The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-01


 ded on the only thing they could do. Leaving the road, they made a detour behind the men in ambush, and rode straight to the house of Devil Anse Hatfield. As luck would have 1t, the old man was away, perhaps superin- tending the ambush, and they got to the house and within the door without being fired at. They set their rifles in corner, hung their belts and pistols against the wall, sat down and asked for something to eat. When Devil Anse came back the women had fed the detectives, and they had eaten bread beneath his roof there was nothing for the old man to do but play host with the best grace he could show. He made the best of the matter gave the men the best supper and breakfast that the house afforded, and fed their horses. The next morning he sent them with guide by an out-of-the-way path out of the country.
 Hell see you safe' said Devil Anse at parting. If you took the main trail you'd likely meet some of my folks, and I reckon they'd turn their guns loose without stopping to ask where you've been'
 With all their readiness to shoot found that in this country, where eve- ry man is supposed to carry a revolver and Winchester rife, the men are not good marksmen with either of these weapons. With the old-fashioned, long -barreled squirrel rifle, using a rest. the mountaineer can draw fine bead and bark a squirrel on high tree limb with great deal of certainty. But using a Winchester in mix-up. such as is apt to occur when hostile factions come together on court days, he pumps away a great deal of ammu- milton for every man that falls When he sets deliberately out to kill man he always plans to shoot him from an ambuscade. This he calls taking a bush to man. Not to be partisan In one of the border feuds-there are half a dozen along the line, some more in- veterate and bloody than the Hatfield Mccoy vendetta-is to be man of small consideration in the community. The very young men are the worst. One of these is apt to think that he Is of no account until he has got his man. He kills somebody of another clan to establish his reputation, and so keeps alive the feud.
 Few men that take part in the feuds have any idea how the quarrel started and what were the rights and wrongs in the matter. That a man is named Me- Coy or Hatfield is reason enough in the minds of any partisan opponent for killing him if a good chance offers. It is probable that some of the feuds date back to the end of the last century when the whites first settled in the mountains. They were pirates and outlaws generally, the tradition runs, who, after the Revolutionary war, found the settled part of Virginia too warm for them and were forced west ward until, entering the mountains by way of Cumberland Gap. they found a region where they could remain. They are not religious people. In summer or autumn an open-air meeting is sometimes held in meadow or in a grove. It is well attended-too we'll indeed, for almost invariably it ends in a fight, with shooting and somebody hurt. Mormons are active in this re- zion and have made many proselytes They do not preach nor do the con- verts adopt the polygamous features of the faith.
 ''The primitiveness of some of the people in the Tug river region is almost beyond belief. During the building of the Norfolk and Northern railroad the engineer of a passing construction train was hailed by native, who asked him to stop and take him aboard. As the train continued to roll on, the fellow looked surprised and then indignant.
 I'll teach you manners he said and opened fire on the engineer with his Winchester. The engineer threw open the throttle, and he and the fire- man lodged between the locomotive and tender. where they stayed until the train got out of range. Such happen ings, repeated in one or another form lent variety and excitement to railroad construction in this country, where the missionary had not arrived and the schoolmaster was not abroad. ."--New York Sun.