Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1892-09-02
MOUNTAIN DESPERADOES.


The sentence to death OF Talton Hall,
the mountain desperate, is another
evidence that the wild country extend
ing along the borders of West Virginia,
Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee and
farther south is making an effort to
free itself from the various dcspcradoes
and bands of desperadoes who have
long given to these sections a character
not in accordance with American civil
ization. For several generations it has
been impossible to secure the convic-
ton of a murderer there. If the courts
themselves were not influenced by par
tisanship, the witnesses were afraid to
testify, and no man suffered for taking
| another's life unless the friends of that
other took mis- own in payment. This
was the case in the most isolated neigh
borhoods, which We're almost as com
pletely shut out from the world as
if they had been located in the South
seas.
But since the miners and the railroad
| builders and others have entered these
regions the population is becoming
gradually reclaimed Many of the worst
desperadoes have been punished. Some
have been hanged, others are in the
penitentiary for life, and since the law
now gives some protection, witnesses
are not afraid to offer their evidence.
Thus more convictions are sure to fol-
| low and in time the once half-wild pop
ulation of the Alleghenies viii become
as orderly as the inhabitants of any
other part of the union.
| There have been many false impress
sions concerning these mountain fcuds
and battles. 1t has often been said
that they will offer good material for
the future novelist when time shall
have thrown little romance over them,
Perhaps they will, but there is no ro-
nance about them at present, though
the latter argument is not valid against
the novel writer for we have always
believed that Scott's picturesque high
land outlaws were in reality the com
monest sort of cattle thieves and as
sassins, who wore dirty clothes and
sneaked around the mountains because
they were too lazy to work.
In the same manner the writer will
have to give his imagination very vigo-
Gus exercise when he deals with the
desperadoes of the Allegheni0s. They
are an idle, worthless set, who prey
upon and bully the industrious and Or
derly portion of the community, while
nearly all their feuds are generated and
kept alive by deep potations at the il
licit distilleries
There is nothing picturesque or in
spring in the appearance of these des-
peradoes. If the curious expect to see
tall, agile mountaineers with erect
heads and bold eyes and the manners of
a Rob Roy, they can prepare thcmselv9g
for disappointment. Usually they are
small, sallow and shrunicn, shuttiing
of gait unsteady of eye and never erect
about them they are cowardly. The
most notorious murderers never fight
face to face with their victims aud on
equal terms, as the bold outlaws in the
story books do, but they seek every ad-
vantage. The proper name for it is not
fighting but assassination. Usually a
man is ambushcd and shot when he is
least expecting danger, and if there is
any open fight at all it is because one
party is able to attack another in over
whelming numbers.
Frequently in these mountain feuds
women and children are killed as mCrci
lessly as if they were men, and it has
been fayorite method for one faction
to surround cabin at night, set it on
fire and shoot the inmates as they ran
out, Such things as these show OF
what stuff the braves of the Alleghen
les are made.
1t should also be known that the des-
peradoes form but small fraction OF
the mountain population, They have
hitherto carried things with such q
high hand that they have given theil
bad tone, in the eye of the public out
side, to the character Of all. The grea'
bulk of the mountaineers of the Allegha
nics, whether in this state or another
are law-abiding citizens, and when re
lieved of the incubus of the desperadoes
which they will be, will give to thei
country reputation for peace ant
good behavior.-Baltimore Herald.