The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-10-23

cluster OF houses, which bear the numbers
GAG, GAS, 652. And then you have reached
the scene of the Schwermanu- Kohl feud and
can see the evidence of It's dire events.
House No. 646 is yellow; house No. GAS Is
pea green. In the darkness these colors. OF
course, cannot be distinguished. but the mo
ment the sun rises the two houses seem
TO awake and grin. These houses, although
they are not twelve inches apart, are sepa-
rated by board fence that rises from the
ground to the roof. Our Illustration shows
how it looks.
In house GAG lives John Kohl. painter.
In house 652 lives Anton SchweTmanD,
dealer IN kerosene and astral oils. House
GAS belongs TO Mr.. Schwermann, and is the
casus belli. Mr.. Schwermann, with tne aDie
assistance OF Mrs. SchwermanD. tells the
story. ;,
81 had lot of trouble with that Kohl."
began Mr.. Schwermanu.
Zach, he's pat eckv' declared Mrs.
Slovenian.
Better let me tell the story. You see,
my wife she knows more about 1t than 40
but her EDglish-she hasn't been here long
Me and Kohl used to be good friends, De-
cause we lived here pretty much by our.
10 my last one. Well, one day made up
my mind to build on my last lot, and | said
TO Kohl, Kohl, Pm going to build an
right he says, 'Pll help you all can 90
| sent for good surveyor"
"Yah, he cost ten dahlers."
Yes. those surveyors are expensive.
Well, we went over the ground. ana ne
found that Kohps fence. which separated
our lots, was seven inches OH my property.
Kohl said, you're seven inches on
my property
HE wasn't so friendly any more, AMI he
said, The - l am
You are said, but we're old friends,
Kohl and Won noadntt mnva il It's all
well. began to build and the workmen
in digging up the ground dug up to the edge
of his fence and he got mad. lie swore that
/ dug the hole so that his fence would
tumble in. When l saw him he looked sour.
said.
kohl. what are you looking sour forY
"'That's ali right he said, but pretty
soon put a stop to YOU
Well | said, If you want to get mad
y0n can stick mad
Then / went to my lawyer and he wrote
letter 10 Mr.. Kohl and told him he must
take his fence down right away. MIR. kohl
didn't do it and l told my carpenters to do
it. was away on my rOute-l sell oil, you
know-and l didn't see what happened.
But when / came back the boss carpenter
said: Mr.. Schwermann. we can't do any
work there That woman next door
"D0tvOs dot Kohl woman"
''Yes. the carpenter said she came out and
said: If you touch my fence again, III put
bullet through YOU The boss carpenter
said she didn't have any revolver, but ali
the same he wasn't going to take any risks.
So l said, All right. / take that fence
down myself Well, | took it down, and
Hey? | just went and built right up to
within one and hall inches OF my line.
Zone fine day, when L had built to the
first floor, what did Kohl do? He built a
wood fence on the right line all the way
from the ground 10 the roof of his house.
Pretty soon my carpenters come Id ana say
they can't put the weather boards on.
There's only an inch and half between my
house and the fence, and they can't nail
with the hammer. / went to Kohl and got
mad
What in the devil said. Kohl, what's
the matter with you?
'He just laughed and said That fence
Is on my own property. and you can't
move it,
"'All right said; 'Pll get even with
you
80 took a good look. and found L
could nail the weather boards on from the
inside. | told the carpenters TO 20 ahead,
and pretty coon the house was finished.
Now. / said, we got TO paint It,. L
wanted to paint 1t brown, but my wife said,
No. Yellow was her color, and il would
get square with MI Kohl"
yah. He don't like yellow color"
well, we painted it all yellow excepting
one side, because there wasn't room TO get
between the fence to paint the other side.
So said to him:
Kohl, want to paint my house. Will
you put the fence DOWN."
HE laughed and said 'Nxey.' Well,
some very funny way the boards In his
fence got loose and my painters put their
bows on his property and painted the
hot oh. "a .f,,1 Il
fixed up his fence tight and the next thing
he paints his house pea green"
"Ain'd dot terrible? '
well, all the neighbors laughed because
the two houses look so funny, but / said,
Never mind | built up my piazza in my
new house tight on his side so that he eaa't
see past Ii unless he come into the street.
Pretty soon lie built his high fence way out
past my piazza as far as the front fence.
just for spite he aid 1t, you know. but he cut
off his own nose and couldn't see anything
past his house except the mud in the streets.
Then he saw / didn't mind that, and he
painted his big fence all green on his side.
and one night when | was asleep he painted
the big fence on my side with black pitch
or tar. 1t smells awful, and can get him
arrested for il, but don't mind. It's very
healthy, the doctor said. i don't know how
he got over on my side TO paint it, but he
did, because it's there now"
"Yah. | shmell IL all day."
"Well, when Kohl saw didn't mind that,
what did he do? He Dough lot of pigeons
and one big coop, and | bet he's got all the
pigeons trained. All day long they come
over TO my house on the roof"
yah, dots an awful nuisance. l got t
clean up all der time"
Yes, they give my wife lot Of trouble.
and now Kohl laughs all the time because
he thinks he got even with me. Well,
haven't done nothing yet, and l don't make
any complaint, but-iust you wait"
Such is the Schwermann-K Kohl feud. The
casus belll is at present tenanted by neu-
trail family, who cannot understand why
that big, tar-cOvered fence stands there.
But it stands, and the pigeons r0ost on the
roof of No. 64S and Mrs Schwermann is
very angry, but Mr.. Schwermann-you just