Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-08


"A pcriwinkle and rhododendron OF
tho Hargis burying ground, the
hrass hand at the Jackson skating RINK
flashing out Waiting at the Church.
while hand-crossed and clasped over hano'
1ac,.eon Youth and Jackson beauty, the
,,a n,,ffug a cigarette, the other CHEW
inc a wsd Of gum rolled round ana rouhu
together over the gIarinsly new pine floor
IN tho RHYTHM O. the gay, mock mournIui
music hall melody
-rl,ourf tho rink was now running full
1Iast il had been less than an hour since
the morning sun. breaking through a vast
cleft in the mountains, encirciinS ciose
abcut first began TO shed. not TO say
waste. its flood of glory upon the sordld
ugliness of the new little hentuckE 'ltS.
But then the newly incorporated IKE tile
newly rich must needs take It's pleasures
violently and in large chunks, ana the
civ O. Jackson is very newly fnCorpor-
ated. IT;
ANYTHING newer, anything more unln-
Wiling than this struggling town OF hfteeh
. hundred souls it were difficult To inldSIie
Perched high up in the businesses Oh tHe
Alleghenies. in region long llaccessipie
10 the influences of civilization anu ON!
within the last few years brought INTO
railroad communication with the great
world outside the crude little settlement
seems to threaten every moment 10 iaH
:aart and roll down the laurei-SroWh
mountain sides. SO inorganic Is IT'S deNil-
,nay-care system of muddy alleys anu
muddier streets. with loose Jointed ana
sia:ternly wooden structures.
Looking up the steep incline leading
from tn. rink. by courtesy. Main street
uupayed like every other. ana mock ueep
in tie mud now steaminS i'll the warm
sunshine could see pigs roofing III
front of '.Hargis Brothers Mammoth De-
nartment store" while directly opposite
piacidly across the threshold OF tne hlti7
courthouse which the same Hargls PROM
ers and their bloody feudS have mace MS
for:c; one gentle creature, little more
inuuisitivc than the others. having wan
dered around to the rear and pushed her
mcaly black nose between the bars OF tne
jail window. that Jail with winch TIE
hersc OF ffargis and their feudal enemies
aHk" are only too familiar. and where i4ia'
giIded youth. young Beech Hargls. was
this morning laneuishinS for the mnrder
in a drunken rage of his father
Three days had passed since the long
funeral procession had moved slowly
down the mountainside TO lay the oody
of James Hargis in the grave. DURING
those three days all business had peeh
suspended. The skating rink had been
shut up, its noisy brass band silent.
closed TOO, either by dictates OF par
tisanship or of policy. had been every
store. from the rival emporium conducted
by Judge Taulbce to the little bakeshop
or woman widowed by HaTeis bullet.
oven Sam CockerilI, the sworn enemy or
the Harsis clan. had the grace to close
his pooIrooIn. The American flag. hung
at haIf-mast on the hIlyard over the
court house door, had been indeed IL flag
OF truce for the HarGises. the Cockerills
and the Cardwclls, and consequently
flag of truce for all their several rctalners
and vassals; and with such eXcelient re-
suit that Notwithstanding the fact that
more than eight thousand persons from
thu feudal mountain counties had turned
on, To the ''buryin." not d shot was fired
in jackson that day.
And now the prescribed period of civic
mourning having elapsed for him who
had been alike it's chief judiciary. its po-
litical boss it's fCudal lord. its most spir-
tied public citiZen-now. on this the morn
ing OF the fourt.l day after that great
pageant the greatest that Bloody Breath
III county has ever seen jackson had
awakened bright and early Ia resume the
even tenor of its way: albeit Jackson s
way has lone since earned for the am
bilious little county seat a no less sonor-
Gus and solemn sobriquct than The City
of Sudden Death.
So much for the writer's impressionistic
view of the feud- ridden mountain town
which has just witnessed the elimination
of a series of tragedies which for dramatic
intensity and medieval glamour stand out
darkjy luFid and terrlpe even IN Ken
lucky. the breeding place and home of the
feud If YOU would find the place the
map you can easily do so, provided you
use your small boys geography and not
Your own. With your finger you will fol-
low the north fork of the Kentucky river
as il winds through the fringe-ef noun
famous counties along the southeastern
borders of Kentucky. You will look for
a particular spot in Breathitt county
where this north fork turns upon itself
sharply. making almost a loop. and there
YOU will find the town of Jackson, whence
James Hargis ruled as absolutely over the
seventeen big counties composing that
congressional district as ever did any
feudal lord of the middle ages oyer
much less extensive territory.
Just across the river from the little dot
that stands for Jackson you will see a
tiny peninsula which is in this case al
most an island. formed by the detour OF
the river already described. This little
peninsula constitutes what is known as
The Pan Bowl. and has been since time
immemorial the birthplace aRd breeding
place of the house of Hargis. Ii is like
wise their family burial ground. Less
than fifty feet wide at its neck. which,
continuing thus for more than half mile.
suddenly broadens like the bowl of
Iuag-ta ndied dipper. its seven and a half
miles Of circumference grt with jagged