Sanders never killed anyone either. He was involved in a shootout where the other guy shot and killed the gas station manager, Sanders' involvement was shooting said guy who lived and later went to jail as a result of killing the manager.
ahh my bad, all these years I was wrong- I see now that The Colonel rode up with two of his armed employees and got one of them killed and his competitor (Stewart) jailed who died by gunshot about 2 years later. Some say the cop that shot him was payed off with white buckets full of cash. Soon after the Colonel's gas station started selling white buckets full of addictive fried chicken infused with herb and spice and the Colonel married Stewart's daughter-in-law. Later, Stewarts daughter became the Colonel's right hand, and managed a big operation for him. She is quoted as calling the Colonel "a straight shooter". One big happy
family style story. Someone should make a movie
It's Kentucky in the early 1930s, driving up unarmed would be noteworthy in itself. It's tempting to make the story more interesting but is "local gas station owners get into a gunfight and one goes on to make KFC" not interesting enough without feeling the need to turn it into a blockbuster plot about a fast food gangster?
I hadn't heard Claudia was Stewart's daughter-in-law before though. I mean I'd believe it, if you've never been there Corbin isn't a particularly large town, but I also can't find any actual reference to it either.
the other details are also relatively true. The Colonels employees were armed and yelled at Stewart. Stewart was killed by a cop and rumors say he was paid to inflict retribution. Sanders married Claudia, who was Stewarts-daughter's-husband's-sister (Ona May Stewart married one of Claudia's brothers) and Sanders later co-owned a business with Stewarts daughter
, Ona May. Straight shooter quote is true. KFC was born in the gas station near where it all shot off. Many do not know- To become a Kentucky Colonel, the Governor of Kentucky needs to sign off on it. They have a handshake and a song.
Relatively true in that most of these things are somewhere between a slightly off base and completely false. E.g. Ona May said "I always knew I could count on him" but "a straight shooter" was written in 2022 as an article ending pun for https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/kfc-colonel-sanders-shoot-..., not part of the Ona May's quote. The book referenced is actually a decent read.
Another interesting note on Kentucky Colonels is the title largely turned into a joke due to being over assigned for political preference, e.g. Sanders ended up getting his during such a wave in the 30s. There have been about 350,000 assignments and the governor no longer even bothers trying to hand sign them anymore. One guy I know got the title for filing a patent that hasn't even been commercially used.
