Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1901-11-22
TT"TTTTVN'ff NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
The Devils
Lane ~ ~ ~
BY Col. VIM. Lightfoot visscher
- !
Copyrighted by Daily Story Pub. Coz

I'VE AFTERNOON, some ~ years ago,
" l was the companion of DR..
Burdick while he was making some
family calls. 1t was in central Ken
tucky and an exquisitely lovely day
in the early autumn season. AS we
drove over one of the smooth
and white turnpikes, l observed a
narrow and curious lane which inter
seeted the turnpike at right angles.
1t wasn't wide enough to admit male
peacock when it wanted to strut.
The lane was crooked and almost hid
den from view by tangled masses of
elderberry bushes. Two farmhouses
stood in the distance and they were
of the better class for that region.
Apple, peach and pear trees were
loaded down with fruit, and great
shocks of wheat and corn were
standing in the sunlight as emblems
of peace and prosperity. These with
the clean woodland pasture and 1.-the
limbed horses readily indicated that
we were in the far-famed blue grass
region.
A boy and girl, the boy eight or
nine years of age, the girl year
younger, came out of the mouth of
the zigzag lane where they had been
chasing ground-squirrels, and the
doctor spoke to them in jolly way
and familiarly:
'Hello! Sammy" and "Howdy Su-
die?"
"Howdy, doc.," the girl responded
"You going up to we-all's house?"
'I am going by there, Sudie, and
you may ride with us if you wish
The girl looked towards her play
mate, and, instructed by some ma.
sonic sign known to childhood, she
replied: "No, thankee, sir. Sammy
is going to see me home"
"Well, bye-bye."
"Goo'by."
As we drove the doctor remarked:
Those youngsters will probably get
padded"
."For what?" l asked.
"You observe that lane they came
from, didn't you?"
ayes, and / intended to ask what il
meant"
at means that these two farmers
are bitter enemies. The boy, Sam, is
the son of Tom higgins, whose house
we passed just yonder, and the girl is
the daughter of Dick Rutherford, this
IS his place just ahead of us. The di.
viding line between their farms lies
inside of those two zig-zag fences
and the men hate each other so that
they'd rather die than join in part
nership line, hence each has built on
his own and thus we have such an
eyesore as that. Country people
knowing the cause of such double
fence, call it THE Devils lane
"Of course when such enmities ex'
ist between the heads Of the fami'
lies it estranges the entire connection
on both sides, and from these Otter
spring the terrible and widespread
kentucky feuds that you hear and
read so much about.
"In this case Tom Riggan and DicI
Rutherford had been the best o.
friends until two years ago, at hog
3 killing time, when they fell out ovei
Guessing at the weight of fat pork
or. Their guesses were about 81
mounds apart, and as the hog wa:
found to weigh just halfway between
out of that sprang misunderstood
;rr harsh words followed and thu
breach has grown wider with years
pat,yeen the two houses there is al
ep,nity as strong as that between
tbeCapulets and Montagues, in Shake
speare's Romeo and Juliet Th'
,yomen folks on the opposite sidei
.ose their heads and don't speak tt
aocb other. The servants frequentl,
arht and the two heads avoid eaci
other lest they do something rash
few days ago rode with tn,
doctor along the turnpike, where thu
foregoing conversation had occurred
two decades ago. The Devils Lane
was gone. Where it had been was th'
center of long avenue of statel.
Iombardy -poplars with alternating
onnIe trees, and at the head of tn,
alameda stood a great, hospitable
Iooling mansion having a wide por
ticof in front, whose roof was sup
norted by huge and white Corinthial
Columns. / could see no sign. II
either direction, of the former home
OF the higgins and Rutherfords.
The doctor, now an elderly man