The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1912-05-24

never brooked restraint nor tolerated
opposition.
ITO students of heredity it might be
interesting to speculate to what ex.
tent the soldier strain of the Allen
family was tinctured by less noble
more primitive influences engrafted
into 1t from the maternal side. The
mother of the seven Aliens who are
the middle aged men of the present
generation was the daughter of Uncle
Billy Combs, the toughest old
woodsman and trapper known to the
history or traditions of the Carolina
mountain border Uncle Billy died
at the age Of 104.
HE tramped the mountain fastness-
es habitually in his bare beet, the
heels and soles of which had become
so calloused and hooflike that he
thought nothing of killing diamond
back rattlers by tramping upon them.
Like other mountaineers of his
day. Uncle Billy not only trapped or
shot the wild beasts of the mountain,
selling their pelts, but he made a re-
spectacle income by domesticating the
wild honey bees and by raising droVes
OF mountain hogs, which, until the ad:
vent of warm weather, would run wild
and fatten upon the chestnuts and
acorns Of the forests"
Judge Bolen remembers Uncle
Billy" Combes in his later years. 81
recall" said the lawyer, that he once
showed me a spot on the mountain
where panther had leaped out from
cover and seized one of his mountain
hogs as his prey. Uncle Billy went
to his cabin, got his dogs out and then
summoned one or two Of his nearest
netghbors. For two days and nights
they stalked the panther, until the
dogs finally ran the beast into a tree,
where Uncle Billy shot it and skinned
it for its pelt"
Uncle Billy" Combes stood six feet
three inches tall and was muscled like
lion. He always wore buckskin
breeches and a fur trimmed round.
! about Jacket. On his head a coonskin
cap was poised rakishly, and until his
death, about As years ago, he never
was seen without his shot pouch and
powder horn.
Uncle Billy" though phenomenal.
! ly strong, was peaceable man among
his fellows, and died much beloved
and respected. His son Jed" how.
ever endowed with much of his IA.
theirs physique, was a noted bully OF
the mountalnside. Jed" had met and
conquered many rivals, but he had
never tried conclusions with Ike Beam
er. Ike was, like Jed" a giant in
strength and with sinews Of steel, but
Ike was neither quarrelsome nor am.
bilious to shine as a bully. "Jed" de-
termined to force him to fight, trump
ed up some imaginary debt and went
to Ike under pretense Of collecting 1t.
"Jed" knew it probably would give
him the opening he and his satellites
had been craving. Ike listened calm.
". Then he remarked: "Jed, you know
| don't owe you no such sum, but folks
is saying do owe you tolerable good
thrashing. Are you prepared to col
lect that debt, too?"
"Jed" needed no urging. The two
mountaineers went at it, and tradition
says it was a battle of giants. Time
and again the men, evenly matched,
had to cease from sheer exhaustion.
Then they clutched each other while
they painted for breath. 1t doubtless
would have been fought to a finish,
but friends of Beamer interfered.
Neither man had "squealed." Ac.
cording to the mountaineer code Of pu.
gilism, it had been a drawn fight.
Beamer had lost the index finger Of
his right hand, which "Jed" Combes
had worried in his teeth until he chew.
ed it off at the middle joint. Ike had
thrust his thumbs so remorselessly into
"Jed's" eye sockets that the bully was
blinded, and did not regain his sight
until weeks afterward.