The Winchester news., 1909-02-24

knows 1t, Newt among the others.
Time was when the inter-family quar-
rel was common enough, when real
vendettas lent a romantic charm to
existence In Lee and Breathitt and
/ the surrounding counties. 1t began,
I so Newt said, when three regiments
were recruited from Breathitt county
in 81. Two of them were enlisted In
the Federal cause, the third fought
with the Confederates. Relations be-
tween the first two and the third were
almost amicable as compared with
those that existed between the two
that fought on the same side. The
two Federal regiments apparently en-
deavOred to eXterminate each other.
Then, upon the return of these noun
tain soldiers when the war was over,
there were several old scores to set
/ tie. The settling was transacted In
neighbOrly way, and gradually it
became proper, when ones relative
had been put under a Hic jacet, to
take down ones shotgun, peep
through the barrel to see if it needed
oil, and then go over the mountain
or through the gap to even up matters
by shooting the son of the man who
had shot the father of whom you
were the son. The region, therefore,
even, today, when feuds no longer
thrive, and political murders, hired
assassins, and a corrupted criminal
law have resulted in such disgraces
as are exemphfed in the recent his
tory of Breathitt, still has inherited
traits which produce the skilled
marksman, the ambushed lier- wait,
the nervous trigger-finger, the power
of hate, the cool nonchalant disre-
gard of human life,. the keenness of
sporting spirit, and withal the most
adept man-killers in the world. Newt
confessed with shameless pride that
even in this class he had reputation
of high standing.
Like mank of the bad men of the
region, he traces an ancestry of pure
Anglo-Saxon strain back to very aris-
tocratic Virginia forbears; in truth,
the locality that raised him is as
thoroughly American as any corner
of the United States. 1t is so COM
pletely American that it exhibits the
beginnings of return to the aborig-
inal tyne. In certain regions of the
kentucky mountains the white man
has begun to assume the charact teris-
tics Of the native savage.
A White Savage.
The 1.-THE, bOny frame, the sinewed
! limbs, the straight black hair. the high
cheek k-bones, the stoicism, the ten
dency to laziness, the peculiar and
rigid but curiously limited codd of hon
or, the alert animal senses of sight
hearing and smell, and the sneakine
cunning, used to trap the enemy, al
are suggestive of the North Ameri-
can Indian. Were this region to re-
main isolated for a few centuries
longer it might give the anthropolO-
gists something to think about. Newt
Pound is a sample Of the phenome-
non.
He has, let it be understood, never
served a day in the penitentiary foI
his peculiarities, and it is question
able whe ther there is enough evidence
against him to convict him in a court
of law for breaking those particular
game laws that prohibit killing.
But it is commonly supposed that he
has a right to cut more than one
notch on his revolver, which he af-
fectiOnately refers to as "she," and
therefore his lawyer, who is some
thing of a scalawag but who was
kind enough to arrange the interview
with him, suggested that in writing
his memoirs of the chase his real
name be oncealed-certainly in case
the author planned at some future
day to return to that part of Ken
lucky.
Newt himself. turning back from
his contemplation of Bucktown, de-
manded my promise that | would
call him by some other name than his
own, and that in. writing of his pur-
suit of Kelly Barker $50 called here
in) even the names of places be
changed. '1've spent lot of time
dom this thing right" he explained
"and / don't want no mistakes" A
wistful expression came into his face
One felt that he was wishing that the
situation were different, that things
might be arranged so that his
achievements and his own name might
be put in real print to the glory OF
his family and his aim.
"Wen," said l, "your hunting
When you go after a man, how dc
you get him?"
He laughed.
r.. OIL -e 4. r...I