The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-08-03
FUSSING NO MO.
How a Blamed Yankee Settled
the Great Bowman
Jordan Feud.

nave uearu Oh more IMAM one re1eT-
ence to the trouble between the Bow
mans and the Jordans, the two families
of this name living in the same neigh
borhood and being the most prominent
for many miles around. As l drew near
this ncighborhood l began to find parti-
sans, and this bitterness became more
intense. Finally, when only three miles
from Bowman's, whose farm I would
reach first, I came upon a squat close
beside the highway, with a woman
smoking a corncob pipe on the door sill.
I was passing with a nod. when she
called out:
"Arter Bowman or Jordon, Stranger
"Neither one" I answered as I came
to a stop.
"Then who might you'un be?"
"I'm only q traveller"
"Whar' de ye speak fromT'
s'The north"
"Do exclaim! From way up northl
And what might you'un be doing down
yeref'
ooh, l am travelling around a bit
among the farmers to see how they get
along
She was smoking the dried leaves of
some plant, and I presented her with a
new pipe and some regular" tobacco.
The gift highly pleased her, and she gave
me the door step and took a log and
said:
"Im glad to meet up with you. /
reckoned you might be gwine down yam
to mix in with the fussing. Heard. yes
terday that the Jordons had peppered
Dan Williams powerfully bad. Dan
sticks for tho Bowmans, ye know"
"Can you tell me the cause Of the
trouble between the two families?"
kin 1! Wasn't me n the ole man
right thar when it headed Quit Sartin,
/ kin tell We. 1t was at an auction down
by Miller's. Bowman bid on a bureau,
and Jordon bid on the Both got
mad and neither would back down, and
the crowd divided off in two parts, and
directly thar was a fuss and the sale
vas broke up and everybody got bad
blooded."
"How long ago was thatF'
"Nigh ten vars, I reckon"
Sand has any one been hurt?'
Hurt! Why, thar's bin half a dozen
killed and all of twenty hurried. My ole
man has got a hunk of lead in his shout
der on account of it, and mebbe you'un
has noticed this sea On my cheekP"
"Yes."
swell, I was a sittin' right whar'
you'un is now one AFTERNOON a year ago.
an some one fred from that bush over
yam to kill me-"
"But why?"
"'Cause he'un was for Bowmans and
we'uns is for Jordons."
"Don't you think it foolish to keep up
a quarrel which started about such a
~trile?'
"Then why don't the Bowmans give
inY'
I had been directed to stop at Bow
mans for the night, and I reached the
farm about 8 O'Clock in the afternoon.
A boy 10 years old, who was posted heal
the house as q sentinel, gave warning of
my approach, but as it was seen that !
was a stranger my reception was not
a hostile one, although Mrs. Bowman
and her two girls regarded me with dis
trust for a time. The father and oldest
son were hoeing corn a quarter of a mile
away, and when they anne up to the
house at supper time I saw that each had
a shotgun. The family, as a whole, were
far above the average in intellect and
manners, and the lrst parlor organ I had
seen In a month was in the parlor.
Nothing was said about the Jordons until
after supper, when all of US sat down on
the grass for a smoke and a talk. Then
/ began 1t myself by saying:
SIS it true that a man named Dan
Williams was shot by the Jordans yes
terdayY
"Tben you've heard of the Jordons"
queried Bowman in reply.
eyes. The trouble between your two
families is known thirty miles away"
sand who do they say isahead2' asked
the son Tom, as he drew himself up.
They don't say anything about that.
They say you are keeping people away
who would like to settle here and help
clear up the country. They say you
must be queer folks to keep up a quarrel
like this over an old bureau worth two
Or three dollars. They say this quarrel
is the reason you haven't got q church
and a school in this neighborhood. They
say you had a store down at the cross
roads, but the owner had to move away
O. risk his life. They say you can't get
q shoemaker or blacksmith to settle
around here, because he's got to take one
side or the other. They say the legisla-
ture ought to pass a law to send one of
you to the Atlantic and the other to the
Pacific ocean,
For one long minute every one of the
group stared hard at me, and not a lip
moved. Then Tom half rose and whis-
pered:
"Pap, he'un is fur the Jordonsr"
'If that was true, why didn't ! pass
on to stop with him over nights' Iasked.
"Tom, he'uns dead sot" perfectly
right, said the old man, after a mo-
ment's thought.
"You have quarreled and fought. ST.
stabbed, killed and wounded for ten
long years, and what have you gainedF'
I asked,
No one replied.
"Your quarrel has driven people away,
lowered the price of your lands and put
you to much trouble and expense. Tell
me where you are aheadg'