Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1892-02-05
oUARRELED TO TIE LAST.
A Brothers reud That Was Continued

a brOtherS' Eeud Ihat was continued
for Years with Never a Truce.
"You will take the road to the right. over
the hill, at Brothers Feud," said the iv-
eryman ''rhe bridge on the lower road
was washed away in the storm"
Brothers Feud?" said |. where is
that"
Aren't you acquainted in this country?
No? Well, you can't be. Every one within
a hundred miles, l suppose, knows about
Brothers Feud The way Of it was. when
old man Ellacot died he gave his farm I'M
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
took up the stakes and set them two rods
beyond the line So they began quarreling
over that four rods of hill land that wasn't
worth ten dollars an acre. But the timber
was fine, and when the buyers came along
and offered twenty dollars a thousand for
stave timber Jim and j oe began quarreling
in earnest.
each one hired a 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
60 out with a 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 company Of militia, when the buyers
run up the price to twenty-five dollars
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 good deal of
money now All the rest of the walnut
was sold years ago. and it is worth near it's
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 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. I 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"
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 a little cabin their father
had given them. AS drove along saw
group of neighbors about one Of the houses.
At the door of the other sat a trembling,
palsied old man, with a rifle across his I'M
steady knees. went up to the crowd and
found that Jim was dead.
''Been dead two or three days when we
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 when
we boiler over and tell him, and he is so
blind he couldn't see when his brother fell
down by the log and died. Besides, he has
lost his season. He will never know that
the brothers feud is ended. "-Chica-o
Herald.