The Ordway new era., 1916-12-22

| passing that way reflected on the an
nails of that dwelling and added in
postscript: "Leastways not this side
! OF hell"
The story OF the Hatfield Mccoy
wars" which have made OF the roof
tree of the eastern divide land be
leaguered and unique.
In the war between the Hayeys and
the McBriars there was more than the
| forgotten episode OF a stray razorback
which was not surrendered to its law
full owners. They had for decades
hated and killed each other with a
fidelity of bitterness that made all
their truces and intermarriages fail OF
permanent peace.
Between the territories where they
had originally settled stretched bar
rier OF hills broken by only one gap
The McBriars had made their first
habitations east of that ridge and gap
where the waters ran toward the sea
The Haveys had set up their power
to the west, where the creeks and
springs fed the rive,s that went down
to the Blue-Grass and to Tennessee
Had the two clans been content TO re
main respectively on the sunrise and
sunset slopes of the backbone. they
might never have clashed, but there
were bright-eyed women to the west
and east. Feminine Havey eyes lured
McBriar suitors. and McBria- girls
seemed 10 the Havey men worth any
dare that fate might set So it has
been since young MontagUes and
Capulets ignored deadlines-aud long
before. Smoke went up from cabins
on both sides that housed men and
women OF both clans. Hatred scat
tered and set up new points OF i2tec-
ton all along Tribulation and beyond
its headwaters.
In Civil war and subsequent politics
a line OF fierce cleavage had yz~rzt
between them-and each faction had
been power.
It was to the leadership o: such :
clan that Bad Anse had succeeded
when hardly twenty-one by the death
of father whose end had not co1e
upon bed of illness.
1t was to the herding OF such a flock
that he had ridden away from the
cabin OF FIetch McNash on the night
when the girls scornful tauut fol
lowed him.
II was an unfortunate thing that
Cal Douglas should, on a February
afternoon, have shot to death his
Noah Watt, even IL. as
Cal earnestly assured the Jury, he
was Jest obleeged an behoIdea ter DO
It." All the circumstances OF the az
fair were iuopportune for his EfrErnaa
and the kinsnen Of the man Who died
with bullet through his vitzLs-
Cal bore a name FOR surIy character.
and even in land where grudge-bear-
Ing is a religion he was deemed ultra
tanatical in tanning the fame OF ha.
tired. Noah Watt himself was little
loved by either the Hayeys. into whose
family he had married, or the McBri-
ars. from whom he sprang. Neigh
bors told OF frequent and violent bick
erings between the man and his
shrewish wife. who was the twin SIS
ter of Cal Douglas.
Cal Douglas an Noey Watts wom-
an air es much alike es two peas in a
pod" went neighborhood pronounce
ment. They air both soured on
mankind an they glories in human
Had the fight on that winter eve
ming ended in the death of both par
ticipants. McBriars and Haveys would
alike have called it a gentle riddanc.
and dropped the matter where it stood.
But since Havey had slain a Nc.
Briar and the Havey still lived 1t
could not. in honor. be so dropped. 1t
left an uneven score.
Since the mountaineer has little to
do in the winter and spring save Cos
sip, the affair grew in Importance
with rehearsing, and to each telling
was added new features 1t was sig
nificantly pointed out east OF the ridge
that Noah had incurred the displeas.
ure of Bad Anse Havey by the suspi-
cion of tale-bearing to old M!lt Nc
Briar. 1t was argued that the particu-
lar wife-beating which led to the trag.
edy might have passed as uneventfu,ly
as several similar episodes heretofore.
had not the heads Of the Haveys made
it a pretext for eliminating a McBriar
who dwelt in their midst and carried
news across the ridge to his own
people.
For several years the feud had
slept. not the complete sleep of death,
but the fitful, simmering sleep of eau
tious animosity. But neither clan felt
SO Overwhelmingly strong as to court
an issue Just yet and. realizing the
desperate quality of any outbreak
both Milt McBriar over yon" and
Anse Havey over here had guarded
the more belligerent kinsmen with
Jealous eye. They had until now held
them checked and leashsd. though
growing.
q - - /.