The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-11-14
I'HB BEATTY CLAN
By ALFRED B. CALHOUN.
Ecopyright, 1894. by American Press Associa'
fiff T.
CHAPTER ]

the heart of the Cumbe berland range, just
south of the Kentucky line. AS the
crow is supposed to fly, but never does,
the Beatty settlement is about 35 miles
west Of Cumberland Gan Perhaps It
would be more accurate TO say was
about s5 miles, for Mmnr1 s'rwhe
place few years ago it was covered
With s. fine second growth Of timber,
and, except the rustiing Snonwcrlr scat
tered about the site Of the little grist
mill there Is nothing TO inIicats that
men ever lived there. A careful search
ups4be creek from where the dam stood
would show, however; that persons had
died or been buried there, fw, as my
guide ON the occasion Of my last visit
said:
eyes, .thar's a right smart lot of
graves inthat bunch, and they wuz all
kinder Hn to each other. /"
But I ana getting ahead Of my story
and marching It left IA 'front.' like
military funeral procession
All this region issplenddly wooded,
well wateeed, and the valleys that seam
the irregular mountain spurs in an IN
tricate mao areas fertile as the heart
Of the blue grass country to the north
Il might have been q land Of wine and
honey and Old, with proper cultivation
and a population that did not believe
that pork, corn and whisky are the trim
ity that make life worth the living.
At the breaking out Of the war there
were IA buildings, not counting corn
cribs and outhouses, at Reatty's. ALI
these structures were log and much bet
ter built and more commodious than the
majority Of. mountain abodes- Indeed
they might be called t'houses, - for the
smallest had more than the one room OF
the average mountain cabin. The Oldest
and by no means the best OF these
houses was the home Of old Hugh Beat.
ty.sthes patriarch Of the hamlet and at
this time a.talL we'll preserved man S sof
73. Five Of the houses were occupied
by Hugh Beatty y's five married sons, the
Oldest, young Hugh" being 30 and
Andy, the youngest, %. These noun
tain folk marry early, and as there IS no
danger as yet of overcroWding, and they
are blissfully ignorant Of the Malthuslan
theory, large families are the rule
Three daughters-two Of them were
married to brothers named Mullins, and
the third to cousin Of the Mullinses
named Martin-had three Of the dwell
ings The remaining three residences
were occupied by two Of young Hugh's
married daughters-the husbands were
Martins-and by Sam Mullins and his
wife. Sam was the oldest son of Mag,
old Hugh's second child.
It may be noticed that there was
quite mixing Of the Beattys, the Null
linses and the Martins, but this is not
unusual The mountain people inter
mary s. great; deal, and first cousins
hardly count in reckoning oonsanguin-
ity, theagh q fourth cousin, particularly
if Of the same names is counted KIN"
if it is necessary to espouse his quarrel
for the sake of the family honm
The thirteenth building was a little
corn grist mill, the exclusive property
Of the old man. It was the only mill
within days journey, Jellico being
the nearest point at which corn could be
ground when Beatty's dam broke down
or the simple machinery got out of or
der All the grist arrived on horse or
mule back. There were two wagons at
Beatty's, and young Hugh had buggy
which, on it's first appearance, excited
the mountains round about, and people
came for miles to see it and then shook
their heads, for the bravest felt that it
would be .'temptin o. Providence to ride
in sich slim, resky thing"
The fourteenth building, known as
1.-THE store, was the largest IN the place
and was run" by young Hugh. Cheap
prints, yarn, hats, tinware, tobacco and
snuff, with nails, coffee and dried cod
fish, all wagoned from Knoxville, con-
stituted the principal stock in trade OF
the store. Whisky, perhaps, should be
given first place, but that was purely a
domestic article, manufactured by Andy
and his brother Dan in stillhouse
about half mile down the stream-not
to avoid the internal revenue officers, for
there was none in those days, but to be
free from the offensive odor Of the pig
pens, the pork fed On the still 'slops"
being prime source Of income.
Old Hugh Beatty had been soldier,
and SO something of a traveller in his
time. In the war of 1919 be marched to
Nashville with his rife on his shoulder