The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1915-03-25

local militia company, and to dri
them, provided he could stand answe
able for their conduct. The younge
Souths took gleefully to that idea. TIL
mountain boy makes a good soldier
once he has grasped the idea of dif
cipline. For ten weeks, they drille
daily In squads and weekly In platoons
Then, the fortuitous came to pass
Sheriff Forbin died. leaving behind hin
an unexpired term OF two years, ant
Samson was summoned hastily Il
Frankfort. He returned, bearing hi
commission as high sheriff, though
when the news reached Hixon, there
were few men who envied him his
post, and none who cared to bet thai
he would live to taka his oath OF Office
That August court day was a mem
orable one In Hixon. Samson South
was coming to town to take up his
duties. Every one recognized It as the
day OF final issue, and one that could
hardly pass without bloodshed. The
Hollmans, standing in their last
trench. saw only the blunt question OF
Hollman-South supremacy. For years,
the feud had fiared and slept and
broken again into eruptions, but never
before had a South sought to throw
his outposts Of power across the wa
tiers Of Crippleshin. and into the coun-
ty seat. That the present South came
bearing commission as an officer of
the law only made his effrontery the
more uncomfortable.
Samson had not called for outside
troops. The drilling and disciplining
of his own company had progressed in
silence along the waters of Misery.
They were a slouching, unmilitary
band OF uniformed vagabonds. but they
were longing to fight, and Callomb had
been with them, tirelessly whipping
them into rudimentary shape. After
all, they were as much partisans as
they had been before they were issued
state rifles. The battle, If it came,
would be as factional as the fight OF rs
years ago, when the Hollmans held
the store and the Souths the court
house. But back OF all that lay one es-
sential difference, and 1t was this diff
ference that had urged the governor
to stretch the forms Of law and put
such dangerous power into the hands
OF one man. That difference was the
man himself. He was to take drastic
steps, but he was to take them under
the forms of law, and the state execu-
tive believed that, having gone through
worse to better, he would maintain the
improved condition.
Early that morning, men began to
assemble along the streets of Hixon;
and to congregate into sullen clumps
with set faces that denoted a grim.
unsmiling determination. Not only the
Hollmans from the town and immedi-
ate neighborhood were there, but their
ehaggier, fiercer brethren from remote
creeks and covers, who came only at
urgent call, and did not come without
intent of vindicating their presence.
Old Jake Holman, from 'over yon" on
the headwaters of Dryhole creek,
brought his son and fourteen-year-old
grandson, and all of them carried Win
chesters. Long before the hour for
the courthouse bell to sound the call
which would bring matters to a crisis,
disappeared from the streets,
and front shutters and doors closed !
themselves. At last, the Souths began
70 ride in by half-dozens, and to hitch |
haf OF tho DO thaU a1Cn |
ell into groups well apart. The two
factions eyed each other somberly, |
sometimes nodding or exchanging |
for the time had not yet
,ome to fight. Slowly, however, the
Iollmans began centering about the
ard, and entered the empty jail, and
'Verran the halls and offices OF the
uilding itself The Souths, now COM
ng In q solid stream, flowed with
quail unanimity to Mowers hotel,
ear the square. and disappeared in
ide. Besides their rifles, they carried
but not one OF the uni
orms which some of these bags con-
aimed, nor one of the cartridge belts,
ad yet been exposed to view.
Stores opened. but only for desul-
,ry pretense OF business. Horsemen
ID their mounts away from the more
ublic racks, and tethered them to
ack fences and willow branches in
lie shelter of the river banks, where
ray bullets would not find them.
The dawn that morning had still
cen gray when Samson South and
aptain Callomb had passed the Mil
r cabin. Callomb had ridden slowly
/ around the turn Of the road, and
aited quarter of a mile away He
as to command the militia that day,
Sss3N