Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1854-03-22

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ated, when it, is known that every now
and then patty OF men would rally. out
from this settlement painted and equip
ped like Camauches, with a view of car
rying off the horses. plunderipg or mur
dering some marked man OF aneighbor-
ing county; then returning with great
speed, they would divide their plunder,
resume their accustomed appearance and
defy pursuit or investigation. Not only
did they band together for their opera
tions in this way, buYa single man would
carry of fine horsesor commit a muir
der with the most open audacity, and If
he only succeeded in escaping here was
publicly protected. II do not mean to
have it understood that the whole poPu-
lation at this time were men>ofsuch stamp
avowedly. - "--
There was some few whose wealth to
a degree protected them in the observan-
ces Of more seemIy tife, though they
were compelled TO at least wink at the
doings of their rufianly and more hume
rous neighbors, while there was yet ano-
ther, but not large class ofnstHfdy3
straight forward emigrahtsg who attract
ed solely by the beauty of the country
had come into it and settled themselves
down wherever they had fancy, with
characteristic recklessness, neither caring
or enquiring who were their neighbors.
but trusting in their own stout arms and
hearts to keep footing Ofcourse' all
such were soon engaged in desperate
feuds with the horse thieves and plum
derers around them; and as they were not
yet strong enough to make head sutil,
cientIy-Were one after another ousted
and shot. 1t was to extermlnate this ho-
nest class that the more lawless and ofu-
tai of the others associated themselves
and assumed the name of "RegulaIors."
They numbered from eight to twelve
and under the organization OF rangers,
commanded by beastly wre.ch named
Hinch, they professed to undertake tho
task of purjfying the county lin is of all
bad and suspicious characters; or, IN
other words, OF all men who dared to re-
fuse TO be as vile as they Were-or If they
were, who chose to act Independently oil
their schemes. This precious brother
hood soon became the scourge of all that
region. Whenever an. individual was
unfortunate enough to make himself OBJ
noxous to them, whether by successful
viIIany, the proceeds Of which he refused
to share with them, or by the hateful
contrast of the proprletY Of his course
he was forthwith surrounded-threaten-
ed-had his stock driYen-AF or " want0nl7
kIlIed-and if these annoyances apd
hints were not sufficient to drive him
away, they would publicly warn him to
leave the country in certain number OF
days, under penalty of being scourged or
shot. The common pretcXt for this was
the accusation of having committed some
crime which they themselves had per-
petrated with the view of furnishing a
charge to bring against him. Their hate
was entirely ruthless. and never stopped
short of accomplishing its purposes, and
in many a bloody fray and cruel outrage,
had the question Of their supremacy
been mooted, until at last there were few
left to dispute them, and they Lyranized at
will. ...
Among the few, was Jack Long, as he
was called, WHO neither recognized nor
denied their power, and indeed, never
troubled himself about them one way or
the other. He kept himself to himself,
hunted incessantly, and nobody knew
much about him. Jack had come of a
wild turkey breed" as the Western term
is for rowing family and though still a
young man, had pushed on ahead of the
settlement of two territories. and at last
had followed the game towards the
south, and finding it abundant in Shelby
county, had stopped there just as he
would have stopped at the foot of the
Rocky Mountains, had it been necessary
to pursue it SO far. He had never been
in the habit Of asking leave of any pow
cr where he should settle, and OF course
scarcely thought Of the necessity OF dong
so now, but quietly set to Work-bullt
himself nice log cabin as far off from
everybody as he could get. And the first
thing that was known OF him, he had his
pretty Young wife and two little ones
snugiy slowed away in it. and was slay-
inc the deer and bears right and left.
The honest brotherhood made several
attempts at feeling Jacks pulse, and as,
certaining his availability; but he had
always seemed impassively gooi natured,
and put them of so pleasantly that they
could find no ground for either disturbing
or ouarrelling with him. What was
more, he was physically an ugly looking
"customer," with his six feet four inches oI
Drawn and bone, though the inclination.
lust discoverable in his figure to corpulen'
cy, together with broad, full, good hu,
mored face, gave an air Of sluggIshness to
his energies, and an expression of easy
simplicity to his temper, which offered
neither invitation to gratuitous insult, MOI
provocation to dislike. He was the very
personation of inoffensive, loyal honesty,
sslumbering on its conscious strength
and these men, without exactly knowing
why, felt some dissemination to waking
him. He had evidently never been rou-
sed to a knowledge Of himself. and 9th
ers felt as uncertain what that knowledge