The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1867-01-30
A Feud Of Twenty Years Ended.

A Feud Of Twenty Years Ended,
FOURTEEN MEN KILLED DURING THE TIME
From the Louisville journal, Jan. 14.1
A correspondent at Efzabethtown, Car
ter county, Tennessee, gives Us the partic
ulars Of terrible feud that has been rag
ing for twenty years betweenstwo,families
of that county, and'which was'hrought L
an end by the bloody deaths Of the sole
surviving males of the warning tribes, In
the streets of Elizabethtown, on the even
ing of the 5th instant. The history of the
affair, as detailed by our correspondent, is
as follows:
In the Fall Of 1916, afamily named John.
stone removed from the neighboring county
of Wautauga, North Carolina, into Carter
county, East Tennessee, and settled down
in the neighborhood of another family
named Rogers. tombstone, who appeared
to be an energetic, industrious man, imn,e.
diately went to work at clearing up lit
tie farm. He felled trees, grubbed up un-
dergrOwth, burned stumps and split rails
to fence in the ground he reclaimed from
the wilderness. In his labor he was assist
ed by two sons--both mere lads. While
the three were engaged in erecting fencing
about their patch Of land, Rogers rode up
to where they were at work, .one day, and
laid claim to pile of rails, about a.dozen
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 severe chastise-
ment with his fists. Rogers went off VOW
ing vengeance, and in the course of an
hour returned to the spot armed with, a ri
tle, the contents of which he discharged
into the body of tombstone, producing fatal
consequences. Rogers, who was man Of
considerable wealth for those primitive
times, and was possessed of considerable
influence among his rough, unlettered
neighbors, was acquitted Of the charge of
murder by an 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 man
hood.
The two tombstone lads vowed vengeance
upon the murderer of their parent, and one
Of them, James, worked night and day.
with but one object in view--to accumu-
late the means to purchase a rife. At
length he became the owner Of one, and
one Sabbath morning, with his gun upon
his shoulder, he approached the house Of
Mr.. Rogers. The latter was sitting upon
his porch, and, as he saw young tombstone
approaching, probably 6ivining bis inten-
ton, arose hastily and started toward the
rack where his own gun was suspended
But the ayenger of blood was upon his
path, and ere he could reach his weapon he
tell upon the floor acorpse, his heart pierced
by the bullet Of his foe Rogers left be.
hind him young wife and three children
One of whom was q boy. Among the
rough backwoodsmen of Carter county,
young Johnstone's crime was looked upon
with satisfaction, if not favor-the Indian
law Of retaliation being looked upon by
them as the very cream Of Justice. After.
ward tombstone married, and as the years
passed by he became surrounded by an In.
teresting and numerous progeny.
The boy, William Rogers, in the mean.
time, had almostreaehed manhood's estate,
when one morning, without divulging 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 o grief-stricken
mother and children were weeping over
the corpse of slain husband and father.
Young Rogers, in his turn had become an
avengeD and Thomas tombstone fell be-
meath his hand.
In time the memory of these three muir.
ders died away, and those who were chill
dren then grew up to be women and men.
William Rogers had taken to himself al
wife, and became the head of q growing
family. One morning he rode into Eliza
BEETHOVEN, and as he did not return that
night--a circumstance that had never oc-
CURED before-his wife became very I'M
easy, and in the morning induced her
brother to start to town in search of her
missing husband. About three miless from
the house he came upon the body Of his
brother-in-law, lying in the road, stiff and
cold in death. His brain had been pierced |
by a rifle ball Although his murderer
was never discovered, yet the community
quietly accepted the belief that Henry
tombstone, son of Thomas, who was slain
oy hogers, was the perpetrator Of thedeed.
Some years afterwards, in . drunken mo-
ment, in Elizabethtown, this young man
acknowledged that he had slain Rogers,
and gave as his reason that the latter had
killed his father. tombstone was young
man, and only few months before the
murder had been married to q young girl
in the neighborhood.
Again the chart of time was unrolled, |
and at least ten years had been added to
The past. when q young lad, o son of the
Rogers, engaged in an alterca-
ION In the yard of the courthouse at Eliza
BEETHOVEN with tombstone, who was then |
man, and inflicted such
wounds upon him with knife thathe died
On the following morning.
Thus it went on for wears, now john
stone falling by the hand Of Rogers, and
then Rogers falling beneath the avenging
hand of Johnstone, until the war inter.
vened, and for time, at least, the terrible
IOUV dppcikI0u ~ uHV0 0tlucO. Inc CcSSa. |
lion of hostilities brought the survivors of
The warning families back to Carter county.
Fhe survivors consisted Of Randall Rogers
md Robert tombstone, both battle-scarred
veterans, and both unmarried men. On
The evening Of tie 9Th inst. these two men
net in a grocery at Eizabethtown, and
.oon became engaged in an altercation.-
Bystanders interfered, and for an hour or
TWO a collision was averted. They were
separated by friends and taken off in oppo-
ute directions. This occurred about noon.
About three o'clock, as Rogers was going
Up street, he saw tombstone coming down.
As they neared each other, they drew their
'eyolvers and commenced simultaneously
iring upon each other, continuing to ad-
7ance as they fired. Finally, and when
.bout four feet distant from tombstone,
Rogers sank to the pavement, and, as he
ay, the last act Of his life was to fire the
asst charge Of his pistol into the abdomen
# tombstone, whose last bullet, fred OF
The same instant, penetrated his antaggo-
lists brain, causing instant death, John.
fnr lnA nd eli ~ : n