The Lambertville press. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1858-1???, 1860-02-01

in other words, of all men who dared
refuse to be as vile as they were, or,
if they were, who chose to act indie
pendently of them and their schemes.
This precious brotherhood soon became
the sco1rge of all that region. When
ever an individual was unfortunate
enough to make himself obn ,xious to
them, whether by successful villany,
the proceeds of which he refused to
share with them, or by the hateful con-
trast of the propriety of bis course, he
was forthwith surrounded-had his
stock driven off or killed wantonly-
and, if these annoyances and hints were
not sufficient to drive him away, they
would publicly warn him to leave the
county in certain number of days, I'M
der the penalty Of being scourged or
shot. The common pretext for this
was the accusation Of having commit
ted some crime, which they themselves
had perpetrated with a. view of fur
nishihg charge to bring against him.
Their hate was entirely ruthless, and
never stopped short Of accomplishing
its purposes and in many bloody
fray and cruel outrage had the ques-
tion of their supremacy been mooted,
until at last there were but few left to
dispute with them, and they tyrannized
at will.
Among these few were Jack Long,
as he was called, who neither recog-
nized nor denied their power, and, in
deed, never troubled himself about
them one way or the other He kept
himself to himself, hunted ince ssantly,
and nobody knew much about him.
Jack had come of "wild turkey
breed" as the western term is for a
rowing family and, though still a
young man, had pushed on ahead of
the settlement of two territories, and
had at last followed the game towards
the south, and finding it abundant in
Shelby county had stopped here, 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 power where he should settle,
and of course scarcely thought of the
necessity of doing SO now, but quietly
set to work-buiit 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 snugly
slowed away in it, and was Staying the
deer and the bears right and left.
The honest brotherhood had made
several attempts at feeling Jacks pulse
and ascertaining his availability, but
he had always seemed so impassively
good -natured, and put them off so
pleasantly, that they could find no
ground for either disturbing or quar-
reling with him. What was more, he
was physically rather an ugly looking
customer" with his six feet four
inches of Drawn and bone though the
inclination, just discoverable in his
figure, to corpulency, together with
broad, full, good humored 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 nor pro-
vocation to dislike. He was the very
representation of inoffensive, loyal hon
esty, slumbering ON its conscious
strength, and these men, without ex-
actly knowing why, folt some little dis
inclination to waking him. He had
evidently never been reused to a know
ledge OF himself, and others felt Just as
uncertain what that knowledge might
bring forth as he did, and were not
specially jealous of the honor of hav-
ing it first tested upon their own per-
sons. So that. Jack Long might have
been left for many a day in quiet, even
in this formidable neighborhood, to
cultivate his passion for workmanship,
at the expense of the dumb, wild things
around him, but for an unfortunate
display he was accidentally induced to
make of it,
Happening to fall short of ammuni-
ton, he went one day to the store !"
fer fresh supply. This cabin, to-
gether with the blacksmith's shop, and
one or two other huts, constituted the
county town." and, as powder and
liquor were only to be obtained there,
it was the central resort of the Regu-
lators. Jack found them all collected
for great shooting match, in prepara-
ton for which they were getting drunk
as fast as possible, SO steady their
nerves. Hinch, the Regulator cap
tain, had always been the hero Of such
occasions, for, in addition to being a
frst-rate shot, it was known that it
would be a dangerous exertion of skill
for any man to beat him-for he was
furious and viEdictive bully, and
would not fail to make a persogal af-
fair Of it with any one who should
mortify his vanity by carrying off the