The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1890-03-18
SCARED DRUMMERS.
Kentucky Mountain Boys" Order
Them to Leave Town.

Louisville, March IA travel
ing salesman of this city returned
from Mnrehead yesterday and relates
an experience which six Cincinnati
drummers met with at the hands of
the mountain boys. 1t was not very
amusing to the drummers, as they
stood in great danger of being shot,
The salesman refused to divulge the
names of the drummers, because he
thought they. had suffered enough
without making their identity public.
The substance of the story is that
these six drummers stopped at the
Central Hotel at Morehead one night
iast week. This happened to be the
sime hot | near which Craig Tolliver
was shot to death. and numerous bull
let-hOles still remain in the walls of
the public room, mute evidence o. the
deadly encounter. Of course this at
trac:ed the attention ofthe drummers,
and furnished a thrilling topic of con-
versation during the evening. Every
one had his particular opinion of the
matt-r, and none were slnw -
pros iDg IL. Some thought that Craig
Toliiver had been murdered, while
others maintained that he had met q
deserved retribution. But sill came
to mutual agreement Oh the assertion
that these mountain feuds were q dis
grace to the state. and ought to be
suppressed by military force.
So interested had the drummers
become in their arguments that they
ing audience, unIii the room was filled
with rough mountaineers A turkey
shooting had been in progress during
the day, and the men were pretty well
filled up with mountain dew" They
had all brought their guns along with
which to Participate in the shooting,
and yet carried them as sthey stood
listening to the fresh young men from
Cincinnati, Dark scowls overspread
their faces, and one acquainted with
their characteristics could see danger
ahead for the drummers. But the lat
ter were totally UNCONSCIOUS of this and
took their silence as tokens Of
respectIand interest in their CONVEX
satloD, an opportunity, they thought,
seldom met with by the denizens Of
that locality. SO they were not q
little surprised and alarmed when .
big mountaineer stepped into the
midst and informed them that they
were "a-crowin' too mucL, "and that
they would have to "git" out of town
without a moments delay. The
drummers looked around into the
faces of the crowd and saw danger In
the eyes of every one of them. They
awoke to their perilous position and
realized that the best thing for them
to do was to get away as quickly as
possible.
Not another word was spoken, but
the big mountaineer stood with his
finger pointed towards the door. The
rain was falling in torrents outside
and the Dig ht was as dark as the cat
acombs of Egypt. But in the face of
their present imminent danger, the
drummers never thought of the dis
comforts they were likely to encounter
outside, and silently filed out of the
room. After houndering around In
the mud and darkness for quite q
while they found vacant cabin ON
the mountain side some distance from
the hotsl.
Here they took refuge until daylight,
but the hut afforded very little protec-
ton from the beating rain. The roof |
was nearly all gone, and the large
cracks between the logs made the in
side very little more desirable than
the outside. Huddled together
in corner of the dirty cabin, wet and
chilled to the bone, they waited for
daylight. At last it came, and ss
soon as it was sufficiently light they
returned to the hotel. They did not
wait to get anything to eat, nor to
clean the mud from their clothing,
but, securing their baggage, they
boarded the first train that would
bear them away from the scene of their
unhappy experience. That they shook
the Morehead mud from off their feet
forever goes without saying.