d for the
night in the jail, but accompanied Lieutenant Cogdill to a venison
breakfast at the parsonage with Mrs. Harris and her daughter, who had
called on us the evening before. Snow had fallen during the night, and
when we continued our march it was with the half-frozen slush crushing
in and out, at every step, through our broken shoes. Before the close
of this dreary New-Year's day we came upon the scene of one of those
wild tragedies which are still of too frequent occurrence in those
remote regions, isolated from the strong arm of the law. Our road led
down and around the mountain-side, which on our right was a barren,
rocky waste, sloping gradually up from the inner curve of the arc we
were describing. From this direction arose a low wailing sound, and a
little farther on we came in view of a dismal group of men, women, and
mules. In the center of the gathering lay the lifeless remains of a
father and his two sons; seated upon the ground, swaying and weeping
over their dead, were the mother and wives of the young men. A burial
party, armed with spades and picks, waited by their mules, while at a
respectful distance from the mourners stood a circle of neighbors and
passers-by, some gazing in silent sympathy, and others not hesitating to
express a quiet approval of the shocking tragedy. Between two families,
the Hoopers and the Watsons, a bitter feud had long existed, and from
time to time men of each clan had fallen by the rifles of the other. The
Hoopers were loyal Union men, and if the Watsons yielded any loyalty it
was to the State of North Carolina. On one occasion shortly before the
final tragedy, when one of the young Hoopers was sitting quietly in his
door, a light puff of smoke rose from the bushes and a rifle-ball plowed
through his leg. The Hoopers resolved to begin the new year by wiping
out their enemies, root and branch. Before light they had surrounded the
log cabin of the Watsons and secured all the male inmates, except one
who, wounded, escaped through a window. The latter afterward executed a
singular revenge by killing and skinning the dog of his enemies and
elevating the carcass on a pole in front of their house.

[Illustration: THE ESCAPE OF HEADEN.]

After a brief stay at Quallatown we set out for Asheville, leaving
behind our old and friendly guard. Besides the soldiers who now had us
in charge, a Cherokee Indian was allotted to each prisoner, with
instructions to keep his man constantly in