The Washington times., 1905-10-01

told that Mrs. Charles Jones. mother
of Cuthbert, was told one day on
Mississippi river steamer that man
on board had made an insulting ref
erence tn the Jones family. Pride of
race was as strong in her and the
fiery Louisiana spirit as dominant
in her heart as in any mans. BY
right of her sex she summoned that
man to the ladies' cabin and asked
him il he had made the remark re-
puted to her.
Mo- he replied, 81 did say some
thing about your family, madam,
but not that"
Whipping a revolver out of her
dress, she said: IF l felt sure you
had said it, l would shoot the lying
tongue out of your head" And even
>as she spoke, through the trigger
catching in her dress as it lay in her
lap or by some unintentional move.
ment of her fingers, the pistol went
off and a bullet plowed across the
mans teeth Thus by pure accident
Mrs. Jones nearly carried out her
threat.
1t is told that her daughter and
Cuthbert's sister, Miss Rosa Jones.
drew a revolver out of her dress on
one occasion and made three men
who had attacked her beat a hasty
and ignominious retreat. If the wo-
men of the Jones family were of such
caliber, it is not to be wondered at
that the men were, of the stuff of
which feudists are made, and handed
down from father to son the quarrel
with the LfddeIls.
BY the time the civil war began
the feud was thoroughly established
and accorded the respect due TO ira
dition and pedigree and years of
ascendency. No one would have
dreamed of denying the right of
the Liddells and Joneses to shoot
one another on sight, they and all
their connections, even unto the
third and fourth generation. Not TO
be in 1t on one side or another was
to be socially insignificant But the
war brought a truce to all petty
local hostilities. In their fine old
pompous fashion they decided to
''hold their personal differences in
allegiance, sir, so long as their coun-
try should need their poor services. I"
And before national strife was at an
end and individual strife could once
more come to the fore, at least half
a dozen from the ranks of each side
had fallen on some larger, worthier
battlefield
When the Confederate army dis
banded in '65 the head of the Elmly
Joneses came back to his plantation,
colonel of Louisiana regiment,
while the chief of the clan Liddell
was a general. But this difference
in rank was ignored as promptly as
their years of fellowship in the army
of the stars and bars. The old strife
was renewed at once. and Cuthbert
and his brother, VIII, were enrolled
in the ranks of the Joneses. 1t was
their solemn duty to fight, if neces-
sary, at the cost of their lives, for
choice, at the cost of as many Lid
dell lives as possible, for the honor
ofsthe house OF Jones. Il is doubt
full if they knew why they must kill
the Liddells; just what the original
Liddell had done to the original
Jones. 1t was question of family
honor, and they had no thought OF
being found wanting.
In 1863 came the climax in the
shape of two bloody engagements
in which the leaders of both sides
were killed and many of the rank
and file. Indeed, the Joneses' avail
able forces were reduced TO one
available man-and he but boy
, that same Cuthbert Jones who died
|, the other day in Peru.
For a while active host;lities oi
necessity ceased. For years the oid
time enmity smoldered. though il
would undoubtedly have burst
forth the moment Liddell and {
, Jones met Now, with the passing
of the last Jones, the fire is quite
E out, has melted away in little thir
wisp of smoke far to the southwark
among tho AnGeS.
But of the final pyrotechnics o
1869.
In those days the steamer ST
Mary's, Captain ]. W. Carlton
S gathered cotton from all the. planta
S ton wharNes below New Orleans an