Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the many facets of Fool Killer lore. FOR PART ONE, INCLUDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT, CLICK HERE
PART FOUR: The fourth surviving Fool Killer Letter. (See Part One for an explanation.)
This letter is the first surviving letter after the fictional Fool Killer had emerged from his self-imposed hibernation in a cave since 1861, driven there by his disgust at the fools who had brought on the Civil War. Jesse Holmes (the name the Fool Killer claimed was his real identity) had emerged like a butterfly from a cocoon and was dressed in up to date men’s fashions. Wielding his usual club/walking stick/ cudgel and the set of Bowie knives that he adopted shortly before hibernating, the Fool Killer resumed his deadly attacks on corrupt politicians and societal nuisances.
These letters were really written as dark-humored commentary by Charles Napoleon Bonaparte Evans, Editor of the Milton Chronicle newspaper.
May 29th, 1870 – From “Hillsboro Township, NC.” –
This Fool Killer Letter saw its first revived publication in November of 1978, making it the last of the surviving letters to come to light but the fourth chronologically.
The homicidal vigilante turned his attention to the corrupt Democrat political practices in Reconstruction-Era North Carolina. As always the Fool Killer preyed upon the favorite targets of the Milton Chronicle and its courageous Editor Charles Evans – the Ku Klux Klan AND the northern Carpetbaggers.
It’s very easy for us Independent voters of today to relate to the position taken by Evans and his fictional Fool Killer. We often feel caught between two irrational and destructive breeds of fanatics just as Evans and “Jesse Holmes” were caught between the Democrats of the Ku Klux Klan and the Republicans running the Carpetbagger forces. Continue reading
PART THREE: The third surviving Fool Killer Letter. (See Part One for an explanation) 
JUNE 28th, 1861 – From “Down about Norfolk, VA.” (The Fool Killer wandered North Carolina and Virginia – which back then still included what is now West Virginia – and the dark-humored Fool Killer Letters were syndicated in several newspapers in addition to his North Carolina “birth place” the Milton Chronicle.) 
In this letter the Fool Killer adds a collection of Bowie knives to his arsenal alongside his ever-present club/ walking stick/ cudgel. Future incarnations of the Fool Killer in folk tales, short stories, novels and plays will assign him various axes, guns and even a scythe. Comic book depictions will add weapons like a sword and a high-tech “Purification Gun” which shoots white energy blasts of undetermined nature. 
(My fellow geeks for 19th Century American history will recall that these routes – sometimes referred to as Star Routes because they were indicated by three stars on the route indexes – were often at the center of bidding scandals.) 
In this case the distraction came in the form of “a venerable and mighty clever man” who asked Holmes to find out who had stolen his prize turkey. Armed as always with his club/ walking stick/ cudgel the Fool Killer began his investigation. 
However, since Evans was all about the written word, he used the Fool Killer as a much more active figure. Evans’ Fool Killer – claiming Jesse Holmes as his real name – roamed North Carolina and Virginia (which at the time still consisted of what would become West Virginia) looking for fools to kill with a club/ walking stick he always carried with him. The character would then send letters to Editor Evans explaining why he had chosen victims, defending his actions with puckish commentary. 
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