The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1867-02-01
From the Louisville (Ky.) Journal.
A Tennessee Vendetta.

Carter county, Tennessee, gives us
1.-The particulars of a terrible feud that
has been raging for twenty years be-
tween two families of that county,
and which was brought to an end by
bloody deaths Of the sole surviving
males of the warning tribes, in the
streets of Elizabethtown, on the eve
ming of the 5th instant. The history
of the affair, as detailed by the cor
respondent, is as follows:
''In the fall of 1916 a family nam
ed Johnstone removed from the neigh
boring county of Wautauga, North
Carolina, into Carter county, East
Tennessee, and settled down in the
neighborhood of another family nam
ed Rogers. Johnstonc, who appeared
to be an energetic, industrious man,
Immediately went to work at clearing
up little farm. In this labor he
was assisted by two sons-both mere
lads. While the three were engaged
in erecting fencing about their patch
of land, Rogers rode up to-wherc they
were at work, one day, and laid claim
to a pile of rails, about a dozen in
number. This claim Johnstone dis
puted, and finally on Rogers apply
ing to him the epithets Of" liar" and
"t6ief," the North Carolinian pulled
him from his horse, and administered
to him severe chastisement with his
fists. Rodgers went of vowing ven
geance, and in the course of al hour
returned to the spot armM with a
rife, the contents Of which, he dis
charged into the body of Johnstone,
producing fatal consequences. Ros-
ers who was man of some wealth tor
those primitive times, and was pos
sessed ofconsidcrable 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 prime Of their
strength and manhood.
The two johnson lads vowed ven
geance upon the murdercr Of their
parent, and one Of them, James,
worked night and day with but one
object in view-.o accumulate the
means to purchase rifle. At length
he became the owner of one, and one
Sabbath morning, with his gun upon
his shoulder, he approached the house
of Rogers. The latter was sitting
upon his porch, and, as he saw young
Johnstone approaching, probably di-
vining his intention, arose hastily and
started toward ru5kf w1ef0 MS
own gun was suspended. But the
avenger of blood was upon his path,
and ere he could reach his weapon,
he fell upon the -four corpse, his
heart pierced by the bullet Of his foe.
Rogers left behind him a young wife
and three children, one of them was
boy. Among the rough backwoods-
men of Carter county young John
stones crime was looked upon with
satisfaction, if not with favor-the
Indian law of retaliation being looked
upon by them as the very cream OF
Justice. Afterwards Johnstone mar
ried, and as the years passed by he
became surrounded by an interesting
and numerous progeny.
The boy William Rogers, in the
meantime, had almost reached man
hoods 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 to hunt,
and in less less than an hour a grief
stricken mother and children were
weeping over the corps ola slain hus-
band and father. Young Rogers, in
his-turn, had'become an avenger, and
Thomas Johnstone fell beneath his
hand.
In time the memories ofthese three
murders died away, and those who
were children then grew up to be mon
and women. William Rogers had
taken to himself a wife, and become
the head Of a growing family. One
morning he rode into Elizabethtown,
and as he did not return that nj ght
a circumstance that had never oc-
Cured before-his wife became un-
easy, and in the morning induced her
brother to start to town in search Of
her missing husband.
About three miles 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 beer
pierced by rifle ball. Although
his murderer was never discovered