Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-01-22
QUARRELED TO THE LAST.
A Brothers Feud That Was Continued
for Ycnrs with Mover a Truce.

Tor Years with Never ~ Truce.
you will takcthc road to the right. over
the hill, at BrotL..' Feud," said the liv
eryman. THE bridge on the lower road
y;-os w"e'ied away in the ,,D..a.
Brothers Feud" said |. "Where is
that?"
AREN'T you acquainted in this country
No? Well, you can't be. Every one within
hundred miles, suppose, knows about
Brothers Feud. The way of it was, when
bid man Ellacot died he gave his farm un-
divided to his two sons They had no other
relatives living. But they couldn't get
along together, and one of them brought
suit for partition. The place is very billy
and isn't worth much in the first place.
And the lawyer fees didn't make it any
more valuable. But they finally got the
matter through court and the surveyor
came out to survey the place. They asked
him who was to pay him, and he said they
would each pay half the expense of parti-
ton. They agreed and he went ahead.
zone of them paid and the other didn't.
That was nobody's loss but the surveyors,
but it made the paying brother so mad to
think his brother had done less than him
self that he took up the dividing line stakes
and set them over two rods in his brothers.
land. That made his brother mad and he
/ tOoh up Jilt SltkcS anu SeU IneUl TWO rOuS
beyond the line So they began quarreling
over that four rods of hill land that wasn't
worth ten dollars an acre. But the tim Der
was fine, and when the buyers came along
and offered twenty dollars thousand for
stave timber jim and Joe began quarreing
in earnest.
Each one hired gang of choppers, and
the choppers took up the fight, for it did
seem the likeliest timber grew in the dis
puted strip. Why, those choppers had
regular battles there, and the sheriff had to
go out with IA posse. Three men were killed
just chopped to death with axes We
have had more criminal cases from that
four rods of sand and gravel than from all
the rest of the county. We finally had to get
out "A company of militia, when the buyers
run up the price to twenty-five dollars a
thousand. 1t was worth something then
But each fellow spent all he made from his
trees defending his suits, and when the
timber was finally gone and the price fell
there stood about the only good walnut in
the county. That is worth a good deal of
money now. All the rest of the walnut
was sold years ago, and it is worth near its
weight in silver.
well, if you go by there today you will
most likely see two gray haired old men,
sitting one on each side of that strip of
timber, each one with a rifle beside him,
and waiting to kill the other if he steps on
the strip. They both swear they will stay
right there till they die. | suppose they
will, but if either of them gets reckless
and ventures on the strip his brother will
shoot him sure. You see the ground is
worth good deal now. The men were SO
busy fighting in the timber time that they
didn't have time to cut. Goodby. Take
the right hand road when you come to the
hill. The bridge is gone on the other one. u
l found the Brothers Feud without
any trouble, and looked with great inter
est for the two insane brothers. They had
been so devoted to their quarrel that they
had never married, and they lived all
alone, each in little cabin their father
had given them. AS drove along | saw a
group of neighbors about one of the houses
At the door of the other sat trembling
palsied old man, with "A rifle across his un
steady knees. | went up to the crowd and
found that Jim was dead.
"Been dead two or three days when W.
found him." said the neighbor.
what more does his brother want?"
asked HE still seems to be on guard"
"Well, he is so deaf he can't hear wheI
blind he couldn't see when his brother fel
down by the log and died. Besides he ha
lost his season. He will never know tina
the brothers feud is ended. "-Chicag'
Herald.