fired. Luther Durham tried to arrest Gosnell, and got shot in the gut and mouth. Massena Howard was killed on the spot; Joshua Howard died the next day. In court, all parties were found not guilty.

===July 8, 1899: baseball game shootout ===
The baseball game was part of the local Independence Day celebrations. The night before, however, Rufus Lindsey was at home when shots were fired into the house; he had reported some neighbors to the revenuers. He refused to come out of the house, and the attackers responded by cutting down three acres of his corn.

The baseball game the next day was the perfect opportunity for Rufus and two brothers to take revenge. They accused some in the crowd, who denied it; the three Lindsey’s began firing indiscriminately into the crowd. Immediately fire was returned from Rectors, Howards, McKinneys, Bartons, Harris, and Bruce. The expanding fight moved up the hillside. Each Lindsey brother was injured, at which point they fled in a buggy. The crowd chased for half a mile when the buggy broke down and the Lindseys fled into the woods on foot. The mob descended on the buggy and set it ablaze. In the end, several hundred shots were fired and a dozen or more wounded.