The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-11-02
, FEUD and VENDETTA.
Family Wars That Have Continued
for Generations.

ing Out Before Civilizations Advances.
Records of Some Families.
Relics of antiquity are always highly
priced, and it is doubtless for that rea-
ton that we cherish an interest in the
few family feuds that linger on IN civil
Gzation's track as reminders of the bar
.barism of our distant forefathers. They
are unique now and worthy of the
newspaper readers especial attention,
because of their rarity, though there
was time when they were so common
that except where the station OF the par
Elephants was high, as in the case OF the
Marmion-Douglas row, or where there
was some frill of romance attached, as
in the -Capulet quarrel, the
gossiping chroniclers of the day made
no more mention of them than news
papers nowadays does of plain muir
der That time was in the good days OF
old when knights were bold, and baron
differed from Il bandit only In the ex-
tent of his stealings from the people. So
far as they have existed in the United
States they have been most prevalent In
the mountains of Kentucky
The lurid glory of the Kentucky feud
has departed The last echoes of the
old quarrels are dying away in the
haunts of the survivors, and new order
of things has come in eastern Kentucky,
SO long scourged by these bloody and
brutal vendettas. The crack OF the
Winchester is still heard, and fights con-
tinue more numerous than prayer meet
ings. There may be occasional out
breaks for years to come, but the day of
the full grown feud has vanished.
The unsympathetic law and the I'M
congenial touch of civilization, with its
railroads, and it's land syndicates, and its
town builders have dispelled the old
conditions that nurtured the feud. The
old leaders are dead, or in prison, or
living in peace. Craig Tolliver is dead.
Eeone Logan and the Youngs are prac-
ticing law. Andy johnson is a capital
list. The Yellow Checkers have become
land Spectators or gone west. Wills
Jennings and the Hatfelds are in the
penitentiary. Joe Eversole has been
killed A saw log dispatched Jerry Lit
tie. General" Sowders is quiet citi-
zen, and his old enemy, Avis Turner, is
slain.
Ten years ago Governor Knott treated
the feudsmen Of Rowan county as bel
ligerent nations, and invited the leaders
down to Louisville to make treaty Of
peace under his benign auspices. To-
day the most powerful leader in any
mountain quarrel is held to answer be-
| fore the Clark county circuit court for
his crimes, like any other ordinary law
| breaker. The contrast represents the
changed attitude of the people toward
| the feud.
There have been almost innumerable
feuds in Kentucky, but those which last
ed longest, involved the greatest num-
Der of people and claimed most victims.
becoming remarkable as anomalous out
breaks of crime for this period of civil
lization, were eight in number. They
were the Turner'S izemore feud, in Knott
county; the Strong and the Little feuds,
in Breathitt county; the Martin-T oliiver
war, in Rowan county; the Turner-Sow-
ders feud, in Bell county; the Turner
Howard quarrel, in Hardin county; the
Hatfield Mccoy feud, on the West Vir-
ginia border, in Pike county. and the
French Eversole war, in Perry county.
There was no foolishness about any of
these affairs. They were not the simple
primitive forays of Bitter Creek terrors
| They were regular wars involving alto
| gether many hundreds of men, and with
death roll counting well up into the
hundreds. They terrorized entire coun-
ties, put stop to all business but that
of killing, drove scores of people per-
| manently from their homes, held the
civil power at bay and required frequent
calls upon the military strength of the
state in order that courts might be held
at all. They have cost the state several
hundred thousands of dollars, and have
put an almost ineffaceable blot upon its
reputation.
When the lawless spirit in the Ken
lucky mountains had its beginning and
how would be difficult to say. Thou
sands of square miles of mountain re-
gion; with no settlements larger than
| mere hamlets; with the nearest railroad
sometimes more than hundred miles
away; with almost no communication
ulation shut in by rugged mountains to
its own devices, offered favorable soil
for the termination of petty quarrels,
which soon grew into ugly feuds. Large
family connections are the rule in the
mountains, where the boys and girls
| marry in their teens, and when feuds
man called his clan to battle they started
up, like the men of Rhoderick Dhu, from
every bush and stump. There were no
cares of business to distract attention
from the quarrels. Most of the people
are farmers, who need to work but little
on their billy patches to raise the little
that they require, leaving them album
liant leisure for the serious business of
fighting.
Feuds probably existed before the war,
but we have heard little of them if they
did. The familiarity with scenes of
bloodshed which many thousand noun
taineers acquired while serving against
the rebellion-for the section was over
x,rbaI,nirp1y TIpiOr in snntimeDt-doybt