What you are about to read is a true story. It is told from 
my memory and the memory of others and from the news papers . The 
events took place in June, 1954 in Sparta, Ky. 

     Sparta is a small community in Gallatin County, Ky. It lies on 
Eagle Creek at the Owen County line about seven miles south of Warsaw
on Ky 35. Sparta was a peaceful little town for the most part.  The 
population was under 200 at that time. The L & N Railroad ran through 
the town. The stock yard was beside the railroad. Every Thursday, there 
was a sale. The cattle were loaded on the train and most of them 
were shipped to Cincinnati, Ohio.  I believe that Kahn's received most
of the cattle. There were grocery stores, saloons, post office, one
restaurant, and a tent skating rink. Everyone usually went about
minding their own business and most of  the people knew each other on a
first name basis. Sparta was also known at that time to be sort of a 
rough town. It was mostly people just blowing off steam and meaning no 
harm to anyone. 

     It was Friday night, June 18, 1954. We had the farm chores done 
and had gone to town for groceries.  Mom & Dad let us roller skate at 
least once a week.  My sister and I had skated and were preparing to
go home. It was about 10:15 PM. I can remember that night like it was 
yesterday, even though I was only eleven years old. My parents had 
parked the car by the train depot. The lights had gone out in town. 
There had been what sounded like a gun shot or two in the area. Hearing
a gunshot in Sparta was not all that uncommon.  Mom and dad walked to
the skating rink to get my sister and I. The rink was only about 150 ft 
from where the car was parked.  We got to the car and were preparing 
to leave and my mother said,"Ralph, Don't hit this drunk laying on the
ground beside the car." There was a man on the ground with tan or brown 
pants, a white shirt, and a pair of gold rim glasses hanging on his 
face.  He appeared to be totally passed out. There were two men 
wrestling with him trying to get him loaded into the back seat of a 
car.  As we left town mom said,"You know, that man looked like Hub
Ferguson." It was unlikely to impossible that Sheriff Ferguson would 
be laying on the ground in Sparta drunk.  We got home which was about 
2 1/2 miles from town.  We always had a snack when we got home from 
town and skating. We were sitting at the table and my mother said, 
"You know, that really did look like Hub Ferguson laying back there.
" We finished our snack and retired for the evening.  The next morning
 word came that Sheriff Ferguson was missing.  Could what we had seen
 in Sparta the night before have really been Hub Ferguson? 


     Sheriff Hubbard Ferguson was born in 1890 in Ky.  He was the son 
of William Ferguson and Lula Sanders.  He was a native of Gallatin
County. He was divorced and had a son. So many people always thought
 of him as a bachlor living by himself. Not too many people knew that
 he had been married.  His father William Ferguson and mother Lula 
Sanders Ferguson are buried in the Warsaw Ky cemetery. 


     Word came that the sheriff's car had been found not far from his 
home on Parks Ridge road.  His hat was found in the woods like he had 
lost it while walking through the woods. (If you dropped your hat on 
the ground wouldn't you pick it up and not leave it there??) As fear
 mounted about the safety of the sheriff, an all out search had begun. 
People from all over the county joined in the search but search as 
they might the sheriff was no where to be found on Parks Ridge. 
 The search continued over the hills and into the town of Sparta.
 People were questioned. Nothing seemed to steer the search party 
in the right direction to find the sheriff. Did he meet with foul 
play or was he just off somewhere doing something? If he were off
 somewhere else, he didn't take his car so the latter seemed unlikely. 
On a Monday following that Friday night, a body was found in Eagle 
Creek just 
below Sparta. A Mr. Samuel's was working his ground along the creek 
when his horse shied away as if to have seen something and had made
 it react in that way.  After making an inspection of the Creek and 
shore line, it was discovered that there was a body floating in the
creek. The law was called and it was the body of Sheriff Ferguson.  
He had been shot in the head, an iron rail tie plate  was around his 
neck.  When he was found, his head was under water because of the
 tie plate and his watch had stopped at 10:15. 

     Nothing was ever said about my mother's suspicions about that man 
laying in the street being Mr. Ferguson.  There was no proof and mom 
was scared also, so nothing ever came of it. Both mom and dad are now 
deceased and I feel that the story should be told. The generation of 
the time of the killing and now, leaves a gap to be filled.  Those who
were adults in 1954 are for the most part passed away by now. My 
generation is about the only connection with keeping the story alive. 
The generation after me won't even know about it unless someone passes
it on down to them. 

     The following will be newspaper articles etc. about the murder. 
 One article of interest was when a car was found with bullet holes in
it and blood inside the car. Those men didn't know how one of the
 bullet holes got into the car. If there is still samples of the blood
 on file and if there is a sample 
of Sheriff Ferguson's blood on file, couldn't dna matching prove whether or 
not it was the blood of the sheriff in the car belonging to the two men? 

Assist In The Hunt For The Slayers Of
Sheriff Hubbard Ferguson
June 1954

     Investigating officers were trying to retrace the steps of the 
slain sheriff of Gallatin County., Ky, Hubbard Ferguson, in an attempt 
to pick up leads Tuesday.


  

          Robert Dickerson,upper left, is operator of the 200 acre farm
 nine miles from Warsaw,owned by the victim. He was one of the last 
persons to talk to the sheriff before he was killed last Friday night.

          Upper right shows an auto parked in approximately the same 
place where the officer's auto was found abandoned Saturday.

          "When I saw the car is rear end was about here," said Jimmy 
O'Connor, 18, lower left,who lives on a farm adjoining the Ferguson
place. The youth said he saw the car "with no one around" at 10:30 p.m. 
Friday. The road shown is Lick Creek


           Lower right shows Clarence Wheeler; brother-in-law of the 
slain man, and his  immediate predecessor in the office of sheriff, 
examines contents of te glove compartment of Mr. Ferguson's car.

Taken from the Gallatin County News and the Ky Post  June 1954.

  This page was created May 12, 1998 and is  

Under Construction 
Come back and visit often for the updates. 



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