The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1867-02-01

u 81 N.C1 EU GAlIlC0 IuC
IIme-The Last Scene, a Double
Murder.
From tho Louisville KY Journal, Jan a.
A correspondent at Elizabethtown, Char
ter county, Tennessee, gives Us the partic-
ulars of fearful feud that has been raging
for twenty Years between two families OF
that county, and which was brought TO an
end By the bloody deaths of the sole suryiv-
ing males of the warning tribes, in the
streets of EliZabethtown, on the evening OF
the 9th inst. The history of the fair, as
detailed by our correspondent, is as follows:
IL the fall Of 1916, family named john
stone removed from the neighboring county
of Wautauga, North Carolina, in Carter
county, East Tennessee, and settled down
in the. neighborhood Of another family
named Rogers tombstone, who appeared
to be an energetic, industrious man, imme-
diateiy went 10 work at clearing up little
farm. lie feIled trees, grubbed up under
growth, burned stumps, and split rails to
fence in the ground be reclaimed from the
wilderness. La this labor he was assisted
by two sons-poth mere lads While the
three were engaged In erecting fencing
around their patch Of land, Rogers rode Up
to where they were at work ole day, and
laid claim to pile of rails, about a uozen
in number This claim Johnstone dispu
ted, and finally, on Rogers applying to him
the epithets Of liar and thief the
North Carolinian pulled him from his
horse, and administered to him a severe
chastlsement with bis fists. Rogers went
off vowing vengeance, and in the course Of
an hour returned to the spot armed with a
rifle, the contents OF which he discharged
into the body of tombstone, producing fatal
consequences. Rogers, who was a man of
some wealth for those primitive times, and
was possessed of considerable influence
among his rough, unlettered neighbors, was
acquitted Of the charge of murder by all
examining justice. This was the beginning
OF the terrible vendetta that has run
through the years that followed, cutting
down the males of the two families in the
pride OF their strength and manhood.
The two tombstone lads vowed vengeance
upon the murderer of their parent, and one
OF them, james, worked night aud day,
with but one object in yiew-to accumulate
the means to purchase rifle. At length
he became the owner of one, and one Sab
bath morning, with his gun upon his Shout
der, he approached the house OF Rogers.
The latter was sitting upon his porch, and,
as he saw young Johnston approaching,
probably divining bis intention, arose has
THY and started towards the rack where his
own gun was suspended. But the avcugcr
ct blood was upon his path, and ere he
could reach his weapon re fell upon the
floor a corpse, his heart pierced by the
bullet Of his foe. Rogers left behind him a
young wife and three children-one OF
whom Was a boy. Among the rough back
woodSmen Of Garter county, young John
stone crime was looked upon with satis-
faction, If not favor the Indian law OF re
taIlatlon being looked upon by them as the
very cream OF justice. Atterward John
stone married, and as the years passed by,
he became surrounded by an interesting
and numerous progeny.
The boy William Rogers, in the mean
time had almost reached manhood ) estate,
when one morning, without diyu!ging his
intention to his mother or sisters, he left
the house with his fathers rifle upon his
shoulder, as if he were going out to hunt,
and in less than an hour a grief stricken
mother and children were weeping over
the corpse Of a slain husband and father.
Young Rogers, in his turn, had become an
avenger, and Thomas Johnstonc fell be
meath his hand.
III liult Tue ulCtIOliCS VI thGSC iii ct iIui 70
ders died away, and those who were chill
dren then grew up to be men and women.
William Rogers had takento himself a wife,
ana became the head OF growing family.
One morning be rode into Efzabethtown,
and as he did not return that night-a clr-
cumstance that had never occurred before
his wife became very uneasy, and IN the
morning induced her brother to start to
-, eao~.L IF ,tSEnnl
About three mil2s from the house he came
IN the road, stiff and cold in death. His
brain had been pierced by a rife bali. Al
though his murderer was never discovered,
yet the community quietly accepted the be-
lief that Henry J0hnstCno, a son Of Thomas,
who was slain by Rogers, was the perpe-
traitor Of the deed. Some years afterwards,
in a drunken moment, in ElMabethtown,
this young man acknowledged he had slain
latter had killed his father Johnst0ne
was young man. and only few months
before the murder had been married to a
young girl in the neighborhool.
Again the chart Of time was unrOIled,
and at least ten years had been added TO
the past, when young lad, son OF the
HiuiuGIGI 1lOScIS, GilSdSGG III tsii ditCltd iOI
in the yard at the Court House at Hiza-
bethtown, with Johustone, who was then a
middie-aged man, aud inflicted such wounds
unon him with knife that he died Gu the
following morning
Thus it went on for years, now John
stone falling by the hands of a Rogers, and
then Rogers falling beneath the avenging
hand OF a Johnstone, until the war inter
yened, and for time, at least, the terrible
feud appeared to have ended. The cessa-
ton OF hostilities brought the survivors Of
the warning families back to Carter county.
These survivors consisted Of Randall Rogers
and Robert Johnstone, beth battle SCARED
veterans, and both unmarried men. On
the evening Of the 9Th instant these two
men met in a grocery in Elizabethtown, and
soon became engaged in an alteration.
Bystanders interfercd and for an hour or
two a collision was adverted. They were
separated by friends, and taken off in differ
ent directions This occurred about noon
About three o'clock, as Rogers was going
up street, he saw Johnstone coming down.
As they neared each other they drew their
reyolvers and commenced simultaneously
firing upon each other, continuing to ad-
vance as they fired Finally, when about
four feet distant from tombstone, Rogers