Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1892-09-23
MOUNTAIN DEsPERADOES.
They Have Made Parts Of Kentucky q
Dark Continent

They Have Made Parts OF Aentucky .
Dark Continent
The sentence to death OF Talton
Hall tho mountain desperado Is an
other evidence that the wild country
extending along the borders OF West
Virginia Virginia kentucky and
Tennessee and farther south. is max
ing an effort to free itself from the
various desperadoes and bands OF
desperadoes who have long given to
those sections character not In &C
cordauco with American civilization.
For several generations it has been
impossible to secure the conviction OF
n murderer there. III the courts
themselves wero not influenced by
partisanship tho witnesses are afraid
to testify. and no man suffered for
taking anothers life unless the friends
of that other took his own in pay ment
This was the case in the most isolated
neighborhoodS which were almost as
| completely shut out from the world as
| IL they had been located in the South
Seas.
But since tho miners and the rail-
road builders and others have entered
these regions the population is be-
coming gradually reclaimed. Many
of the worst desperadoes have been
punished. Some have been hanged.
others arc in the penitentiary for life
and since the law now gives some
protection witnesses are not afraid te
offer their evidence. Thus more con-
victions are sure to follow and in
time the once half wild population Of
the Alleghanies W II become as orderly
as the inhabitants Of any other part
of the Union.
There have been many false i'm
pressions concerning these mountain
feuds and battles. 1t has often boon
said that they will offer good material
for the future novelist when time
shall have thrown a little romance
over them. Perhaps theJ will but
there is no romance about them at
present. though the latter argument
is not valid against the novel writer
for we have always believed that
SCOTS picturesque highland outlaws
were in reality the commonest sort OF
cattle thieves and assassins who
wore dirty clothes and sneaked around
the mountains because they were toe
lazy to work.
In the same manner the writer will
have to give his Imagination very
vigorous exercise when he deals with
the desperadoes Of the Alleghenies.
They are an idle worthless set who
prey upon and b.illy tho industrious
, and orderly portion OF the community
while nearly all their feuds are gen
Grated and kept alive by deep pota
tions at the Illicit distilleries.
There is nothing picturesque or in
spring in the appearance OF these
desperadoes. If the curious expec
to sec tall, agile mountainous will
erect heads and bold eyes and th'
manners of Rob Roy they can pre-
pare themselves for disappointment
Usually they are small sallow ano
? shrunken. shutting OF gait INSTEAD.
of eye and never erect OF form, and
the truth must be told about then
they are cowardly Tho most noto
rious murderers never fight face T.
face with their victims and on e]ua
terms as the bold outlaws in tn
!. story books do but they seek ever.
- advantage. The proper name for
: is not fighting, but assassination
y Usually man is ambushed and she
u when he is least expecting danger
- and II there is any open fight at all
is because one party Is able to attac
I another in overwhelming numbers.
Frequently in these mountain feud
women and children are killed @
= mercilessly as If they were men, an
it has been favorite method for on
l. faction to surround a cabin ut nigh
set it on fire and shoot the inmates q
7; they ran out Such things as thes
show OF what stuff the braves of til
S Alleghanies are made.
.. 1t thould also be known that tt
TO desperadoes form but small fractio
t. of the mountain population The
have hitherto carried things with sue
IS high hand that they have given the
ar bad tone. in the eye OF the public on
side to the character OF all. I'll
W great bulk OF the mountaineers OF II
re Alleghenies. whether in this state
another are lawabiding citi ems al
d; when relieved OF the incubus OF Il
1e desperadoes which they will be W
or give to their country reputation (,
id peace and good behavior.