Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1922-09-21
1T was then that dark DAVIS began

migrated here from the mountain dis.
trtcts Of Oklahoma. But they were
not so ignorant as many mountain
people, and they were Killers Per.
haps that's a word you don't know.
Perhaps you didn't know II existed. "A
killer Is a man that has killed other
men. It isn't hard thing to do al
all, Bruce, after you are used to 1t.
These people were used to It. And
because they wanted these great lands
my own fathers home-they bepan
5 to kill the ROSES.
.a'At first they made no war on. the
Folgers. The Folgers, you must know,
were good people, too, honest to the
last penny. They were connected, hy1
marriage only, to the Ross family.
They were on our side clear thsough.
At the beginning Of the feud the head
of the Folger family was just young
man, newly married. And he had a
son after while.
"The newcomers called 1t q feud.
But It wasn't feud---it was simply
murder. Oh, yes, we killed some Of
them. Folger and my father and all
his kin united against them, making a
great clan-but they were nothing in
strength compared to the usurpers.
Simon himself was just a boy when
It began. But he grew to be the great
est power, the leader of the enemy
clan before he was twenty-one.
You must know, Bruce, that my
own father held the land. But he was
so generous that his brothers who
helped him farm It hardly realized
that possession was In his name. And
father was a dead shot. It took
long time before they could kill him.,
The GOODNESS that had come over
her words did not in the least hide her
depth of feeling. She gazed moodily
into the darkness and spoke almost in
monotone.
"But. Simon-just boy then-and
Dave, his brother, and the others of
them kept after us like % many
wolves. There was no escape. The
only thing we could do was to fight
back-and that was the way we
learned to hate A man can hate,
Bruce, when he is fighting for his
home. He can learn 1t very well when
he sees his brother fall dead, or. his
father-or a stray bullet hit his wife.
A woman can learn It, too, as old FL.
mira did, when she finds her sons
body In the dead leaves. There was
no law here to stop it. The little sem.
blance Of law that was in the valleys
below regarded It as a blood:feud, and
didn't bother itself about 1t. Besides
at first we We're too proud to call for
help. And after our numbers were
few; the trails were watched-and
those who tried to 60 down into the
valleys never got there @
Zone after another the Rosses were
Killed, andsI needn't make It any
worse for you than I can help-by
telling Of each killing. Enough to say,
that at last no one was left except
a few old men whose eyes were too
dim to shoot straight, and my own
father. And was a baby then-just
born. 'ss =
Then one night my father-seeing
the fate that was coming down upon
them-took the last course to defeat
them. Matthew .Folger-a connection
by marriage --waK still alive. sipon's
clan hadn't attacked him yet. He had
no share in the land, but instead lived
in this house live in now. He had
a few cattle and some pasture land
!. farther down the Divide. There had
been no purpose In killing him. He
hadn't been worth the extra bullet.
One night my father left me asleep
and stole through the forests to talk
to him. They made an agreement.
have pieced it out, a little at time.
My father decided all his land to Fol-
ger.
= = can understand now. The enemy
clan pretended 1t was blood-feud
only-and that it was fair war to kill
the Roses. Although my father knew.
their real aim was to obtain the land.
he didn't think they would dare kill.
Matthew Folger to get It. He knew
that he himself would fall, sooner or
later, but he thought that to kill Fol-
ger would show their cards-and that
would be too much, even for, Simon's
people. But he didn't know. He
hadn't foreseen to what lengths they
would co. !. B,
Bruce leaned forward. : $50 they
killed-1datthew Eolger?'.. he asked.a
He didn't know that his face had
gone suddenly stark white, and that
curious glitter had come TO his eyes