Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1918-04-04
HOSTILITIES

Lawrence Kelley was possessed Of
a forty acre farm on the school Sec
ton, and head that convinced him
that he and his farm were Of far more
consequence in the world, than the
balnace Of the township. Carrot
KehOe came from Ireland with a large
family in number, and concerning
his wife large in size, she weighing
over three hundred pounds. Keno
himself, as we'll as his purse, were
quite diminuative, SO he built hut
in the woods near Lyman's Corners
where he and his family lived for a
space in Strengthened circumstances.
During this time he and Kelley were
quite good friends for it was always
his delight to find someone poorer
than himself, to whom he could boast
of his imagined position. But, final
Iy Kehoe fell heir to a small fortune
by the death of relative in Ireland
and ast0nished the whole Of our neigh
bOrh0Od by the purchase of a fine
half section Of wild prairie lying be-
tween Rattle and Johnson Bluffs.
KehOe at once, on becoming a landed
proprietor, assumed Iordly airs such
such as Kelley could not brook, and
disputes soon arose which finally re-
suited in a pitched battle, in which
Keh0e was severely beaten by Kelley
with a stick Of stove wood. A young
daughter Of KehOe was a witness Of
4 l. IL, c~,s- .I,4
she received was the cause Of her
death which occurred shortly after
Before this battle, however KehOe
and q majority Of his neighbors had
had more or less trouble, until it be-
came at length, as Kelly used to say,
"The lading tOepeck in conversations"
Law and law points we're argued pro
and con until even us youngsters were
wise" to many Of them. That was
why Bill Kelley and [ were not called
as witnesses Of the Kelley-KehOe
fight. We saw it all, though hidden
from sight ourselves behind an old
! log stable. This important point was
unknown to the belligerents Kehoe
| built a mile and a quarter Of Glitch
fence on the west half Of his farm,
which was the kind commonly used in
the early days. This fence was made
by removing the sod from strip about
three feet wide along the ditch line,
standing on edge at a slight angle,
and filling at the back with the dirt
from the ditch, which was about
three feet deep, with sloping sides
KehOe proceeded to set currant bush
es at various places on these ditch
banks with the Intention it was said,
! Of enticing people to partake of the
| fruit in order that he might have them
taken for trespass on his "estate."
He had legal advisor in Lodi who
very unwisely aggravated matters by
j telling KehOe to appoint a funeral
each day and to see that a corpse was
provided. "Pat" Moran was the first
one Kehoe selected to represent the
corpse according to the lawyers adj
vice, the affair taking place at our
house during fathers absence. For
tunately Pat armed himself with an
old case knife and baracaded himself
in the kitchen and dared Kehoe to
break in on pain of instant death. On
fathers arrival KehOe was sent about
his business and the funeral post
pOned. The east half of Kehoe's
farm remained unfenced for some
time, and across it diagonally ran the
trail from our settlement to Lyman's
Corners. KehOe had repeatedly
warned off all trespassers on this por-
ton of his "estate," but as there was
no other road, people continued to try
for passage that way. During this
time Mrs. Veitchs brother, Robert
Lang, died at Lyman's Corners, and
the services Of Larry Kelley were en-
gagged to take Mrs Veitch and such
others as wished to go from our set
tlement to the funeral. My mother
and | were in the load, and had scarce
ly entered on the forbidden ground
before KehOe, who no doubt had been
on the lookout for US, rushed out
swinging his arms like fails and or
dered us off on pain of legal prOsecu-
ton and worse. Mrs. Kelley, who was
Will u.s. was HuCH IIlSHIeHeu anu
begged Larry to turn back, but
Mrs. Veitch arrayed in deep mourn
ing. jumped up after the manner of a
Jack-in9the-box. grabbed the reins
from Larrys hands as hn was about
to turn around, and shook her clenched
fist at Kehoe, and yelled, "Come on.
We damned scoundrel an oil FIX yez!"
AS this Amazon had given Fehoe a
sound thrashing with a horse'n bride
a short time before, he concluded val
or's best part was discretion. and with
drew and thus another funeral of
Kehoe's was postponed.
THE SPINNING AND DYEINC