St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-16
HICKEY TOWNSHIP FEUD.
San Francisco Argonaut.

| San Francisco Argonaut.
1t was certainly firSt-rate feud, and
a source of much pride to the settlers il
and about Hickey township, Just as {
haunted house or murder mystery OF
iong-lived scandal might have been
only the feud was much more satisfac
tory. because it had been on for foul
years. and hardly month mad passed
during all that time that had not wit
messed some new episode in the affair
and each one seemed more startling
than it's predecessor. And so it was that
the good people of Hickey township
held their heads just little bit higher
than their less fortunate friends who
resided i'll more peaceful portions OF
the country.
1.-THE feud-all started on account OF
yearling calf-than which, permit me-
stock raiser Of limited but fruitful eX-
perience, to interpolate, there never was,
nor can there ever be, a creature more
hopelesSly "ornery," and one more pro-
ductive of sinful language and display
of suitry temper OH the part of it's keep
ers. Yearliug calves have caused the
recording angel more trouble, brok en-
up more old friendships. produced more
family jars, and, In the form of veal, be-
gotten more indigestion and the inSOm
mia resultant therefrom, than-but this
is not an essay on the sinful, sporty
steerlet and his shortcomings.
The Walkers and the Benedicts had
been old neighbors for years, "back in
Ioway." In fact. the elder Walkers and
the elder Benedicts had been married
about the same time, at the beginning
of the war, and had just settled on ad-
joining homesteads when the first gun
was fired on Sumter. The men ell
listed in the same company, fought
side by side, ate and slept and Suf-
fered together; and at home their
young wives waited ana Wept together.
When the little Walkers and the little
BeneGictS grew large enough to run
about, they were playmateS and boon
companions; the children of one family
felt as much at liberty in the home of
the other as they did in their own-for
tWenty-eight years the two families had
lived in peace and amity, and then that
miserable calf precipitated all irrepar-
able row. 1t was too bad, all the neigh
bors said, bnt it is a notice
able fact that none of them attempt
ed to patch up peace; life i'll
Hickey township and at Hickey Corners
would have been dull, indeed, but for
the feud. so everybody sat by and
watched each new phase of the affair
with nervous, morbid interest, and CONF
mented thereon, but not in a manner
likely to prove conducive to truce on
the part of the disputants.
1t was this way: The Benedict and
Walker houses had been built on ad-
jacent corners of The homestead quar-
tiers and were quite close together; in
fact. one we'll, sunk Oh the quarter sec
ton line between the two hOmeSteadS,
had furnished water for beth families
for the first four years after coming to
Dakota, and it was only short distance
from either house.
But it came to pass that on the Walker
domain there was born, and grew, and
waxed fat and sassy" brindIe calf.
with right smart chance of white in
its eye and a plethora Of deep-dyed
mischief in its soul-and he (for 1t was
a young gentleman "critter'O, while
yet Of tender age but tough record, Gu
gendered the feud. He had wandered
away the day before, and when he
returned at night the gate of the
calf pen was shut against him; and in
the morning, when Papa Benedict arose
from post-breakfast family prayers, and
followed by the younger male Bene-
diets, HE'D him toward the stable. he
beheld his neighbours incipient steer
nipping in the bud sundry young and
toothsome cabbages and kicking out of
could not eat.
Then was Papa Benedict wro tn, and
thereupon did he give way to naughty,
profane words, while the young Bene-
dicJs surrounded the offending calf and
brought him up for judgment.
Now, Papa Benedict was man of
hasty temper, but easily Gained; so.
when the calf was rendered him at the
end of long picket rope, his wrath
had decreased several degrees, and he
wound the rope around his hand and
started TO lead the calf home.
1t was while he was bordering on
what he was to say to the calf's owner
that the calf suddenly remembered
previous engagement, and started, in
some haste, to keep it, heading directly
across the croquet ground. Papa Ben
edct wished to follow with more dig
nifty than the calf desired, and pres
emily his feet were scraped from under
him by wicket, and he was
being handled the way the vaqueros
Ill bOOuiil AulOllCd dlC SuppOScu W
butter-at the end Of lasso. He did
not look neat when a few minutes later
he reached the Walker residence and
called his neighbor out. He was hold
ing the calf up short, but his temper
had slipped its tether, and caused him
to say bad words, to which Papa Walk
er replied in klnd-Whereat Papa Bene-
dict seized convenient neckyOke and
killed the cause of the trouble.
Of course there was fight, and con-
siderable ill-chosen language; then, as
soon as possible, Papa Benedict sued
Papa Walker for damage to his cab
bages, and Papa Walker sued Papa
Benedict for the value of the calf. After
that they prosecuted each other for as
sault and battery, the younger members
of both houses t'Sassed'' each other at
every available opportunity; Mrs. Walk
er and Mrs. Benedict did no more"neigh-
bOrln';' and Mort Benedict and Nellie
Walker "busted up" with each other.
That is. Nellie broke with Mort, who,
for his part, had wholesome contempt
for feuds and such nonsense, and would
fain have ignored the state of affairs, so
far as Nellie was concerned, except for
the opposition any overtnres from him
would have received OH all sides, and
from Nellie. So he had to
grin and bear it, leaving, however, all
hostilities to the others, and speaking
to any of the Walkers he
CHANGED to meet.
But finally, through a rash act of his
own, he was forced into the feud.
There was husking bee of the good |
sort at Thompson's one
night, and the younger members of the |
hostile houses attended. During the |
evening Mort found a red ear in his |
pile, and-he never knew what lmpelled |
him to do it. unless it was that Nellie |