Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1900-11-08
KENTUcKIANs OF TWO SORTS
And Both Appear to &c Careless {
Human Life.

John Gumer Speed, granddaughter
Of the poet Keats, and himself ,>vn
t~>'tau by birth AMI breeding. contrib
utcs to the Century q study of The
Keuturki&u.
Whom | take up my morning paper
and read in groat head lines. Duel t.
the Death, or some other lurid an
nouncDmcnt to like effect. l shuddel
and say to myself. "Kontucky again
Pretty nearly always--aimost Z times
in 10-my forebodmgs are accurate,
Then | read of q congressman killing
u constituent, n colonel killing a lieu
tenant, an oN-ministCr to n foreign
court killing an internal revenue col
loctor, and SO on through the whole
horrible list must say, however
that in most instances these private
Quarrcls which lead to murder are
among the mountainCcrs. who are in
no sense the kind Of KeutuCkians
whose characteristics | am discussing
Hhe mOuntaiuCors of Kentucky are, to
n great extent the descendants of the
:
colonial Virginia, and escaping from
the plantations, fed into the noun.
tains, whore they have continued from
generation to generation wild and
senisavage people; mt once ignorant
and defiant OF law Before railroads
penetrated these mountain Businesses
to bring out the iron and coal and tim
Der, we did not often hear of these
feuds. When we aid not we were not
disturbed by them. We paid no heed
to these people and their Quarcls, but
mwisely perhaps, left thcm to their
own devices, upon the theory that the
more they killed of ono another the
better off the world would be. News
paper extravaganza of statement Is re
sponsibc now for making each .
these encounters between mountnincol
outlaws appear to be an affair bctwccI
Kentucky gentlemen. 1t is not aCcu
late, but insOmuch as Kentucky gen
tlemen do not behave with self-rc
straint, the result to their reputation i.
in that rCETcC not undCsCrVUd
Even the gentleman of the blue
grass region are careless Of life, ano
there is no city, and few villages, il
which there does not walk free s0w'
man with human blood upon his hands
| will not say that such men enjoy tn
entire confidence and respect Ci the
whole community in the same measure
that those do who have been blameless
lin their life But acquittal by n jury
does, in the opinion Of many, rCinatate
man completely, not only in his pc
litical rights, but in his social privi
leges. Only just now we have had as
a candidate for governor one who had
killed his man. It Is quite true that
very many OF his own party Tcyolted a
the idea of having for the chief exccu
tive of the commonwealth a man who
had taken the law into his own hands
to the extent Of killing a fellOw-man
The fact, however, did not appear Il
make him an entire impossibility, as 4
no doubt would have done in almost
any other state in the union. need
not go on giving proof Of the humiliat
ing fact that in Kentucky, even amOnl
those who hold political and socia
position, there is a singular disregard
of the saCTedness Of human life. 1t is
a result Of their peculiar evolution, and
the penalty must be paid until that
evolution goes a step or so forward
and makes Of the Kentuckian some
thing different from what he Is today