The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1913-01-22
BOY HEIR TO BLOOD
FEUD In KENTUCKY
Sister of Lad Seeks to Save Him
From Being Future Leader of a
Feudist Clan.

Feudist Clan.
Winchester. Ky. sps&r to At
lanta Journal, Jan. 1S: The fu
ture of feudism in Breathitt county
is in the hands of an 11-year-old
boy. He is little Hargis Callahan,
heir to the feud of the Callahan clan
against the Deatons. 1t rests with
him whether the vendetta that has
cost so much of the best blood of
Kentucky mountaineers shall cease,
or go on taking its horrible toll of
lives.
The feudists regard him as the
natural avenger of his father, who
died with his boots on last May, at
Crockettsville, when an enemy's
bullet shipped through his
store window and lodged in his
heart. Fifteen men are on trial for
that shooting here in the Winches-
ter court house, and the town is
thronged with feudal clansmen.
They sit around the stoves and spin
the folk yarns of the mountains and
review the old killings and old
hates-and they wonder what little
Hargis Callahan will do when he
grows up.
Outsiders think that the trial will
end the fued. If the men who did
the killing are convicted. But the
clansmen know better A jury
could as easily change the ordained
courses Of the stars or regulate the
tides as quiet the elemental passions
OF the vedetta, that ruu on from
generation to generation, with their
heritage OF hate from long forgotten
causes.
And little Hargis? He accepts his
heritage, Just as he accepts his re-
semblance to his father, and as he
accepts his religion, and the politics
OF the Callanhan clan.
II expect to get even for all this
some day." he says, with a snap of
his Jaws and cold, straight look
from his childish, steel-gray eyes.
And Hargis can already shoot
straight!
In the court room, behind the
lawyers for the prosecution, sits Mrs
Lillian Callahan Gross, a daughter
OF Ed Callahan. She is a graduate
of a woman's college, 1t was she
who, to track down her fathers
slayers, rode through the mountains
day and night for two weeks after
Ed Callahan was killed.
And she is fighting to break the
spell OF destiny that has already
placed its claim upon the child, her
brother.
II am in this fight for the women
of Breathitt county" she said. THE
men fight, but the women suffer. It's
about time the feud came to an end.
Il want to make Breadthitt coun-
ty so safe that no wife or mother in
the county will have to worry when
her husband or son goes out of
doors.
am doing this to save my little
brother. He already has that hate
In his heart. He understands. Our
children get these hates early. They
pass on from father to son. It's SO
terrible. Our children are SO helm
less. They draw the feud spirit in
with their breath.
Il intend to take my brother
away from Breathitt county. I am
planning to send him to the Masonic
home at Louisville. am going to
try to educate the feud out of him.
"Oh, I know how hard 1t will be.
It's fighting fate-that's what IT Is.
But a start must be made somewhere
and some time. I'll do my best, and
then II the feud keeps on 1t won't
be my fault"
John Stone, an old man from the
mountains, wagged his head
1T can't be done," he said, "it's
In the blood. There Is no end I'm
sight for the feud If these men
now on trial are convicted the feud
Will be checked for a while and
then their friends will take It up.
If they amt convicted there will
be new cause for getting revenge.
Can you stop the river? Well, you
can't stop the feud, either"
---------
a.