Mose Hurt Littrell

The Kentucky Highway Patrol, the predecessor of the Kentucky State Police, was founded in 1936 as a part of the Kentucky State Highway Department. Six of the officers died in the line of duty before the agency became known as state police. The fourth victim was Patrolman Mose Hurt Littrell on March 14., 1938.

Littrell had obtained a three-day leave of absence from Harlan and was on his way home. Seven miles east of London, he picked up B . P. Snavely and Ed Kirby of Pineville, two hitchhikers who were trying to get to Somerset.

On East Highway 80, near Sandy Gap, Littrell saw three men standing in the road by a park­ed car; Leslie Farmer, 48, a former teacher in Pulaski County, Oliver Gosser, 42, of Pulaski County and Hollis Owens, 38, of Russell County. One of them was drinking from a bottle.

Littrell stopped 15 yards away, identified himself as a police officer, and told the men they would have to move the car off the highway and stop drinking. Seeing that one of them had a gun, he went back to his car and put his pistol in his pocket. He told the two hitchhikers, "Boys, the old man back there has been drinking and has a gun. Looks like we might have some, trouble. You all come along with me.’’

As they approached the three men, Farmer, who was standing a feet away with his arms behind him, brought his gun around and started firing without saying a word. The first shot struck Littrell in his chest and he wheeled partially around. A second shot struck him in the hip. Littrell drew his .38 Smith and Wesson Special and fired six shots, emptying his gun, and striking Farmer in the chest. Farmer's last two shots struck Littrell in the right leg and he fell to his knees in the road. Farmer fell face forward in the road, clutching his .380 automa­tic pistol in his right hand as he died. He had been shot three times in the chest and once in the right side under the arm. Four loaded shells were found in the clip of Farmer’s pistol. Five empty shells from the gun were found in the road.

Littrell called out the hitchhikers, "Boys come help me. I’m pretty badly shot.” They were crouched down beside the parked car when the shooting was going on. They and Gosser helped carry Littrell to his car. Kirby drove it to the Somerset hospital and then accompanied Littrell as he was transported by ambulance to a hospital in Lexington. He died the next morning.

A stray bullet had struck Gosser in his right leg. It's not clear how he got to the hospital, but while he was having his wound treated at the Somerset Hospital, he was placed under arrest and subsequently placed in jail for drunkenness. Gosser told a Somerset newspaper reporter while at the jail that Llttrell had drawn his gun first and started firing, saying that Farmer had jumped out of the way of the first shot and the bullet struck him.

When other officers arrived at the scene, Owens was not there. After searching the area, he was found asleep In the woods a half-mile from where the shooting had taken place. He was also arrested and jailed for drunkenness. Neither Gosser nor Owens were armed, and ac­cording to Littrell’s companions took no part in the affair. While the men were firing at one another, Gosser was standing back against the front of the Farmer car and Owens was leaning against the front fender. They had come to Somerset by bus the previous day and were going to a sawmill owned by Owens’ fath­er, where he was going to repair some machinery. They met Farmer at Dykes restau­rant and he agreed to take them to the mill in his car if they would furnish the gasoline.

Leslie Farmer began teaching school in Pulaski County in 1910. During WWI, he served with the U.S Medical Corps then went back to teaching. Mose Hurt Littrell was also a WWI veteran and past Commander of the Albany Dis­abled American Veterans Chapter. He had been recognized as a champion pistol shot of the state highway patrol.

Born on Nov. 24, 1892 to Thomas Mack and Nannie Bell Hurt Littrell, Mose was married to Mary McMillan and they had one daughter, Mary, wife of Gayron Cross, who died in 2006 in Ohio.

Llttrell became the storm center of a political dispute when he interrupted a speech being made by Circuit Judge King Swope of Lexington, a Republican who was running for Governor Republican candidate, during Clinton County's Centennial celebration, an event being put on by Littrell's DAV group. Littrell claimed that Swope went against an agreement he made that politics was not to be mentioned during his speech. Littrell stepped onto the platform and removed the microphone Swope was using. Clinton Circuit Court fined him $300. The Court of Appeals granted Littrell a second trial, but it was never held. He was granted a full pardon in 1937.

A Public Speaking Interrupted

Aug. 29, 1935, (AP) Albany, Ky. -- "The jerking of a microphone from in front of Circuit Judge Swope, Republican nominee for Governor of Kentucky, threw a large homecoming crowd into an uproar here and resulted in the arrest of Mose Hurt Littrell, 43, on a charge of interrupting a public speaking."

The 100th birthday anniversary of Clinton County in 1935 was a really big deal. The Disabled American Veterans of the World War, chapter 10, under the command of Littrell, organized the event, which lasted four days, August 26th through the 29th, complete with a Homecoming and Centennial Jubilee, an epic event with a who's who list of speakers. Senators Alben W. Barkley and Marvel Mills Logan of Kentucky and Huey Long of Louisiana, Congressmen John Robsion of Kentucky and Ridley Mitchell of Tennessee tentatively accepted invitations to attend, provided Congress had adjourned by celebration time. Louisville Times editor Tom Wallace also accepted an invitation to speak on the opening day. The final day of the celebration was designated as Governor's Day and Good Roads Day. Governor Ruby Laffoon and Ed Gatliff, state road commissioner, and several other members of the commission were expected to attend.

Other speakers who accepted invitations to attend were Ben Johnson of Bardstown, Dr. Baird, state commander of the D.A.V. and state adjutant of the American Legion. N.E. Whiting, head of the Veteran's Bureau in Louisville and past commander of the D.A.V., Sargeant Alvin C. York, WWII hero of Pall Mall, Kentucky State Treasurer Elam Huddleston, a former resident of Clinton County, and Judge Roscoe Tarter of Somerset.

1935 was an election year in Kentucky and on the ballot was the Kentucky governor's seat. The DAV's arrangement committee, who organized the centennial celebration, decided to invite the three leading candidates for the office. They were Lieutenant Governor A.B. "Happy" Chandler, Thomas Rhea and Judge King Swope.

Commander Littrell, who was chairman of the arrangement committee, would later write that he had advised all of the speakers not to mention anything political during their speeches. He cited Article 12 of the national Disabled American Veterans of the Work War, which provides that the corporation shall be non-political, non-sectional and as an organization shall not promote the candidacy of any person seeking public office.

Judge Swope, a former congressman and current judge in Fayette County, spoke to a crowded  courtroom inside the courthouse on Aug. 28th. Speakers were set up outside the courthouse so hundreds of others could listen. Littrell was in town but was not present when Swope began his speech. He later said the speech was 'purely political and in furtherance of his own candidacy.' A majority of the arrangement committee was present for the speech and decided Swope's was out of order. They wrote those words in a note and handed it to J.G. Smith, chairman of the Clinton County Republican party, who in turn handed it to Judge Swope, who immediately began what Mose Littrell later described as a "vitrolic assault on the senders of the note," referring to them as cowards and asserted that he would speak on any subject he might choose.

Littrell said he was outside but within range of the P.A. system and heard Judge Swope's "attack' on the committee members. In a letter to the Louisville Courier-Journal on September 3, 1935, he said he felt that it was up to him to advise the audience that the type of speech being given by Judge Swope was against the provisions of the DAV organization and to advise them that if Judge Swope continues with that type of speech, the DAV desired to disavow all connections with it and to withdraw as its sponsor. Littrell said he went into the courtroom, walked up to the microphone and took ahold of it, but before he could make his announcement, he was seized by a number of people who were sitting nearby. He was taken downstairs to the sheriff's office while Swope continued with his speech. The Republican party chairman took out a warrant for Littrell's arrest and he was taken to the Clinton County Jail, but then released on a $300 bond.

The Tennessean newspaper told a slightly different story. "Officers said Littrell seized the microphone and ran with it...members of the crowd "dragged" him to the sheriff's office downstairs.

Littrell told the Louisville Courier-Journal that he was a Republican who had the highest respect for Judge Swope, but felt that it was his duty as a member of the DAV to abide by the Article 12 of the organization's constitution. Swope said he accepted the invitation to speak with the understanding that he could make a political speech.

Littrell was charged and indicted. An Oct. 4th trial date was continued until Nov. 15th because it was believed Littrell would receive a fairer trial "after" the election. On the 15th, Littrell pleaded guilty to a charge of  Disturbing a Public Speaker and was fined $300 to be paid within three months.

King Swope lost the election to Happy Chandler in one of the most lopsided gubernatorial races in Kentucky history at that time. In the 1939 primary, he lost the Republican nomination for governor  to John Sherman Cooper.
Mose Hurt Littrell was born on Nov. 24, 1892 to Thomas Mark and Nannie Hurt Littrell. He died on Mar. 16, 1938. He was married to Mary McMillan. They had a daughter, Mary, the wife of Gayron Cross.