Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-11-06
THE BROTHERS. FEUD.
It Lasted for . Lifetime withou. Truce or
IChicago Herald

heEau.I
"You will take the road to the right,
over the hill, at Brothers Feud," said the
liyeryman. THE bridge on the lower road
was washed away in the storm"
Brothers Feud?" said l. Where IS
that?" .
Aren't you acquainted in this country !?
No? Well, you can't be. Every one within
ID hundred miles, l suppose, knows about
Brothers Feud. The way of 1t was,
when old man Ellacot died he gave his
farm undivided to his two sons. They
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 tho first place. And
the lawyer fees didn't make it any more
valuable. But they finally got the matter
through court. and the surveyors 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.
lone 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 dlyldlng-llne
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 quarrelling over that four rods OF
hill land that wasn't worth $40 an acre.
But the timber was fine, and when the
buyers came along and offered $50 thou
sand for stave timber Jim and Joe began
quarrelling in earnest.
Each one hired gang of choppers, and
| the choppers took up the light, for 1t 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 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 o company OF mill
tia when the buyers run up the price to
S22 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 tho county. That is worth o
good deal of money now. All the rest OF
the walnut was sold years ago, and 1t IS
worth near its weight IN silver.
well, if you go by there to-day You viii
most likely SEQ two gray-haired old men
sitting one on each side Of that strip OF
| timber, each one with q 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. L 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 Ia
worth good deal now. The men we're so
busy fighting in the timber time that they
didn't have time to cut. Good-by. Take
the right hand road when you come to the
hill. The bridge Is gone on the other one."
found the Brothers Feud without any
trouble, and looked with great interest 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 group of
neighbors about one of the houses. At the
door of the other sat trembling, pslsied
old man. with q rifle across his unsteady
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 want3n
asked. HE still seems TO be on guard"
"Well, he IL SO deaf he can't hear when
we boiler over and tell him, aud he is so
blind be couldn't see when his brother
fell down by the log and died. Besides he
has lost bis reason. He will never know
that the brothers fend Is ended"