The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1898-02-11
III
THE HISTORY OF A FEUD.

to keep or to lose. From the time be-
yond which fireside tradition fades into
the less authentic record of legendary
| tales, McNabb's cove had shared with
its scanty population the evil report of
a bad neighborhood. Geographically,
it is mere cash in the side of Murphy
mountain, with few acres of arabic
| land in the center shut i1i on three sides
by steep wooded hills, whose submits
are the cliffs of the mountain. Prac-
tically inaccessible on three sides, en-
trance by the fourth is scarcely less
difficult. A narrow wagon road winds
up the sharp ascent which measures
the height of the cove above the level of
Harmony valley; and besides this there
are no means of ingress or egress for
vehicles, and none for pedestrians save
such as are afforded by two or three
rocky trails up the sides of the noun
tain.
The isolation of McNabb's cove had
much to do with it's unsavory reputa-
ton. For many years the Bynums,
whose log farmhouse of 1.-TWO pens and
| passage" was the only human habita-
ton in the small valley, had acted as
go-between for the illicit distiIlers on
the mountain and their customers in
| Harmony valley. In consequence Of
this, the cove had been the scene of sew
cral encounters between the revenue
officers and the moonshiners; and al
though the Bynums had usually main
tanned an outward show of neutrality,
there was little doubt that they had al
ways given tine secret aid to their
ncighbors on the mountain. 1t was
during the life of Col. Latimer's father
that the Bynums had first brought
\ revenue officer had climbed the steep
road leading to the cove one afternoon,
and the next morning his dead body
| was found at the foot of the declivity
with bullet hole in the skull. Old
Squire Latimer was justice of the
peace at the time, and he was especial
lv active in pushing the inquiry which
| finally fixed the crime upon one of the
| Bynums. AS the evidence was mostly
circumstantial, the murderers got Off
with a life sentence; but for the
squire's part in the prosecution the
| Bynums declared war upon the Lati-
u.er family, instituting series of per-
| secutions which eliminated in the
| burning of the manor-house in the val
ley. The ex-Virginian was a law-abid-
ing man, and, although there was lit
tie doubt as to the identity of his enc
mics, he refused to retaliate in kind.
| With each fresh depreciation he re-
doubled his efforts to obtain proof
''-hich could be produced in court; but
his prosecutors were shrewd and crafty,
and he was never able to get conclusive
evidence against them. After tho
burning of the manor-house the squire
built THE Laurels" on the plateau of
Murphy mountain; but he did not live
long to enjoy his new home. The
plateau farm was reached by a road
which climbs the face of the ascent
from Tregarthen. Beyond the Lati-
mer estate it skirts the brow of the
mountain, following the line of the
cliffs and doubling around the head of
McNabb's cove. One morning when
the squire was riding along this road nt
a point where it comes out upon the
edge of an abrupt precipice command
ing view of the cove, a
ritle-shot rang out, and the fright
! ened horses galloped riderless back to
'The Laurels." When the searchers
found him short time afterwards the
squire was quite dead; and before noon
John Bynum was in Jail at TregRrthen,
charged with the commission of the
crime. At this distance of time there
appears to be at least reasonable
doubt of his guilt. He was seen in the
village, and in fact was arrested there,
within two hours of the time when the
murder was committed; and while the
distance from the head of the cove to
Tregarthen by the road leading past
''The Laurels" is only three miles, 1t is
six by the way he must have gone to
avoid meeting the searching party.
This, and other facts, might have been
brought out in trial, but the Bynums
were unpopular and their feud with the
Latimers was well known. The news
of the squire's death spread rapidly
through the valley during the day, and
at night an armed mob broke into the
Jail and secured the hapless prisoner,
who was hurried to the scene of the
murder and hanged to the nearest con-
yenient tree.
With the death of John Bynum the
feud smoldered for several years. His
only brother. Jed. who was absent at
the time of the lynehing, moved to
Texas a short time afterwards, and
there were left only the widow and her
! four children on the small farm in the
cove. 1t is to be supposed that the
woman, who was Bypum by blood as
well as by marriage, did not fail to
/ leach her children the catechism of
/ vengeance; but, however this may be,
hostilities were renewed as soon as the
boys were old enough to follow in the
footsteps of their elders.
: Col. Latimer, the sqaire's son and
heir. inherited little of the peaee=loving
temper OF his father. The first time he
found his fences thrown down and the
cattle in his fields. he armed himself