Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-10-26

The MOuutaineer.

The Mouutaineer.
The siege of Harlan Court House in
Kentucky by one of the bands Of Its cit-
isens and Its defense by another, puts
phase Of regularity upon the warfare OF
the Kentucky mountains which Is new
feature in II. Hitherto the killing has
been done by the wayside, the foes firing
~ they happened to meet. The approach
OF persons Of hostile clans there is sup
posed to have q customary accompani-
ment of shooting. The people Of the low
lands do not understand this mountain
fever for firing and quite fail to com
prehend why the states In which these
mountains stand permit their inhabi-
tants to be governed by code that Is
wholly different from the criminal law
that is supposed to cover the whole state.
The fact seems to he that the state
recognizes these mountainecrs as dis
tinct order of men, and Is disposed to let
them govern themselves as they will.
There are not many Of them and they
make noise in the world quite out OF
pr0p0rtfon to their numbers by the
uniqueness of their manners. They
have little regard for life--either their
own or their enemies. Their code Is
that Of the aborigines, and their life re-
sembles that of the Indian in its sim
plicity. Their life must be the natural
one of sparse population in the noun
tains, cut off by the inaccessibility of
their homes from everything that is not
essential to life and subsisting upon the
simple products Of a scanty soil. Their
houses are built of logs; and 1t Is a pre-
tentious one that Is glazed and that has
more than the single room that does
service as cooking, sitting and sleeping
room with bed In each corner but II
IL home whose latch string Is always
out and to which the stranger and trav-
elcr IL always welcomed, without charge.
Nor is their intelligence small or their
education meagre. Often in these sim
pie dwellings, Mt least on the Virginia
side Of these mountains, are found
daughters who are graduates of the SEM
inaries Of the Virginia valley ! and the
men are more than ordinarily intelligent
and well informed. They love their
simple life ana their mountain homes,
where they are free as the eagle, and
Which afford them all that their wants
demand for their comfort and subsist-
ence, Every one, of any observation,
knows how few Of the many trappings Of
civilized life are really necessary and how
easily even those who are accustomed u
them can do without them, when they
do not have them. Those who hav,
camped out In the woods know how
q simple fare satisfies in that situation
but the same folks, offered the same far,
ut their homes, would kick against 4
nightly. 1t Is not hard to comprehend
how the keenest enjoyment of life may
be had by the dwellers in the noun
tains, though they are deprived of wha
we are wont to deem the essential com
forts of civilization how they can liv,
in their one roomed houses, upon theil
corn bread and yams and bacoI
and greens, and know perfect con
tentment, even without newspapers
and how living so much within them
selves and accustomed to perfect indie
pendence they have grown to suprem,
self-reliance and an ever present readi
ness to act upon their judgment Of tn,
demand Of their surrounding conditions
They have naturally reached an ex
treme readiness to fight when they thinl
that the occasion demands 1t. The,
are an honorable people, but withou
that supposed-to-be-chival idea tina
they must give their enemy the sam'
chance in the fight that they take TO
themselves. They have not got beyont
:, the idea of the sensitfg turburtNm tina
when he wants to kill his foe he i
not called upon to be particular to giv'
him notice, that he, too, may have hi
gun ready. The mountaineer shoot
from ambush without reproach of con
science /; and does not complain whel
he h In like manner assailed. Tn
Kentucky mountaineer, being still
further away from civilization thai
the Virginian, by the journey o
o day or two, is still more intens,
In bis peculiar notions. and still less in
formed of the worlds way of doing.
never has been safe to mingle with thes,
peculiar people without knowing thei
ways and respecting their habits. The.
are the easiest people in the world t,
get along with when they are no
$ rubbed the wrong way; but thei
whisky stills are not often disturbed il
their valleys, in token Of the apprecia
tion by the United States marshals o
the fact that disturbance is dangerous.
There are no towns in these mountain,
and hardly any villages. The cour
houses, even, often stand with hardly
enough houses about them to make {
village. Harlan Court House is littlt
hamlet in mountain valley, where tn,
state Of Kentucky has already had |,
company of soldiers on guard at a COS
TO II Of more than the whole village Il
worth. They will perhaps be sen
back, aud will need to go into perma
nent camp If the state expects to teact
the people there 10 have the lowlander',
: idea of q proper submission TO the laws
league Island.