Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1893-03-23
THE HICKEY FEUD.

Minnie quinn
THE HICKEY FEUD.
The Walkers and the Benedicts had
been old neighbors for years, "back
in Ioway." In fact, the elder Walk
crs and the elder Benedicts had been
married about the same time at the
beginning of the war and had just
settled on adjoining homesteads when
the first gun was fired on Sumpter.
The men enlisted in the same COM
pany, fought side by side, ate and
slept and suffered together; and at
homo their young wives waited and
wept together. When the little
Walkers and tho little Benedicts grew
large enough to run about they were
! pIaymatcs and boon companions; the
! children Of one family felt as much
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 an irrep-
| arabic row. 1t was too bad, the
ncighbors said, but it is noticeable
fact that none of them attempted to
patch up peace-lifc in Hickey
township and at Hickey corners would
haze been dull, indeed, but for tho
feud; 80 everybody sat by and
watched each now phase of the affair
with nervous, morbid interest, and
commented thereon, but not in man
ncr likely to prove conducive to
truce on the part of the dispu-
tarts.
IT was this way: The Benedict and
Walker houses had been built on adj
accent corners of the homestead
quarters, and were quite close to-
gethcr; in fact, one well, sunk on the
Quarter-section line between the two
hOmesteads, had furnished wator for
both families for the first four years
after coming to Dakota, and it was
only II short distance from either
house.
But ii came to pass that on the
Walker domain there was born, and
grew, and waxed fat and "Sassy,' a
brindlc calf. with a light smart
chance OF white in its eye and plcth-
ora of dcep-dyed mischief in its
sOul-and he Gor it was young gen
tleman "crittcrn), while yet of ten
der age but tough record, cngendercd
tho 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 morn
ing, when Papa Benedict arose from
post-breakfast family prayers. and,
followed by the younger male Benc-
diets, hicd him toward the stable, he
behcld his neighbours incipient ST 'er
nipping in the bud sundry young and
tOOthsOmc cabbages, and kicking out
of the earth in his bovine abandon,
all he could not cot,
Then was Papa Benedict wroth,
and thcreupOn did he give way to
naughty, profano words, while the
Young Bencdict5 surrounded the Of
Tending calf and brought him up for
judgment,
Now, Papa Benedict was man OF
hasty temper, but easily Gained; so.
when tbs calf was rendered him at
the end of a long picket-ropc, 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
4 What to say to the calls owner that
the calf suddenly remembered pre-
some haste, to keep it, heading di.
lectly across the croquet-ground
Papa Benedict wished to follow with
more dignity than the calf desired;
ard, presently. his feet were scraped
from under him by wicket, and he
was being handled the way the
yaqUcrOs in South America are sup
tosed to make butter-at the end OF a
.asSO. lie did not look very neat
Vhen, few minutes later, he reached
The Walker residence and called his
! neighbor out. He was holding the
calf up short, but his temper had
clipped its tether, and caused him to
ny bad words, to which Papa Walker
cplied in kind-wherc at Papa Ben
edict seized convenient neck-yOlc
and killed the cause Of the trouble.
OF course there was a fight and CON
iiderable ill-ChOsen language; then,
Is soon as possible, Papa Benedict
sued Papa Walker for the damage TO
his cabbages, and Papa Walker sued
/ Papa Benedict for the value of the
calf After that. they prosecuted
each other for assault and battery:
the younger members of both houses
"sassed' each other at every avail
able opportunity; Mrs. Walker and
Mrs. Benedict did no more neigh
horin';n and Mort Benedict and Nellie
Walker "busted up with each other.
That is, Nellie broke with Mort, who,
for his part had wholesome con-
tempt 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 overtures from him would have
received on all sides, and especially
from Nellie. SO he had to grin and
bear it, leaving. however, all hostili-
ties to the others, and speaking
pleasantly to any of the Walkers he
CHANGED to meet.
But, finally, through rash act OF
his own, he was forced into the feud.
There was a husking-bee, of the
good Old-fashioned sort, at Thomp,
sons, one night, and the younger
members Of the hostile houses at.
tended. During the evening, Mort
found red ear in his pile, and-he
never knew what impelled him to dc
It, unless it was that Nellie looked SC
pretty and tempting-he took his
former sweetheart in his arms and
kissed her, not once, but three times
As soon as it could be done without
the girls knowing of it, Bud Walker
and Harvey Free invited Mort anC