Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1908-02-16
MYSTERY OF nLoopv rEuDs.
Contest Of Race Elsments at the
Bottom of Many Grimes.


The tragic end OF James IIargls at
Jackson. KY. calls attention once
again to the peculiar conditions OF
lie which have marked State long
known as "the dark and bloody
grouna." That n man who hal taken
several lives In the course OF bitter
feud should die by the shots fired by
his own son only emphasize the
strangeness of social organization
where life is held so cheap and where
the guilty so often escape the punish
ment provided for by law.
1t has been 4 puzzle which no one
has solved. Why these reud condi-
lions should prevail in that one sec
ton OF country far more than any
where else is hard to understand.
Why men meet in n public place and
slash each other with knives or shoot
each other az dogs are shot, is u
question which has aroused the
wonder of many u student of Am
erican social life.
Some of them have traced the
split back to old Virginia. where
the orughers forms of English spor
found early Judgment The fox-
hunting horse racing. coclt- fighting
Virglnian who loved TO wrestle with
this opponent or took delight In the
game OF gotiglng where the fist ceased
lis attempt to push out the eye only
when the cry, kings cruise" was
heard may have been the ancestor of
the Kentucky feudist. as 1t was OF
the Kentucky pioneer.
The eyer-ready rifle of the wilder
ness hunter who crossed the noun
tains pierced the gaps, or fioated
Gown tho streams into the western
country may have been the legitimate
predecessor of the murderous gun OF
the later generation of Kentuckians.
The Facility in the use of firearms
and the common training to shoot
straight and sure which were abso-
lutely necessary In the daye of Boone
and men of his type may have brought
Its own natural development I'm the
qulckness In handling the trigger
which has marked the fights of a cen
tury
The contest OF different race ele-
ments as the men of the East of the
old English blood met In the strug-
gle for tho possession OF the land with
the hardy pioneers of Scotch. Irish
and German extraction who pushed
their way southwark along the noun
tains and through the valleys to turn
aside toward the attractive lands in
Kentucky may offer some explanation.
The division of families brought
about by the civil war may have added
It's element OF dscord. The peculiar
conditions which developed in the
border states when the war broke out
are we'll remembered. NeighborIng
families made different choices. One
followed the flag OF the union. Anoth-
ed went with the South. In many
cases the breach was never healed
In some one of these theories, in Il
combination OF them. or In none of
them the origin OF the Kentucky feud
and the cheapness OF human life in
that commonwealth may be discover
ed. There i; = practically unworked
field for the future Investigator OF So
cial conditions. In state whose his
tory from many points of view Is more
interesting than that of any other in
the United States this unsolved prob
lem remains one OF the most puzzling
which have been presented to those
who have tried to understand and In
terpret the peculiar phases which
have confined to make the story of
the American people.