The Cecil-West-Smith feud of the 1880s
The Cecil-West-Smith feud began with a shootout at a Helenwood saloon on Christmas Eve 1881 that claimed the life of a 17-year-old Cecil boy. Weeks later, his killer was murdered in retribution, and the boy’s older brother was killed in the process. The feud later spread to include a third family and resulted in the death of another of the Cecil boy’s brothers in 1883.
The first death
The incident began on Dec. 24, 1881, and involved John Wesley Cecil and his uncle, Robinson Crusoe West.
John W. Cecil was the 17-year-old son of William Riley Cecil Sr. and Nancy West. Crusoe West was the 24-year-old brother of Nancy West. Their parents were Reuben West and Emily Temple Clemons. Both the Cecil and West families lived in the Cherry Fork community near Helenwood. Crusoe married Malinda Smither in 1874. They divorced and he married Arlena Laxton Goad — daughter of Blagburn “Blag” Thompson and Nancy Laxton — in 1877. They had one child together, Sylvania.
(It should be noted that this Robinson Crusoe West was not the same Robinson Crusoe West who was famous in the early 20th century for living in a cave in the Pine Hill area of Scott County. That Robinson Crusoe West was the nephew of this story’s Robinson Crusoe West. Born in 1873, he was the son of Charles P. West, a brother to this story’s Robinson Crusoe West.)
When the 1880 census was taken, Crusoe West was imprisoned in Nashville. A newspaper account at the time said that he had been in prison after being convicted of murder. It is not clear who he killed.
The Knoxville Daily Chronicle later put it this way: “John Wesley Cecil and Crusoe West were friends and comrades, companions in mischief and deviltry, and considered by the community as bad and dangerous men.”
On Christmas Eve 1881, according to the newspaper, “these two parties went to Helenwood, and bought a lot of cartridges for their pistols. They then proceeded a short distance from town, where they discharged their revolvers, reloading them with fresh cartridges.”
Upon returning to town, the two men apparently got into an argument over whiskey.
“West said, ‘Let’s shoot it out,'” the newspaper wrote. “Cecil answered, ‘shoot,’ when both drew their weapons, which were discharged in the act of drawing.”
Both men were wounded. West was struck in the face, the bullet lodging against his ear, and Cecil in the chest. A fight ensued, and Cecil was apparently able to participate in the fight despite being mortally wounded. The newspaper identified Jerry West, Charles West, William West and George W. Thompson as being involved in the brawl.
A story in The Chattanooga Times offered different details: the fight at the saloon began as a dispute between John Darity “and a Negro.” Cecil mistook Darity for West, and apparently took his side in the dispute, according to the Chattanooga newspaper’s account. West then reportedly drew his gun and fired on Cecil.
Cecil was taken to his family’s home at Cherry Fork, where he died at 9 a.m. on Christmas morning. He became the first person buried at Cecil Cemetery on Cherry Fork Road. West rode his horse to his parents’ home at Cherry Fork.
The second and third deaths
After John Cecil died, his father swore vengeance. He swore out a warrant for West’s arrest, and during the first week of January 1882 he and several of his other sons visited the home of West’s father, where West had gone after being wounded at the saloon.
“Old man Cecil told him to consider himself under arrest. West answered that he would surrender to lawful authority but never to one of the Cecil family,” the Knoxville newspaper wrote. “Whereupon the old man pulled himself out of bed, when the boys commenced firing on West. Someone in the crowd pulled a knife and commenced using it on his enemies, several of whom were badly cut and wounded. West, after receiving several balls in his body, fell to the floor dead. Three shots were fired into his body after he was dead. On examination of West’s body fifteen bullet holes were found.”
The Chattanooga newspaper reported that West was shot 10 times.
During the melee, Reason Burl Cecil was mortally wounded with a knife. He was John Cecil’s 24-year-old brother. His date of death was listed as Jan. 10, 1882. He was buried next to his brother at Cherry Fork. He apparently survived his injuries for several days; both newspaper accounts of the tragedy were published on Jan. 8, 1882. Cecil was not married.
It is not known where West was buried.
Another Cecil tragedy
On May 27, 1883, less than a year and a half after John Wesley Cecil and Reason Burl Cecil were killed, their 27-year-old brother, William “Riley” Cecil Jr., was killed. He married Lucinda Thomas in 1873, and they had three children: Beaty, William and Crawford.
There is considerable uncertainty about the way the events of Riley Cecil’s death played out. Newspaper accounts are rife with inaccuracies.
Among the newspaper reports:
The Chattanooga Times — May 28, 1883: “At Helenwood, on Sunday evening, two brothers of the name of Smith in revenge killed two men, named John and Riley Cecill. Four years ago the Cecils killed the father of the Smiths, and since then there has been a deadly feud between the two families. Five men altogether have been killed in this quarrel. A posse of men is out searching for the Smith brothers,and it is hoped they will soon be found. We learn that there is a reward of $200 each for their capture. It is rumored the three Smiths were overtaken near the Kentucky line on Wednesday night, and Robert Smith was fired at and killed by one of the pursuers, named Ellison, the other two effecting their escape.”
The Knoxville Daily Tribune — May 29, 1883: “Last Sunday Helenwood, Scott county on the Cincinnati Southern railroad, was the scene of a tragedy most terrible in all of its details, in which two men lost their lives, the result of a long-lived feud between two farmers named respectively Smith and Cecil. Four years ago the Cecils killed the father of the Smith boys in a quarrel. This was the beginning of the old feud that ended only when five men have been killed. Two years ago the two families met in open war and two of the Cecils hit the dust at the hands of the Smith boys. Since that time an enmity has existed between the two families that blood along could appease, and it was well known that should they ever meet it would only be a matter of life and death. Sunday they met and as was expected their meeting ended in a terrible tragedy. The three Smith brothers, John Cecil and his son Riley were present. The fearful struggle for life and death on both sides at once commenced. Riley Cecil, the son, was killed by the first shot that was fired. He was hit in the head and his death of instantaneous. His father fired at least ten shots before he succumbed to the overwhelming odds against him. But he alone was powerless to combat against with the three men, and after a heroic struggle he was finally killed.”
The Knoxville Weekly Whig & Chronicle — June 27, 1883: “We are again called upon to chronicle one of those fearful portions of our state. Yesterday two men were, without warning, sent to their eternal judgement. The scene of the tragedy is at Helenwood, on the line of the Cincinnati Southern railway. For some years past a feud has existed between the families of the Cecils and Smiths. Four years ago the Cecils killed the father of the Smith boys in a quarrel. This is the origin of the feud. Two years ago the two families were brought into deadly conflict and the Smiths killed two of the Cecils.”
The Plateau Gazette — June 2, 1883: “The Smith boys, who murdered Riley Cecil at Helenwood, on the 27th of May, have been closely pursued by the sheriff ever since the killing. June 2nd Gilbert surrendered and was bound over to court. A close watch has been kept for the others ever since. They found that escape was impossible, and they surrendered yesterday to Deputy Sheriff Chambers, and will have a hearing to-day. John and Jerry, the ones referred to, say they take any punishment rather than be hunted. The different factions of the family, the Smiths, Cecils, and Wests, were at Huntsville yesterday, and everything passed off quietly. We hope there will be no more fighting amongst them, as already four have been killed in eighteen months. Wm Cecil, who was reported to have been killed at the time if the fatal affray in which his son met his death, has recovered after a long illness, and will be present at the trial of the murdered.”
Sorting through the confusion
Clearly, Riley Cecil’s father, William Riley Cecil Sr., was not killed in the 1883 fight. He lived until Jan. 2, 1903, when he died at age 74 and was buried at Cecil Cemetery.
There appear to be two possibilities: one is that the elder Cecil was wounded in the fight, but survived. The other is that the newspapers were confusing the Christmas 1881 saloon fight and the May 1883 fight.
Supporting the theory that the elder Cecil was wounded: the Plateau Gazette, which was published in Morgan County and appears to be the most accurate of all the newspaper accounts, wrote several weeks later: “Wm Cecil, who was reported to have been killed at the time of the fatal affray in which his son met his death, has recovered after a long illness, and will be present at the trial of the murdered.”
Supporting the theory that the newspapers confused the two incidents: Several referred to Riley Cecil’s dad as John Cecil, his brother who was killed on Christmas Eve 1881. The Knoxville Daily Tribune reported that “two of the Cecils hit the dust at the hands of the Smith boys” two years earlier. There is no record of Cecils being killed in a feud with the Smiths, but the two Cecil brothers were killed by Crusoe West in December 1881 and January 1882.
We know that Riley Cecil was killed on that day in May 1883. What we don’t know is who did the killing. The different Smiths said to be involved in the fight, depending upon which newspaper account is read, were John, Jerry, Thompson, Robert and Gilbert.
All of those Smith men were obviously not present when Cecil was killed; most newspapers mentioned three men being present. However, given the names, it’s likely that the Smith family involved in the tragedy was another branch of the same family. Crusoe West, who was involved in the Christmas Eve 1881 shootout, was a brother to Nancy West Cecil, the Cecil boys’ mother. Crusoe and Nancy had a sister, Sarah Elizabeth West, who married Jeremiah Leonadus “Leon” Smith, the son of Methodist circuit rider Rev. Isaac Smith. Among her children when the 1870 census was taken were sons Albert, John, Jeremiah (Jerry), Gilbert and William, and daughters Jane and Etta. Several of her children, including Gilbert and William, were fathered by Christopher Columbus Sexton. Although Gilbert and William were listed in the 1870 census as “Smiths,” they later went by Sexton. Gilbert Sexton later served as sheriff of Scott County.
The newspaper accounts of the 1883 tragedy mention that the feud began when the Cecils killed the Smith boys’ father four years earlier. If, indeed, the Smith family involved in the fight was the family of Nancy West Cecil’s brother-in-law, “Leon” or “Jerry,” he was not killed by the Cecils; he died during the Civil War.
When the 1880 census was taken, Sarah Smith was still single. Her son, John, was listed as head of household. His wife, Mary, lived in the home, as did Sarah and several of her children: Jerry, Gilbert, William, Reubin and Emely.
Not present in any of those census records is Robert Smith, who the newspapers stated was killed by a posse pursuing the Smith brothers following Cecil’s murder in 1883.
Also not found is a Thompson Smith. However, it should be noted that the Thompsons were another family in the Helenwood area at the time, and one of them — John Thompson — served as an informant to the newspapers when the first tragedy occurred in 1881. (Another, George W. Thompson, was mentioned as one of the participants in the saloon fight.) This may have been another confusion by the newspapers.
Nor is there a Luther Smith found in the records.
The bottom line on 1883
Very little can be conclusively taken away from the shooting of 1883, except that William Riley Cecil Jr. became the third Cecil brother to die, likely at the hands of his cousins in the Smith family. More research is needed to draw appropriate conclusions. Most newspapers of the day reported that five men had been killed in the feud, including the father of the Smith brothers (and Riley Cecil’s father).
However, the Plateau Gazette, which was published in Morgan County and seemed to have the most accurate portrayal of what happened, said that four men had been killed in 18 months (it was the only of the papers to mention that William Cecil Sr. had not been killed as the other papers had reported).
That much is likely true: the 1883 killing of William Riley Cecil Jr. stemmed from the Christmas 1881 shootout at the Helenwood saloon, and the four dead included the three Cecil brothers and Crusoe West. The Plateau Gazette also made no mention of any of the Smith brothers being killed by a posse. It reported that Gilbert Smith surrendered to authorities on June 2, and that John and Jerry later turned themselves in. A reasonable conclusion, based on the available historical evidence, would be that the Plateau Gazette was accurate: that the three Smith brothers involved were Gilbert, John and Jerry, and that the names Robert, Luther and Thompson were born of mistakes made by the other newspapers. This would almost certainly mean that one of the Smith brothers was not killed by lawmen.
Aftermath of 1883
John Smith and his wife, Mary, had several children: Nellie, Etta, Jerry, David, Cora, Beulah and Ruby. He moved to Anderson County and worked in the coal mines. He died of rectal cancer in Knoxville on June 18, 1929, at age 67. He’s buried at Roses Creek Cemetery north of LaFollette.
Gilbert Sexton, who was only a teenager when the events of 1883 played out, served in the Spanish American War in the 1890s, and served as sheriff of Scott County for three terms, from 1910 to 1916. He married Eldora Sexton and they had 10 children. He died at his Helenwood home in 1933 at age 67. He was buried at Marcum Cemetery in Helenwood.
Jerry Smith married Martha Angeline Blakely in 1888. As of 1920 they were living alone in Helenwood.
Sarah Smith was living with her son, William Sexton, and his family, when the 1910 census was taken.
Lucinda Thomas Cecil, wife of Riley Cecil Jr., remarried to Maynard Harrison Keeton in 1884. They had several children: Prentie, Sterling, Mitchell, Mertie, Amanda, Anna and Molly. Lucinda died in 1957 and is buried at Litton Cemetery in Oneida.
Riley Cecil’s son, William, married Louisa York in 1898. He appears to have died in 1903 at age 24. His brother, Beaty, married Florence Gooden and had 15 children. His last surviving child, Robert, died in 2013. Riley Cecil’s last surviving child, Crawford, died in 1973 at age 92 and was buried at Hazel Valley. He married Elsie Williams. Their only child, Joe Alan Cecil, died in 2024.
Arlena Laxton West, the widow of Crusoe West, died in 1941 and is buried at Laxton Cemetery in the Buffalo community. She first married Kilmon Goad in 1875, then married Crusoe West in 1877. When the 1880 census was taken she was living in Huntsville with her one-year-old daughter, Sylvania. She was listed as married and also head of household (Crusoe West was imprisoned at the time). It does not appear that she ever remarried, and she was going by her maiden name when the 1900 census was taken (though she had two daughters living with her, Dora Laxton and Flora Laxton, ages 10 and 1).
Crusoe West’s child, Sylvania “Vannie” West, married Harvey Phillips. She died in 1956 and is buried at Duncan Cemetery in Helenwood.
Help add to the historical record. Send additions or corrections to newsroom@ihoneida.com.