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A CEMETERY IN
(Copyright. 1903. by Arthur Morris.)
Mf.iw.w iinu l-iii-.. r
Fi i r i s rnn.i were aiiieu iu rvru -I
tucky's feud country taut year by
uiuunuiurrri wuu arc urTu
enough when II comes to faring
bullets In the open or In ambush.
but who Incontinently turn tail and ntreak
along rocky tralla whenever a man with a
camera cornea along.
Consider' the typical cane of "General"
Hen Butler Bouders and Thomas Jefferson
Henderson, old and bitter rivals In the
Hell county feud that has cost thirty lives
(o date. Putting aside their hatred for
the time being, they had met on the banki
Of "Yaller" creek, within sight of the no
torious Quarter House, and had Just con
summated the sale of a brlndle cow to
their mutual satisfaction, when a camera
man strolled along. The "general'! was
the Ami to r.py the black-boxed Instru
ment, and the Instant ho did so that In
stant he stood not on the order of his
charging full speed down the mountain
Ide. Thomas Jefferson stood his ground
until, a few moments later, he became
acquainted with the causo of his oM
enemy's precipitate flight, and then, he,
too, took to his heels In tho direction marked
out by the "general."
Only the latter' s venerable father, 'Squlro
Souders, stayed to face the camera.
"Yer see," Ingenuously explained the
'squire, "th" general la right superstitious
about them plctcr-drawlu' boxes. Tho gen
eral hev Dt tome day an' time an' he ain't
lookin' fer no trouble no more. They
ain't a better man nor he be, an' it be'a
bad klllln' ter do, bit were bekaxe they
warnt no one else In Yaller creek good an'
hefty enough ter do hit on'y him."
Only after an hour's persuasion and de
tailed explanation' of the working of the
"rJcter-drawin' box" would the 'squire
consent to be photographed, anJ It re
quired all of two hours' diplomatic elo
quence to Induce Thomas Jefferson Hen
derson the next day to poso before the
camera. Praise ot the plctureaqueness of
bis dilapidated ahanty and the beauty of
his age-withered mother, sitting In the
doorway churning. Dually had the desired
effect.
"Wall, I reckon," said Thomas, "If you
all Is agoln' ter make a drawls' o' th' old
ahack, hit 'pears I oughter be In hit; but,
durn It all. I'd ruthc hev a gun plntln
at me."
The only leader In all the feud country
who showed no fear or backwardness ot
the camera was Ansa Hatfield. The pos
sible commercial value to him ot his like
ness gave him courage to pose.
"You-all kin draw my plcter." he salt,
"an' atter hit's drawed, you-all kin write
a hlatory In a book about hit, an' theu
I'll tell you what we-all kin do. We klu
tatke theae hyah dawgs, an' this hyah
gun, an' th' plcter 'at you-all 'ill draw,
She
IPfDla IADfOIVf earVjo a(Mf.aJ
I from her father's beautiful home
I . .,-1 . . , . m
m nifrruiit vn orpirwDrr 7,
1884, with the family coachman,
Rrnest Srhllling-Huelscamp, is
living In retirement at Rutland, Vt., where
she la known aa Miaa Baldwin. Apparently
she has absolutely forgotten her former
husband. Schilling is coachman for Dr.
John Jacob Kindred ot the Rlvercrest sani
tarium at Astoria. He does not know where
Victoria is, but he loves her aa fondly as
ever. He cherishes the hope that she still
cares for him and that some day they will
be reunited for the rest ot their Uvea.
Giovanni P. Moroalnl was the friend and
bodyguard ot Jay Gould. He had fought
and suffered with Garibaldi. Son of an
tllustrtoaa Venetian family, he brought to
this country old-fashioned Latin ideaa as
to the aecluttoa of young girls. His daugh
ters were allowed to have tew companions
of their own age. They rarely saw young
snea. and then only in the presence ot
elderly relatives. . ..
Ernest Schilling, the family coachman.
Side Lights on Life in the Feud
FEUP LAND.
an' th' book, an' we kin show eve'ywbers
In th' kentry, an' make a sight o' money.
They'a money en these hyah feuds, even
If they la worry an' divllrr.int. Why, I kla
sell th' hide o' a b'ar fer $10 more nor
hits worth Jest brkaze hit were killed by
ole Devil Anse. An' they ain't a tooth In
th'e Jawa o' th' varmint 'at I kalni sell fer
SI a tooth fer th' same reason." '
These same camera-shy dare-devils ot.
the miuntalns take particular delight In
having their families and their cemeteries
pictured. They will 'go to no end of troublo
to Induce "th oP woman" and 'th' gals"
to pose by tblr spinning wheels, which ara
still universally used -in this region, and
do anything to help In "th' drawin' o' th'
wlnuneu folk." . . - i-
The typical, feud land cemetery looks
like nothing so much as a deserted vlllago
of do 11 house proportions. The dead thi
majority of whom have fallen In feuds
are placed In little frame shacks, about
six feet wide by ten feet long, which
boasts a door In one end wide enough to
. admit a coffin and high enough to make a .
six-foot mountaineer bend double when hi
enters to place a body Inside. No fasten
ing other than a bit of revolving .wood,
with a nail as a pivot, la on any door.
The active, participants In the feuds are
not the only people In their blood -be spat
tered world . who have - rather . remarkable
Ideas of. law and Its enforcement. Even tho
'authorities have their own peculiar, ways
of Interpreting Justice.
"If a civil citizen kills another clttten
and It la clearly in self-defense, don't In
dict him," said a Judge to a grand Jury In
Letcher, one of the feud counties, re
cently. "If a civil citizen kills an outlaw,
don't Indict him. no matter whether he
killed in self-defense or not. If one out
law kills another outlaw. Indict him with
out questioning the motive for killing. In
such a case it would be well to sentence
the outlaw for lite and so get rid of him
as well at his victim. If a civil citizen
takes a bag ot provisions on his back and
pursues an outlaw all week, and then kills
him as he would wild game, don't indict
him. If you want to do anything, give
him a better gun and more ammunition,
so that he can get the next outlaw more
easily. If you do Indict suih a man, be
sure that I will file the indictment away
aa soon as I reach it,"
Quite as remarkable as these instruc
tions Is the fact that the records of the
feud counties show that out ot a total of
between 300 and 400 murders occurring
during the past twenty years, there has
been only one official hanging. This was
the execution of Ellison Mounts, In the
famoua HatGeld-McCoy feud. Mounts was
a half-witted boy accused ot complicity
with the Hatflelds in the burning of tht
McCoy homeatead in Pike county. As this
exploit waa one at the most spectacular
Married Her Father's Coachman
was a tall, slender, good-natured youth,
with faint red cheeks and straw-colored
hair. It was his duty to take Victoria
driving, to accompany her when she rode.
In the summer of 1884 the Morosinis saw
that be and Victoria were too food of each
other. They discharged him.
Schilling returned to the place on Sep
tember 9. 1SS4, ostensibly to collect money
from a fellow servant. Victoria ran across
the lawn and kissed him. Mrs. Morotinl
saw and stormed. That night Victoria
eloped with Ernest.
They went to Europe, but returned to
New York In a few months. Ernest got
a Job as rood actor on a Second avenue car.
Victoria became a superior chorus girl In
"Amorita." which was being played at the
Casino. She " tinkled on a mandolin, sang
with a pleasant little voice and tried hard
to dance gracefully. She waa too big. Still
she was a popular success because ot her
notoriety. Ernest sat in a front row and
ground H. teeth. Also in a front seat waa
a young New York rubber merchant, friend
of the Morotino family.
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US
-A r
if.,
A FAMILY OF
SQUIRE SOUDERS, FATHER OF THE
GENERAL IN THE BELL COUNTY
FEUD " " . . -
' - ' s -
and revolting In the entire .feud,' the au
thorities bestirred . themselves in the mat
ter. But there are many who hold that
Mounts was Innocent, and the leader of
the McCoy faction is one of them.
The sverage feud man thinks about the
courts as does Thomas Jefferson Henderson.
"Yer see." he said, 'W cohts hev four
killln's agin me, an' I reckon ef I keep my
mouth shet they'll be Ices trouble. So long
aa th' cohta aiu't talkln' any, I ain't talkln'
neither."
When the courts do begin to talk, then
it Is that the feud country sends represent
atives from far and near. Court week and
election day are its red-letter events, the
only times In the year when there Is a gen
eral outpouring of dwellers of mountain
side shacks to a common center.
The Judge who presides over court gen
erally manages to maintain the requisite
amount of Judicial dignity while in his
shirt sleeves, and often he spends his time
reading a newspaper while the tobacco
spitting Jury is confused by counsel, also
Inveterate users of the weed, and, like
the Judge, minus coats.
Until an old dinner bell dissolves court
for recess the mountaineer spectators emu
late the Jury In adorning with tobacco Juice
the floor of the dingy room, with its many
broken window panes. Then they slouch
out onto the green surrounding the beat of
Justice, lie around In groups, swap yarns
and tobacco plugs, devour watermelons,
whittle boards and sticks until the grass is
After many efforts the merchant brought
Victoria and her father together. On
September 1, l&SS, she vanished from New
York. Ernest has never seen her since
nor known her whereabouts. She has not
communicated with him nor admitted hr
identity to any one of the hundreds of per
sons with whom she came In contact. The
World has learned that she went to a con
vent In Paris, whera remained until
early in 18S. From then he tuddenly
went to Vancouver, B. C, at-J took train
for Rutland. Vt. where she arrived at
night and waa driven to fi convent of
the Sisters of St. Joseph, where she was
taken as a boarder under the name of
Mias Baldwin. She left the protecting
walla of the convent seldom, iml then a V
always wore large green glasses. But
even these could not.oonoeai her. una ral ,
beauty of features and richness .ot coin
ing. She was the source of much devia
tion among the Vermonters and at last a
few of them learned her secret- But ite
would not admit when 4uesti--oed that she
waa Victoria Moroaini-Schlllias.
'
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Land
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FEUDISTS.
Uttered with countleaa pine slivers, and
now( and then look. af(er their mules and
"plugs," hitched to the court house fence
in the rear. -
Recess over, a court attendant sticks
his -head out ol a second-story window,
rings the bell lu.klly, and bawls for the
wltnefiseo in the murder case on trial --to
come into court. - ..
But there is no immediate response to tbe
official summons.' The Kentucky .moun
taineer is nothing If not deliberate in all his
movements and methods. A quarter of an
hour later, one homespun-clad man after
another struggles upon his feet. There Is
a laugh and an extra Joke cracked as the
fat man and principal wit and gossip ot the
town Is hoisted from the grass by two ot
his satellites and waddles off on his pudgy
foet. Then, in-leisurely Indian file, the
outdoor gathering slouchily adjourns to the
ancient court house, leaving a wide trail
ot tobacco Juice in its wake.- ' L. -
The courthouse of Harlan county Is typ
ical of similar structures In feud land.
Twenty years ago It was besieged by one
half the town's male popuUtion, while the
other half was barricaded within during onb
of the bitterest 'of the early feudal wars.
Fcores of men were' ki'lled in those days,
and for three years the military arm of the
state, was unable to suppress this mihia
"ture revolution, which finally iught Itself
out In the mountains that cluster about and
overhang the picturesque little county seat.
At that time the Howard party, as an or
ganized feudal body, was broken up and Its
famous leader, Wilse Howard, fled to Cali
fornia. There, some say, he was hanged;
others that he eluded the vigilance of his
Jailors and the sheriff, who performed a
mock execution In his behalf, thus leaving
It open to the conjecture that he may still
be lurking in mountain faBtnesses ready to
sweep down upon his old feudal enemies.
In Harlan courthouse are still the marks
of this dare-devil's prowess and that of his
followers when they stormed its brick
walls In the endeavor to dislodge and put to
flight the town authorities. The courtroom
Is grimy with age, desolate and bare. Its
window panes are broken and the shutters
creak dolefully in the wind. And the rest
of the building Is iu keeping with the room
where many a murderer has been t'.ied but
neter brought to Justice.
It la an unusual election day that does
not give cause for the beginning of at least
three feuds. A quarrel at the polls started
the famous Bell county feud. In which the
massacre at the Quarter house only a year
ago was a chapter. "General" Souders and
Henderson, mentioned above, are the pres
- ent rival chieftains of this feud. A similar
cause started the trouble between the Hent
leys snd Rameys, the Justices and Bevlns,
the Harglses and Cockril's last year; while
among the older feuds there Is scarcely one
that does not count an election day dispute
among its leading motives.
When Mrs. G. P. Moroslnl died fn Proem
bcr 3, 183, her fuueral waa delayed until
the fourth day so that her daulitsr, Vic
toria, might attend It. Tho reconciliation
with her family waa complete. She after
ward returned to Rutland, where aho re
mained in the convent until three years
ago, when she left because ot a disagree
ment with the mother superior. Her
father agaiu cast her off. Still Known
Mias Baldwin, she has boarded ever since
with a Rutland family, who live In West
street, nesr the bridge. They are In mod
erate circumstances. Two prominent young
tven cf Rutland have been devoted to
"Mtss Baldwin," but she has given them
little encouragement.
Schilling enlieted in the United States
Marine .corps three weeks after hW wife
disappeared. - When ha returned at he
end of.lais 4ve -.Mrso he aaade his,
hosne at Steiaway, Aatnria. where he has
since remained. -He is hottest, sober and
industrious. Hia nearest friends say that
he is . certainly shadow by detectives,
who hope to furaik .evidence, against hiss.
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