Hurston Prince was murdered at Mart Hensley’s Grist Mill on Abbs Creek in Lawrence County, Ky on December 30th 1932. He was married to my first cousin Eva Conway the daughter of Lewis and Jestin Mary (Mulkey) Conway. I spoke with Eva about this tragic event in her home on June 9th 1998. I hated to bring the subject up much less press her on it. I think that she loved Hurston with all her heart and I felt that it may be painful for her to talk about. But she assured me that it would be ok and that put my mind at ease. The one thing that added even more pain to this event was that Hurston and Eva had 2 little boys, the youngest was less than a year old. I asked Eva if she would happen to have a picture of Hurston and she replied that she did not. She said I don’t even have a picture to show my boys what their daddy looked like. Uncle Levi Mulkey told me the story of this event when I was just a young man and it always stuck in my mind and I felt so much sorrow for Hurston and his family. It has weighed heavy on my heart for sure. Levi was at Lonnie Blevins’ store which was very close to the mill on that fateful day. I wish to tell Hurston’s story and the following is true to the best of my knowledge. I hope to do him justice in this account of what happened on that cold December Day in 1932.

First of all the hard feelings between the men began several days prior to the actual confrontation and shooting. Eva said that she and Hurston had gone to bed when they heard a knock at the door. Hurston got up and answered the door, it was Lawrence County Sheriff Sam McNeal and another man. Eva could hear them talking but was unable to make out what was being said. In a short time he returned to the bed room and informed her that he was going to the top of the ridge in order to show Sam a different route across the mountain in order to surprise men making whiskey at a moonshine still. He told her not to worry and that he would return shortly. But, when they reached the top of the ridge Sheriff McNeal turned facing Hurston and deputized him and ordered that he was to go on with him to the sight of the still. The men running the still were Henry Hill and Paul Justice. Upon arriving at the moonshine still Henry and Paul made threats to Hurston and accused him of turning them in for making the illegal whiskey. Hurston returned home the next morning and related all of this to Eva.

According to Uncle Levi, Hurston told him that he was worried about the possibility of having bad trouble with Henry and Paul over all this. So about a week before the shooting Uncle Levi crossed some ammunition for Hurston. He took his pocket knife and cut down through the lead to the metal shell casing, turning the blade in the opposite direction as in a + pattern. That way the bullet would have a mushroom affect when it hit its target. The pistol was a Smith & Wesson .38 special and it had the thumb piece cut off the hammer to prevent it from hanging in his clothes in case it had to be drawn in a hurry.

On the morning of December 30th Hurston left on foot to take some corn to the mill to get ground into meal for making bread. Levi was at Lonnie Blevins’ Store when Hurston came in before going on to the mill. Levi said that Hurston spent an hour or so talking with him and some other men there in the store. You could see the horses belonging to Hill and Justice tied at the mill and Hurston was giving them ample time to leave before going on up there. He finally said to Levi that he did not think the men were going to leave any time soon and that he may as well go on up there and see who was the toughest of the three. He said that he could not avoid the confrontation forever. So he went on to the mill and once he stepped inside Paul Justice struck him behind the ear with a pair of brass knucks that he was wearing on his fist and knocked him into the mill pit where the stone wheel ran to grind the corn. Justice drew his pistol and shot Hurston across the breast but was not a fatal shot. Hurston drew his pistol and returned fire hitting Justice three times out of three shots but the wounds were not life threatening. Justice bolted through the door and ran as fast as he could go to get to a safe place. In the meantime Hill appeared in the doorway with pistol in hand and standing sideways, Hurston fire another three shots hitting him in the rib cage under the arm killing Hill instantly. Hurston was weak from his wound and did not try to arise from where he had fallen. Hill’s thirteen year old half brother Angel Limberis picked up Hill’s pistol and went over to Hurston, he put the pistol to the side of Hurston’s head and killed him instantly. Hurston Prince had shot his pistol empty, plus the fact that he was semi conscious he could not prevent the boy from killing him. At the end of her story, Eva said to me in a solemn and proud voice.....”You know, Hurston never missed a shot”. He fired six times and all the bullets found their mark. Levi helped lay both men out at the mill and said that where Hurston shot Hill the bullets were spread out up and down his rib cage and on the exit side the holes were large enough to stick a goose egg in either of them.

They laid Hurston out inside the mill house and sent word to Eva as to what had happened. She arrived soon after and told me that she sat with Hurston until late in the evening waiting for the coroner to arrive but he never came. She was in there all alone with him, keeping watch over his body and no doubt shed a lot of tears over him. That evening they place Hurston on a horse drawn sled and took him to his father’s house (Nelson Prince) where his body lay in state until the next morning. He was then taken to the top of the hill where a fresh dug grave awaited his remains. At his graveside service Eva said that just across the Hollow Henry Hill was being laid to rest by his family at the same time. Strange how things like that can happen.

It saddens me that Hurston had to go it alone that day, not a man raised a hand to help him. Eva said that he left the mill before going inside and went over to his aunt’s house that lived nearby but was turned away. She and her husband said that they did not want any trouble to happen at their place, so he walked back to the mill and faced his destiny. In my opinion Hurston Prince was a man among men and I will never forget his bravery on that day. He gave his life for what we call mountain man’s pride. Since then Hurston’s grave has been lost in those Eastern KY Hills, it cannot be found. The mountain has claimed his body for its own, the grave never to be seen again. Mart never opened the mill again for business. I doubt that there is any sign of it left for anyone to see. The Limberis boy was convicted of killing Hurston and sent to the reform school at Greendale until age 21. During his trial he insisted that he never shot Hurston and that he had picked up the pistol and gave it to someone else. But Woodrow Hensley who was operating the mill that day said that he saw the boy kill Hurston. Paul Justice was bound over to the Grand Jury in Louisa but I don’t know what the outcome of that was. I guess it is no longer important, most all those around at that time have passed on. It just remains a part of Eastern KY History..........such a sad ending I am thinking.....