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Bill Strong. Jerry Little.
The two Chiefs of the Breathitt County Clans.
‘Full many a gem of purest ray serene.
The dark, unfathomr d caves of ocean bear,
Full many a flower was born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.’
■Gray’s Elegy,’ she said when she had read it.
•Yes,’ I answered, ‘and how often applicable.'
R h e blushed and after a moment’s pause, re
marked:
■1 snail have no effort in remembering your
name, William Henry, because that is brother’s
two given names. We are soon to part,’ she
said and again paused, then looking up into my
face as she closed her album, said:
‘Shall we ever meet again ?’
We went away. Long years after, at the Green
Briar White sulphur springs of Virginia, narrat
ing to a lady this incident in my wife’s pres
ence, she clasped her hands, exclaiming: 'Oh !
we have met again.* She was still beautiful and
by her side was a daughter of nineteen the type
of what she was when first we met. The wife of
a distinguished gentleman of the far away west,
she was on a tour of pleasure. She still lives,
but widowed, and now resides in Tennessee with
her son-in-law aDd that brother is one of the first
men of his State.
Onward to Little Bock we took onr way. Not
many days did we remain at Little Rock, suffi
ciently long however, to equip oureelves forour
long march up the river to the mountains and
thence across the plains to Red River. When
all was arranged we left, two of us to brave the
hazards of the wilderness.
Lay after day we toiled, occasionally staying
a day for rest by some pretty spring or rippling
rill, again to renew our inarch when rest and
monotony wearied and a desire revived to
plunge yet deeper and deeper into the then un-
expioreu and unknown regions of the Red and
Arkansas rivers. For many days we traveled
without meeting with any adventure or a hnman
being. Fatigued aDd foot sore, on the tenth
day from the rock we diverged a short distance
from our liue of march, and in a small, but se
cluded val.ey, and not a great way from the riv
ers, we came unexpectedly upon a little cluster
ot huts, and were announced by a dozen lean
and snarling curs, in a moment half a dozen
stalwart half-breed squaws came from their huts,
only to look and Indian like, to steal back into
their dens. These were succeeded by two flue
specimens of Indian men, they too, were half
breeds. They were reticent, but dia not retreat
fiom our presence, and to onr astonishment,
spoke English. They told us their father was a
white mao and this was his home, and piloted
us to his hut. We found him very old and re
ticent. We asked for water and one of his sons
piloted ns to the spring. It was noon and we
proposed to dine here upon same of the venison
we had roasted the day betore. Refreshed, we
lay down upon the grass, whioh grew in abun
dance on tne hill side which sloped to the
spring It had b6en clouding up all the morn
ing and was threatening rain, and having iound
shelter, we concluded to remain lor fair weather.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
THERIVAL "CLANS
of Breathitt County,
A Medieval Romance in Kentucky, in
the Middle of the Nineteenth Century,
Where is the Scott to celebrate the bloody feud
between the two rival factions of Breathitt county
Ky ? Almost equal to that long and fatal fight to
the death between the two bitter-blooded High
land clans described so graphically in the ’Fair
Maid of Perth’ is the feud between the two fact
ions of Strong and Little in a dim corner of
the • State ■ f the Dark and Bloody Ground.’ An
account of the long contest, together with the
portraits of the two chiefs of the opposing clans
have been sent us for publication.
Toe County seat of Breathitt is Jackson, a town
in the heart of the hills, in the great loop formed
by the north folk of the Keutucby River, it has a
population of less than two hundred, three stores,
four o.’ hve taverns, a court-house, a log jail, ami
a post-office. The population is not large, but
gambling, horse racing, eye-gouging, and whiskey
utinking are among the least harmful of their
amusements. In the ranks of the heroes of Breath
itt stood Capt. ‘Bill’ Strong, a Republican and
Unionist of reputed bravi ry and impudence.
Luring the late unpleasantness, Strong organized
an inuepemlent force which was pledged do us
S.rung sa d, and support the imperiled cause of
the Uuton. When the war was over, Sirong failed
to rtcogujze the fact that the bloody chasm had
been ciostd. He is raid to have paid no attention
to the poclamation of peace, but ‘kept it up’ un
til 1874, when a neighborhood vendetta engaged
his attention and commanded the weapons of his
band ot loyal Kentuckians. In that year, one
‘Jerry Little circulated reports unfavorable to the
chaiacter of Miss Cockerel, a lady of f ir repute
in Breathitt county. The brothers of the lady
foimed an offensive alliance against Little, and
they were reinforced by the brothers Jett, one,
Curtis Jett, having previously been killed by the
aforesaid ‘Jerry’ Little And it bhould be said
here that the cause of Curtis Jett's death was ‘a
loan ot buckshot’ fired by Ltitle- On Little's side
were the Combs , brothers of his wife, also ‘Bill’
istiong, who cast in his lot with the Littles, be
cause they had befriended a negro who had sub
sequently been killed by one Flinchern, au adher
ent of the Cockerel faction. It will be seen that a
woman was at the bottom of the whole difficulty,
as usual; but the subsequent events hinged on race
prejudice, politics aud local scandals. When the
war bpfcued, Several men on either side were killed.
ShiEri -Bill’ Strong seized the Breathitt County
Court-House, and announced his intention of deal
ing oul justice to suit himself. The governor of the
State sent five companies of the Kentucky militia
to the scene of Hostilities, and the usurpers took
to the mountains. A truce was sounded and shere
was peace for a space. But in August, 1878, a local
election came on, and the opposing factions of
Breathitt were once more arrayed in the bloody
field. One of the candidates for County Judge was
Edward Strong, whose kinsman, ‘Bill Strong,
would have supported him if his old lriends, but
present euemies, the Littles, had not publicly es
poused the cause of J. W. Burnett, the opposing
candidate. After a bitter and exciting canvass,
Barnett was declared elected, and, as may be sup
posed, the feuds previously existing between the
families of Breathitt were not thereby cured. In
fact, the anti-Burnett, or Strong Faction, began
open hostilities. The Baptist Association of the
neighborhood met, and during its session the house
iu which Burnett boarded was attacked and fired
into by the opposing party. A scene of confusion
ensued, and civil justice for a time bade Breathitt
county farewell.
But the Circuit Court began its sessions on the
25th of last November, and the presiding justice
delivered a charge which was pointedly directed
to the lawlessness then prevailing in the county.
As if to emphasize the force of this charge, during
a recess of the court, a party of the Little men,
under John Aikman, dashed into town and opened
fire on Strong and his men. One man was killed
and seveael wounded, and the assailants took pos
session of the county court house. Subsequently
there was much confusion, owing to an attempt by
the sheriff of the county to arrest Jason Little, one
of the belligerents, on a charge of wife-murder.
Burnett, the newly elected judge, volunteered as
one of the posse comitatus, as no process could be
executed with ordinary means. He was killed in
the first skirmish, by a bullet through the heart.
Tom Little, a brother of Jason, was also killed in
the encounter, and one of the Freemen brothers,
who fell in the middle of the street when shot, was
force 1 to lie there for two hours, his friends fear
ing to effect his removal during the strife.
At last accounts, the feud between the families
of Little, Cockerel, Strong, and Burnett had cul
minated in two or three violent deaths and many
serious woundings. The original cause of dispute
—a woman’s reputation—had disappeared in the
confusion which politics, race, prejudice and per
sonal hatreds had evoked. Finally, the Slate Mtli
tia, which had been waiting for their uniforms to
be completed, marched to the scene of hostilities
in a glorious array of blue and gray, Emboldened
> by the presence of these warriors, the court re
turned its sessions in the Temple of Justice, at
Jackson, and proceeded to indict a brigade of riot
ers. At last accounts, the county was in the pos
session of the military —not the Array of the Uni
ted States, but the McCreary Guards State Militia,
There is not a rod of telegraph wire, nor a mile
of railroad, in Breathitt county. And, though it
may be in a state of siege, it may be assumed that
the county has returned o that state of pastoral
simp icity when the Strongs and Littles cun shoot
each other from behind rail-lences without inter
ference.
THE CELEBRATED KATE COBB MURDER
CASE.
We give the portrait of Mrs. Kate Cobb, tha
woman whose recent trial in Norwich, Conn., for
the murder of her husbanti by poisou has created
intense excitement and tilied^he court room daily
witu au immense crowd. The trial has just ter
minated iu a conviction of murder in the second de
gree. Ten of the jurors stood out for a verdict of
murder in the tLsL degree, but the persistent pro
test of the other two prevented the decision. The
principal witness against Mrs". Cobb was Wesley
li shop, her partner iu guilt, who, it will be re
membered, killed his wife by poison at the sant3
time, the object of both beiug to free themselves
of any obstacle to their marriage. Bishop s trial
comes oil next month, when he will undoubtedly
be condemned to death.
Mrs. Cobb heard the verdict without the move
ment of a muscle oi the shedding of a tear. Her
mother and friends burst into tears, but she walk
ed in charge of the officer from the room with as
firm and elastic a step as she had done during the
whole trial.
Eloping on an Ox.—A decidedly new thing in
elopements is reported from Trigg county, Ky.,
where a lover and his betrothed fled from the pa
ternal mansion not upon a steed of any breed
known to romance, red-roan, berry-brown, coal-
black, milk-white or other, nor yet in a Gretna
Green postchaise. No; the lovers departed on a
saddle ox spectully trained by the swain, who had
taken a leaf out of the history of the Puritan
maiden Priscilla. The stern parent took down
his shot-gun and pursued the fugitives, whom on
his fiery charger or sure-tooted Kentucky mule
he soou overhauled, aud though the maiden Ciung
desperately to the horns of the ox, as if they had
been those of the hymeneal altar, he tore her away
and left her hapless lover lamenting.
A F athee’s Teeeible Crime,—Mi*. Ward, an
elderly larmer, of Indiana, vent with his two
sons, boys nearly grown, to town, (Columbia City]
and returned at night iu a state of iutoxication.
After puttiug up the horses, the old mau went i to
the bouse and abused his wife shamefully. The
boys remonstrated, and as their father did not de
sist, they beat him unmercifully. He then left the
house and soon returned with an ax in his hands.
He attacked both the boys. The elder, Frank, es
caped; he then buried the ax in George's head.
He fell dead, his head being nearly cleft in two -
Tne murderer surrendered himself to the officers,
and was taken to jail at once. He is in a terrible
state of mind over his crime, as the decetsed boy
was his favorite son and they always got along
well. He is reported rich.
Bulldozing a Stebn Paeent.—A western
lover stole away his bride betore dawn, married
her at day breaks loaded his trusty shot-gun and
appeared as the breakiast-bell was ringing at
her home, and ‘covering’his unwilling father-
in-law conveyed the first intimation of this
runaway or rather, stand-up-to-it match in the
words, “Old man, Susan and I have been mar
ried; what are yon going to do about it?” Thus
taken at advantage, what could the ‘old man’ do
bat offer (from beneath the table) his blesslDg,
which was duly conterred, the bride coming in
from the entry and the griom keeping the finger
of prudence upon the trigger of promptitude.
Highway Robbery in New York.—A highway
robbery was attempted tne other day in New
York, just in front of A. T. Stewart’s. Just as
two ladies left the place in their carnage, a
burly man sprang in through the door ot the
vehicle, and would have despoiled them of their
jeweiry, eto., had not they been cool and made
a determined resistance. As it was, the strug
gle kept up for five or six minutes, and it was
only after the coachman had stopped the car
riage aDd a crowd was collecting that the ruffian
gave up his aim, and coolly walked away.
Surely, New York is advancing steadily in rep
utation for daring crimes.
HUMOR.
Darwin acknowledged himself sold when his
little niece asked him, seriously, what a cat has
that no other animal has. He gave it up, after
mature deliberation, and the sly little pass an
swered, ‘Kittens.*
Two sweet little girls sat nnon the sidewalk
in front of the Elko post-office, one of them
nnrsing a large wax doll. Her companion asked,
in tones of deep earnestness. ‘Dies ’oo have
much twonble wif ’oor baby?’ Oh, doodness,
ves ! was the reply. ‘She owies mos’all’e time.
She jes’ ewied and ewied ever since she was
born. I don’t fink I’ll ever born anymore.’
The following is told ns by the lather of the
little one mentioned: The little daughter of a
clergyman, who had been absent from home,
came to him at night to say her usual evening
prayer. Daring his absence she had been taught
an addition to her prayer, which she hastily re
peated, and immediately rose to explain: ‘Oh,
papa,’she exclaimed, ‘I’ve got a new pat;h on
my prayer.’
Little Anson has a pair of doves of which he
is very fond. One morning, as he was feeding
them, one of the neighbors came along, and
seeing Anson, thought to bother i im by ex
claiming, ‘Weil, them are the poorest, scrawniest
chickens I’ve seen this year.’ Anson did not
say anything, but turned his head, went into
the house, and exclaimed to his mother, ‘Bro
Nimrod just insulted me. Called my pretty
tittle doves, scrawny chickens, the ill-mannered
man !’
‘Have yon got your lesson to-day ?’ asked a
Brooklyn Sunday-school teacher of a little
maiden, whose head was bandaged in red
flannel. ‘No ma’am,’ said the child, ‘Well,
then, have you got yonr catechism ?’ ‘No ma’am,’
again aswered the child. ‘Well, have you got
your hymn ?’ The child drawled out, ‘No,
ma'am.’ ‘Well, then. I d like to know wbat yon
have got ?’ impatiently continue * the teacher.
‘Please ma'am. I've got the mumps,’ patiently
responded the little unfortunate.
A sweet little lady of four years occasionally
brightens onr borne by a visit, exciting the
marvel and merriment of all by her previous
witticisms. A few days since, in paying a long-
deferred visit, she was helped to some rich fruit
cream which was on the table. After disposing
ot one plateful, she naturally craved another.
Her request was met by my wife with the remon
strance, ‘I am afraid, Bessie, if I give you
another it will make you ill—and you cannot
then come and visit me. ‘ To which she promptly
replied, ‘That need not matter, Mrs. L ; I
should certainly come as soon as I got well!‘
A celebrated clown once produced on the stage
a rusty sword. ‘This,* said he, ‘is the sword
with which Balaam struck the ass,‘ One of the
audience replied: ‘I thought he had no sword,
but only wished for one.* ‘Yon are right 1 re
joined the clown, ‘and this is the very one he
wished for. ‘
At a schoolboard examination the inspector
asked a boy if he could forgive those who had
wronged him. ‘Could you said the inspector,
forgive a boy, for example, who has insulted
or struck you? ‘Y-e-3, sir, 1 replied the lad.
very slowly, ‘I—think—I—could; 1 but he added
in a much more rapid manner, ‘I could if he
was bigger than I am.‘
One day ft olergyman dined with the family,
and Willie asked to be allowed to say grace,
which he did, with bowed head and clasped
hands, in these words:
“I’m a little turly head,
My faver is a pweecher;
I do to tool e’vv day,
And always mind my teacher;
For Twist sake. Amen.”
Beautiful, beautiful!’ murmured the guest,
solemnly raising his head. ‘I fear yon don’t
understand Willie,' said his mamma, much an
noyed. ‘I did not,' replied the clergyman, ‘but
the angels did.’
a gentleman who is no longer yonng and
who never was handsome, says to a child in the
presence of its parents: ?
•Well, my child, what do you thinkcf me, eh
Tne little one makes no reply, and the gentle
man continues:
‘ Well, so you wont tell me what you think of
me. Why wont yon? '
‘ Cause I dou’t waut to get licked.'
Elegy in an Irish country churoh- yard over
heard last week. Sorrowing ‘widow man' has
just erected the invariable draped urn in mem
ory ot the late plaoens uxtr; t > him critical old
lady, having duly inspected the same. ‘An il-
lgant monument, so it is, sor; as nate a pattern
ed water jug as iverl see, and acleau white tow
el reposin peaceful like on thetopavit. Well,
well, it’s herself was the orderly woman, the
heavens be her bed! ’—London World.
Dan Rice's hoise ‘Exoelsior’ h is died. This
year he die t about a month earlier than he Has
for tne past twenty years. These annual win
ter calamities to circus men are what makes the
profession successful in summer.—New York
Gdpptr.
Society U osSip.
The prettiest bride of the season is said to
have been Miss Annie Biker, of Baltimore, who
was married last week to Mr Greenleaf Johnson,
tho Superintendent of the Maryland Sunday-
School Union. Tall, queenly, and of a superb
brunette type, she wore a heavy steel colored
silk, enfraine, white bonnet and diamonds.
At the marriage reception of Miss Bellefonte,
of Beilefonte, Tenn., to Mr. Callaway, of Balti
more, nearly two hundred guests sat down to a
costly collation. The bride wore claret colored
silk and a velvet bonnet of the same shade.
A marriage has just been celebrated in Ne
vada and elsewhere where the bride stood in
Nevada, and the groom in Utah, and the c ffioiat-
ing clergyman straddled the line.
A new wrinkle in fashionable female society,
just at this moment,is knitting—no: the woolen
socks and mittens of onr grandmothers, oh,
no! but a much daintier and costlier fabric-
silk stockings in ail the new, delicate shades.
When I tell yon that one spool of silk for this
purpose cos's two dollars and fifty cents, and it
takes from four to five to knit a pair of hose,
you will uncerstand the economy of those ladies
who do their own knitting.
Kilted skirts for little bovs are sewn on
sleeveless waists, with a vest of the sicue mate
rial as the skirt. A sneque with straight cuta
way front is worn over the waist.
I The summer calicoes are exquisitely pretty
I to look at, and utterly absurd and inartistic as
dress materials. They have light grounds, cov
ered by bright figures, and are made with bor
ders which can bs usod for trimming.
The ladies who bang their hair have encour
agement from an unexpected quarter. Chief
Joseph, of the Nez Perces, wears his coal black
hair binged on his forehead aud braided be
hind. Joseph is a fine specimen of the savage.
Kentucky has received a very marked com
pliment in the selection of Mrs. Sallie Ward
Armstrong, of that state, to personate Lady
Washington in the grand national celebration
on the 20th.
Wrappers will now be worn in the house more
t l au before the introduction of the short walk
ing dress.
Party dresses for little girls are cut low necked
and sleeveless, and are worn over white mnslin
waists.
Men dress to please themselves; ladies to
displease each other. At least, so says a bach
elor friend at our elbow,
The Parisian dandies have adopted the fash
ion set by the prince of Wales, of wearing a
large pin in the front of the shirt for fall dres3.
Cheap woolen materials are of two colors,
combined in the weaving in tiny checks and
fine stripes.
The woolen materials imported for summer
costumes have what is called the flannel finish,
and are very soft. Some are plain, some basket
woven, and some have Darrow stripes of two
shades. The colors are black, wood-brown and
moss.
The one hundreth anniversary of the First
Inauguration is to be held in New York, at the
Academy of Music under the most dis'^ngn sn-
ed auspicies. The ceremony of the First in
auguration will be exactly reproduced, the par
ticipants to be chosen from the lineal descend
ants of those who prominentlv assisted in the
original event. Mrs. Sallie Ward Armstrong,
impersonating Lady Washington, will be of
oonrsethe central figure of the illustrious gronp.
The oelebration will be in the interest of a sea
side sanitarinm for children, and an immense
snm will be realized.
At one of her recent reoeptions in Washington,
the OctoroonJbtide of Senator Bruce— the col
ored senator from Mississippi—wore a magnifi
cent black velvet dress, made for her by Worth
and very handsome diamonds.
Miss Nellie Hazsltine, the alleged St. Louis
belle, seoured several nice notices for her soTap
book by attending the opera last week and oc
cupying a box. One newspaper remarked that
she looked real pretty, and ventured the opin
ion that if Mr. Tilden could have seen her in
her black-blue princesse, heart-shaped corsige,
elbow sleeves, opera cloak and white hat, he
would have laid his heart at her feet. Journal
ism is on a high plain in St. Louis.
Two youths of Elizabethtown, New Jersey,
loved the -ame youDg maiden, and proposed to
settle the question with pistols according to the
code, when she decided the issue by marrying
another fellow.
“FEDDERS,”
We were talking to a mission school on Darins
throwing Daniel in the lion's den. We made as
dear as we oould the fact that Daniel had a bet
ter time that night than the King, slept more
svreetly, and all because he had a quiet con
science.
‘Darius couldn’t sleep, could he?’
By unanimous consent, ‘No, sir.’
‘And why couldn't Darius sleep?*
‘Because he was bad. ‘
Having thus developed the conscience point,
we launched our final question with a good
deal of confidence.
‘Well, now, dear children, what is it makes
the bed soft ?‘
Q tick as a flash from a four-year-old ceme the
reply, 'Fodders. ‘ That closed the ethical dis
cussion.
A Woman's Logic.—“It is useless to take ntedi
cine. I shall leel better to-morrow. Besides, I need
the roo ey to get that lovely ueiv hat. My old one is
suc'i f. tght, and people will look more at my bonnet
than uicy will at my face. I will wait ti 11 feel worse be
fore I spend any money for medicine.’’ The new bonnet
is purchased a id fifty other feminine necessaries in the
form of ribbons, laces, brooches, etc. Meanwhile the
lady's face becomes every day paler and thinner, and her
body weaker, until disease has gained so firm a foothold
in her system, that the most thorough, and oft-times a
longand tedious, course of treatment is necessary to re-
stoie her to health. Ladies, at end to yourhealth before
you even think of apparel. A fresh, blooming la e iu a
plain bonnet ib niucu handsomer and lar more attractive
to your gentlemen frienos, thau a pain vvoru, diseased
face i, the most elaborate and elegant hat your milliner
could device. Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescrip.ion is every
where acknowledged to he the standard remedy for
female o .mplaiuts and weaknesses. It is sold by drug
gists.
OPgBA BOTBE.
ONE NIGHT ONLY,
FRIDAY, FEB. 21tli, 1879.
Return of the favorite
EMERSON’S
CALIFORNIA MINSTRELS !
AND THE ORIGINAL
**■ BIG k ■®*
SMITH, WALDRON, MORTON and MARTIN,
Headed by the acknowledged Prince of Minstrelsy,
Billy Emerson,
With an entire change oi programme and new faces,anda
Uot“i ie of Twenty Artists !
THE MUSICAL WONDER OP THE ,9th CENTURY
Don Ferreyra the Man Flute; Leo Brimmer, the King
of Baujoists ; Burt Steppard, the lcadug Burlesque
Pritna Donna.
Price 50 cts. ant $1.00. Reserved seats at Phillips &
Crews
OPiaTzxoul&
TUESDAY, FEB- 18th.
The undersigned have the honor of announcing to the
music loving citizens of Atlanta, one Grand Coneert by
the celebrated
MENDELSSOHN
QUINTETTE CLUB,
Of Boston, (organized 29 years), assisted by the dis
tinguished vocalist,
MRS. H. F. KNOWLES.
We promise our patrons that this will be the grandest
musical event of the eeison.
Tickets includingreterv&d seats ONE DOLLAR.
Seats are now on sale a Puillips & Crews.
CREW & CAPWJKELL, Managers.
0PEBA SmSE,
GRAND FASHIONABLE EVENT !
Kate Claxton,
The great Emotional and beautiful actress, will appear
for the first time in Atlanta, on her way to New
Orleans,
WEDNESDAY FEB. 19tU,
Supported by the favorite actor, CHAS, A. STEVEN
SON, and her own New York Company, In Chas.
Reade’s powerful and exquisite play 1 , pro
nounced such by the whole press
and pub.lc. of
THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE,
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20th,
in another one of her celebrated plays.
Admission $1 00 and 50 cts. Reserved seats 25 cts
extra, for sale at Phillips & Crews.
COLLEGE TEMPLE
NEWNAN, GEORGIA.
For a quarter of a century devoted to the Eleva
tion of Woman, now offers a more extensive course
of study, including Printing and Telegraphy, at
less cost to the patron than aDy other Institution
of similar grade in the South. For iuformation,
address, M. P. KELLOGG. A. M. President.