The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-02-15
By ARTHUR MORRIS.
Copyright, 1903. by Arthur Morris;

MIN a better gun ana more dHliiluAi-
ton, so that he can get the next out
law more easily. If you do indict such
a man. be sure that l will file the in
dictment away as soon as 1 reach 1t.
Only One Hanging for 400 Murders.
Quite as remarkable as these in
structions is the fact that the records
of the feud countries show that out
of total of between 800 and 400 muir
ders occurring during the past twenty
years, there has been only one official
hanging. This was the execution OF
Ellison Mounts, in the famous Hat
field-McCoy feud. Mounts was q
half-witted boy accused of completely
with the Hattields in the burning OF
the Mccoy homestead in Pike county
AS this exploit was one of the most
spectacular and revolving in the entire
feud, the authorities bestirred them
selves in the matter. But there are
many who hold that Mounts was in
nocent, and the leader of the Mccoy
faction is one of them.
The average feud man thinks about
the courts as does Thomas Jefferson
Henderson.
Eyes see," he said. 9TH cohts hev
four killin's agin me, an I reckon ei
] keep my mouth shet, they'll be less
trouble. So long as tn cohts AIM
talkin' any, amt tallSin neither"
When the courts do begin to talk
then it is that the feud country sends
representatives from far and near
Court week and election day are its
red-letter events, the only times ir
the year when there is a general out
pouring of jewellers of mountain-sidt
shacks to a common center.
A Judge in Shirt Sleeves.
The Judge who presldes over court
generally manages to maintain the
requisite amount of judicial dignity
while in his shirt sleeves, and often he
spends his time reading a newspaper
while the tobacco-spitting jury is con-
fused by counsel, also inveterate users
of the weed, and. like the judge, minus
| coats.
Until an old dinner bell dissolves
! court for recess, the mountaineei
| spectators emulate the jury in adorn-
| ing with tobacco juice, the floor 81
the dingy room, with it's many broker
window panes. Then they SLOUGH Out
| on to the green surrounding the seal
| of justice, lie around in groups, swaI
yarns and tabocco plugs, devour wat
ermelons, whittle boards and sticks un-
! til the grass is Uttered with count
| less pine slivers, and now and ther
| look after their mules and plugs,
| hitched to the court house fence II
! the rear.
Recess over, court attendan
| sticks his head out of a second-story
window, rings the bell Justify ant
bawls for the witnesses in the muir
der case on trial to come into court.
But there is no immediate respons
to the official summons. The Ken
lucky mountaineer is nothing IL no
deliberate in all his movements AM
methods. A quarter of an hour later
one homespsun- clad man after anothe
struggles up to his feet. There is
laugh and an extra joke cracked al
the fat man and principal wit and gos
sip of the town is hoisted from thu
grass by two of the satellites anC
! waddles off on his pudgy feet Then
! in leisurely Indian file the outdoor
! gathering slouchily adjourns to the
! ancient court house, leaving a wide
I trail Of tobacco juice in its wake.
A Historic Court House.
The court house of Harlan count,
is typical Of similar structures in feul
land Twenty years ago 1t was besieg
ed by one-half the towns male popu
lation, while the other half was barri
caded within during one of the bit
terest of the early feudal wars. Scores
of men were killed in those days, an,
for three years the military arm of tn
state was unable to suppress this min
iature revolution, which finally Tough
itself out in the mountains that clus
ter about and overhang the pic
turesque little county seat.
At that time the Howard party, a.
an organized feudal body, was broker
up and its famous leader, Wise How
ard, fled to California. There, som
say, he was hanged; others that h,
eluded the vigilance of his jailors anC
| oh NH
execution in his behalf, thus Leaving
1t open to the conjecture that he ma!
still be lurking in mountain fastness
es ready to sweep down upon his oil
| feudal enemies.
In Harlan court house are still tn,
| marks of this dare-devil's prowess ant
that of his followers when they storm
ed its brick walls in the endeavor t
dislodge and put to flight the town
authorities. The court room Is grim,
| with age, desolate and bare. Its win.
| dow panes are broken and the shut
ters creak dolefully in the wind. And
| the rest of the building is in keeping
with the room where many a murderer
has been tried but never brought tc
| justice.
| IT is an unusual election day thai
| does not give cause for the beginning
Of at least three feuds. A quarrel al
the polls started the famous Bel
county feud, in which the massacre al
the Quarter House only a year age
was a chapter. General" Souders and
Henderson, mentioned above, are the
| present rival chieftains of this feud. A
similar cause started the trouble be-
tween the Bentleys and Rameys, the
Justices and Bevins, the Hargises and
Cockrills last year; while among the
older feuds there is scarcely one that
! does not count an election day dis
pute among its leading motives.