The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1889-10-25
TRADE WIVES
A Curious Community in the North
Carolina Mountains.
Hemmed in by Mountains They See
Few Strangers and Cannot
BE Reached by Laws
of ANY Kind.

Be Reached by Laws
of Any Kind.
The qu%eerest characters under the
sun are probably found in the noun
famous regions of North Carolina. says
a correspondent, writing from Fairfax,
n. C. Here. between the great Smoky
and Nautehela mountains, is a region of
primeval solitude. bounded on all sides
by mountains ovcr 5000 feet above the
level of the sea, are the deepest, dark
est forests, rock-ribbed and broken piles
of stone, deep glens, narrow valleys,
and, in fact, nature itself, to all appear
ance. just as it was when Adam is
alleged to have fallen from his high cs-
tate. The people who thinly settle this
wild region are as unlike the denizens
of the outer and to them unknown
world as it would be possible for one to
conjecture. Settlements are i%nfreouent
and are composed of a few log cabins, a
corner grocery, a blacksmith shop, and
perhaps a small mill, though the latter
are scarce enough, goodness knows.
The clay-eaters are here, strung along
the narrow valleys and the sides of the
mountains.
The state of morality is at a low ebb,
as is plainly apparent when it is known
that the Mormon elders have sent out
from this country nine-tcnths of their
pnnvnrfS p,nln ,rtthir t1o, +.t. H..
Ignorance is rife. scarcely one IL of a
dozen being even able to read or write
his or her name.
But there is another custom prcva-
lent among these people which the cor
respondent had occasion to sec and YER
ify, and that is the common habit or
custom of trading wives.
Now and then an isolated instance of
wifc-swapping is heard of and published
as a matter of interest and curiosity
from other parts of the world, but, here,
in the very heart of the country, what
to outsiders is heard and spoken of as a
rare instance, is a common custom.
The reader may inquire why it is that
the law does not step in and put a stop
TO this unlawful traffic. To this CUES
ton the writer will give an irrcfutable
reply. and that is that these people are
isolated so completely that it is but
seldom that an officer ever sees or hears
of them, and then, again, it would i'll all
probability be impossible for him, were
he ever so much in earnest, to prove the
charges. 1t would he Of no earthly use
to ask orc man whether his neighbor
was lawfully welded to the woman he
claimed as his wife, when that man in
all human probability had three or foul
sets of children in the house and had
never been divorced.
The writer. while riding across tho
state some months since. stopped at the
cabin of II of these settlers on a small
creek at the foot of Big Smoky noun
tain. The head of the family was q
light haired. heavily bearded man Of 81
or 60. dressed in a pair of linen trousers
and Il shirt of the same material, boil
of same manufacture. The woman o
the house was a tall, raw-boned, dark,
Visaged female of 40 or more. There
were eleven children, of all ages, all %
whom were clad in a coarse shirt anC
pantaloons except the smaller one, who
wore natures garb from crown to toe.
None of the family Wore boots or shoes
~Simpson-that was the name of The
host-in reply to the professional query
lis there anything new going?'' re
piled;
"Nuthin' ever happens hyer. stranger
'cepin' its the Mormins or a swappin
MATCH
What do you mean by a %swappin!
match?"
'"Nal, eff thet don't beat all. Say
Nance" turning to his wife, "he III
don know wot n swappin' match IS"
'Hnmph." calculated the woman
"He un don know much. Why
stranger. a swappin' match S wher,
folks swop bosses, mucls, wives an,
SIGH
''Wives! You don't mean to say tina
you people trade wives, do you?"
"rhet's jcs' wot | mean,'' replied tn,
man. IAN there's goin' to he a hi,
swop over to Bill sugg's tomorrer."
BY continued application and through
the friendly services of a big cantecn 0
excellent brandy / learned that TIL
match" was a fact, and it was not Ions
before ! had induced my host to guild
me to the place.
Having seen the ~clay-eaters | wa
partially prepared for what was to fol
low. and in the morning after a simpl
breakfast of corn bread, milk and bake,
'possum | mounted my horse and tc
gethcr with Simpson and his wife Sc
out for Suggs'.
A ride of about two hours over tn
mountains brought us to the residenc
of the Suggs'. It was like that of Simr
sons and every other %habitation ! sa,
in that locality, a log structure, but ur
like Simpsons it had two rooms instea
of II In the yard and under the tree
there were about a dozen horses an,
mules, two Don and about ten q
twenty sheep and a number of hounds
There were eight men and seven womel
all clad in coarse homespun linen. Sue
women as wore. any hcad-dress at a
wore long poke or sun bonnets. One c
two of the women were fairly good lool
ing, but the rest of them, like the mer
were coarse, rawboned, and anythin
but handsome.
We had not arrived a moment to
Don to hear the preliminaries of th
business for which the appointmentha
been made. Bill Suggs, The proprictc
of the house, was the first to breach TIL
subject, which he did in the followin
language:
"Weuns hev met here to swap an
trade. l hev been tryin' to swap win
min with Jake Long here fur some tim,
I hev got my woman here, an so he
Jake, an I'm ready to trade. VIII;
dye say, Jake?"
Jake, a big, gawky young fellow, sail
There's my gal, Bill" pointing to
rawboned, dark-eyed woman of As. Ssh
ken dig more 'seng, chop more wood, a
ken beat anything shootin' on the crcel
I'll take yer m an yer old mare
boot"
Suggs had led his wife-or woman
up to that of Long. The wome
seemed to be almost utterly Indifferent
or if they did object they spoke no wo,
or made no sign.
"That's MORN I'll give, Long; tn,
woman" pointing to his wife, sis a GOO
cook and kin hoe as much corr as er
woman in the naborhood, an she
val'ble. I'll trade even up, and I
boot"
There was considerable talk and
J dozen propositions, which finally ende
in Suggs Swapping" for Longs woma
Ind giving a red COW with one horn al
two sheep as a premium or shoot"
This settled, two others-a middl
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