Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1901-05-10
MANCHESTER, KY, JAIL,

the tops Of two hills, which are 400 feet
in height, are less than 200 feet apart.
Often a cornfield, which begins down
in a gully, will run up several hundred
feet in the course of few rods, and
several farmers have been killed by
falling off their cornields.
The citizens of Clay County are al
most all the descendants of people who
settled there in ITO or thereabouts,
Strangers are not encouraged to move
into the county, and there is nothing to
attract immigrants, even if they were
welcomed. For more than a century
and quarter the land has been held
by comparatively few families, who
have intermarried until practically all
the population is related in different de-
grees of consanguinity.
Over much Of the country the forest
is still unbroken and untouched, and
the hills are. full of deep and mysteri-
GUS ravines. The only industries are
the raising of hogs, mules, and corn,
some of which is said to be turned into
moonshine whisky at hidden stills.
The people are by nature taciturn and
almost sullen. They rarely laugh, and
are given to moods and brooding. In
personal appearance they are all of the
same general type, tall, averaging over
6 feet, and dark, with black hair and
eyes. The women are also large and
dark, and a few of them have any
claims to good looks. Scattered about
among the hills and usually near the
creeks are the little one-story log cab
ins, in which the larger part of Clay
County's population lives. These cab
ins are built in most primitive man
ner, with clay between the logs and a
huge clay and stone chimney at one
end, which is often almost as large as
the rest Of the house.
Some of the people of Clay County
have Indian blood in their veins. Others
are descended from old Scotch border
families. Absolute and democratic
equality prevails among them all. The
power Of money is unknown, probably
because there is SO little money within
the limits of the county. They are di-
vided into clans, claiming descent from
some common ancestor of distinction,
and the poorest Of them is always ready
to hold his own and defend his honor
at the point of rifle or revolver. To
call man liar in Clay County means
at least one and probably half dozen
deaths. Everybody in the county
knows everybody else, and it is taken
for granted that stranger is either a
government officer or a detective look
ing for some of the feud warriors.
Therefore there are few visitors to Clay
County, and those who go once are not
at all likely to return a second time.
Every Clay County boy has a rifle by
the time he is Is and in many cases
he has taken part in one or more of the
feud battles before he has reached that
age. They are all good shots and they
keep up to the times in the line of the
latest and most improved weapons A
fayorite amusement in Clay County is
the shooting out of cabin windows by
party of prominent citizens riding
their mules home through the hills
after partaking freely of corn juice"
With this knowledge of the country
and its people it is easier to understand
how a feud like that one which has
just come to an end might find it's be-
ginning in a trivial cause and be con-
tinued for years, being handed down
from generation to generation.
In 1874 DR.. Abner Baker, a promi-
nent physician of Clay County, shot
and killed his brother-in-law, Daniel
Bates. DR.. Baker engaged as his at
torney Daniel Garrard, the head of
one of the great families of the county
and the son of the second Governor of
the State. Hugh White, a man Of al
most equal prominence, took the lead
ing part in Bakers prosecution. DR..
Baker was convicted and finally hung.
Ever since that time the Garrard fami-
ly, one of the few wealthy families of
the county, has backed the Bakers in
all their troubles, while the Whites,
who for years have controlled all the
county offices, have always been ready
to espouse the cause of the people who
for the time being were fighting the
Bakers.
For that reason the feud which has
just been ended is known as the Gar
rard- Baker w White- Howard feud. It be-
gan in a quarrel between Tom Baker