Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-05-02

more a Virginia mountaineer has ex-
pressed his opinion of the law by walk
ing into a courtroom and shooting down
q magistrate. Again the whole country
is shocked, Mortified and deeply inter-
ested, just as it was when the Aliens
shot up the court at Hillsville, Virginia,
a few years ago.
1t is curious how much attention these
mountain murders always attract. The
Allen case was covered by all the New
York papers and entertained the nation
for months. This shooting of Magis-
trate Sullivan by Edgar Morris has got
ten no such publicity as the Allen case,
but it has attracted much more attention
than murder usually attracts in the Unit
ed States.
The reason for this is the strange
character Of these mountain killings
their utter difference from the usual
crimes of civilization. Most of our muir
derers these days are degenerates, and
their crimes are characterized, above all
else, by cowardiee. But the mountain
murders are often committed by substan-
tial citizens who display great courage,
and seem to believe that they are doing
right. This strongly suggests that the
mountaineers have q code Of honor and
a point Of view entirely different from
those Of other Americans.
This, according to those who know the
mountain people, is exactly the truth,
According to Horace Kephart a writer
who spent three years III the Great
Smokey mountains Of Tennessee for the
purpose of studying the mountaineers,
they differ from the rest Of us chiefly
in two ways.
In the first place, they are still living
In the eighteenth century. 1t was IN the
eighteenth century that these people
came to the mountains, and large part
of them have been out of touch with
progress ever since When you learn
that many Of the Allegheny highlanders,
from Virginia to Alabama, have never
seen railroad train, you realize that
the above statement is not exaggerated.
Now. in the eighteenth century, hu-
man life was not valued as highly as at
present. When man considered him
self injured by another, bloodshed was
the only adequate reparation. In the
mountains this code remains n force
today.
The second difference between the
mountain people and the rest of US is
that they still live in a wilderness. All
of the good bottom lands in the Allie
gheny mountains are now occupied, but
they are SO few and scattered that a
large pare of the mountain people still
live, as the pioneers did century and
| more ago, surrounded by woods on all
sides, and out Of touch with other peo-
pie This sort Of life breeds self-re-
lance and O fierce Independence. The
chief characteristic Of men who live in
a wilderness anywhere is this intense
individualism, which will not brook being
bossed or interferred with in any way.
Such is Mr.. kephart's explanation OF
the mountain character, and the murder
of Sullivan by Morris certainly seems to
be evidence that it IS correct
According 70 the most reliable ac-
counts available, Sullivan vas a noun
tain magistrate who. in the opinion OF
Morris. was too Jealous in seeking to
prosecute the latter In fight at Il
mountain dance. Morris shot and wound
ed a man. Sullivan had Morris arrested
and made ont case against him. Nor
ris. whose father got him out of jail on
! $500 ball obtained a change Of venue on
| the ground that Sullivan was prejudiced
| against him. and was tried by two other
magistrates in the courthouse at Stan
dardsville, Va. Morris's claim that Sulli-
van had 1t in for him" seems to be sup
ported by the fact that Sullivan appeared
at the trial. and after the two ulagis.
| trates had rendered a decision. rose and
| made lengthy protest against the
| lightness Of the sentence theE imposed
| on Morris.
1t was this which incensed Morris
| He walked MP to within ten feet of
| Sullivan, who was reading from law
| book drew two reviewers and shot the
magistrate five times.
| His departure from the scene OF the
| crime, as described by the boy who was
| with him, was just as deliberate as bis
/ method of committing it. He walked
out Of the courthouse with his revolrera
| in his hands, and down the road toward
1 the mountains. He met n number OF the
neighbors along the way, and told most
| of them what he had done.
| II Just shot Son Sullivan up at the
| courthouse" he said. HE won't be
| hothering me auy more. Hes been
! troubling me long enough.
! None Of the people tried to arrest him
| and most of them did not exPtess much
| curiosity about the matter. In the
mountains mans feuds are his own
| business, and it would be bad manners
to ask many questions. Some of the
| people that Morris met along the road