Between the years 1885 - 1890, there were some acts of violence in Lee County which could have led to feuds. Most of these incidents sprang from an insult, anger, or family affairs. Once in awhile, people who carried guns would use them for no other reason except as an excuse to vindicate their feelings.

A murder accured in the upper section of the county in the year 1896, near what is now Tallege, Kentucky. On a farm on Lower Bear Creek, Pleas Lucas and his wife Eleanor, lived with their eight children. Mr. Lucas and his wife came from Lee County, Virginia, where he was born in 1835. Like many other families, they migrated to Kentucky by way of the Cumberland Gap in covered wagon. They were accompanied by other relatives who settled in different sections of Lee County.

Pleas Lucas bought a large track of land from Archibald Crawford, who owned a section of Bear Creek as well as much land on the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River. Lucas was a carpenter by trade, and he soon built a large log house and a water-mill, where he ground corn for meal.

Two of his sons worked on the railroad and used a handcar, which had a lever that worked up and down, causing it to run. Sometimes on Sunday, the sons would visit their relatives and use the handcar for traveling. One Sunday, as they were taking a trip on the car, they came upon a man driving a herd of cattle along a dusty road that ran parallel to the tracks beside the river. The cattle got scared of the noise and some of them ran into the river. The man got very angry, and he pulled out his gun and fired at the handcar, killing 21 year old Robert Lucas and wounding his brother, Johnie, in the leg.

Wick Talent, the cattleman, took to the woods for safety. A posse of men went in search of Talent, but the sheriff got to him first. He was indicted, tried in Lee County, and sent to prison for life. In discussing the incident once with an old mountaineer who knew about it, he said, "He was a bad feller when he went to prison, and worse when he got out, but somehow I never was "aferd" of him."

This story was presented by the late Mrs Melissa (Lucas) Calmes, whose father was a brother to Robert and Johnie Lucas.