The day book. [volume], January 18, 1913, 2, Image 2

About The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
and thefreis ho end fn sight. -
There are three principals left
in the feud.
Fletcher Deaton, now in jail, is
a mild-mannered man, and his
broad chest is adorned with all
kinds of pins and medals emblem
atic of fraternal societies. Fletch
er radiates benevolence. But he
is charged with the murder of Ed
Callahan.
"I would have done anything in
the world for Ed," says Deaton.
"I had no animosity toward him."
Little Hargis Callahan, the
typical mountain child, bred in
the feudal atmosphere, does not
believe Fletcher Deaton. He is
regarded as the natural avenger
of his father. He so thinks of
himself.
Little Hargis calmly accepts
the role of avenger. Already he
can shoot straight. "I expect to
get even for this some day," he
says, with a snap of the jaws, and
a cold, straight look from his old
ish, steel-gray eyes.
But his sister is fighting with
love to break this spell of destiny.
She does not want her brother to
have the blood of Fletcher Dea
ton and the other men who will
be killed on his soul. She is fight
ing with the untamed spirit of the
boy, but her progress is slow.
"I am doing this to save my
little brother," says Mrs. Lillian
Callahan Gross. "He already has
the hate in his heart. Our chil
dren get these hates early.
''It is so terrible. Our children
are so helpless. They draw the
feud spirit in with their breath.
It passes .q from fathe- to sou.
"I want to' make Bfeattiitt
county so safe that no wife or
mother in the county will have to
worry when her husband or son
goes out of doors. The men
fight, but the women suffer. It's
about time the. feud came to an
end."
Mrs. Gross, who is better edu
cated than the average mountain
woman, is a graduate of a wom
an's college. She rode with the
posse that tracked down her fath
er's slayers. She was in the sad
dle for two weeks after Ed Calla
han's murder. But when Fletcher
Deaton was arrested her anger
was satisfied. She wants the law
to take its course and to end the
feud.
She will take Hargis Callahan
to Louisville and put him in
school. There he will have a
chance to grow up away from the
scenes of violence and he will not
be reminded of his father's mur
der. The sister believes that when
he returns to Breathitt county a
man he will see things differently.
The feudal atmosphere will have
been overcome. She believes she
can end the feud.
But the old men, whose lives
have been spent in the hills, nod
over their pipes and disagree. If -Fletcher
Deaton killed Ed Calla
han, then Hargis Callahan should .
kill Fletcher Deaton. It is fate.
He Are you superstitious
about the number 13? She I'm
not a bit superstitious ; only I
don't like it because I think it
brmu Vad lurk.