The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-10-11

THE LAWLESS COLONY THAT
LIVES AT SPRING HILL.
A Peculiar People who Terrorize the
Neighboring Farmers Dangerous
TAlyaS

Neighboring Farmers Dangerous
Practical Jokes
From the New York Times
LANCASTER, Oct. Elm that part of
Little Britain township, this county, where
Farmer John Montgo emery was recently
shot by Sam Cruikshank, the brother of his
stepsons wife, is collection of people who
are virtually race by themselves, and
whose peculiar social customs have been
brought into prominence by the atten-
ton which the crime mentioned has directed
toward that portion of the county. Little
Britain is the extreme southwestern division
of the county. bordering on the state OF
Maryland. Although it is heavily wooded
| aud in many places absolu ely wild and
| possesses none of the great limestone fiat
lands of Central Lancaster, which have
made the county the richest agricultural
district in the Union, Little Britain con
tains some of the richest farmers ard finest
farms in the county, which makes the con-
tiguity of the community referred to all o
more extraordinary.
| Spring Hill is high and th1ckly-woOded
ridge in the northern part of the township.
Many splendid farms lie in its vicinity and
years ago a village called Oak Shades grew
up at the forks of the two roads that cross
the ridge and give communication with
other villages. A postofiice was established
at Oak Shades and the village was ne of
| the thriftiest of its class i'll the county.
There is no postoftice there now and all its
former business Importance is gone. Oak
| Shades was absolutely forcel out of eX-
| istence, except in name, by the colony of
| semi-lawless dwellers that rule supreme on
Spring Hill.
"Where the race of Spring Killers, as
they are called, came from, or exactly how
II or fa1 mo ~ n haU cot c
factory theory said a resident Of Little
Britain Township to a correspondent. at
| is made up principally of two or three
branches of family that goes by the name
of Shade and family who call themselves
the Husses. The men are stalwart, the
women not unprepossessing Mang Shade,
| or Oh Mang, as ne is called. has a black
smiths shop near the forks of the road, and
he is about the only one of the colony who
| does not object to earning dollar now and
| then by actual work. Old Mang's boy Jim
and the Widow Shades boy Charle-they
are called the boys. but they are big, strap
| ping six-footers-are prominent figures
among the Spring Killers Lint Drake is
another A distinguished member of the
colony is Nam Huss. This woman has
twelve stalwart sons, and it is her boast that
no two of them have the same father.
Little Britain is notable as hunting
district. Pheasant, partridge, rabbits, and
| other small game are more than abundant.
The Spring Killers are most accomplished
hunters. Their hunting grounds extend
from the Welsh mountains-ths home of
that famous outlaw, Abe Buzzard, and his
| gang-dOwn to the Maryland Barrens,
| over an area of thirty-two miles. They are
| extraordinary marksmen, the women being
as expert with TIE pistol, shotgun, or rife,
| and as ready to u Q them on the slightest
| pretext as the men are. Charlie Shade is a
| NJ ha 1-iu nd
fully dexterous in its loading and handling
| Any one who has ever hunted the grey
| squirrel knows how spry AMI cunning the
| little animal Is, how quickly il can put the
| trunk or branch OF tree between itself and
| the hunter, and how instinctively it keeps
| itself thus shielded, no matter how stealthily
| the hunter seeks on all sides of the tree. Tt
is told of Charlie Shade, on good authority,
| that he was out one day hunting squirrels
| with a single-barreed breech-loading rifle
He freed four gray squirrels in one tree at
one time. He Shot one, reloaded, shot
second one, md so Oh until he had killed
the four squirrels before one of them could
| get out of his way.
The Spring Killers live in n collection of
mean and cramped huts, scattered along
the mountain road. Old Mang, however,
| has the distinction of occupying story
| frame house, with coat of whitewash on
it. They kill ana trap game for the Phila-
delphia markets They have a singular
code of ethics among them In the matter of
| hunting. For instance, man among them
who comes in with bag of less than thirty
rabbits as the result of days hunt is in
| temporary disgrace, and he must re-
deem himself forthwith by a suffi-
cient bag next day. Another imper-
alive rule among these people is that
where two are hunting together and the
dogs start rabbit, the one nearest the rab-
1 he Hrzt a ho
of his gun. If he happens to miss he can't
fire again. His companion has the next
shot Any one detected in shooting at a
rabbit while it is sitting may be filled with
shot himself by the one discovering the act.
Yet in spite of these apparent attributes Of
the true sportsmen, these men will snare
pheasant, quail, or rabbits by the sackload
and they laugh at game laws. One mem
Der of the Shade family is the greatest fox
hunter in the county. He does not hunt
with n dog and it is declared and believed
that he follows fox trail by scent like a
hound. However that may be, he runs
foxes to earth by the score every season.
1.-The Spring Killers do no depend en-
tirely on their skill as hunters for supplying
their own physical wants. The POULTRY
yards pig sites, milk houses and sheep-folds
of the outlying farmers are regularly levied
on for supplies, and many a neat aud sue
cessful burglary in that part of the county
| mas Deeu UFdCeu SuSDlClOuSlI CLOSE 10 the
denizens of Spring Hill. You may ask any
farmer down there why he does not make
an effort to root out these terrors to the
community by aid of the law, and he will
tell you that he has valuable barns and out
buildings, containing crops, imple-
ments and live stock, and that
be has no desire to collect whatever
Of insurance he may have on them. A
bold and determined man named Olmsted
kept the store at Oak Shade in the palmy
days OF the village. He made up his mind
to break up the Spring Hill colony The
result was that his store was rob ed with
ruinous regularity aud set on fire several
times, and the indication that his personal
safety was in jeopardy was made so plain
that he gave up the contest, abandoned his
property, and left the village to the Spring
Killers His departure was celebrated by a
party of Spring Killers taking a keg of
powder they had stolen from Olmsted's store
and throwing 1t in old Mangs forge. 1t
blew the roof off of the bla ksmth's shop
demolished the forge, and badly Injured
number of the celebrators, but that did not
detract from the fun.
1.-The Spring Hitler has many queer ideas
as TO what joke is. A favorite one is to
knock a companion senseless with a club.
This is perpetrated among them every day,
and it is meant only for joke. You can't
| 90 among them without seeing two or thrae