The Washington herald., 1906-12-24
KillingOf BywaterS May0pen
Old Political Fights.
FACTIONS ARE WELL DEFINED
Fends of Ballot, Fierce i'm Past, but
Nearly Healed, Nay BE Famed TO
blazing Heat Once More by Act of
Strother BOyS-Widow to Testify
Against Physician in This City.



/ the visit OF Detective Cornwall. of the
| Washington police force. it is intimated
I that although there is some division
among the members Of the family on the
subject, Mrs. Viola Bywaters, whose hus-
/ hand. William Bywaters. was shot by
/ his brothers-in-lsw shortly after he mar
/ ried their sister a week ago Saturday,
/ will go to Washington when the case Of
/ DR.. Leon is called for trial He is the
/ physician who was implicated by her
statement to the coroner's jury. and it is
understood that pressure may be brought
! 10 bear TO have Mrs Bywaters go to
/ Washington to testify against him If ne
/ is identified as the physician in the case.
/ That the shooting Of Bywaters viii do
much to open old political and social
/ breaches in CuIpeper and CuIpeper
/ County is the belief Of many people who
/ have viewed the matter dispassionately.
/ but the principals in the two factions viii
/ say little concerning their future attitude.
The friends of Bywaters claim that the
/ shooting was cold-blooded murder. while
/ the followers Of the Strother boys insist
/ that they simply invoked the "unwritten
/ law Of Virginia.
/ The honor code" Of the early days is
still greatly respected in the Piedmont
! section Of Virginia It. too. deals with
! the 'uuwritten law" but it says that
when the man marries the young woman,
I the right Of vengeance ceases, he having
/ made the amende honorable.
Were Chums a. Boys
Young Billy Bywaters and the
/ STROLLER boys were born and reared in
/ the county-in the foothills Of the Blue
Ridge Mountains. The Strothers are re-
+ lated 10 the ByWaters through their
/ mother. The Strother boys. with the ex-
! ception Of Phil" are older than By
4 waters. phil Strother and Billy" By
waters chummed together when they
were boys. and Bywaters was q frequent
visitor at Rotherwood, the strother home,
about four miles out Of town Tney
/ hunted foxes together. rode races, and in
/ dulged I'm other sports
/ Bywaters considered RotherwO0d as
much his home as any place. and he was
always Miss ViOla's escort TO the social
affairs Of the community. They rode
I after the hounds together and before
/ either was twenty years old Miss Viola
/ StTother was desperately in love with
/ her daredevil cousin, who rode Well
I owned the best pack Of hounds in the
county, was handsome, accomplished,
well educated. and rather thriftless.
/ He never appeared able 10 settle down
To making money. He was the idol Of his
mother. and seemed TO devote himself
more 10 her than 10 any other member Of
his own family lie was noted in the
countryside as the best dancer and il
was nothing for him 10 ride twenty or
+ twenty-five miles at ulsht to attend "a
dance. He was not In any sense "a
/ ''ladys man" yet more than half Of the
proudest young women OF CuIpeper and
! adjoining counties were in love with him.
Strothcrs Took to Politics.
! While young Bywaters was enjoying
! life without a care. and devoting himself
10 his horses and hounds, the Strother
boys were forging ahead in politics. Their
/ father. Col J. r. Strother. a valorous
/ Confederate soldier had represented the
/ county AT the Richmond assembly for
years. and they followed in his footsteps
in politics The Strother family had been
.
nearly l00 years.
/ Bywaters, although accepted by the
community as the sweetheart of Viola
/ Strother was affiliated in politics with
+ the patrician faction Of the Democratic
party. which is represented by the Rixey-
| Extraordinarily combination. The Rix-
eys are relatives Of Surg. Gen. Rixey,
Of the United States navy. while the Bar
/ bours are the relatives OF the former
president OF the Richmond and DanvilIe
Railroad Company. The GrimsIeys are
related to the Bywaters. Bywaters'
mother having been a Grimsley.
Billy Bywaters paid little attention
to politics except to follow his own i'm
mediate family, and in this way never
/ FLASHED with his cousins, the Strother
boys. The latter have not the social
polish of the opposing political faction,
but they could get out the vote and were
generally successful in electing their men
to office
/ A few years ago Billy Bywaters was
/ selected by the Rixey-Barbour faction,
! because Of his popularity, to run for the
| Office Of county treasurer. then filed by
s. r. Smith, an adherent of the Strother
faction. lie ran against Smith.
Beaten by Close Margin.
The campaign was the most heated
known in that section. Everybody
wanted to vote for Bywaters, but the
Strother faction put on the screws and
kept their followers in line. Smith. it
is sail was compelled to spend much
money 20 secure his election, and two
weeks before it took place wanted 10
withdraw. believing he was hopelessIy
beaten. The Strothers would not hear
Of It,
/ BY an arrangement with some Of By
waters managers il was decided 70 close
the saloons the day the primaries were
held. This was fatal 20 Bywaters, as the
/ saloonmen and the votes they controlled
believed Bywaters was becoming too
strait-Iaced politically. and voted for
Smith. Bywaters was beaten by less than
100 votes.
Old Factions Lined Up.
These breaches. of late years so poorly
defined as to be almost blOtted out, have
reopened. and as pretty nearly every one
in the county is related to one side or the
other, it is probable that people who have
been on friendly terms for the past ten
or twelve years viii again follow opposite
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