The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-01-29
"REMINISCENCES.

In these days Of churches, public
schools, facilities for acquiring knOwl-
edge and enlightenment, fist-fighting j.
not considered very respectable nor
profitable, except when men of the
Corbit-Fitzsimmons stripe follow fight
ing as business. An account of the
famous Hanna-McClintock fight was
responsible for the beginning OF these
centennial papers, reminiscent and
otherwise. Fifty, sixty and seventy and
more years ago, when everything was
new, when the field. were still dotted
with stumps, evidence Of recent clear
ing; when log school houses and
slab benches were in vogue, when
churches were few and far between,
and the dominies preached damnation
and pounded the bible hours at time /;
when railroads, electric lights and tele-
graphs and telephones were things un-
heard of and unexpected, when books
and newspapers were scarce and diff
cult to obtain, men, apparently in want
Of better means nsOfemploying their time,
WED with each other i'm feats of strength,
deXterity and hardihOOd. Jumping
high and far, throwing heavy weights,
running, shooting and wrestling, natu-
rally led into fist-fights, sometimes to
see who was the better man, sometimes
to settle some Old dispute, and some
times to take sides with a friend Gun
Gle JAKE" IIinebaugh recently told the
writer about a terrible fight that oc-
CURED in Addison township many
years ago, between Perry Mitchell,
a brother or David and Alfred Mitchell,
and Robert McClintock, brother OF
James y. McCliutock, of which, Of
course, the writer had heard before.
There was, for some reason, what is
called "bad blood between these twO
men, which had been brewing for some
time, smOldering, 30 TO speak, like a
faint spark, gradually getting larger
and larger, until the flame burst forth.
Mitchell was quite young, hardly out
81 his teens active, powerful, and
strong a. lion. McCliutock was Il
man Of more mature years, bu; still in
the very prime Of vigorous young man
hood
These two men came together some
wiere near Walkers old mill, a good
many years ago, and it was but a short
time until, probably, the fiercest and
bio)diest fight that ever took place in
the county commenced, aud lasted for
hours. Oaly few spectators were
present when the fight commenced,
but soon great many people gathered
from tine neighborhood. No one inter
fered. IL was one man against the
other, with no seconds, time-keepers
or referees. TIey fought like demons,
and with strcl.-h of giants. SIm =
times one wOdld D. down, sometimes
the other. Tl.re was scarcely room
where the fight took place, for them to
exert themselves, and in their on
slaughts on each other, a stakcd and
riiercl fence was torn down for some
roi-, a. tllIgh two md bIlls were
goriag each other. Neither seemed To
BE- able % defeat tie other, and il seem Il
to the bystanders that only darkness
or weIrincss would eni the contest
The ground was trampei and torn up
for quite a distance, and was covered
with blood, bat still the combat wagcd
with all its fierceRess, if not with its
original power. Finally, after they
had been fighting among the torn
down rails OF the fencc, in which no
one seemed 10 be getting the mastery,
Mitchell sprang over the rails, went in
to a clear place free from rails, telling
McCiiEiock To come there, where there
would b. no obstruction. McClintOck
ma l. every effort IL reach his antago-
MIST, hu, hal not s;rcagth - ct over
the rails. At this time IN Itull friend
int tsrfered, and tn two men war. lel
away. They presented sorry sight
with ml-t of their clothing gone and
blood running from a hundred wOIndS,
stiff, sore and bedragglel, but with
courage undaunted and hatred unap-
peased, like gnarled and knotted oaks,
after a storm, shorn, perhaps, of their
verdUre, bent and warped, bat not con
quered. There have been other fights
i'll this township, notably one in the
mountain region, at raising, in
which nearly the whole community
was engaged and another, when the
men were working on the road, when
some of the leading citizens of the
township were the participants; bu,
none,that compared in any way with
the McClintock-Mitehell fight, in the
length Of time, in bulldog courage, in
the mighty strength displayed By the
gladiator., in the unconquered and un-
con IuerabIe spirit showed to the very
end.
Probably the first schOol-house
erected in Addison township was built
in the mountain country, not far from
where Urias Ringer lives now. Schools
had been taught in other hoIses, at
different points, bat this was the first
house built distinctively for school par-
poses. Ii was, Of course, built of logs,
with clao-bOard roof, long window or
two, boarls nailei against the wall
for desks, slabs from the nearest
saw-mill, with legs made of tine split
slabs, splinters, cracks and everything;
so the small hoy had To BE- clrefII,
while sliding along one of these benches
to have conflb with another small
boy, that he was not sliding against the
grain OF the wool. This house has dis
appeared, as have all the primitive
schOol-hOuses, bus one, which still
stands ON the hunks of the YOaghio-
gheny river not far from Confluence,
long since vacated a. a sciOol-hoI-,,
but remaining ~ u monument and r.
minder of by-gone days. In the early
part Of the century a log house was
erected at the site of the old New Iinry
Cemetery, on land owned by Squire
Mitchell. IL was intended .or, and
was used as union church, bat the
MethodistS. being more numerous than
other denominations, used the church
more frequently than any. This build
ing was Of pretty good sizs, and had an
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