Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1866-03-28
THE SHOT IN THE EYE.
A True Story OF Texas Border Life.
nv q urrr rrnrs III NJ

EOuduCc Out OI l0CtQeQIS SO wiz an
: strange as those of this narration. 1t
only witha hope that you will accept i
good faith the assurance given in tn
: same spirit. that these things really di
occur while l was in the country, an
most of them within my personal know
: edge-that venture to relate them 8
all. Remember that the scene is laid il
frontier county of Texas, and if 20
have even a remote conception of tn
history of that Republic, and the genera
character of its social elements, you vii
be prepared for good deal. But thougl
you might even have visited its cities ant
: other settlements, you would still find
difficult to realize all that is true of from
tier life, unless by extended travel anC
experience your faith should be fortified
When you can have to say, as can
"Whst mine eyes haye seen and my ear
heard"-on that ground alone you vii
be ''ft audience, though few" to receive
as matters OF course, relations which
would doubtless, for a moment, SHOCK
Others as monstrous in improbabilty, j
not, indeed, impossibility. The man o
high civilization will find great difficulty
in understanding how such a deed as
am about to relate, requiring months tc
consummate, would have been carried
through in the open face of law and local
authoriEes-but the man who knows this
frontier will tell him that the rife and
bowie knife are all the law and local
authority recognized. Witness the an.
swer President Houston gave when appli.
cation was first made for his interposition
with the civil force 10 quell the bloody
I 81 Rn0r,1okar1o uIUa-. IL 60 n,
broke out in this very same country
Fight it out among yourselves and be
ID to you" A speech entirely char
acteristic of the man and country as If
then was. 1t was in the earlier stages of
the same Regulator association that our
story commences.
Shelby county, lying in Western Tex
as, on the border of the "red lands" was
rather thinly settled in the latter part of
'39. What population it had was ,gener-
ally the worst caste of the border line
The bad and desperate men who had
been driven across our frontier, formed a
rallying ground and head quarters here
seemingly with the determination to
hold the country good against the intru-
sion of all honest persons, as a sort of AL
satia of the West for the protection of
outlaws and villains of every grade. And
indeed, to such an extent had the pro-
scription been carried, that it had become
notoriously as much as q mans life or
conscience were worth who settled among
them, with any worthy purpose in view
for ne must either fall into their confed-
eracy-leave-or diel This was perfectly
understood and objects of this confeder-
cy may be readily appreciated, when it is
known that every now and then q party
of men would sally from the settlement,
painted and equipped like Camanches,
with the view of carrying off the horses,
plundering and numbering some marked
man of neighboring county; then re-
turning with great speed, they would re-
brand their plunder, resume their accus-
toned appearance, and defy pursuit or
investigation. Not only did they band
together in this way, but a single man
would carry of a fine horse or commit a
murder with the most open audscity, and
if he only succeeded in escaping here,
was publicly protected. do not mean
to have it understood that the whole pop
ulation were men of such stamp aVowed-
ly. There were some few whose wealth in
3 degree protected them in the obser-
vance of a more seemly life-though they
we're compelled to, at least, wink st the
doings Of their ruffanly and numerous
while there is yet another,
but not large class of sturdy, straight for
ward emigrants, who, attracted solely by ]
the beauty of the country, had come in
to it and settled themselves wherever
they took afancy-with characteristic care
not caring or inquiring who were
their neighbors, but trusting in their own
stout arms and hearts to keep a footing.
VI course all such were soon engaged in
desperate feuds with the horse thieves
and plunderers around them; and as they
were not yet strong enough to make
head etticiently-they were finally ousted
or shot.
1t was to exterminate this honest class
that the more laWless and brutal of the
other associated themselves and assumed
the name OF " Regulators" They num-
bered from eight to twelYe-snd under
the organization of rangers, commanded
Oy beast named Hinch, they professed
TO undertake the task Of purifying the
county of all bad and dangerous charac-
ters or in other words, of all men who |
dared refuse to be as vile as they were,
who chose to act independently of them |
and their organization. This precious |
brotherhood soon became the scourge of |
all that region. Whenever an individual |
was unfortunate enough to make himself
obnoxious ~ them, or by the hateful con-
trast of the propriety of his course-he |
was forthwith d-threatened-l
had his stock driven off or killed wanton-
ly-and If these annoyances and hints |
we're not sufficient to drive him away, |
hey would publicly warn him to leave |
.he country In q certain number of DAYS, |
1nder penalty of bein scourged or shot. |
The common pretext for this was the &C
,usation of having committed some crime,
which they themselves had perpetrated I
against him. Their hate was entirely !
and never stopped short of ac-
its purposes; and in many 9
bloody fray and cruel outrage had the
question of their supremacy been mooted
lntil at least there were few left to dis
will
Among these few was Jack Long, as he
vas called, who neither recognized nor
ienied their power, and indeed, never
'roubled himself about them, one way or
ne otner. ne kept himself to himself,
,unted incessantly, and no one knew
much about him. Jack had come of
wild turkey breed, !" as the western peo-
Die term it, for a rowing family, and tho
till young man, had pushed on ahead
Vt the settlement of two territories, and
lad at last followed the game toward the
Iouth, and finding it abundant in Shelby
had stopped here just as he would have
topped at the foot of the Rocky Noun
aims, had it been necessary to pursue it
hus far. He had never been in the hab-
{ Of asking leave of any power where he
hould settle, and of course scarcely
hought of the necessity of doing SO now;
'ut quietly set to work-built him a nice
og cabin as far away from everybody as
le could get it. And the first thing that
7as known of him, he had his pretty
'oung wife and two little ones snugly
toWed away in it, and he was Staying the
Ieer and bears right and left.
The honest brotherhood had made sew
raj attempts at feeling Jacks pulse, and
scertaining his availability; but he had
lways seemed so impassively good natur-
d, and put them off so pleasantly, that
an IL Z. |