The New York herald., 1922-01-24
Peace in Kentucky Mountains.

county, Kentucky, says that mem
bers Of the Benge-Martin feud fac
tions met In room Of the County
court house at that place last Satur-
day. shook hands and returned to
their homes. It adds that for the
first time in more than year resi-
dents of the region where the feud
was carried on can travel mountain
roads without fear OF being shot
from ambush, and that the dread
that their homes might be burned or
riddled with bullets during the dark
ness has gone from the hearts Of
the mountaineers.
Clay county is neighbor of Breath
lit and is separated from it by a mar
row wedge Of -Owsley county. The
feud code Of the mountain dwellers of
all these counties Is much the same.
When STEVE MARTIN in the winter
of 1920-21 killed WOODS BENGE near
Portersburg, on the western border
of Clay county, he started blood
feud which travelled eastward, in
volving the kinfolks of the Martins
and Benges as far as the valley Of
Goose Creek and the foothills Of the
Big Black Mountains on the Virginia
border.
Almost 300 men, 1t is reported,
Joined in the quarrel, more even than
in the Hatfield-McCoy feud. They all
went heavily armed and travelled in
parties for their coc,.aoa protection.
In clash on the streets of Porters-
burg between the two factions a
score or more were wounded and
three killed: later, homes of the
Benge faction were riddled by bull
lets fired by hidden riflemen. and
Sunday night week ago an at
tack was made on the home of one
Of the clansmen by a force Of feud-
lists in which, report of the engage
ment says, more than fifty bullets,
many OF them made of steel, pierced
the walls and entered the rooms Of
| the house."
Circuit Judge HIRAM ]. JOHNSON
several months ago started out to
! remedy this condition of affairs. He
had pledged himself to stop the noun
tain warfare and to bring to trial all
violators of the law in Clay county,
and the peaceful citizens demanded
that he enforce his orders by calling
for a guard Of soldiers. Since his
election he has received threats
against his life and warnings that
the court house would be destroyed
by dynamite or that he would be
shot by men with long range rifles
from the hills. That this might not
be an improbable outcome Of the
warfare is pointed out by q CORE
spondent of the Conricr-JournaI of
Louisville, who says: This was ex-
actly what occurred nearly twenty
five years ago, when Tom BAKER, who
was being guarded on the court
house square by a hundred soldiers,
was shot and killed in the midst of
the soldiers and his slayer never
found"
The peace which Judge JOHNSON
secured in his court room Saturday
came unexpectedly and gave much
satisfaction to the people of the
county. A truce in feud warfare in
Sardinia or Sicily or besa in the
Albanian highlands is generally
faithfully observed. But truce in
this mountain region is apparently
more elastic: at the grave Of his
father Cap HATFIELD swore that he
and his were through with feuds and
bloodshed. Before the grass had be-
gun to sprout on Devil ANsE's grave
Cap found II incumbent on himself
to defend his family name and
its sureness OF aim. If Kentucky
has really succeeded in ending
this, the latest Of its blood feud
warfares, it has done a good job and
one of which its citizens may justly
be proud. But still the world will
wait before acclaiming the result.
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