Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-18
CLUBS
SUITOR AND
HUNTS FOR
BROTHER
Mountain Pastors Daughter Ex-
acts Vengeance With Hickory
Branch for ISLANDERS.

Away up in the foothills Of the
Blue Ridge Mountains, in the New
Home settlement of Cherokee County,
lives a 15-year-old mountain preach
er's daughter who is being acclaimed
heroine and a youn= woman of sur
passing courage.
Sitting the memories Of the love
she once thought she felt for him she
applied the lash to her sweetheart
Roy Owensby-until his back was
covered with welts and he begged for
mercy, because he made remarks
about her which she considered de-
rogatory to her character and dam
aging to her reputation.
Now, with a rawhide whip which
she has dedicated to the further graf
i1cation Of her vengeance, she is
seeking her sweetheart's brother. Ed
ward Owensby.
Her name is Belle Grier. and she is
the daughter OF the Rev. r. E. Grier
Of the New Home Baptist Church a
little rough-hewn house of worshin
that nestles at the foot OF mountain
SIX miles from Woodstock, Ga. In
other surroundings Miss Grier might
be a militant suffragette: in her ma
tive Georgia hills she is content 10 ba
Just what she is-a mountain maid
straight and slim as a pine tree
brown as a berry, tenderly shy and
exceedingly timid.
Lives High on Mountain.
Her home Is the humble cabin ~
her father, set high on a mountain
spur; her heart is the heritage of a
long line Of good women who have
made the Georgia mountaineer re-
ho"ned for courage and logged de-
Votlon to belief In the right.
She knows little of the worl,,ur.
nf the law and cares less. She rocked
not that the State Of Georgla-in tim.
might give her legal satisfaction for
the Islander which she says her lover
uttered. She had no thoughts of the
time when the stalwart mouptainaer
mad sworn he loved her. She was a
woman-a Georgia woman-and her
character had been attacked. To her
mind there was but one thing to do,
and that was to horsewhip the SLAM
derer until he coweringly admitted
that he lied
And she did It, and in the absenc.
OF horsewhip she took a good, stout
hickory stick, as large around as =
mans thumb and five feet long. and
pounded her sweetheart on the fare
and arms and back until he was black
and blue and frightened almost out
Of his senses. She ceased the punish
ment only when she was forciblv re-
strained by her father, who feared for
the life Of young Owensby.
Took Stick to Church.
In her pursuit of vengeance Miss
Grier ras the support of her father
and her mother and the approval Of
the community 1t was with the fun
knowledge and consent Of the Rev
Mr. GrIer that she took the hickory
stick to church with her last Sun
day and set upon young Owensby as
he lounged in his buggy with a chun.
and 1t is with the consent and at the
behest Of her father that she lies in
wait for the brother
She has done only what every
woman should do when she is in
suited" the Rev. Mr. Grier told a
Georgian reporter Tuesday after
/ noon. q am proud Of her. I gave
her the stick with which she whip
ped Roy Owensby, and I have given
her a brand-new whip. which I hope
she wears out on Roy Owensbys
brother, Edward. They have spread
scandal and SANDER against my
| daughter, and they deserve the worst
whipping she can give them.
| II am a peaceful man, and l have
tried TO raise my family TO love peace
and abhor strife. But there are times
/ when peace IS of no avail and pun
| ishment must be melted out to those
| deserving it. This was one of those
! times, and If she had not thrashed
Roy Owensby I would have been sad
| ~ disappointed.
Miss Grler declares that she does
not remember Just what happened
after she drove up to the church and
saw young Owensby sitting in a bug