Cumberlands
By Charles Neville Buck
With Illustrations
from Photographs of Scenes
in the Play
(Copyright, sor3, by W. J. Watt & Co.)
SYNOPSIS.
On Misery t K. at
from which he has
finfls George Le cott, a
er, uncouscious, and
Roes for assist 104
Sadly, taking 1.
ATe¢ met by Spice
family, who tel
has been shot
the
fallen
Iandsca
after
Samso:
CHAPTER Il—Continued.
“l hain’t a-wantin’ ter
Samson, but 1 know how
about yore pap. 1 heered thet
suspicion
ye feels
Bud
vals of truce, lives had been snuffed
out in the fiercely burning hate of
these men whose ancestors had boen
comrades,
Old Spicer South und his nephew
Bamson were the direct lineal descen-
dants of the namer of Misery, Their
Other fam-
ilies, related only by marriage and
close association, were, in feud align-
ment, none the legs “Souths.” And
beyond the ridge, where the
and brooks flowed the othe:
to feed Crippleshin, dwelt the
the and Daltons—men
strong in their vindictive
fealty to the code of the vendetta
By mountain standards old Spleer
South was His lands had been
claimed when tracts could be had for
the taking, and, though he had to make
his mark when there was a con
tract to be signed, his instinctive mind
was shrewd and far seeing. The tinkle
heard for a long
creek bottoms, His
hillside fields were the richest and his
5 the most fertile in that country.
Holliges the
rich,
Cross
full of liquor an’ lowed he'd
Jesse an’ Jim Asberry a-talkin' ter-
gether jest afore yore pap was kilt.”
He broke off abruptly, then added:
“Ye went away from hyar last night,
row through his section, bringing the
of coal and timber at the
rails,
would yawn and awake to enrich him
There were black outcroppings along
veins of bituminous wealth. But to
that time he looked with foreboding,
just heered the an’ come
look fer ye.”
“Air you-all 'lowin’ thet I shot them
news,
son, quietly.
“Ef we-all hain't
son, we're plumb
Purvy's folks will
hit, Sam-
thet
hit.
lowin’
shore
low
try ter git ye,”
The boy flashed a challenge
the group, which was now
rein at Spicer South's yard fer
eyes were but he ma
sSwer.
One of the men who had listened in
silence now spoke:
“In the fust place, Samson, we hain't
a-sayin’ ye done hit. In the nex’ place,
ef ye did do hit hain't a-blamin’
ye—much.
lon’t lie, an’, ef they
yell need us. Thet's
come.”
The boy sl
and helped Lescott
deliberately un}
and kit and laid them the
of the stile, and, while he
peace, neither ying nor
his kinsmen sat their
waited,
Even to Lescott
about
ice, iis
de 1
sullen, no
an-
we
trails
why we've
ip
to dismount
of top step
held
aflirming,
and
his
der
horses
it was palpable
shooting of Jesse Purvy, and
others believed him innocent, yet
the less in danger of the enemy's ven-
geance, But, regardless
opinion, all were alike
at his back and
final utterance
that
of
ready
all alike awaited his
Then, in the thick ning gloom, Sam
son turned at the foot of ile
and faced the gathering. stood
rigid, and his eyes flashed
passion.
seams of his
the st
He
with
wilh
jeans breeches, clinched.
and his voice came in a slow utter.
ance through which tirobbed the ten
sity of a soul-absorbing bitternes
“1 knowed "bout Je
bein’ shot. When
a-dyin’ over thar at his
a little years
Jesse Purvy
him an’
all ge Purvy's
pap lay
house 1 ws
old
my
a
shaver ten
I promised my pap
that I'd find out who thet man was,
an’ thet I'd git ‘em both —some day
So help me, God Almighty, I'm a-goin’
ter git ‘em both—some day!”
boy paused and lifted one
though taking an oath.
“I'm a-tellin’ you-ali the truth
Jut 1 didn't shoot them shoots th
mornin’. 1 hain't no truce buster,
gives ye my hand on hit, . .»
them dawgs come hyar they'll find
hand as
Is
me
£0 right by hyar. 1 don't ‘low ter run
away, an’ I don’t ‘low ter hide out. I'm
a-goin’ ter stay right hyar. Thet's all
I've got ter say ter ye.”
For a moment there was no reply.
Then the older man nodded with a
gesture of relieved anxiety,
“Thet's all we wants ter know, Sam-
son,” he said, slowly. “Light, men an’
come in.”
CHAPTER 111,
In days when the Indian held the
Dark and Bloody Grounds a pioneer,
felling oak and poplar logs for the
home he meant to establish on the
banks of a purling watercourse, let his
ax slip, and the cutting edge gashed
his ankle. Since to the discovered be-
longs the christening, that watercourse
became Crippleshin, and so it is today
set down on atlas pages. A few miles
away, as the crow flies, but many
weary leagues as a man must travel,
a brother settler, racked with rheuma-
tism, gave to his creek the name of
Misery, The two pioneers bad come
together from Virginia, as their ances
tors had come before them from Scot.
land. Together they had found one
of the two gaps through the mountain
wall, which for more than a hundred
miles has no other passable rift. To
gether, and as comrades, they had
made their homes and founded their
race. What original grievance had
sprung up between their descendants
none of the present generation know
perhaps it was a farm line or disputed
title to a pig. The primary incident
was lost in the lmbo of the past; but
for fifty years, with occasional inter
ards of his forefathers and saw in the
coming of a new regime a curtailment
of personal liberty. For new-fangled
ideas he held only the aversion of
deep-rooted prejudice. He hoped that
before the foreigner held his land and
the law became a power stronger than
the individual or the clan. The law
was his ener y, said to him
“Thou shalt when he sought to
hich bruising
d from scattered rock
because it
not,”
labor bad coax:
til}
it
power us
meant, also, a
ally seized and administered
which undertook
srsonal settlement
But his eyes
print, could re;
the times He foresaw
itable coming of that day
had
vat, and no longer
sell illicit liquor
the pe
not read 1d
0
n and
ought to make
given up the worr
That was a conces
no longer be sucee
power was still large
factional hands, and ‘in
Hollmans were the ¢
the Hollm he could
t lamson,
sefully fought, State
ly weapon
his country
fice holders
make no
born to be
be
ure with
courage,
time to
a
ans
In
fighting mq
fons
reared to
ped by nat
tigerish
from
}
ie
hatreds and
had
the
there cropped
restiess
pher and a
That a matter
man found his bitterest and
out
time spirit of t
hunger for knowledge
was
rei appreagensior
It was at this house that George
in the twilight
atever ight
Spicer
Wh enemy mo
tomorrow, old South
rec
OgniZed as a more
immediate
of today One of
0 have a rude we rking knowledge of
JOE getting
1ad passed Le
and }
cott's in
wrist wa in
splint, B Injuries as
ch
- * ® ». * * r
While Spicer South and
had been sustaining
building up
bis cousins
themselves
competences by
the other fac
or
the profits of merchandise and trade
So, although Spleer South could net
ther read nor write, his chief enemy,
Micah Hollman, was to outward seem
of affairs,
clansmen were rougher and more {iit
with civilization on Crippleshin. A
deeper scrutiny showed this seeming
to be one of the strange anomalies of
the mountains,
Micah Hollman had eatablished him.
self at Hixon, that shack town which
had passed of late years from feudal
county seat to the section's one point
of contact with the outside world; a
town where the ancient and modern
orders brushed shoulders; where the
new was tolerated, but dared not be
come aggressive. Directly across the
street from the courthouse stood an
ample frame building, on whose side
wall was emblazoned the legend,
“Hollman's Mammoth Department
Store.” That was the secret strong-
hold of Hollman power. He had al
ways spoken deploringly of that spirit
of lawlessness which had given the
mountaing a bad name,
When the raliroad came to Hixon
it found in Judge Hollman a “public.
spirited citizen.” Incidentally, the tim-
ber that it hauled and the coal that
its flat cars carried down to the Blue-
grass went largely to his connignees.
He had go astutely anticipated coming
events that, when the first scouts of
capital sought options they found
themselves constantly referred to
Judge Hollman. No wheel, it seemed,
could turn without his nod. It was
natural that the genial storekeeper
should become the big man of the
community and inevitable that the one
big man should become the dictator.
His inherited place as leader of the
Hollmans in the feud he had soem:
ingly passed on as an obsolete pre.
rogative,
Yet, In business matters, he was
found to drive a hard bargain, and
men came to regard it the part of
good policy to meet rather than com- |
bat his requirements. It was essen- |
tial to his purposes that the officers
of the Juw in his country should be in |
sympathy with him. Sympathy soon |
became abject subservience. When al
South had opposed Jesse Purvy in the
primary as candidate for high sheriff |
he was found one day lying on his
face with a bullet-riddled body It
may have been a coincidence which
pointed to Jim Asberry, the judge's |
nephew, as the assassin. At all events, |
the judge's nephew a boy,
and a charitable grand jury declined
to indict him.
in the couree of five years
South adherents, who had
Holman’s path, became victims of the |
laurel ambuscade. The of co
incidence was strained the
rumor grew and persistently spread
though no man would admit
fathered it, that before each
executions starchamber |
had been held in the above |
Micah Hollman's, “Mammoth Depart |
ment It was said that
exclusive ge attended
Judge Hollman, Sheriff Purvy
tain other gentlemen selected by rea
marksmans} When |
vietims fell South
Just returned from a
below,” wearing
and thinking “fotehed-on”
thoughts, He had am the
munity by demanding the right to as- |
#ist In probing and prosecuting the
affair. He had then shocked the com
munity into complete paralysis by re- |
questing the grand jury to indict not
alone the alleged assassin, but also |
his employers, whom he named as
Judge Hollman and Sheriff Purvy.
Then he, fell under a bolt
the laurel
That was the first public accusation
against the bland capitalist, and it car
ried its prompt warniug against
repetition. The judge's high
and chief ally retired from
went abroad only
Purvy had built
crossroads 25 miles
road Like Hollman
reputation for
Wits poor
several
crossed |
theory
Slowly
having
of the
conferences |
rooms
Store.” these |
by !
and cer
IONE were
son of their ip
Johbu
law
“fotched-on”
one these
had
down
Qi
zed com
LOO, from |
own
n office and |
with a
his
bodyguard. i
store at a
the rail
d won a
14 vw
he ha
i-hande
ted H I:
wer
oper cha
liked-—an 1 lend
were legion. His enemi
that he
from
from others w
Oo nu
apprehended violenes
the Souths but
grudges
of
alse
in
feud
at only
ho nursed
the line
Hollman-Purvy
ined enough
the law's
dictatorship, but
South ad
H i
elated to
The
ad ret
power to escape
hold
HOG way
cleavage com!
of its old
it thi
been
i ped
rir
ri
efforts of John
booth
two masks
hz
erstwhile
old
their
wearers could no longer hold their
law-abiding phils
Purvy home
of the countryside
out
the
and
emblance of
Joase
place
modious verandas
orchards
pists
show
looked over
and iu
frame
for he,
pledsant ame |
stood the two build
his store
bined merchandise
powers But back of
the mountain side, «
looked without
impenetrable
ings of too, com
nial
rose |
with bare
the place
which ™
dread
thickets
Lad
i Ivy |
Twice |
spat
d
its at |
had
he recovers from
7 rnlh
“Ef It Maint Askin’ Too Much, Will |
Ye Let Me See Ye Paint One of |
Them Things?”
wounds that would have taken a less
charmed life. And in grisly reminder
of the terror which clouded the peace
of his days stood the eight-foot log
stockade at the rear of the place,
which the proprietor had built to
shield his daily journeys between
house and store. But Jesse Purvy was
not deluded by his escapes. He knew
that he was “marked down.”
The years of strain were telling on
him. ‘The robust, full-blooded face
was showing deep lines; his flesh was
growing flaccid; his glance tinged
with quick apprehension. He told his
intimates that he realized “they'd get
him,” yet he sought to prolong his
term of escape.
Yesterday morning Jesse Purvy had
risen early as usual, and, after a sat.
isfying breakfast, had gone to his
store to arrange for the day's busi.
ness, One or two of his henchmen,
seaming loafers, but in reality a body.
guard, were lounging within call. A
married daughter was chatting with
her father while her young baby
played among the barrels and cracker
boxes,
The daughter went to a rear win.
dow and gazed up at the mountain
The cloudless skies wore still in hid
ing behind a curtain of mist. The
woman was idly watching the vanish.
Ing fog wraiths, and her father came
over to her side. Then the baby cried
and she stepped back. Purvy himself
remained at the window. It wae a
thing he did not often do. It left him
exposed, but the most cautiously
guarded life has its moments of re
———
laxed vigllance. He stood there pos
8ibly thirty seconds, then a sharp fu-
sillade of clear reports barked out and
was shattered by the hills into a long
reverberation. With a hand clasped
to his chest, Purvy turned, walked to
the middle of the floor, and fell.
The henchmen rushed to the open
sash They leaped out and plunged
ip the mountain, tempting the assas
sin's fire, but the assassin was satin
fied The mountain was again as
quiet as it had been at dawn. Inside,
at the stare, Jesse Purvy
shifted his
ter's knee and
expected event
“Well, they've
Ar
middle of the
head against hi
ald
daugh
one stating
BOL rue
ordinary mo
beg
intaineer
ied home to die in
dirty
nn cart
of
The long
ordained
i windowles
star of Jess
He
Gre
uffer
otherwi; might
might on i beat
and of thug
At all event his
IE way
and
Hght
DACK Out qui
of
for
1 ¢
de
school
faculty
ound a
NOW a
ich as
cared to « 1 things as
l Higher up
ils ide tood a sm :
table
ruments,
tate could not
ng
and a case of
which, it was
Irpass
To this haven Jesse }
der lord
the shoulders of his dependents
Here, his steadfast guardian star
uryy, the mur
was borne in
on
as
hu
Later |
bed,
eye + Die
ical visitors, who rried him to
Was
with the
table ie
June
modu
the
in his
Boughts in hb
naved to a white
parkle in his
through
santly
drawn blinds, and
rd chorus
and Aaron Hol
to h
ack
guard i bed
out of
is of
sald Techly,
two boys 1
ich brou
i 1 have
they ar
other
what
If 1 don't die,
if 1 get well ar a n South is
3 live
for
ute
long
h
you
He
1
elther it
hear
Phiementeg
ng mighty
Purvys
* Gay,
§ entrance
Ore
two ta
Yer
whose eves were listl
black mus
ifed with that
follows the
whose
aen
man scent
sheriff's tituting pro
ceedings independent of the chief's or
The next morning this
family were in
party
x 1} 3
Cover with the
the
leash
The two ed
between the flowering rho
gentlefa dogs
pine sprouts and
rocks They went gingerly
alertly on ungainly,
feet Just as their masters were de-
spairing they came to a place directly
been bent back and hitched to clear |
the outlook and where a boot heel |
had crushed the meses. There one of
them raised his nose high into the
long, deep-chested bay of discovery, |
George Lescott had known hospital |
ity of many brands and degrees. He
had been the lionized celebrity in
places of fashion. He had been the
guest of equally famous brother artists
in the cities of two hemispheres, and,
since sincere painting had been his |
pole star, he had gone where his art's i
wanderiust backoned He had fol
lowed the lure of transitory beauty
to remote sections of the world, The
present trip was only one of many |
like it, which had brought him into
touch with varying peonles and dis.
tinetive types of life. He told himself
that never had he found men at once |
80 ernde and so courteous as those
hosts who, facing personai perils, had
still time and willinghess to regard his
comfort,
The coming of the kinsmen, who !
would stay until the present danger
pagsed, had filled the house. The four
beds in the cabin proper were full,
and some slept on floor mattresses.
Lescott, because a guest and wounded,
was given a small room aside. Sam:
son, however, sharad his quarters in
order to perform any service that an
Injured man might require. It had
been a full and unusual day for the
painter, and its incidents erowded in
oa him in retrospect and drove off the
ossibility of sleep, Bamson, too,
eemed wakeful, and in the isolation
mT TONNE
re.
—
conversation, which almost lasted out
the night. Samson went into the con-
fessional. This was the first human
being he had ever met to whom he
could uaourden his soul,
The thirst to taste what
lay beyond the hills: the
wanderlust that had at time
him a restiveneas so poignant
be agonizing: the undefined
to the
matters
in
or lo
unnamed
& brought
as
¥
hi 0
heart beauty
he |
gullty silence
land
mountain side,
| ad hithert
kept locked
Inacove pocket, sire
* ak ana d toward the roof
hands
ipped her
E3
lips like
hout across a great
ang chimney
and raised them to her one
who means to
then she whispered so k
yerself could hear
Hello, Samson South!”
dis
tance, w (hat
stood for a
forgot to laugh,
She
and
& 1a Of
spac
while her eves
i
{
!
i
i
{
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w. BARRIOS wails ER
ATTORNEY -AP44LW
All profesional busine prseptty stained
A 0.2
ATTURNEYS AT LAW
Eisele Broos
BELLEFONYH Da
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She
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rai
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had performed her mo
That at the house ¢
South was an off day. The kinsmen
who had stopped for the night stayed
on through the morning
aay
men talked crops and tossed
work in the fields, and all remained
within easy call. Only young Tama.
rack Spicer, a raw-boned nephew, wore
Shortly after dinner he disappeared,
and when the afternoon was well ad:
his arm, strolled toward the stile.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
How Suckers Bite.
One Sunday morning, on his way
to church, a deacon observed a boy
industriously fishing. After the lad
had landed several he approached and
said “My son, don't you know it is
very wrong to catch fish on the Sab
bath day? And, besides, it is very
cruel to impale that poor, helpless
beetle upon that sharp hook.” Said
the boy: “Oh, say, mister, this
only an imitation! It ain't a real
bug.” “Bless me!” replied the dea.
son. “Well, 1 thought it was a real
bug!” The boy, lifting a fine string of
fish out of the water, said: “So did
these suckers!”
Friend of the Farmer.
Dr. Marion Dorset, bichemist of the
federal bureau of animal industry, is
the scientist who first isolated the
germ responsible for that farm scourge
cholera in the hog. That accomplished,
he perfected a serum to combat it,
protected his processes by patents and
then turned them over to the public,
to be used without charge.
f
i
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