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Twelve Kentucky colonel stories : describing scenes and incidents in a Kentucky colonel's life in the Southland / by Zobe Anderson Norris.

Twelve Kentucky colonel stories : describing scenes and incidents in a Kentucky colonel's life in the Southland / by Zobe Anderson Norris. Norris, Zobe Anderson. 400dpi TIFF G4 page images University of Kentucky, Electronic Information Access & Management Center Lexington, Kentucky 2002 b92-92-27695147 Electronic reproduction. 2002. (Beyond the shelf, serving historic Kentuckiana through virtual access (IMLS LG-03-02-0012-02) ; These pages may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Twelve Kentucky colonel stories : describing scenes and incidents in a Kentucky colonel's life in the Southland / by Zobe Anderson Norris. Norris, Zobe Anderson. J.S. Ogilvie, New York : c1905. 116, [10] p. : ill. ; 20 cm. Coleman Illustrations on p. 12, 36, 64, 91 and 96. Advertisements on p. [1]-[10] at end. The Colonel gives the facts about a Kentucky shooting -- A mild-mannered Kentucky family -- The broken heart of Clabe Jones -- The Kentucky Colonel has a grievance -- The mother-in-law feud in Kentucky -- The Kentucky Colonel tells of the feud two women started -- The lonely old man who was the last survivor of a Kentucky feud -- Very set in his ways in the Kentuckian -- A school ma'am bred in old Kentucky -- A breach of Kentucky etiquette which was worse than laying down five aces at poker -- Mortifying blunder of a Kentucky gentleman -- There was once a Kentucky Masterson. Microfilm. Atlanta, Ga. : SOLINET, 1993. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. (SOLINET/ASERL Cooperative Microfilming Project (NEH PS-20317) ; SOL MN02936.12 KUK) Printing Master B92-92. IMLS This electronic text file was created by Optical Character Recognition (OCR). No corrections have been made to the OCR-ed text and no editing has been done to the content of the original document. Encoding has been done through an automated process using the recommendations for Level 1 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines. Digital page images are linked to the text file. TWELVE KENTUCJKY COLON EL STORIES. DESCR IBING Scenes and Incidents in a Kentucky Colonel's Life in the Southland. BY ZOE ANDERSON NORRIS. COPYRIGHT, 1905, 1 Y J. S. OGILVIX PUBLISHING COMPANY. NEW YORK: J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 57 ROSE STREET. This page in the original text is blank. THANKS ARE DUE ", THE NEW YORK SUN" FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF PUBLISHING THESE STORIES IN BOOK FORM. -ZOE ANDERSON NORRIS. This page in the original text is blank. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. The Colonel Gives the Facts About a Kentuckv Shooting ...... 5 A Mtild-mannered Kentucky Family ............. 17 The Broken heart of Clabe Jones ............... 28 The Kentucky Colonel Has a Grievance ........... 40 The Mother-in-Law Feud in Kentucky .......... 51 The Kentucky Colonel Tells of the Feud Two Women Started ........................... 59 The Lonely Old Alan Who Was the last Survivor of a Kentucky Feud ...................... 67 Very Set in His Way is the Kentuckian .......... 75 A School Ma'am Bred in Old Kentucky .......... 84 A Breach of Kentucky Etiquette Which Was Worse Than Laying Down Five Aces at Poker ...... 93 Mortifying Blunder of a Kentucky Gentleman .... 101 There Was Once a Kentucky Masterson ......... 108 This page in the original text is blank. Twelve "Kentucky Colonel" Stories THE COLONEL GIVES THE FACTS ABOUT A KENTUCKY SHOOTING. "IT is very fatiguin' to me," said the Kentucky Colonel, "to heah all this talk goin' the roun's about Dave Colson. "I knew Dave Colson; knew him pussonally. Why, he was one of the finest fellahs you evah laid eyes on, and the mos' mild mannald man. Time in and time out I have sat there at Cham- berlin's, at Washington, laughin' and talkin' and chinnin' with Dave Colson. I nevah saw Dave Colson shoot at anybody what hadn't begun to 5 6 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. shoot at him fust, and that's mo' than you can say of mos' Kentuckians. "You remembah, don't you, the shootin' of the Galligers at Harrodsburg, Ky., when you was a little gurl Well, Dave Colson's careah was somethin' like that man's what did the shootin'. All the shootin' he done was fo'ced upon him. "I know you haven't forgot that shootin' of the Galligers because I have heahd you tell about it -how you was comin' down the main street of the town when the shootin' commenced, and saw it all. "Harrodsburg is a pretty lively town in the shootin' line, I know. It's customa'y for the women and children to drop flat on the flo' when the shootin' begins there, and stay there till they quit, not darin' to go neah a windah. "You know, then, how the whole trouble of the Galliger shootin' come about. The Galligers got that,man up in a room, won all his money away TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLOINEL" STORIES. from him, then beat him ovah the head with a hoss pistol. "The man-I forget his name-was laid up two or three weeks from the blows. Then, as soon as he recovahd-he was a lame man at that-he stood up in front of his barroom and shot the whole posse of them as they come out of the Poteet House, across the street. Cleaned out the whole endurin' fam'ly. "Yes, you're right there, he did spaah one. The youngest son, I remembah now, as he come out to see what the shootin' was all about and saw his father and two brothers layin' on the ground, shot thro' the heart, the lame man he says to him, says he: " 'I aint got nothin' agin.you. Go on back in.' "And the young fellah he went on back in, and saved his life. "Now, I call that shootin' under strong provo- cation. What right had them there Galligers to 7 8 TWELVE KENTUCKY COLONEL STORIES. beat a po' lame man ovah the head with a hoss pistol None a tall. "It was the same way with Dave Colson. The same way exactly. "As I tole you befol, Dave Colson was a fine educated, cultured man. He was a. college-bred man and as meek as a lamb until he got stahted. This was how they stahted him: "He was a membah of the Legislature in his own State. Then he was sent to Congress. He threw up his position in Congress to go to Cubah in the Spanish-American Wah. He was made Lieutenant in that wah at a little post called An- niston, in Alabamah. "Now, at the same time there was a young man at Anniston servin' in the army as private, I think, named Scott. He was a nephew of Brad- ley, who was Gov'nor of Kentucky. "This young fellah thought he would run roughshod ovah Dave Colson and he couldn't do TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEEL" STORIES. nothin' with him on account of his bein' a nephew of the Gov'nor of Kentucky. That was where he was mistaken. You can't run roughshod ovah any Kentuckian with any sort of spirit in him. No. I didn't say spirits; I said spirit. "Young Scott made every sort of trouble he could for Dave Colson. There wa'n't a mo' in- subordinate young man at that post than he was. Doin' it out of puah devilment, just to see how much Dave Colson would stan'. "After a while they all got together in a bar- room down there at Anniston and Scott began to insult Dave Colson to his face, he and some frien's of his. They was too many for Colson that time, just as the Galligers was too many for the man that afterward shot them. "These young fellahs shot Dave in the right ahm, the pistol ahm, and they paralyzed it slight- ly. Then they hit him on the temple, givin' him 9 10 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. the blow that finally ended in his insanity and suicide. "Well, Colson he was laid up fo' about three weeks with this blow on his head and his bad ahm. Then when he got up there was somethin' doin'. "But by that time his company had broke up and he wa'n't Lieutenant no longah. So he went to Frankfort, Ky. "As it happened, young Scott went there, too, and for the second time they met in a cafe or bar- room or somethin'. There was some hot words and the fight commenced. "As I tole you befo, Dave's ahm was slightly disfiggered by that pistol shot-of young Scott's down at Anniston, but he done the bes' he could, and that wa'n't half bad, s' far's shootin' goes, even for a Kentuckian. "It's about the worst thing that could happen to a Kentuckian to have his pistol ahm paralyzed, TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL: STORIES. 1t but, as I say, Colson, he done the bes' he could undah the circumstances. "Well, Scott-, he began to shoot fust, 's far's I kin get the right of it; then Colson, he lit in, and what he done was good and plenty. "Scott, he was a big giant of a fellah, like a baln do' to shoot at. Nevah no feah of not hittin' him, long's yore sight was good. So what does he do but grab up a perfec' stranger, and hol' him out in front of him, samne's if he'd bin a shield. "I suppose it is what the stranger got for bein' around. It's always the outsiders, the disinter- ested puhsons, what get the worst of it in these free-for-all fights, same's you, when you come down the main street of that little Harrodsburg town, all scared to death, backin' up against the wall of a house, to keep from gettin' shot to death, in that there Galliger fight we was talkin' about. It's a blessed Mwondah you didn't get shot, but I'm glad you didn't, for one. 12 TWELVE KENTUCKY COLONEL STORIES. "But to resume, as I say, Scott grabbed this stranger by the neck and held him up in front of him to ward off the shots. These strangers stand- Hie held him up in front of him to ward off the shots. in' promiscuously about get held up in mo' ways than one. Yes. You're right about that. "Well, Dave Colson didn't do a thing but shoot plumb through the stranger-his name was TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL STORIES. 13 found out at the inquest to be Demaree, I believe -and into that fellah Scott. "That was a mighty good pistol Dave had that time. I've often tried to find out the make of it, but couldn't. "Then, you see perfectly well that the stranger wa'n't no good no longah for a shield. He was dead as a do' nail; so Scott, he dropped him and ran. "It was about time, because Colson had done got up his dander good and fine. He shot him as he ran down the steps, then he shot another fel- lah-a stranger, too, since I come to think of it- in the back in such a way that if some special providence hadn't had an eye on him, he'd 'a' dropped dead there and then. But he didn't. Aftah some months in a hospital, I believe they say he got well. It was a miracle. "And that wa'n't all. He shot anothah man in the calf of the leg, all by mistake-they was 14 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL STORIES. standin' round appa'ently thick as flies in the summer time, lookin' on-and this fellah didn't do nothin' but drop dead in his tracks. And it wa'n't the shot, either. It was heart trouble or somethin'. "And what business did a man with heart trou- ble so bad he couldn't Stan' a little scratch in the calf of the leg, in the fleshy paht that shouldn't a hurt him more'n a flea bite, have standin' i(llin' about in a Kentucky barroom, where a fight was liable to occur mos' any minute of the day or night "I believe he disabled or killed five or six that whirl, Dave did, but that was all the shootin' he done, and didn't he have provocation for doin' that You've lived in Kentucky long enough to be a good judge. Of co'se he did. "Aftah that they let Dave Colson alone. He'd killed 'em all off, you say There wa'n't nobody TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 15 lef' to molest him Well, maybe you're right and that (lid have sometlin' to do with it. "But the saddest paht of it all is this, that the fust blow the young fellah Scott gave to Dave was the cause of his death. It's what brought on his insanity, as I said befo'. "ie was took sick and the nuss lef' him a min- nit, then he got up and dressed and stalited out. Hitched up his hoss and went drivin' all by himse'f. "I believe, now I come to think of it, that that there nuss went to sleep. That was how Dave got free to go out drivin' and shoot himse'f. jI was sorry to heali how he shot himse'f in the hed, fust shootin' his hoss. It was a sad thing to heah about. It was a sort of pity, too, s' long's lie was boun' and determined to shoot himse'f, he didn't think to spaah the hoss. "He was a mighty good man, Dave was, one of 16 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. the best and mildest mannahd men you evah saw in your life, meetin' him socially. "I nevah knew him to draw a gun on a man in social conversation in my life. Nevah. "And he wouldn't 'a' done it that one time, if he hadn't had the ve'y strongest kind of provoca- tion. "Pore Dave!" TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 17 A MILD MANNERED KENTUCKY FAMILY. THE COLONEL TELLS HOW THE THOMPSON BOYS WERE FORCED TO CLEAN OUT THE COURT HOUSE. "I RECKON," said the Kentucky Colonel, "since you was raised in Harrodsburg you know the Thompson boys. Of co'se you do. Leastways you must of heahd of 'em. Theah ain't many people from Kentucky what don't know 'em or what hasn't heahd of 'em. "Speakin' of mild mannahed men, to look at them theah Thompson bays you'd think that but- tah wouldn't melt in their mouths, they ah so sof' IS TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL STOMIES. speakin' and polite. They ain't to say what you'd call boys no longer, eithah, but that's the name they go by and allus will go by, I reckon. Pahtly because the old man's still livin' and pahtly be- cause it all occurred when they were boys, the shootin', I mean, the Thompson-Davis feud, when they cleaned out the cote house at Harrodsburg. "I reckon you was mos' too little to pay enough attention to remembah jest how it occurred; but do you s'pose for one miunit that them theah Thompson boys and the ole man cleaned out that theah cote house at Harrodsburg because they wanted to Not by any maunah of means. They cleaned it out because they was fo'ced to do it. "If you evah met one of them Thompson boys in youah life, you'd know that what I'm sayin' is true. They ah the loveliest men in the world, actually the very loveliest of charactahs. Every- body that's evah known them pussonally will tell you that. TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 19 "Yes, I understand' that mos' people in general conversation is putty particular when they all with them to keep tabs on what they say, to be sort of particular about trimmin' up their re- mahks, not carin' to get trimmed up themselves. "Then, too, they ah kind of min'ful of their hip pockets all the time, keepin' a putty stric' eye on 'em and a hand hankerin' about in their vicinity in case of accident, whether they're talkin' about the weather or the price of stocks; but aside from that, they ah the mos' interestin' men to talk you evah met in all youah bawn days. "W1hat's that Yes. You're perfec'ly right. People oughter be mo' particular anyhow about their conversation, no mattah what they ah talk- in' about, especially in Kentucky, wheah conver- sation beginnin' with the weathah or the craps or the look o' the clouds is apt to lead to mos' any- thing. "But I tell you, they've got to mind their words 20 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. when they ah chinnin' with them theah Thomp- son boys. That's all theah is to that. "To understan' this story tho'oughly, you've got to go back to the wah and heah how them theah Thompson boys was trained. Theah was three on 'em, Davis and the twins, John and Phil. Little Phil, they allus called him, to distinguish him from Ole Phil, his fahthah. "Them three boys, the minnit the fust shot was flahd, run off lickety split and jined the army. They wa'n't hahdly 15, the twins. Davis, he was 16. But they ran off as I say and fit plum through the wah, frum beginnin' to end. "That is to say, the twins did. I've heahd them tellin' of their experience in the wah, but Davis, he set by without sayin' a word. You know the reason why They captuhrd him at the very staht, befo' he'd hahdly got out of lHarrodsburg, the Union officers did, put him in prison and he stayed theah till the wah was ovah. TWELVE "KENTUCKCY COLONEL" STORIES. 21 "Often and often I've heahd the twins, finishin' with the tellin' of their experiences, their wah pranks when they was alus eithah lightin' into the enemy or runnin' away from them, accordin' to how many drinks they had had, tu'n to him and say: " 'Well, Davis, what is youah experience of the wah ' "Then they'd laugh fit to split their sides, knowin' that Davis hadn't fiahd a gun or had one fiahd at him, fo' that mattab, and so didn't have a blessed thing to tell. "Onct Davis he answers them back. "'Theah's one thing suttin,' says he, 'and that is that I am putty well acquainted with the taste uv yellah dawg.' "Of co'se you undahstan' that this constant ex- perience of the twins give 'em a good deal of exer- cise in the way of handlin' a gun. Fouah yeahs! it ought ter. They got to be the very bes' shots 22 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. in the whole country, them twins did. Buffalo Bill, he wa'n't in it. Shoot pennies into the aiah! They could shoot anything. "Their practice come in handy, too, not so very long aftah the wah-I disremembah jest how long, ten or twelve yeahs, I believe it was, though, I ain't ce'tain. "To make a long story short, the ole man he was, and is to this day, one of the bes' criminal lawyahs in Kentucky. He is noted fo' his brains, the ole man is. He is 80 yeahs ole now, and still hustlin'. Keeps up his practice the same as the twins, they bein' putty good all roun' lawyahs themse'ves, from all accounts. "Well, the ole man, he had a frien' named Davis. They was bosom frien's. Davis, he had a big fam'ly of boys, too, bigger'n ole man Phil's. "The fac' of the bizness was that they was such fi'm frien's that when aftah a while there come up a case and the man what opposed Davis employed TWELVE "RENTUCKY COTONE.T STORTES. 2.3 ole Phil fo' his lawyah, some people scented trou- ble right then and theah. And could ole man Phil he'p people puttin' cases in his hands, seein' they couldn't fin' no bettah lawyah if they search- ed the country ovali I reckon not. "But when the time come up fo' the trial, things begun to look ugly. If there'd bin any cyclone cellahs 'roun' them times, the Harrods- bur- people'd begun to go down in 'em, same's the Kansas people get into their cyclone cellahs when a cyclone's due. "It's only recently that the Kentucky people has got to buildin' cyclone cellahs in cases of feuds. They call 'cm feud cellahs. "Any way so many repotes got out concernin' the trial and what might happen if ole Phil won it and defeated his bosom frien' Davis, that the inhabitants of the towin ahm'd themselves with hoss pistols and bowie-knives, expectin' trouble. "The outcome of the trial was very important 24 TWELVE "RENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. to Davis and he tole some frien's of his that if it went agin him, there'd be a hot time in the ole town for the Thompson boys. Then they ahmed themselves to the teeth. "The trial begun. It went on pretty smooth fo' a little while and the town was a hummin' with a skatin' rink across the street and the chil- dren comin' home from school, laffin' and talkin'. It wus the ca'm befo' the sto'm. "The case it went agin Davis, as he might 'a' expected it would, with ole Phil fo' the lawyah fo' the opposition. "The Jedge hadn't hahdly time fo' the words to leave his mouth, when up sprung all the Davis family, fahthah and about five or six sons, and begun to shoot at the Thompson boys. They wus big, stalwaht fellahs, too, them Davis boys, a good deal bigger than the twins or their brother, Davis, or ole man Phil eithah. "That theah cote house was filled to overflowin' TWELVE "'KENTUCKY COLONEL: STORIES. 25 when the shootin' commenced. In a shohtah time than I'm takin' to tell you, it was empty of all but them what was doin' the shootin' and some othahs what had fallen flat on the fio' and lay theah, playin' daid, till the shootip.' could have time to get ovah. "At the fust shot, the Sheriff, he went up to Little Phil and handed him a hoss pistol. " 'Heah, little Phil,' say he to him, 'he'p yo'se'f. I cain't do nothin' to he'p you.' "Then he lit out and you couldn't see nothin' but his heels. "Well, little Phil he he'ped himse'f to about three of them Davis boys, and the othah Thomp- sons, they he'ped themse'ves to the rest. It wa'n't many minutes befo' they had cleaned out the hull cote house. "You see, it was like this: Them Thompson boys had had mighty fine practice durin' the foah yeahs of wah. They was bang up shots. So when 26 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. it come to firiti' back at the Davis boys what had fiahd the fust shots, the Davis boys wa'n't, so to say, in it. They killed off every blessed one of 'em. "And do you 'pose they done it because it was a pleasant thing to do, or because they wanted to, jest fo' the fun of the thing Not on youah life. "They had to do it to save their own lives. That's all theah was to that, and it's as true as gospel what I'm tellin' you. "You'd believe it, too, if you could talk a while with them twins. They ah the mos' smooth spoken men I evah met In my life. They ah great ladies' men, too, John especially. "Do you think they go about punctuatin' sen- tences With pistol shots like some othah Kentuck- ians I reckon not. So far's I know they haven't cleaned out a cote house since, and won't, unless it's absolutely necessary. "But they do say that since little Phil's done TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL! STORIrs. 27 took up his abode up Noath and John's taken to livin' in Looieville, with telephone communica- tion with Harrodsburg only, the town's a good deal quietah than it was." 28 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. THE BROKEN HEART OF CLABE JONES. WIND-UP OF A PERFECT GENTLEMAN OF KENTUCKY, WHO ALWAYS STOPPED SHOOTING WHEN HE HAD FINISHED. "KENTUCKY ain't whut it used to be," sighed the Kentucky Colonel. "Times is mightily changed down theah these days. I'm afeahd the lurid glory of the old-fashuned feud in Kentucky is depahted and gone. "The ole leadahs is dead or in prison or livin' in peace. Craig Tolliver, he is dead and gone. Boone Logan and the Youngs is quietly prac- tisin' the law. TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 29 "Andy Johnson is a capitalist. The Yallah Creekahs have become lan' speculators or gone Wes'. Will Jennings and the Hatfields is in the penitentia'y and Joe Eversole, he has done bin killed. "A saw log dispatched Jerry Little. General Sowders is a quiet, well-behaved citizen now and his ole enemy, Alvis Turnab, has bin slain. "No. Things ain't the same now in Kentucky as they was in the good ole days. They ain't the same. "It's pahtly the fault of Proctor Knott. It's mos'ly his fault. When Proctor stan's up befo' the Bah of Jedgment he'll find it'll be putty much the same's a Kentucky bah. He'll have to ansuh fo' things. "Ten yeahs or mo' agro he took a sudd'n notion to treat the feudists of Kentucky as if they was civilized people. Invited the principal partici- pants of Rowan and othah counties to Louisville 30 TWELVE "RENTUCRY COLONEL" STORIES. to make a little treaty of peace undah his aus- pices. "Whut was the outcome Why, this: To-day the mo' powerful leadahs in any mountain quar- rel is hel' to answer befo' the Clark County Sue- cut Cote fo' his crimes, 's Proc called 'em, same's any othah ordina'y law breakah. "That theah peace conference of Proctor's come putty nigh breakin' the hearts of them theah feudists. Some of the mos' prominent leadalis jes' nachully died in their beds ruthah than lbe called upon to atten' anothah. "Oh, yes. It's jes' Is I tell you. Proctor Knott he's got a good deal to ansuh fo', a changin' of the good ole conditions of Kentucky. Things ain't the same's they was down theah. in my time, that is, alus leavin' out Harrodsburg, you undehstan'. "If you have any teahs to shed prepaah to shed them now when I tell you of the death of Clabe TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 31 Jones, whut occu'd jes' outside o' Harrodsburg on the Lexington pike, about fo' miles from town. "Clabe Jones he was oriPinally from Rowan county. When Proc he called that theah peace conference, Clabe he run away ruthah than suf- fah the humiliation of attendin' of it. He run away to Harrodsburg so's to live out the res' of his days in peace 'n quietude. Seems he didn't know ve'y much about 1larrodlsburg. "But, ennyway, Clabe he was natchully a ve'y peaceful, long sufferin' man. Ile didn't have mo'n eighteen notches in his sti(k, (labe di(ln', and he was a perfect gentleman. Theah wa'n't a soul in Rowan but would tell yot that Clahe Jones was a perfec' gentleman. "You've nevah bin to Rowan county It's jes' 's well. The people theah walk about in the da'k with lanterns-mountainousl distric', you know. Well, whenevah a man with a lantern saw Clale Jones a loomin' in the distance he dropped his 32 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL: STORIES. lantern and run. You could allus tell wheah Clebe had been walkin' the night befo' by the numbah of lanterns strewed laik ovah the road. But these same people 't dropped their lanterns they would be the fust to tell you that Clabe was a perfec' gentleman. "Clabe he wa'n't to say a venomous man. He was just thorough. That was all. He would allus stop shootin' when he had finished. "He wouldn't keep on shootin' and shootin' jes' fo' devilment when theah wa'n't nuthin' to shoot at. He was a patient, quiet man, with a long gray beahd, Clabe was, and sevvul shotguns. "Once he stahted out huntin' fo' some man or othah he thought needed pepperin'-and he mus' 'a' needed it or Clabe wouldn't a thought of givin' it to him-when the Sheriff, embold'ned by a extra drink or somethin', stepped up to him and called to him to halt. You'd hahdly call it a call eithah. It was mo' laik a whispah. TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 33 " 'lMistah Jones,' says he waverin'ly, 'I'm afeahd I'll have to arres' you fo' carryin' of con- cealed weppuns.' "Clabe was a patient, long sufferin' man, as I tell you. He didn't shoot him. He jes looked ovah his head and said to him, a p'intin' explani- to'ily to the hoss pistols protrudin' frum his hip pockets, the bowie-knives, the handles of which was stickin' out o' his boots, and the double bar- r'led shotgun ovah his shouldah, and he says, says he: " 'Do you call these heah weppuns concealed weppuns, sah' "Then he pushed him gently aside without put- tin' a single bullet through him and went on a huntin' fo' his man. "No. Clabe he wa'n't 's hasty 's they make him out. He wouldn't deliberately up and shoot everybody he come across. Not a tall. "I used to visit Clahe quite frequently aftah 34 TWELVIS "UNSTUCRY COLONEZL" TOBRMS. he come to llarrodsburg, and to show you how honorable he was, mus' tell you how he allus offered me a shotgun to protec' myse'f in case the conversation took a unexpected tu'n and annoyed him. "Sevvul friends and me we used to take dinnah with Clabe now and agin. We all set aroun' the table with ouah double barr'Id shotguns at ouah sides, ready; but Clabe he wa'n't nevah to say himse'f aftah that theah peace conference of Proctor Knott's. Nevah was himse'f. Nevah in a single instance did he allow the conversation to lead into a channel whut would lead to the use of the double barr'Id shotguns. "W1hat's that Yes. As you say, we mus' a bin somewhat particulah ourse'ves. You ah right, 's usual. We was. "Oh, yes. Proc lie's responsible fo' the condi- tion of things now in Kentucky. No promiscuss shootin' to amount to anything, no cleanin' out TWELVE f RENTUCRY COLONEL" STORIES. 35 of communities, no nuthin'. Mos' 's still and peaceful 's a civilized country Kentucky is these days, 'xceptin', of cose, a pitched battle now and then in llHarrodsburg. "But Clabe Jones's death, that wus the saddest paht of it all. Not that he died to say a natchul death, but wait till I tell you. "Ole Clabe he was putty fon' of drink in his las' days, putty fond of drink. Took to drink, in fac,' to drown his troubles aftalh that thealh peace conference. "Well, one day aftah he'd bin howlin' drunk fo' a couple of days befo', old Clabe he woke up with a head on him. I happened to be with him at the tilme. Ile was absolutely perishin' fo' a leetle of the hide of the dog whut bit him. "He'd sent his nigger to Hlarrodsburg fo' a couple of bottles of the hide. He was walkin' up and down, up and down, me settin' theah with 36 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. him, my double barr'l'd shotgun, whut he had handed me's usual upon my enterin' of the room, standin' handy beside me. "How fah you reckon he is by now." " 'How fah you reckon he is by now' he asks, meanin' of the niggah, all the time walkin' up and down of the room like some caged lion. 'Do you reckon he's done got 's far 's old man Grimes's" I TWELVE -KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 37 "Ole man Grimes's is about half way to town, you remember. "'I reckon he has,' says I, consolin'ly, my fingah on the triggah; 'I reckon he has.' "Ole man Clabe he walks up an' down fo' an- othah half houah, then he puts anothah question: " 'Do you reckon,' he asks, ve'y wistful, 'that he's done got 's far 's the toll-gate by now' "The toll-gate's a mile frum town, yoh remem- bah. "'I reckon he has,' savs I, still consolin' of him 'n still a keepin' of my han' on the triggah, be- cause old man Clabe's eve was a gittin' mighty wild and theah wa'n't no tellin' whut might happ'n. "He walks up and down, up and down, like a ole lion, completely perishin' of his te'ible thu'st. "'Do you s'pose,' says he, beginnin' agin pres- ently, 'that that theah confounded niggah has got pas' the toll-gate yet' 38 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL STORIES. "'I s'pose he has,' says I, addin' hastily, as Clabe come putty close to me in his walkin' up and down, 'I s'pose he has.' "Jes' then ole Clabe he heahd a noise in the vicinity of the stable. He rushes out the do', me at his heels, because he thinks to himse'f, 'Theah, now, that theah blamed niggalh he's done come with the whiskey aftah all, darn his ole( black soul,' and a thinkin' of this to hisse'f, he cries out in stento'ian tones: "'You Caleb!' that was the name of the nig- gah; 'you Caleb, is that you Have you done got them theah bottles Bring 'em to me quick, you-' but it wouldn't do to repeat the wuhds he used, in the presence of ladies. "I had followed ole Clabe. We had got neahly to the stable when I heahd the voice of ole Caleb callin' back: ""Law, Mars Clabe, I ain't got no whiskey yet. TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 39 I ain't stalited yet. I couldn' fin' de bridle fo' de Illllle.' "I hate to tell you whut followed. It is too te'ible, but I s'pose I mus'. "Seems like that theali peace conference had tak'n all the heart out of ole Clabe. He nevah wahl hinmse'f aftaliwalid. "Ile jes drew his double barr'l shotgun on his- sqef and shot hisse'f through the head with it. Then he fel I dead in his tracks because lie couldn' stan' to wait anothah three houahs fo' that theah. whiskey. "Didn' wait to shoot the niggah and the mule, as he would 'a' done if it hadn't 'a' bin fo' that theah peace conference. Jes' shot hisse'f. "011, yes, Proctor Knott, he'll have a good deal to answah fo' at the Bali of Jedgment fo' changin' of the good ole conditions in ouah natiV' lan. That's all theah is to that." 40 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL' STORIES. THE KENTUCKY COLONEL HAS A GRIEVANCE. "IT is ve'y fatiguin' to me," remarked the Ken- tucky Colonel, "to obsu've how people generally attribute every feud in the world to Kentucky. How they appeah, to locate every one of 'em, seems laik, at that little ole town of Harrodsburg. "Now I ain't sayin' but Harrodsburg's a putty lively town when it comes to feuds. I understan' that the drummahs maik mighty quick trips through heah, skippin' out sudden, befo' the shootin' can have time to commence; that some on 'em now and agin have displayed coat tails shot full of bullet holes, wheah they have been TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 41 fiahd at on the run to the depot. But that don't prove so ve'y much, does it Drummahs is sech cheerful liahs as a rule. They'll tell anything. "Yes. I have heard that story of the drummah that slept in the room ovah the office at the Com- mercial Hotel, that theah little frame hotel on the cornah, you remembah, as you go up the Dan- ville pike. How he heahd a kind of noisy racket down below him all houahs of the night, looked laik. How he thought as how it was a dance or somethin'. "Then when he went down the nex' mawnin' he foun' the nigger boy sweepin' up somethin' that looked to him laik Malagah grapes up off of the flo'. Sweepin' of 'em up in a dus'pan. " 'You mus' 'a' had a mighty fine pahty heah las' night,' he says to the nigger in a casual way, 'to be so reckless with youah BMalagah grapes as that.' "'Laws, massa,' replied the nigger, showin' his 42 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. teeth and the whites of his eyes in a grin, 'these heah ain't no Malagah grapes. They done had a little fight down heah las' night, and these heah's eyeballs.' "Oh, yes, I've heard that theh story and a good many othahs; but that ain't no proof, is it, that all the feuds that evah cleaned out whole fam'lies stahted at Liarrodsburg No. It ain't no proof at all. "But give a dog a bad name and it'll allus hang it. Ilarrodsburg's got a bad name and Ken- tucky's got a bad name-that is, when it comes to feuds-if we have got the reputation of havin' the bes' whiskey, the fastest hosses and the finest wimmin in the world; but I'm heah to prove that Harrodsburg ain't quite so bad as she's painted. "It's the same with Kansas. Now, you nevah heard of a cyclone, did you, that didn't begin in Kansas No mattah wheah they land, what State TWELVE KENTUCKY COLONEL' STORIES. 43 they demolish on the way, they allus git the credit of stahtin' in Kansas. "I have anus had a kind of sympathy with Kansas on that account. I don't believe all the cyclones staht in Kansas any mo' than all the feuds staht in Harrodsburg, just because a good manv have stahted theah accidentally. Don't stan' to reason. "Do you remembah Billy Baxter, for instance, that little fellah with the side whiskals that look- ed fo' all the world laik a Presbyterian minister, that cleaned out the town of Nashville one fine day "You don't Well, that little fellah ought to had a medal or somethin'. He was one of the finest shots I evah heahd of. "I'll tell you the circumstances. Billy was walkin' on the street in Nashville-I disremem- bah jest which street-that day, when anothah young man come up to him and accidentally said 44 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. some little thing that Billy thought was deroga- tory to the Jedge, his fathah. "Well, Billy wa'n't goin' to have his fathah insulted. That's all theah was to that. So he pulled his hoss pistols out of his hip pockets and commenced to shoot. "The streets was putty full of people at the time, but when the battle was ovah, and it was ovah in less time than I'm takin' to tell you about it, theah wa'n't nobody theah but Billy and the dead and the dyin'-Billy standin' up theah with his little side whiskahs, lookin' fo' all the world laik a little Presbyterian preacheh, surrounded by his victims, and that was all. "Now, do you know what they said They couldn't let Harrodsburg alone. No. They couldn't. Seems laik they've got a special pick at that theah town. They said that Billy Baxter was bawn and raised theah on the Shelbyville TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL STORIES. 45 pike, about fo' miles out of the town, measurin' from the cote house. "I don't know how much truth theah was in the statement, but that was what they said. "Then theah was that fellah 'way down in Texas. You remembah the fellah Jim Chinoweth used to tell about, what had killed about five or six men when he fust met him and he forgot jest how many aftahward "You remembah Jim Chinoweth Lived right across from you theah in Harrodsburg on the Lexington pike. "Well, Jim he was, down in Texas rangin' aroun' on some bizuess or othah when one night 'way in the middle of the night, theah come a tap at his do'. "Mars Jim,' whispers a voice. It was his body servant, a nigger what stayed with him aftah the wah; he was so fond of him, wouldn't be freed. Wanted to be his body servant till he died, and 46 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL STORIES. he was. Theah is lots on 'em in the South laik that. You know that as well as I do. "'Mars Jim,' whispers this voice, 'git up a min- nit. I want you to come and see about Mars Tom.' Tom Brown, the fellah that had killed his sixth man. 'He's in a peck o' trouble,' the nigger finishes. "'What's the mattah with him' inquired Jim Chinoweth. "'He's done killed anothah man, Mars Jim,' the nigger answahs back, 'an' he's in a peck o' trouble, 'cause this ain't Kentucky, you know, Mars Jim. This is Texas.' " 'All right,' says Jim Chinoweth, 'I'll be right down, 's soon 's I kin git inter my clo'es.' "Well, Jim he hurries on with his clo'es and goes out in the dark with his ole body servant and comes to Tom Brown's sto', a little sto' wheah lie sole groceries. Theah he foun' Tom Brown in a attitood of deep dejection. TWELVE KENTUCKY COLONEL STORIES. 47 "le was bent ovah double, he had his elbows on his knees, Jim said, and his chin in his han's. He sutt'nly did look, Jim said, as if he was in a peck o' trouble. "What's the mattah, Tom' asks Jim, feelin' sorry for him, lie looked so sad. " 'A fellah come in heah,' explains Tom with- out lookin' up, 'and gits to talkin' around putty sassy, and I jest raises up my ole shotgun and gives him a little tap on the head. Without sayin' a word he falls down dead in his tracks. And I didn't do nothin' a tall but give him jest the least little bit of a tap on the head.' "Jim fell to studyin' the situation. " 'What you think I bettah do, Jim' asks Tom Brown. 'I)o you think I'd bettah step ovah into the Territory a while, until the excitement's ovah' "Jim studies ve'y thoughtfully. "'No,' answer he by 'ni by, 'I don't think it's 48 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. necessary to do that. If you jest tapped him a little tap on the head, if I was you I'd stay and see it out.' "Well, Tom Brown he followed his advice and saw it out. "Howsomever, the excitement it run putty high, because it wa'n't Kentucky; as the ole dahky had said, it was Texas. Putty soon theah was some talk flyin' aroun' of tarrin' and feath- erin' and the laik. "One fellah specially, he done a good deal of talkin' and by 'm by his talk got aroun' to Tom Brown. This fellah was settin' on the veranda of a hotel one day when a frien' of Tom Brown's come up to him. "'You know what Tom Brown says, if you don't shut up that theah talk of youahs' he asks, ve'y polite. " 'No,' answahs the fellah; 'what' " 'He says,' replies this frien' of Tom Brown's, TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 49 'that if you don't put a bridle on youah tongue you'll probably be the seventh.' "The talkin' fellah didn't say nothin', but he tu'ned putty white in the face. Then he got up without a word and lit out, and they nevah saw him no mo' from that day to this. "Well, the trial progressed putty slowly, so slowly that it was some months befo' they fin- ished with it. Finally, they thought that, so long as Tom Brown had said he only give the man a little tap on the skull with his ole shotgun, they would exhume the body and take a look at the skull, to prove it. They did. "Jim Chinoweth says it was a sight to look at, that theah skull. A little tap! Jim says that theah skull was cracked all ovah from forehead to neck, like a pane of glass that's bin shot at and split into smithereens. "I believe though that they finally acquitted Tom Brown, fo' feah he might get at 'em some- 50 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. how or othah and make the seventh or eighth or tenth of 'em befo' he got through. Afeard he might take a peck at 'em while they was stringin' him up, or flah through the prison walls at 'em. "But this is what I'm tryin' to explain: They suttingly have got a pick at Harrodsburg, them heah people what rake up the feuds, what nevah will quit talkin' about 'em. "Do you know what they said about that theah Tom Brown Why, this: That he come from Harrodsburg. That he was bawn and raised two or three miles from the town on the Frankfort pike. "I don't know how true it is, and I for one don't believe it; but that is what they puzzist in sayin'."1 TWELVE "'KENTUCKY COLONE" STORIES. 51 THE MOTHER-IN-LAW FEUD IN KENTUCKY. THE CONSEQUENCES OF WILL TURNER'S SHOOTING OF A STRONG-MINDED WOMAN IN THE ARM. "Speakin' of Breathitt county, and the late little excitement down thealh," said the Kentucky Colonel, "d'you heah anything mo' of it Any- body else killed No "If it had happened in Hlarrodsburg it wouldn't 'a' ended so sudden, I can promise you that. I s'pose now you don't remembah the mother-in-law feud of Breathitt county: Nevah heard of it One of the mos' famous feuds of that paht of the wuhld. 52 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. "P'raps you didn't know it by that name. Some called it the Howard-White feud, othahs the Garrard-Baker feud, othahs still the Baker- Turner feud, and still othahs the Garrard-Baker- White-Turner-Howard feud altogethah fo' the savin' of time; but among the immediate friends of the deceased families it was known as the mother-in-law feud, as I tell you. "If you'd go through some o' them theah moun- tain cemeteries you'd see grave aftah grave deco- rated with wooden boards with this inscripshun on 'em: 'Mahtah to the cause of the mother-in- law!' "Mothers-in-law kick up a good deal of rumpus in all pahts of the wuhld, but this one didn't do a thing to Breathitt county. "As I say, the Garrards and the Bakers had about killed each othah off and were waitin' fo' the children to grow to shootin' size so's to con- tinue the pufformance when the White-Howards TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 53 took a turn. Then come the Baker-Whites, then come the Howard-Turners and the feud of the mother-in-law. "This was whut occuhd: Wilkerson Howard and Will Turner had hot wuhds about something or othah, I disremembah jest whut, and Will Tur- ner he went deliberately to Wilkerson Howard's house and shot his mother-in-law. Shot her in the ahm. No, not outright-jest in the ahm. "Now, Wilkerson Howard's mother-in-law was one of them tall, narrow chested, angulah, raw- boned, hoarse voiced wimmin whut natchully runs everywhere in sight. Wilkerson, he couldn't call his soul his own fo' his ole mother-in-law. His wife wa'n't much bettah. Neithah wah his childern. "The ole lady happuned to be quiet about that time. Wa'n't sayin' nuthin' a tall. Jest a settin' in the cornah of the fiahplace, smokin' her ole cob pipe and studyin' up devilment fo' the next day a4 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. in all probability. Had done all she could fo' that day and was restin' on her ahms, when Will Turner shot one on 'em. "Then he lit out, and it was high time. They say theah nevah was a madder man in Breathitt county than Wilkerson Howard was that night. He called all the Howards together, and theah was somethin' doin' fo' a pe'iod of time in Breath- itt county. That's all thealh was to that. "Fust and last that little shootin' of Will Tur- ner's cost Kentucky all in all about fifty-nine or sixty lives, to say nuthin' of the money spent in lawsuits a-tryin' to convict the pahties whut par- ticipated in the various and sundry walis that raged all around that mother-in-law fo' yeahs and yeahs and yeahs in Breathitt county. "But to begin with, with a Constable of their own choosin', the Howards, ten on 'em, includin' a Sheriff whut belonged to the family and a Jedge or two, they set out with the puppose of TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 50 killin' Will Turner on sight under covah of a written warrant fo' his arrest on the charge of shootin' with intent to kill without killin'. "But, as I said befo', Will got a inklin' of it and lit out. He went to Texas and stayed theaA fo' a solid yeah while the Howards killed off his immediate fam'ly and burned a few towns a time or two to keep up the interest. "Wilkerson Howard was ve'y matter of fact about plannin' his campaign. He got his men to- gethah and organized a camp. He prepahd fo' warah and kep' things goin' by shootin' right and lef' at anything he thought had the look of a Tur- ner or a relative or a sympathizer of po' Will's. "He killed so many, as a mattah of fac', that he felt called upon onct or twice to go through a sutt'n fo'm of havin' himself tried fo' manslaugh- ter. Got a picked guard of ahmed relatives and frien's and filled up the cote house with 'em. They invariably give him bail and set him free. 56 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. Whut Jedge wouldn't with so many walkin' arse- nals about ready and willin' to tah and feather him and burn down the cote house and the town if he didn't "It's a techy thing, bein' Jedge in Breathitt county, or it was in the good ole times. "Then, by 'im- by, Will Turner he come back frum Texas-Texas ain't no sort of State fo' a Kentuckian, bawn and brought up on fiah watah and double barreled shotguns-and they killed him on sight. "If he'd bin alone in the wuhld the mattah might 'a' ended then and theah, but he had rela- tives, not many, but a few that Wilkerson How- ard had lef' around in spots fo' tahgets. These relatives took it up and spread that feud so far and wide that, as I've explained, it got so many names it would make you ho'se to call their car- riages through a megaphone. "And all about a mother-in-law, you say. You TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 5 7 thought them there feuds mostly stahted with some pretty gurl a marryin' of a opposin' pahty, or some fellah runnin' away with the daughter of the man his fathah had killed But with a moth- er-in-law! "They do a good many original things in Breathitt county. They don't stick to no special rule for nuthin', exceptin', of cose, in the mattah of shootin'. 'Take aim! Fiah!' is their special rule fo' that. "But you ah right, I reckon, and it was an unusual thing, that mother-in-law feud, and I'll tell you the reason they fit so bitterly ovah it. I had it direct frum a pussonal frien' of Wilker- son Howard's whut wore a mailed shirt and got close enough to him occasionally to converse on mo' or less intimate tums. " 'Does seem a strange thing to me," he says to Howard, 'fo' you to kick up sech a terrible rum- pus ovah yo'h mother-in-law. Sech an awful row 58 TWELVZ "XR'N TUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. involvin' putty much everybody in Breathitt county jest because a fellah shot your mother-in- law in the ahm. Seem's to me it don't stand to reason somehow o' othah. It don't a tall.' "With that my frien' says Wilkerson Howard fixed his eyes on the ground ve'y melancholy, broodin' laik. " That's jest it,' says he; 'he shot her in the ahm. If he'd a shot her outright, 'nuf said. Theah wouldn't a bin no mother-in-law feud in Breathitt county.'" TNVWIA "RIENTtICKY C0I.NEL' MTOQRIM3. 6t9 THE KENTUCKY COLONEL TELLS OF THE FEUD TWO WOMEN STARTED. "THE Ramsey-Bartlett feud of Clay county was stahted in a peculiah mannah," said the Ken- tucky Colonel. "Ve'y peculiah. Two wimmin stahted it. "It was laik this: Ole man Ramsey, he lived to l)e neahly seventy yeahs of aige befo' he fiahd a ;un. From Kentucky Yes. Of cose. Theah alh some people in Kentucky who nevah fialid a .gun. I have heahd it said, that it. No, I nevaah had the pleasuali of their pussonal acquaintance myse'f. But then, you know, I come from iHar- rodsburg. 60 TWELVE KENTUCKY COLONEL STORIES. "As I was sayin', this heah feud was stahted by two wimmin livin' nex' do' to each othah. Theah wa'n't but one woman livin' next do' till ole man Ramsey he up and married a young wife. Married a wife so much too young fo' him that he might 'a' knowed it wouldn't be long befo' she'd be cuttin' up didoes of somesort or othah. "Twa'n't long. About the second mawnin' aftah he had brung her home she went out to the back po'ch, and theah opposite heron her back po'ch stood Sally Bartlett, wife of Sam Bartlett, and mothah of Sam Bartlett's six or seven sons. "How de do, Mrs. Ramsey" she says, ve'y polite. " 'How de do, Mrs. Bartlett,' answehs back Mrs. Ramsey, jes' 's polite, if not politer. 'Whut is that stick you seem to be polishin' so this mawnin'' "At that Mrs. Bartlett she raises the stick ve'y TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL STORIES. 61 proud, so's Mrs. Ramsey could see it shinin' in the sunlight. " 'That,' explains she, 'is my husband Sam Bartlett's stick. Would you laik to count the notches on it' "Young Mrs. Ramsey she took a look at the notches and frowned. " 'How many may theah -be' she asks, not tak. in' the trouble to count. " 'Eighteen,' says Mrs. Bartlett, and smiles, for she wah ve'y proud of them theah notches on her husband's stick. " 'Ve'y fine,' says Mrs. Ramsey, 've'y fine, in- deed.' Then she makes a excuse about dustin' or somethin' and goes back in the house. "She don't do no dustin' when she gets in theah. She jes' sets herse'f down and begins to brood on the notches on that theah stick. When ole Ramsey come home to suppah that night he didn't find no suppah ready fo' him. Instead, he 62 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLOXEL" STORIES. finds his young wife a settin' suilkin' in a cohnah. "'Sam Bartlett,' his young wife says, 'he's got eighteen notches on his stick, and you ain't got none.' "With that le man Ramsey he sets down anid thinks a spell. " 'I nevah seemed to keer to shoot at anybody, he offers as an excuse, but it was too lame a ex- cuse fo' a wife of sech spirit as he'd married. " 'If youah's chicken livahd as that,' says she, 'and don't shoot nobody jes' because you don't k-er to shoot, I'm genuine to quit,' and she did quit. "Natchully, the ole man was all broke up by this attitood assumed by his young wife. Then the attitood assumed by the Bartletts was wuss, if possible, than that of his wife. He nevah went out of the house but whut some membah of the Bartlett fam'ly didn't grin at him and offer him insultin' wuhds. "He stood it 's long 's he could. Then in h s TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 63 old aige, one foot in the grave, he commenced to practice shootin'. Driven to it, you might say. He bought every kind of gun he could find in the market and practiced till he had become puffec' with each. "Then, so long's he must, he stahted out a hunt- in' fo' somethin' to shoot at. He was shuttin' of his front do' when a young Bartlett steps out of his do' at the same time. "'You chicken livahd ole fool!' says the young Bartlett, feelin' faceshus laik early in the mawn- in' and not suspecting the zeal with which the ole ian had been practicing 'you chicken livalid ole fool!' he repeats, 'to let youah putty young wife leave you because you don't know how to shoot!' " 'I don't know how to shoot, don't I' the ole man says back at him, and befo' he could uttah anothah faceshus wuhd he pints a double bar- reled shotgun at that young man and shoots him dead. 64 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEeL STORIES. "Aftah ole man Ramsey stahted to shoot it seemed laik he nevah knew when to stop. It grew on him, the habit of shootin'. He'd begun, to say, "I don't know how to shoot, don't I" so late in life, that he had to keep up a pulhpetual gun poppin' to maik up fo' lost time "He shot in the open daylight, he shot in the (lahk. He got up early in the mawnin' to shoot. TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 6 5 He shot so late at night that the people took up barricadin' their do's and goin' to bed at sunset. "A Kentuckian can do 'mos' anything he sets his head to do, and that was whut the ole man did. He won his young wife back. "Mrs. Ramsey kep' a-hearin' of his wonderful progress in cuttin' notches on his stick till one day she smiled at him acrost the street as she was goin' downtown. He smiled back. The nex' day she smiled at him ag'in, and the day aftah that she packed her grip and come on home. "A mawnin' or two aftahwahd she was busy out on the back po'ch a-polishin' up the stick with the notches on, when Mrs. Bartlett she come out on her back po'ch a minnit. "Mrs. Ramsey she pretended not to see her. She went on polishin' of the stick, holdin' it up ostentashus laik wheah the sun could shine on the nice fresh notches whut had been cut so re- cently. G6 'VWEtLV "'xENTUtOXY COiOXEL" ATORIES. "Mrs. Bartlett lookin' across could see about twenty or mo' notches a-shinin' and a-glimmerin' in the mawnin' sun on that theah stick. She didn't say nuthin' eithah, but she tu'ned around, went back in the house and slammed the do' hahd. "You couldn't, to say, blame her eithah fo' slammin' the do' putty hahd. She didn't have no husband, no sons, and mighty few nigh relatives on accounts o' them theah nice new notches on that stick." wttEvt i YEXTUCXtYt COLWNRI STOttIS. 67 THE LONELY OLD MAN WHO WAS THE LAST SURVIVOR OF A KEN- TUICKY FEUD. "I PRESuME now," began the Kentucky Colonel, "that you don't remembah Andy Johnson, of Mid- dleborough No Ve'y remarkable man. Vely distinguished man. In the shootin' line you say :Natchully. Been unjustly classed, howsomevah, Mvithi the wust of the Eastern Kentucky outlaws. "Not a tall true. Andy was 's mild a mannahd man as you evah see. Tall, ganglin' ole man with a long gray beaid. Putty well ahmed befo' my story commences, but had to be. Aftah that he went about without any ahms a tall to amount to 68 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. anything. A 42-calibre in a hip pocket, and a shotgun or two, maybe, but that was all. "Andy was puffec'ly alone in the wuhld. He was the las' of the Johnston-Gilbert feud, whut raged with sech pussistency all around about Middleborough fo' so many yeahs, and extuhmi- nated so many fam'lies. "Great feud, that. Thutty-three men died with their boots on in that theah feud in fo' years. No telling how many was wounded. Nevah counted 'em. "Bein' the las' of the feud, Andy was a ve'v lonely ole man durin' the ballunce of his life. Nobody he keered to shoot at. All dead an' gone. Steadily losin' practice. Mo' and mo' liable each yeah to get so's he couldn't shoot a bahn door, should the occashun requiah it. "Howsomevah, he was a kind ole man at that. The fac' that he nevah stahted no mo' feuds proved that. You'll say so yo'se'f when I tell you TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 69 some excellent chances he had of stahtin' 'em that he let go by. No. 'Twa'n't that Andy wah intim- idated in his old age. Not a tall. "If you could see Captain Gaither, of Harrods- burg, he could tell you a few things about Andy and tryin' fo' to intimidate him-CaptainGaither whut lived in the ole gray house on the Lexington pike opposite the pond whut belongs to John Thompson's place on the bill. Clay Hill, they call that place, you remembah "Well, when Captain Gaither he was sent up to Middleborough to quell some distuhbances relat- in' to the Howard-Turner feud a ragin' theah at the time, he thought as how he would show them theah feudists whut a Gatlin' gun could do. So he placed one on 'em befo' the side of a. mountain an' fiahd a few shots into it. "It wa'n't many shots he fiahd, tryin' to intimi- date the feudists and put a end to the feud; but them few bo'd a hole in that theah mountain big 70 TWELVE KENTUCKY COLONEL STORIES. enuf fo' a man on hossback to go in, tu'n around a couple of times and come on out ag'in. "The feudists stood around with their double barreled shotguns and looked admirin'ly on, ole Andy with them. "When Captain Gaither had finished bo'in' of the hole he glanced ovah them proud laik, takin' special notice of Andy, standin' theah, long and lean and gray beahded, with his pipe in his mouth. " 'You see,' said he, and waited fo' him to speak. "Finally Andy took his pipe out of his mouth and spoke. "'Well, I'll be danged,' he remahked cahmly, 'I wondah if the State wouldn't let me have that theah gun to plant cohn in my cohnfield with in the spripg.' "You undahstand, in them theah puppendicu- TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 71 lah mountain cohnfields, they plant cohn with a shotgun and gathah it with a step laddah. "No, 'twa'n't intimidashun with Andy. It was jest natdlil kindness of haht that kept him frum stahtin' any mo' feuds. 4'To' instunce, I'll give you a example showin' how Andy didn't have no animosity lef' in his natuah aftah killin' off all of the Gilberts, didn't have nothin' left theah but kind habtedness. One day aftah the cyahs had been built, runnin' from the mountainous regions to Cincinnati, there come down frum Cincinnati a sassy young drum- mah on his way to Middleborough. "He took a seat in the cyah nex' to the windah. By 'm by a mountaineer he also entahd the cyah and took the seat nex' to the young drummah, the seat whut shet him off frum leavin' the cyah un- less he jumped out of the windah or ovah the mountaineer. "Set down casually, this ole man did, and look- 72 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. ed past the sassy young drummah, straight out the windah, thinkin' of suthin' else appa'ently. Putty soon the drummah, gettin' sort of lonesome laik, I reckon, begun to pick up a conversashun with the ole man. " 'It seems laik to me,' he begins, innercent as a lamb, but sassy, 'that these heah Kentucky feud- ists, they ain't whut they ah cracked up to be.' "Not receivin' no response from the ole man, he keeps right along a-whoopin' of it up. "'Now, theah's Andy Johnston,' he - says. 'Frum what I can gathah, that ole man's about the biggest coward of 'em all.' "Seein' that his companion still didn't seem to have nuthin' to say, he keeps along a-talkin'. " 'That theah blamed ole fool of a Kentucky feudist,' the young man finishes, lightly; 'is about the biggest all-round coward I ever heahd tell of, or read of,' says he, and stops talkin' a while. "The ole man a settin' by him reaches up and TWELVE 'KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 73 strokes his long, gray beahd fo' a spell. Then he speaks, and this is the substance of whut he says: "'I am that theah blamed ole fool feudist, Andy Johnston,' was whut he says. "Theah was twelve mo' long miles for that theah sassy young drummah to travul befo' he reached his destinashun, but he wan'nt sassy no mo. "As I said befo', he was on the inside seat nex' to the windah wheah he couldn't escape without eithah jumpin' ovah the ole man or out the win- dah or crawlin' undah the seat to the next seat in the rear, a puffohmunce whut would have left his feet tempo'a'ily at Andy's mussy. "So he jes' set theah and set theah. "llowsomevall, by the time he bad got to the end of his journey, his friends whut had come to the stashun to meet him wah supprised to see that his haiah had tu'ned puffec'ly white. Puf- fec'ly white! Not a black haiah lef' anywheah. a4 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL' STORIES. "But ole Andy hadn't killed him. Hadn't even attempted to. He'd jes' let him set theah silunt- ly, not even speakin' to him no mo' aftah them las' fev tellin' wuhds whut he had give utt'rance to. "But I have heahd tell that Andy said aftalt- wahd that it give him a good deal of mild pus- sonal satisfaction fust and last to set theah them twelve miles and watch that theah sassy young Cincinnati drummah's haiah tu'n so ve'y white." TWELVE "KENTUC'KY COLONEL" STORIES. 75 VERY SET IN HIS WAY IS THE KEN- TUCKIAN. SO SAYS THE BLUE GRASS COLONEL, AND PROVES IT BY THE WOOD-CHOPPERS' FEUD. "SPEAKIN' of the good ole feud times in Ken- tucky," said the Kentucky Colonel, "when theab was feuds goin' on eve'ywheah, all ovah the State, when they wa'n't jes' confined to one now and ag'in in Harrodsburg, d'you evah heah of the wood-choppahs' feud in Rowan county "No I s'pose not. Seems to me laik you ah mighty keerless about keepin' up with the hist'ry of youah native Ian'. 76 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. "Well, the wood choppahs' feud, it was a vely interestin' feud. Not so much said about it 's theah was about othah feuds, because it happened to be confined to the ordina'y class, wood-chop- pahs, I s'ppse. I dunno whut else. Feuds in Kentucky in general is mos ly among the LUppah Ten, amung the PLo' Hundud. "This wood-choppahs' feud it brung out ve'y strong the tho'oughness of the Kentucky cha'c- tah. It's one o' the Kentucky traits that onct they begin a thing, specially a feud, they nevah stop till they see the finish of it. Sometimes it's the finish of sevvul fam'lies, sometimes of com- munities; this time it succeeded in wipin' about two hundud wood-choppahs off the face o' the uth. "No. 'S far Is I know they didn' none on 'em come frum Harrodsburg. Not 's far 's I know. The wood-choppahs, I mean. "Wait a minit, though. Seems laik I've hearn TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 77 say some'ers or othah that the great-gran'fathah of the two brothahs whut stalted the feud, he was bawn and raised theah somelers on the Shel- byville pike 's you go down to Looieville. "Theah was two brothahs named Ellacott whut stahted the feud. Thutty yeahs befo' the feud commenced Ole Man Ellacott he died. Natchul death Yes. Natchul death. Eve'body don' die in Kentucky with his boots on. It's a mistak'n idee entiahly. I know it's putty generally s'posed to be the case, but it ain'. I kin prove it by fo' or five 'xcepshuns that I know of pussonally. "Ole Man Ellacott then, when he up an' died, lef' his mountain fahm, covahed with vallable timbah, to his two sons, John and Sam Ellacott. They couldn't seem to agree nohow, them two brothahs, about the division of the estate. "One brother he took the dividin' stakes and moved 'em 'way ovah on his brothah's lan'. That 78 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONELS STORIES. theah brothah he moved 'em back agin, fouah rods in all. "Back and fo'th and back and fo'th, them theah two fool brothahs they kep a movin' of them stakes till they had travulled miles. You'd a thought they was live stakes, the way they travulled. "It was a mighty fool thing to do, but them theah Kentuckians they ah hald beaded, when they taik a noshun, awful hahd headed. They ah noted fo' that. "That theah lan' it wa'n't wuth mo'n 10 a acre. Whut was the use of makiu' sech a fuss about lan' laik that WYa'n't none a tall. "Aftah a few yeahs, howsomevah, the price of the lan' riz. A Northern buyah lie come down and offered them two brothalis 20 a thousand fo' the fine walnut timbah on that theali lan'. Then it was that the fightin' begun in earnest. "The brothahs they nevah spoke, even to cuss TWELVE XKENTUCKY COLON1EL" STORIES. 79 one anothah, but each one on 'em they went about laik walkin' arsenals, ahined to the teeth, makin' of all sawts of threats whut nevah amounted to nuthin, 's far 's they was concerned, 'cause they didn taik the pains to ca'y 'em out. "Each one o' them theah brothahs he haiahd a gang of wood-choppalhs to cut down the titubal wvhut was a-goin' to bring sech good money. The gangs they took up the fight. Instead of choppin' of the trees they took to choppin' of each othah. Putty soon they had regulah pitched battles, them two gangs of wood-choppalis, a-choppin' away at each othah with their long axes. They spa'alhd the trees, them theah wood-choppahs, but they didn' spa'ah the wood-choppahs. "Seems laik, too, that them thealh Northernas sicked 'em on, jez' to see the fun. They run up the price o' timbah fo' puah devilment, run it up to 21. Well, wlhen the price riz to that, it re- sulted in the total 'xtuhmination of two gangs of 80 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. wood-choppahs, till wood-choppahs they got to be jez' about 'z scace in that paht of the country 's hens' teeth. "Whut was the brothahs a doin' all this time" "Why, jes' a goin' about ahmed to the teeth, a makin' of all sawts of threats 's to whut they wuz goin' to do, but jes' allowin' of the wood- choppahs to keep the thing agoin' on their own account, a choppin' of each othah into a thousan' pieces out o' sympathy. That ve'y off'n happuns in Kentucky. Ve'y off'n. "It's the communest thing in the wuhld, in fac', fo' two men to -it in a row ovah nuthin', and let their friens and fam'lies and relations kill each othah off out o' sympathy. That's one o' the reasons why the good ole fashioned feud waz so widespread. "The two whut usually stalited it was genully too precious to let themse'ves be picked off. They wah laik Gennuls and Capins. They had to stand TWELVE 'KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 81 aside and give d'rections, to plan the campaign, as it wah, frum a respectful and safe distance. "Oh, yes. Things laik that wah ve'y common in the good ole times. "Well, when the wood-choppahls finully give out entiahly-wood-choppahs cain't las' fo'evah when they ah chopped down wholesale, you kin see how that is-the two ole brothahs they set each on his side of the disputed lan' with loaded shotguns across their knees, each ready to kill the othah if he daahd to taik a step ovah. "They sat theah rain and shine, day aftah day, day aftah day fo' yeahs, because it's the Kentucky natuah, 's I stahted out to explain, to see things done up brown, to see things, as I said befo', to the finish. Until at las' a neighbah whut was happenin' to pass by saw some buzzahds a hover- in' ovah the spot wheah one of the ole men was, neah the fores' of trees still standin,' because not one on 'em had bin chopped down. 82 TWELVE "KENTUTCY COLONEL" STORIES. "Hu'yin' up closah he discovahd one of the ole men dead, a settin' in his accustonmed place out on his do'step, with his gun across his knee, a layin' in wait fo' his brothah. "He had bin dead a couple of days, but his brothah, a settin' across on his do'step, too, ready to shoot at a minit's notus, didn' know it. "When they tole the brothah, he didn' seem to understan' how his brothah could 'a' died without his killin' o' him-didn' believe it; so he kep' a settin' on his do'step jes' the same, a waitin' and a watchin' fo' him to take the first step across to fill him with bullet holes long aftah the othah, brothah was dead an' bu'ied, settin' theah ready to give his ghost a pepperin' if it daahd to step across. "Then one day when some neighbah woman whut had kep' watch ovah him went to taik him somethin' to eat she foun' him dead, too. TWELVE `"KE XTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 83 "And that was the end of the wood-choppahs' feud in Rowan county "Tyes, they are ve'y tho'ough in Rowan county, or was in the good ole times. Mos' tho'ough's they ah in HIarrodsburg at the presunt day. "No mattah how many wood-choppahs it took, they saw things to a finish when they onct begun, them feudists did; that's all theah was to that." 84 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. A SCHOOL MA'AM BRED IN OLD KEN- TUCKY. THE COLONEL TELLS HOW SHE MAINTAINED ORDER IN SCHOOL AND ENDED A FEUD. "KENTUCKY women is famous for their good looks," said the Kentucky Colonel, "I don't have to tell you that. But a good many on 'em is putty famous fo' theah courage, too. "Them theah mountain Kentuckians, specially. They ah 's good shots 's theah husbands; and wheah they ain't, they busy themse'ves a-loadin' of the double-barreled shotguns fo' their hus- bands and a-naggin' of 'em on. TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 85 "Of co'se you don't know Mrs. Bently. She lived up in the mountains a good ways frum Har- rodsburg, but she wah a distant cousin of the Harrodsburg Bentleys, which was wheah she got her pluck. She was all right, Mrs. Bently was. "When that theah Jesse Ramsey, that theah cyclone o' the mountain feuds, he went to the Bently home while Mr. Bently was away and began a-firin' an' a-destroyin' of the property and a-threatenin' o' the lives o' the chillun, he found his match fo' oncet. He found it in Mrs. Bently, fine lookin', bawn and raised in Kentucky, quick eye, long traiin' in handlin' of the Winchester. She jes' stood up in her front do' and give it to him good and plenty. "He was gettin' of the wust of it when some of his followers they rushed in and covered up his retreat. The retirin' pahty got off with a triflin' chahge of buckshot in the back and three killed outright. 86 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. "No, aftah that they didn't attack the Bently manshun while Mr. Bently wah away from home to any great extent that anybody evah heard of. "But what I stahted out to tell you was the story of Kit Baker, a Harrodsburg gurl whut taught school fo' a while in Rowan county. She was distantly related to the Bakers of the Baker and Turner feud, if you remembah. "She was a fine, broad-shouldered gurl, Kit was, with big black eyes and black hair and fiery as tow. Good hahted gunl, too, Kit was, but de- termined. Her father lived out on the Cane Run pike. You remembah that theah pike wheah the blackberries is so thick in the summer time "Well, Kit's fathah he had so many chillun he couldn't count 'em. One got drowned out on a picnic excurshun and he didn't miss him till they got home and counted noses. "They had so many chillun that Kit's motbah she come across Kit one mawnin' settin' quietly TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 87 by the fiahl, wahnin' her toes, and slapped her. Then she said to Kit's fathah: " 'I've settled Kit fo' to-day, anyway.' "Kit she hadn't bin doin' of a thing but wahm- in' her toes, but her mothah mnust 'a' mistook her fo' anothah of the chillun whut had bin misbe- havin', I reckon. "Aftah that Kit she didn't speak to her mothall fo' three months, but thealh wah so many chillun her mothah nevah noticed it a tall. "Theah bein' so many chillun patty soon the rashuns they begun to give out. Then Kit she concluded she'd bettah light out and do somethin' to maik her own livin' if she wanted to keep the breath of life in her body. She concluded to teach. "She begun to practise, gettin' ready. She bought a Winchester rifle and a few shotguns. Then she got a double-barreled shotgun, the blu- gest she could find, and a bowie-knife or two. 88 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. Then she got out in the back yahd and begun to shoot at tahgets. "You undahstan' how it is when a woman fust begins shootin' at tahgets. The lives of the neigh- bahs was in a good deal of dangah fo' awhile, but not fo' long. Kit she come of a shootin' fam'ly. She inherited her aihm. I couldn't begin to tell you how many uncles Kit had whut was famous fo' their aihms. "It didn't taik Kit long, backed by this splen- did inheritance of distinguished tahget-shootin', to hit the bullseye every time. It wa'n't a week befo' the bahn do' was puffectly safe. In anothah week the neighbors could pass by the house in puffec' safety, also. "In a month Kit concluded she was about ready to apply fo' her situashun as school-mistress in Rowan county. Aftah she had shot a few dozen bullseyes the jedges they come to the conclushun TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 89 that she was equal to the situashun and give it to her. "If you had 'a' seen Kit packin' her trunk fo' to taik that theah situashun, you'd 'a' thought she was a goin' to jine the ahmy. Rifles, shotguns, small swords, bowie-knives! It was a putty heavy trunk, I kin tell you, when Kit she finished a packin' of it. "Well, Kit she arriv and the school it opened. It was a school whut was composed mos'ly of half baked, ovah grown boys whut was full of the Ole Nick. It had previously bin run by schoolmas- tahs, but they had one by one bin killed off and givvun decent bu'ial. "When them theah boys found that a gurl was a goin' to run it, they jes' laughed low, mirthless laughs and wagged their heads. She'd run it about a day, they, said, then she'd see whut was ,whut. "The auspicious mawnin' when the school opened Sammie Webb, a big boy whut had killed off a considerable numbah of schoolmastahls, come to the school with a wicked lookin' 42- calibre pistol buckled around him. Kit she went up to him and tole him to unbuckle that theah pistol and give it to her. "Instead of obeyin' of her, he stahted to draw the weppun, but befo, he had time to do that he was a lookin' into the muzzle of a shinin' 38 held in the steady right han' of the new schoolmis- tress. lie still showed fight, howsomevah, and his numerous friends they riz up in his defence. "But Kit she wah made of fiah and tow, and she come from Harrodsburg. Theah wa'n't no downin' of her. She stood her groun'. She killed two, wounded fo' or five othahs and shot Saemmie Webb in his pistol ahm, cowin' of him so he nevalh recovahed frum his admirashun of her. When he got out of bed he come back to school and begged her to marry him. 90 TWELVE "XIEN'tt-CICY COLONtL" sTORMS. TWNELtVI `X'EkTUCI,' CotoN sN. 1' SoTR. 91 "No. She didn't marry him. She said she'd nevah marry any man whut couldn' shoot quick- er'n she could. She wouldn't nevah be able to "lie was loolcin' into the muzzle of a shinin' 38." look up to him, she said; but she let Sammie help her keep up the discipline she had stahted in that theah school, till she quit teachin' some six or eight months afterwahd, which they did success- 92 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. fully without havin' to shoot more'n half a dozen mo'. "Then she married one o' the sons' o' the Tur- ners whut had he'ped kill off her relatives and ended the Baker-Turner feud. "Nevah heahd of sech a thing. Wheah you bin Why, it's quite the thing to do to end them theah mountain feuds by offerin' up a girl on the mar- riage altah, a livin' sacrifice." TWELVE KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 93 A BREACH OF KENTUCKY ETIQUETTE WHICH WAS WORSE THAN LAYING DOWN FIVE ACES AT POKER. "FROMI whut I an gathah," said the Kentucky Colonel, "chain shirts are bein' ve'y much worn again in Breathitt county. Since the last little fracas they ah all the style once mo', they tell me. "Chain shirts has had a good deal to do with breakin' up feuds in Breathitt county fust and last. I knew a feud whut was almos' bloodless on account of a chain shirt. Only one killed. " 'Twa'n't gennully known fo' a long while that chain shirts was fashionable in Breathitt county. They kep' it dahk. It was an ole man named Wesley Coldrain whut accidentally give it away. 94 TWELVE "KENTUCXY COLONEL" STORIES. "He wo' one. One day he fell in the rivah and come putty nigh drownin'. When they fished him out they found that he had one o' them heavy fifteen pound chain shirts on. "Didn't no soonah get about than people come from miles around a borrowin' of it. They sent their childun. "1 'Please, Mr. Coldrain,' the childun would im- plo', fathah says will you be so kind's to lend hinm your chain shirt to-night He's goin' to a pahty.' "In Bteathitt county it's the same 's in Har- rodsburg. A pahty stahts off innocent enough, but whut with the fiah watah and the hoss pistols and the double-barreled shotguns, theah ain't nevah no tellin' jest wheah it will end. "The findin' out about the chain shirt was the beginnin' of the almos' bloodless feud I was a tellin' you about. It was laik this: "Ole man Coldrain and a friend (of his'n named Jones wab in the habit of jedgin' of the cyahds TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL STORIES. 95 of evenin's when theah wa'n't nuthin' special doin' in the shootin' line. "Now, ole man Coldrain, while he was a putty fair all round shot, wa'n't to say exactly squah when it come to jedgin' of the cyahds. So one night Awhen Jones he lays down fo' aces, old man Coldrain he ups and lays down five. "Of cose, you don't undahstan' much about cyahds, but you ought to undahstan' enough to know that five aces in any paht of the country is goin' beyond the limit. It gennully means a knife stuck through the hand whut. lays 'em down, if it don't mean suthin' wuss. "Jones, he nevah said nuthin'. He jes' quit the game apparently, lettin' of it go at that, but it appealed to rankle in his mind. He couldn't seem somehow to think of nuthin' a tall but them theah five aces, every time he begun to think. "If that had been the end of it tiheah wouldn't 'a' been no story, but it wa'n't. Jones, he shook 96 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. hands with the ole man ve'y amicable, but the next mawnin' he sent his little boy ovah bright an' dearly to ask if he mightn't borrow ole man "He couldn't seem to think of nuthin' but themn five aces."' Coldrain's chain shirt. Ole man Coldrain, all unsuspectin', sent it ovah with his compliments. "That night, as ole man Coldrain was on his TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL: STORIES. 97 way to the postoffice, a unknown pahty took a shot at him from behind a big rock. The bullet neahly broke his ahm, but that didn't hu't so much as the fac' that he didn't have the satis- facshun of knowin' who fiahd it. "Howsomevah,he sent immediate to Cincinnati fo' one of the new fashioned chain shirts whut didn't weigh enough to drown a man. "In the meantime Jones he hadn't offered to send back the old fifteen pound chain shirt he had borrowed, and ole man Coldrain, whut waz afeahdl to go neah the watah with it on anyway, let him keep it. "Then one othah night as he was going to the postoffice again ole man Coldrain was shot at once mo' from behind a big rock. He stood up and took them theah shots laik a man with a chahmed life. Nevah feazed him. Whoevah it was a shootin' might 's well 'a' been shootin' at a bouldah fo' all the hahm it did. 0)8 TWEIVE IKENTUCKY COLONEL." STORIES. "BRut l)etween shots ole man Coldrain, w1ho wa'n't no i(jit, nor blin(d, neithah, caught sight of the would-be murderer. It wa'n't nobody mo' nor less than his old time pIahtner at cyalhds, Jones, standin' up theah lahge as life and twice 's natchul in his own chain shirt whut he had bor- rowed of him, a shootin' at him. "You'll say so yo'se'f that that was addin' insult to injury. It was all right to shoot at him if he wanted to, theah wa'n't no law ag'in that in Breathitt county, but to protect hisse'f with the ole man's own chain shirt! When it comes to a question of limit, it was wuss than five aces. I'll leave it to you, now, if it. wa'n't. "No. They don't allus do the squah thing in Breathitt county when they get to shootin', no mo' than they do in Hlarrodsburg. Seems laik the thust fo' blood goes to the brain. "But to maik a long story short, ole man Cold- rain he went slowlv home and to bed, a-thinkin' TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL' STORIES. 99 a good deal of one thing and aruothah. Then the next mawnin' he sends one of his young uns ovah to Jones' with a polite note a-requestin' of him to send back his chain shirt if he wah quite through with it. Hle wanted it, lie said in the note, to go huntin' in. "Ole man Coldrain, if the truth wah known, (lid n't have a, spahk of humor in his whole maik- up; but you'd 'a' thought hle had if you'd a known whut sort of huntin' he was intendin' to do. "That night lie took a little walk all by hisse'f in thle dahk towards the postoffice, a passin' of the spot wheah he had been shot at the night befo0. "Te sneaked up soft laik, and comin' suddenly upon Jones, who was lyin' in wait fo' him-no chain shirt, no nuthin', jest got reckless, seemed laik, didn't care no nio'--be shot him dead. And that theah was the beginning and the end of the 100 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. chain shirt feud of Breathitt county, whut num- bahd only one victim. "Theah might 'a' been mo', but the chain shirt habit suddenly took sech strong hold on all the immediate friends, relatives and sympathizers of the two fam'lies mos' interested, theah wa'n't nuthin' doin' in the killin' line a tall." TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORES. 101 .MORTIFYING BLUNDER OF A KENTUCKY GENTLEMAN. TIHE KENTUCKY COLONEL EXPLAINS THE MISTAKE WHICH FOR A TIME PUT AN END) TO THE FEUDS IN BREATHITT COUNTY. "I SEE by the mawnin' papahl," said the Ken- tucky Colonel, "that they ah takin' advantage of the Christmas festivities to tech up a feud or two in Breathitt county. Begins to look promisin'. " 'Tain't whut it used to be, Kentucky. Used to be that Christmas was the merriest time of all the yeah fo' wipin' out of ole feuds and beginnin' of new ones. Whole fam'lies cleaned out at one 102 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL STORIES. festivity, whut with the whiskey and the hoss pistols and sky-rockets and one thing and an- othah. "We celebrate Christmas ve'y diffunt from you Northern people anyway. I mus' say I off'n miss the whiskey and the fiahalims myse'f, and get to hankerin' aftah 'em. "It seems laik ole times to see Breathitt county comin' to the front again. Laik ole times. It used to be that that theah county run a. putty swift race with lHarrodsburg. Onct or twice it come putty nigh to takin' the shine off ouah little ole native town. That's all theah was to that. "And it may do it again. Theah ain't no tellin'. Only one killed you say and one wounded! Well, anyway, it's a stahtah. "Why, I kin remembah when the Jedges wouldn't hold cote in Breathitt county unless a military accompanied them upon their succut. TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 103 When the Gov'uor refused to allow sech a com- pany, theah wa'n't no cote held. Then them theah feudists took the law in their own hands and theah was somethin' doin'. "Oh, yes, it was ve'y gay in Breathitt county in the good ole times of the fust-class feuds. "I onct had the pussonal acquaintance of a feudist in Breathitt county, Shootin' Ike, dis- tantly related to the Turners of this same Turner and Strong feud we've been readin' about. "'Shootin' Ike was one of the bravest men I evah knew, but lie come by his death in a way whut would maik you weep. It is heart-renderin' to think of the way he come by his death. You balahdv believe it when I tell it to you, but it was laik this: "As I tell you, Shootin' Ike he was ve'y brave. He wa'n't afealid of nuthin'. That is to say, he wa'n't afeahd of nuthin' he had evah seen or heahd of up to the time of his death. He would 104 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. walk about in the dahk without any fiahahms, carryin' of a lantern-makin' of a tahget of him- se'f, carryin' of a lantern. It taiks a putty brave man to do that, I kin tell you, in Breathitt county. "But nobody shot him. He died a natchul death. Died of mortificashun. "You see, Shootin' Ike, he was whut you might call a connozier of fiahahms. He made a collec- tion of 'em. He was allus lookin' out fo' some new kind of fiahahm whut would shoot further and quicker than any fiahahm he had. He was said to have two or three that would shoot through sevvul men at onct. It was a great time saver. "He was so zealous about practisin' with 'em, too, aftah he got 'em that he was scaser of neigh- bors than any othah man in that paht of the country. "WVell, to come to the p'int of the story, one day TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL' STORIES. 105 theah come shyin' around his hut theah on the edge of the mountain a strangah. And he didn't seem as if he was at home out theah on them theah dangerous mountains of Breathitt county. "But, to give 'em their-due, that's one thing about them theah Breathitt county people. While they'll peck away promiscuss, whut you'd call reckless, occasionally at anybody at all related to their own pahticulah feuds, they won't shoot at a perfec' strangah. "Shootin' Ike wa'n't no exception to the rule. He was a kind hahted ole man. Had a good many notches on his stick, mo' than usual even in Breathitt county, but theah wa'n't no doubt in the minds of his frien's that he thought it was absolutely necessary to put them theah, or he wouldn't 'a' done it. "Shootin' Ike he had a rood deal of advertisin' in one way and anothah as a terrible shooter when he got stahted, but he was really at halit a 106 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL STORIES. kind ole man, and timid, too, about some things, as you'll see when I finish this story. "W\ll, as I stahted out to say, when this well dressed strangah come a shyin' around the secund day, ole Ike he went into his hut and sat down I q the fiahside. He had a kind of scahd look in his eyes, Ike did, the fust scald look anybody eval saw theah, I reckon. " 'Wllhut's the mattah' asks his wife, who was a settin' in the othah side of the big fiahplace a smokin' of a ole cob pipe. " 'Nuthin' to amount to anything,' answahs Shootin' Ike sof'ly, 'only theah is a strangah in these heah pahts and he's got a new kind of gun, a gun,' lie goes on to explain, 'whut appeahs to go off without shootin' anything.' "His wife took her pipe out of her mouth. "'A mighty quah kind of gun,' says she; 'I reckon I'll jes get up and taik a look at it.' "With that she gets up and goes to the do' and TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 107 looks out. At the same time the strangah he comes mincin' toward the hut, taiks a peep at her, lowalhs his eyes, holds his gun in front of him, taiks aim and pulls the triggah. "Then he turns a little wheel at the side-with a wheezin' sort of noise and goes away. Shootin' Ike's wife walked back in the room a laffin'. "'Laws a mussy,' says she, 'don't you know wlhut that is 'Tain't nuthin',' she adds, 'but a pocket camera. That's all it is.' "Shootin' Ike he was hurt to his haht. He was hurt in his pride so bad he nevah got ovah it- hurt to think that sech a connozier as he was should a mistaken a pocket kodak fo' a weepon. "He jes laid down and died of mortificashun, and that put an end to his feud for a little while in Breathitt county, put an end to it in fact until it stahted llp Christiuas Day with this unexpected little me'v killin' whut seems to me to sort of promise that thealh will be some io'." 108 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. THERE WAS ONCE A KENTUCKY MASTERSON. "SINCE I have been bearin' so much of Bat Mas- terson," said the Kentucky Colonel, "I've been wonderin' if he could be any kin to the M1aster- sons of Harrodsburg-them theah Mastersons whut used to live out on the Lexington pike about fo' miles from town. "Might be. Ole man Mlasterson had a good many sons. I remembah about nine. Some on 'em might 'ave emigrated to Texas fo' all I know. Must 'ave. Couldn't all on 'em have stayed in Harrodsburg; wouldn't 'ave held 'em. "Now that I come to think of it, ole man M1as- TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 109 terson had a good many notches on his stick. Was town marshal of Harrodsburg, too, onct upon a time. Theah was a little interestin' his- tory connected with that, too, if I recollect cor- rect. Putty lively town marshal he made-in fact, a leetle too lively. "Of co'se, in the province of town marshal of any Kentucky town, I ain't speakin' now of the Wes'; it was puffectly natchul to taik to shootin' upon occashun and shoot 's long's it seemed to be necessa'y. "But when, aftah shootin' at everybody in his immediate neighborhood, them whut wa'n't con- suhned as well as them whut wah, the ole man, havin' appa'ently los' his head, took to ridin' through the principal streets on his hoss, gallop- in' round and round, and shootin' till theah wa'n't a soul lef' in sight to shoot at, till all the inhabitants had gone down into their feud cellahs and pulled the do's in aftalt them, that theah 110 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. seemed to all intents and pupposes to be goin' a leetle too fah. "So aftah drawin' straws, some of the mos' prominent citizens they went to him on bended knee and beggin' of his pardon fo' the suggestion, suggested with feah and tremlblin' that he resign, which he did aftah a partin' shot at the sug- gestors. "I ain't sayin' that the ole man was the fatalah of Bat, but town marshals run in fain'lies mightv in Kentucky. It mayn't be the same in the WVes'. I dunno. "Ole man Masterson of Harrodsburg was a great society man. Ve'y popular. Always givin' pahties. Had to raid a toll-gate, though, every time you went to any of his pahties. "Nevah raided a toll-gate Wheah you been You'd ought 'a' had a chromo if you paid yoah toll. Whv, when I lived in Harrodsburg we used to begin to train ouah hosses the minnit we TWELVE "IENTITCKY COLONEL"' STORIES. 111 bought 'em to leap ovah a, pole about fo' feet from the groun' with a view to the toll-gate. "Interestin' spo't that, the training of them theah hosses. Regulah mawnin' pufformance, puttin' them through a co'se of trainin' prepara- tory to leapin' a toll-gate, so's we wouldn't have to raid it and buhn it to the groun'. "Them tlheah Kentucky hosses, they took to it, too. Wa'n't no trouble at all to train 'em. Laiked the spo't themse'ves. Seemed to understan'. Stalited out brash 's you please o' mornin's ready and willin' to leap a dozen toll-gates ruthah than let us pay the toll. "Wre didn't none on us have no buggies. You can undahstan' the reason fo' that if you stop to think. Imagine a. hoss leapin' a toll-gate with a bnlgy back of him. Imagine the buggy a settin' lown hahd on one o' them thealh hahd pikes! "Oh, no. We all went liossback. It was jes's much fun, if not no'. 112 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. "You should 'a' seen us stalhtin' out fo' a paity them days. In the fust place when one o' them big fam'lies, occupyin' one o' them theah big plantashuns outside a toll-gate, gave a pahty, in- stead o' puttin' in capital letters down at the right side of the page, 'R. S. V. P.' they insuhted, 'I. N. R. T. G.,' which signified 'If necessary raid the toll-gate.' "I shall nevah fo'get a pahty given by ole man 3Masterson one night in the summah time. "I don't know now whethah he is kin to Bat or not. Same name, but theah ain' nuthin' in a name accohdin' to Shakespeare. Might not 'a' been. "Well, anyway, I reckon as how ole man M1as- terson he nevah in all his bawn days paid a cent o' toll. If it happened that he was drivin' with some strangah, of co'se he didn't pay no toll, but if he wah drivin' alone-well, in that theah case the toll-gate keepah, at sight of the ole man, es' TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 113 natchully let the pole hurriedly up and went into the house a minit. Stayed theah till he got clean by. "I disremembah jes' how many notches the ole man had on his stick, but it wa'n't quite eighteen. Hlis son, if Bat's his son, which I ain't assuhtin' but jes' a wonderin', has gone a leetle ahead of his fathah in the matta.h of notches, 's falh's I kin see. "Well, to return to the subjec', we all got ready fo' this pahty of ole man Masterson's and met in the public' squah in what might 'a' seemed to a uninterested pahty to be a posse, but whut wa'n't nuthin' mo' nor less than a hahmless pahty of merrymakahs out fo' a lalhk. "Of co'se we had ouah guns. That stan's to reason. When you drink straight whiskey out'n a gourd, a dippin' of it out of a bucket, in the way whut was fashionable at the ole man's, palities, theah ain't no tellin' jes' whut might happen. 114 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STOKIES. "Anyway, it's jes' Is well to be prepared. "It was one o' them theah beautiful Kentucky nights you read about in novels, with a full moon. We got to singin' as we loped along, ve'y me'y anticipatin' of a good deal o' fun out at ole man Masterson's pahty as usual. Allus had mo' fun than you could shake a stick at at them theah little pahties. Mos'ly ended up in a free fo' all fight, but we wah ve'y gay while we wah about it. Gennully wounded a good many, but hahdly evah killed anybody outright at them theah little pah- ties of the ole man's. "Well, we come to the toll-gate, not in a bunch, but one by one, ve'y sof'ly, fo' feah o' wakin' the toll-gate keepalh. Feah'd lie might get hisse'f into trouble if he waked up. We didn't hive no grudge a-'in him. We didn't want to buhn his toll-gate down. "It wah ve'y amusin'. Oualh hosses they took the gate so gracefully, one aftah the othah. It TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. 115 was a real pictuah, some on 'em said aftahwald, the way twenty or mo' of themn theal hosses went leapin' sof'lf and swif'ly ovahl that toll-gate. "You can imagine how putty it must 'a' loolked in the moonlight, all of us leapin' ine'ily ovah that theah gate and on aloug the broad white beautiful pike in the moonlight to ole man Mas- terson's house. "We wah ve'y successful in not wakin' the toll- gate keepah. If he heahd us, he laid mighty low. He nevaah said nuthin' to us about payin' the toll. Nuthin' a tall. "Finally, aftah a ride of three miles or so in that theah moonlight, we come to ole man Mas- terson's place. "The ole man, he was on his hoss, jes' outside the gate, waitin' fo' us. We give a great shout when we saw him and he replied in his kind hahted, whole-souled way, so's you could 'a' heahd him a mile. 116 TWELVE "KENTUCKY COLONEL" STORIES. "You didn't have to raid the toll-gate' he asks, smilin'ly, 'and buhn it down so's to get through, did you' "He asks us this when we was gatherd admir- in'ly aroun' him, a jerkin' of the reins of ouah hosses and a comin' 's close's possible. We allus admiahed the old man ve'y much when he was givin' of a pahty. " 'Oh, no,' we answahs back. 'It wa'n't neces- sary. The gate keepah he nevah waked up. We jes' took a flyin' leap ovah. That was all.' " 'It is jes''s well,' says the ole man whut was sech a kind hahted, whole-souled old man. Bat ought to be proud of him if he is his son, which I ain't assuhtin', meahly wonderin'. 'But I didn't know but whut you might have to,' he finishes, 'so I was standin' heah ready at the fust sight of the flames to rush to youah rescue.' 17 THE END. A 2.00 Book for 25 Cents! 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TV: POPULAR LETTER WRITER, which tells how to write business, social, and love letters, giving numer. ous examples of all. This valuable work, containing the four books above mentioned, Is issued In one volume under the title HOW TO WOO, and itwillbe sent to anyaddress, postpaid, upon receipt of 25 cents in postage stamps or money. Address J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 67 ROSE STRUT, NEW YORX NAT GOULJ2D is becoming so popular as an author, that his fame and success bids fair to outrival that of the famous and widely known Laura Jean Libbey, or even " Old Sleuth " himself. If you have read any of the books by N GO U LD _ you will want to read them all. If you haven't read one yet, don't fail to do so, or you will miss a treat. We have just issued the following books, printed from new large type, all bound in handsome paper cover printed in colors: A CLEVER ESCAPE - By Nat Gould CHASED BY FIRE - By Nat Gould A GREAT STRUGGLE - By Nat Gould A BID FOR FREEDOM -. By Guy Boothby THE HOXTON MYSTERY - - By T. W. Hanshew The above books are for sale by all booksellers everywhere, or we will send any book by mail, post- paid, to any address on receipt of 35 cents. ADDRESS ALL ORDERS TO J. S. OCILVIE PUBLISHINO COMPANY, 57 Rose Street, New York. DON'T FAIL TO READ ONE OF THE BOOKS BY NAT GOUL iD. CONIC POST CARDS. KNOW That the Fad of To-day is Collecting Post Cards We want to call your attention to Ogilvie's Packet No. 1 of Comic Post Cards, containing 25 of the best collection ever made. They are printed in four colors, and we guarantee entire satisfaction or the money will be refunded. No collection of cards will be complete without this set, and the price is very low. We will send any five cards for 10 cents, or the Packet containing 25 cards for 35 cents, by mail, post-paid, to any address. In order to give you a little idea of the fun and humor on these cards we give herewith a list of the subjects: Am having a swell time. Am having a corking good time. Am on a flying trip. Arrived safe. Am too busy to write. Am having a large time. Am expecting to have my hands full. Can you come over soon Coming in with the tide (tied.) I would be better off. I expect to make a hit soon. I am being detained. I'm having a rousing time. I'm all to the nary. I'm taking a month off. I'm feeling down In the mouth. I am on the jump. I may not see you again. I am living The Simple Life. Just between you and nme. Things are humming. Things are very quiet here. We are stopping here. We can't get over it. We are stirring things up. ADDRESS ALL ORDERS TO J. S. OILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 57 Rose Street, New York. fIARSHALL P. WILDER needs no introduction to the American public. He is known as the greatest man who ever lived to drive away the blues and make you laugh; and he has given the veryj best of his many good stories in the book which we have just issued, entitled "THE PEOPLE I'VE SMILED WITH.' BY MARSHALL P. WILDER. 12mo, 268 Pages. Bound in Paper Cover, 35 Cents; Cloth Bound, 1.00. This book contains 268 pages of mirth and laugh- ter, well printed in large type, with frontispiece of Mr. Wilder, and handsome illustrated cover. Extracts from Letters Written to Mr. Wilder. President Theodore Roosevelt-" Your stories were excellent." The late President William McKinley-" Your visit to the White House was most welcome." Ex-President Grover Cleveland-" The Prince of En- tertainers" H. iMl. King Edward VII-" A very clever little gen- tleman." H. M. Queen Alexandra-" Your stories are so bright." Hon. Chauncey M. Depew-"m His mirth is contagious.", "THE PEOPLE I'VE SMILED WITH" will be sent by mail, postpaid, to any address upon receipt of 35 cents for the paper bound book, or 1.00 for the cloth bound book. Address all orders to J. s. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, P. O. Box 767. 57 ROSE STREET, NEW YORX EVERY MAN AND WOMAN Pays more than ordinary attention to anything that PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT says and does, and we want to call your attention to what he said and did in reference to the wonderful books laThe Simple Life," "The Busy Life," "The Voice of Nature," and their talented author, C1HARLES WAGNER. X. THE SIMPLE LIFE ]3y Chas. X-agner. " THE SIMPLE LIFE," "THE VOICE OF NATURE," "THE BUSY LIFE," PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT says of them: "I am preaching your books to my countrymen." And, also, In a Speech at Bangor, Maine, said: " The other day I picked up a little book called ' The Simple Life,' written by Charles Wagner, and he preached such whole- some, soun I doctrine that I wish it could be used as a tract throughout our country. To him the whole problem of our com- plex, somewhat feverish modern life can be solved only by get- ting men and women to lead better lives. He sees that the per- maneuce of liberty and democracy depends upon a majority of the people being steadfast in that good, plain morality which, as a national attribute, comes only as the result of the slow and painful labor of centuries, and which can be squandered in a generation by the thoughtless and vicious. He preaches the doc- trine of the superiority of the moral to the material." These are three of the greatest books of the present day, and every one should read them. 200 pages each. Paper cover, 30 cents; cloth bound, 6o cents each. Sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price. Agents wanted to sell them. Address all orders to J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COXPANY, 57 ROSE STREET, NEW YORXt FIVE SHERLOCK HOLIES DETECTIVE STORIES. By A. CONAN DOYLE. We have just published, in ONE VOLUME, bound in paper cover, the following FIVE best stories by him: I. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE. 2. A CASE OF IDENTITY. 3. A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA. l f4. THAT LITTLE SQUARE BOX. 5. JOHN BARRINGTON COWLES. This book contains 192 pages, and is bound in heavy paper cover with attractive illustration, the same as shown in the cut herewith. Evrybody who reads is familiar I with SHERLOCK HOLMES. There is not a writer living at the present time whose work can be compared with that of the author of this famous character, for intense in- terest, clear-cut narrative, and delicate detail. The above book will be sent by mail, postpaid, to any address, upon receipt of 25 cents. We also publish the following books by the same author, each having the same attractive cover as shown in above illustration: SHERLOCK HOLMES. A STUDY IN SCARLET. BEYOND THE CITY. MICAH CLARKE. THE SIGN OF THE FOUR. Any of the above books will be sent by mail, post- paid, for 25 cents. Address all orders to J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 57 ROSE STREET, NEW YOEL VA '.KYVfITOR LIST OP NTUCKEYRAND OGIL VIE'S oi; RAD AK- Coloe POPULAR 50-Cent Books Bound in Paper Cover. We desire to call your attentiontothefollowing list of twelve good books 2 by populare authors, any o wh1ch wil be sent by mail, postage paid, upon. receipt of 50 cents. Y \ St0\WITHFORCE AND A RNMS. By Howard R3. Garis. A Thriln Romance of Salem Witchcraft. FACE TO FACE WITH DEATH. By A. W. MIarchmont. Au- thor of "By Right of Sword," "A DashforaTfirone," etc. A KENTUCKY EDITOR; and Other Stories. By Opie Read. This contains the best stories ever written by this very popular author, and will have a very large sale. A BLONDE CREOLE. By Alice Hilton. A Fascinating Story of the South. THE KREUTZER SONATA. By Count Leo Tolstol. Over 100,000 copies of this masterpiece of Tolstoi have been sold. BUFFALO BILL. By Ned Buntline. This is the Famous Story of the Wild 'West which has had such a large sale. THE MAN FROM THE WEST. By a Wall Street Man. A Book of Stirring Experiences in Wall Street. PASSION HIS MASTER. By Clara E. Ballou. A Strong Story of Love and Passion which all should read. SAENT AND SINNER; or, A Great Temptation. By Fanny May. A Great Love Story. 4i93ERN PALMISTRY; or, Guide to the Hand. By Ina Oxenford. Every one Interested in the study of the liand will want this book. THE RACING PARSON; or, How Baldy Won the County Seat; By Chas. Josiah Adams. A Great Story of the Races. THE CURSE OF CASTE. By N. J. Le Cato. A Story on the Color Question. All of the above books are for sale by news dealers and booksellers every where, or they will be sent by mail, post- paid, upon receipt of 50 cents per copy. Address all orders to J. 8. OGILVIE PUBL18HING CO., 57 Rose St., New York. A CREAT OFFER LAURA JEAN LIBBEYrS BOOKS1 If you like to read fascinating love stories we are quite sure you Will warit to read this popu!ar author's writiugs, and call your spucial attention to the following list of het .bect books. Price, sent by mail, postpaid, 20 cents each. 1. THE ALPHABET OF LOVE. 2. THE BEAUTIFUL COQUETTE. 3. TlHE lCRIME OF HALLOW E'EN. 4. DORA MILLER. 5. DAISY GORDON'S FOLLY. 6. FLIRTATIONS OF A BEAUTY. 7. LIlTLE LE. FY. 8. LITTLE RUBY'S RIVAL LOVERS. 9. LYNDALL'S TEMPTATION. 10. A MASTER WORKMAN'S OATH. 11. ONLY A MECHANIC'5 DAUQ4ATER. 12. PRETTY FREDA'S LOVERS. 13. WILLFUL GAYNELL. 14. rUSS 1r DDLETON'S LOVER. 15. A FORBIDDEN. MARRIAGE. 16. THAT PRETTY YOUNG GiRL. 17. LOVERS ONCE bUT STRANGERS NOW, 18. HE LOVED BUT WAS LURED AWAY. 19. OLIVE'S COURTSHIP. 20. WHEN HIS LOVE GREW COLD. 21. WHEN LOVELY IIAIDEN STOOPS TO FOLLV The above books are also for sale by all Newsdealers every- here. Ask your dealer for them, or send your order ta J. 8. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, P. 0. Box 767. 57 ROBB BTR1T, NEW YORK

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