The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-08-11

into existence. In these mountains
there were no courts and when there
was any difficulty TO settle, the moun-
taineers had to settle it for them
selves, they were a result Of self de-
Tense in a place where there were no
friendly courts of arbitration. A man
who had grievance, was himself the
Judge ana the jury and the court and
the sheriff and the eHecutioner. They
came to have an exaggerated idea of
their individual rights, and this
coupled with the Irish spirit of fight
and the Scotch spirit which broke
before it bent, you have cause for
feuds.
The first feud was back in 1910 ut
Morehead in Dowan county, Kentucky,
between the Tollivers and the Craigs,
and every other feud in Kentucky
came from that. When all the Craigs
and Tollivers were killed off, the
families into which they had married.
took 1t up and it became the Strons.
Annie feud, then It became the French
Eversole feud, and so on to the pres
ent day. Now a feud fight doesn't
mean so many rounds. but 1t means a
fight to the death. And so you see
why it was a desperate thing for ma
to ask these forty odd men to meet
mo that night in the mill shed. ! went
early for I was afraid to have them
come together and begin to talk sat
up at one end of the room and | no
ticed that when they came, the Burns
and the Aliens and the Towards all
sat on one side and the Hensleys and
the Bishops and the Bakers all got on
the other side After they had all
come, got up and said you know we
are raising our boys for slaughter
When we lay down our Winchesters
the boys are going to pick them UP
Now let us raise an institution, a
school to teach them something bet
ter
II saw those men from both sides
rise up and come toward me and [
didn't know just what was going to
happen, and one said, Boys, lets do
it II It's our last act | saw men
shake hands there, who had been en-,
emies for four generations. You see
it was the thought Of educating their
children that brought them together
We met few days later in church.
house and chose twelve trustees and
when we got the charter and came to
sign 1t, twelve of those trustees had
to make their mark. I'd had seven
teen months of education, and they
made me president. And SO we start
ed school with not dollar in the
world and mighty little education. bu.
with d great vision. We got a piece
of ground and got two crow bars an;
fashioned them into crude stone cut
tiers and went to work on the foundd
ton. Twenty other mountaineers
joined me and we built the first BUILD
ing We opened the school with 100
pupils, July J., 1900; there were two
other teachers beside myself and we
taught without salary. Now we have
five hundred pupils in all grades from
to high scaool, taught
by twenty teachers. We have a
teachers training course and in the
fifteen years. have turned out thr'e
teachers who are teaching In
the log schools all over Kentucky.
Sixty dollars q year pays all the ex-
penses of one pupil for year and
only about half are able to pay it. We
have a track OF land of 1900 acres and
the boys and girls earn part of their
expenses there. We haven't much
but the children of til
Bakers and the Towards touch elbows
at school and in Sunday school and
there can't be any feud between them"
His Personality PIeases.
The lecture was delightful and the
story took a grip on the hearts of the
that will never let go; but
back Of the story was the personality
of the man. He is mountaineer In
every movement of his body and in
every angle of vision, but with only
seventeen months of schooling he has
a vocabulary which meets every need
of lecturer He has an accent froEl
the mountains which it is to be hoped
he will never lose. He has the rarest
sense Of humor and an hour spent with
him in conversation is an event in
ones life never to be forgotten.
The preludes of the afternoon and
evening were given by the Heron
Sisters, quartette Of musicians who
play all sorts of instruments and who
play them well.
The evening program was given by
who gave a half dozen
character sketches, making up for the
character before the audience. He had
a fund of jokes and stories which
kept the audience laughing during the
hour and a half of his entertainment.