The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1875-07-23
Il WELSH INNING FE I'd.

DIR. Peter Williams, the recently deceased
coroner of Flintshire, Wales, was at the
the time of his death the oldest coroner in
Great Britain. lie was very deaf very old,
and brimfui of yarns connected with his
official experience. What he termed the
Buckley Mountain Feud" was one Of the
most interesting and sanguinary of the
many cases III which his professional ser
vices had been called in requisition.
What is called Buckley Mountain is an
elevated table land about three miles east
of the market town of Mold. its inhabit-
ants were formerly a savage, quarrelsome
race, divided like the Scottish HighAuders
into ''clans.' There were the Williamses,
the Joneses, the Hugheses, the Griffiths,
the Norgans and the Shepherds, and bitter
family fcuds often ragged between them.
Coal mining and coarse stone pottery man
ufacture employed most of the adult males;
and it was no infrequent occurrence to see
the military ordered from Chester to sup
press their internecine conflicts. The soil
is mostly freehold, and the coal mines are
worked OH the principle of shares-each
mine being divided into thirty.two shares,
and each share being designated "a half
an ounce"
At one time eight relatives OF the name
Of Hughes were associated with an equal
number OF the name of Griffith in working
what was termed the Great Ash mine, SO
named from the fact that the shaft had
been put down close TO an immense ash
tree. The coal lay deeper here than in most
other sections of the mountain, but it was a
thicker seam, and Of superior quality, aud
the Hugheses and the Griffiths were hence
esteemed particularly fortunate all over the
mountain. There we're good deal of Ii
valry and frequent quarreis among them +;
but it was mostly good natured rivalry car
ried on by boasting, feats of strength and
physical prowess. But when it became
widely known that Evan Hughes, a hand
some, stalwart young man Of twenty, and
Samuel GrifIiths, an equally 1.-the and
promising young Hercules, were bitter ri
walls for the heart of Miss Anne Shepherd,
everybody in Buckley knew there was strife
a-brewing.
Anne was the daughter of a stone-pot-
terry manufacturer, who, Jvithout education,
had risen from the ranks and accumulated
a handsome fortune. Wealth did not make
him arrogant. He was still ''hail fellow,
well met ~ with every hard toiling miner
on the mountain and he did not hesitate
to state, whom in his cups in the Red Lion
parlor Of night, that Sam Griffiths and
Evan Hughes were the two brightest young
men on the mountain and that he would be
law.
Sam and Evan had wrestled, and ruH,
and jumped, aud pitched the stone, with
varying success and with eager animosity.
Nothing but Annie's threat that she would
discard the first one who made a black
guard of himself kept them from open and
deadly hostilities. Both knew she was
girl of pluck and would keep her word and
hence their fierce spirits were kept in the
outward bond of peace.
Meantime, the Great Ash colliery was
turning out well the seam was promising,
and the dip was very gradual and uni
form. 1t was, therefore, resolved to sink
another shaft directly north OF and about
two thousand feet from the Great Ash shaft,
and it was estimated that, by the time this
new shaft was put down, the workings
would be driven from the great Ash to mees
it and thus secure perfect ventilation by
means of an ''ripcast' and ''downcast"
shaft. Evan Hughes and Sam Giifiiths
were employed to sink the new shaft, which
was christened the Great Oak. They took
alternate shifts of four hours, one ''boring."
while the other, assisted by an old banks
man, named Bill Conway, drew up the clay