Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1901-03-28


Louisville. Ky.-At last the Baker f
Howard feud, which has been waged for |
thirty years, and which has cost proba- |
bly, thirty human lives. has ended in a |
declaration of peace.
Clay county, the scene of the famous
feud. is perhaps the most remarkable |
as it is one of the best known counties !
in the country There is not mile of
railroad or even a wagon bridge with
in its limits The whole country is
covered with high hills, so close togeth-
er that it is declared that there is not
a piece of level land in the county a
sixth of a mile square. Down and be-
tween these wood-covered hills are the
beds of streams which are dry in the
summer time and are turned into roar
ing torrents in the spring and winter.
The people of Clay county travel either
on horseback or on foot, and they use
the beds of those streams in the place
of roads. Some of the hills are quite
high, and in several instances the tops
of two hills, which are 400 feet in
height, are less than 200 feet apart.
The citizens of Clay County are al
most all the descendants of people who
settled there in ITO or Whereabouts.
Strangers are not encouraged to move
into the county, and there is nothing
to attract immigrants, even If they
were welcomed. For more than CEN
fury and a quarter the land has been
held by comparatively few families,
who have intermarried until practical
ly all the population is related in diff
\ Of
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.
In personal appearance the men are
all of the same general type, with black
! hair and eyes The women are also
large and dark. Scattered about among
| the hills and usually near the creeks
are the little one-story log cabins, in
which the larger part Of Clay County s
| population lives. These cabins are
| built in a most primitive manner, with
| clay between the logs and 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. 9th
ers are descended from old Scotch Dor
der 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 a rife or revolver. Tc
call a man a liar in Clay county means
at least one and probably half dozen
deths. Everybody in the county knows
! everybody else, and it is taken fol
granted that stranger is either a gov
eminent officer of a detective looking
for some of the feud warriors. There
fore 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 rife 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 ant
they keep up to the times in the line Of
the latest improved weapons. A favor
lite amusement is the shooting out o.
cabin windows by a party Of prominen
citizens riding their mules home thro
the hills after partaking freely Of ''corr
juice.
With this knowledge of the country
and it's people it is easier to understand
how a feud like that one which has JUS
come to an end might find its beginning
in a trivial cause and be continued fol
years, being handed down from gener.
alton to generation.
In 1874 DR.. Abner Baker, a prominen
physician of Clay county, shot and
killed his brother-in-law, Daniel Bates