The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1909-06-25
BY ]. V. KNIGHT.

JAChoON, NY, June 90 w IN tHt
| shooting here a fortnight ago OF I'D
Callahan. successor OF Judge JAS. har'
. gis as boss of bloody Breathitt county.
the famous Hargis feud has been re-
| opened Hardly n mountaineer around
here but expects more killings daily
Nowhere in the world are conditions
like those here in Jackson. The law
Of the rough Kentuckians--a life for o
life is their gospel One might sp-
| peal to the friendship OF one OF the Sc
ignorant uncouth giants at any time,
but to his mercy never.
Since word came from Callahan 8
bedside that he would recover. people
in.Jackson say. "Therell be another
KILN when Ed gets out; he is a.goin
10 make someone pay dear for hat
there shot"
From the day when old Uncle Bill
Strong was ambushed and murdered
near here nearly II years ago, I'D Cal
lahan has been In the front rank OF
fcudlsts.
3Ie started out i'm this task OF re-
venge and man-killing as an enemy Of
Judge Hargis. then the richest man in
Jackson. lie and Hargis joined in the
task of getting a third man they
man they disliked jim Cockrill, was
killed
The revenge Of these mountain dwell
lers Is swift and terrible, their ideas
Of punishment their own.
Nobody blames the men who shot
Callahan. but surprise is expressed
that the aim of the would be assassin
was rot more accurate.
Women Are Barefoot
The town and the customs here are
different. Jackson today is full Of
country people. Many OF the women
arc barefoot and some never had shoes
on in their lives TheS wear no head
dress. except perhaps a shawl and are
the pack-horses OF the family
Men with biblical names like Abnor,
Jared. Uriah and Ezekiel go about
from store 10 store swapping tobacco
and talking about Galatians shooting.
Scripture gave them their names. but
ot scripture they know little
Every store has its liquor at one end
OF the counter for the customers. In
many saloons there is a small jug at
the end Of the bar that is most III de-
mand. A drink from a bottle Is as
natural Il courtesy as a handclasp.
Moonshine whisky, some might call
1T. but &c these mountaineers II IS just
white ticker
ASK any man on the streets Of jack
son when the mountain dwellers come
to town. what he thinks of the feuds
here. and he seems surprised. Death,
10 their minds. was a Just and matter
of-fact punishment for "A man who
would plot death TO his enemy. The
law doesn't count.
Get your man" is the rule.
The trials of the feudists and their
confessions. made known after the
.Marcum killing. are an old story. But
the fact that similar scenes are TX
pected again here in Jackson has
luickened the town with excitement.
Hate Is Undying Trait.
Hate is the most undying trait Of
these mountaineers. Their bodies are
large; their hands are gnarled from
dragging a pittance from their scanty
farms or chopping wood In the timber
lands on the hills near here.
Made giants bodily by their work,
vet the average Kentuckian Is pig
my mentally.
There Is no big game which can he
hunted here, yet in nearly every cabin
hangs Il Tlllt. II ID Idlfly Spohth W.
but IL is a bigger instrument of their
law than is the figure Of blindfolded
Justice In other communities.
Old Judge Jim Hargis is dead, Cur
tbs Jett and Tom White two leaders OF
the Hargis clan, are in prison. and Ed
Callahan is lying near death from a
bullet wound. But others are pointed
out in Jackson almost any day as men
who never shoot twice at the same
foe
In appearance John Smith, one CT
these, and Callahan. have much in
common, Both have stubby, illtrim-
med mustaches, and both the SHARP
slanting eye OF the mountaineer.
When Smith shot down Or. b. D.
Cox in cold blood, he talked about 1t
afterward Just as a farmer would in
recounting the animals he had killed
on "butcherin' day"
I'VE stayed under a shed about
half an hour" he testified, "and while
we was there Ed Callahan came in
and told us TO be sure and not miss
him. And when Dr. Cox did start from
his Office and came down Just across
the street from us. Ebert Hargis call.