The letter of Judge Lilly is significant as an admission of the cowardice of the entire population. He says "Mr. B. F. French is here with _fifteen_, or perhaps, more men, well-armed, and the people are so much alarmed fearing that they will be left to the mercy of those men" and so on. Had Judge Lilly been correctly informed? If so, what had become of the boasted bravery of Kentucky mountaineers that the manhood of an entire county, containing many thousand inhabitants, should shiver and tremble like frightened sheep and tamely submit to the intimidations of a band of _FIFTEEN_, or perhaps more, men. Was it possible that in this land of the free and the brave the proportion of brave men stood fifteen to one thousand cowards? Oh no! The authorities had simply never put the law-abiding, the true citizen element, in a position to show its mettle; it had never been given a proper test. The attempt to restore order had not been made at all; if it had, it would have succeeded. No outlaw band, however strong, can, or will, long defy the law when a firm and _determined_ move is made to enforce it. Why is it that one courageous blue-coat policeman can scatter a crowd? It is not his bulk, his figure, but the uniform he wears, the badge of authority--the law. If he is a credit to that uniform he may, single-handed, disperse a mob. The consciousness of having the law behind him makes him dauntless; the thought of duty steels his nerves. If those entrusted with the execution of the law in Perry County had made _one_ firm, unflinching effort to uphold its dignity, the period of assassinations would have ended then and there. The history of lawlessness in Perry County furnishes ample lessons to other counties, and to other states, for that matter. Governor Buckner aptly expressed his opinion of the situation when he terms the "fears and alarms" of the people as "anything more than a vague apprehension in the public mind." Judge Lilly probably accepted the trembling cowardice of a few as the criterion by which to measure the manhood of an entire county. However, on the 29th of October, the Governor notified the Adjutant-General to forward troops to Hazard. His report to the Governor later on furnishes interesting reading, as does the report of the commander of the expedition, Captain J. M. Sohan.[6] ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE. Frankfort, Ky., Nov. 14, 1888. To his Excellency, Governor S. B. Buckner.