Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-02-15
The Shot in the Eye.


current of a life. A friend Of ours
happened to read it in early manhood,
many years ago, at time when strong
ly tempted to. accept a lucrative sitUa-
ton offered him in his chosen prOfes-
sion in eastern Texas. The events
narrated, being of actual occurrence.
presented to his mind such picture
of the lawlessness prevailing In the
cotton States as prevented him from
locating in the South and determined
him to remain in Ohio where, in our
own community, he has found far
better field of usefulness, and super
eminent in scholarly attainments, is
one of the brightest ornaments of So
ciety.-EDs. GAZ.
NV word for it, reader, [ should
never have Yentured to construct
professed romance out of incidents so
wild and strange as those of this mar
rative, 1t is only with the hope that
you will accept in good faith the assu-
rance given in the same spirit, that these
things really dad occur, while L was
in the country, and most of them with
in my personal knOwledg dge-that L ven
ture to relate them at all. Remember
the scene is in a frontier county Of
/ Texas, and if you have even a remote
/ conception of the history Of that Re
public, and the general character OF
/ its social elements, you will be prepar-
ed for a good deal. The man of high
civilization viii find great difficulty
! in understanding how such deed as
/ | am about to relate, requiring months
to consummate, should have been car
/ ried through IN the open face of law
and the local aUthOritles-but the man
who knows this frontier viii tell him
that the rife and bowie knife are all
the law and local authority recognized.
! Witness the answer President HOus-
/ ton gave when application was first
made to him for his inteTpOsltlOn with
the civil force to quell the bloody
Regulator Wars" which afterwards
spraBg up in the very same county
Fight it out among yourselves, and
be d-d to you %
Shelby county, lying In Eastern Tex
as on the border of the Red Lands, J"
was thinly settled in the early
part of '39. What population it had
was generally the very worst caste of
border life. The bad and desperate
men who had been driven over our
frontier formed arallying ground and
headquarters here-seemlngly with
the determination to hold the county
good against the intrusion of all hon
/ est persons, and as a sort of 'Alsatia'
of the West. for the protection of out
laws and villains of every grade
/ And, indeed, to such an extent had
this prescription been carried, that it
had become notoriously as much as a
mans life or conscience was worth who
settled among them with any worthy
purpose in view for he must either
fall into their ederaey-leave-or
die
There were some few whose wealth
to a degree protected them in the OBJ
! serYances of more seemly life
though they we're compelled to at least
wink at the doings of their rufhanly
and more numerous neighbors ; while
there was yet another, but not large
class of sturdy, straightforward emf
/. grants, who, attracted solely by the
beauty of the country, had come into it
and settled themselves down wherever
they took faney,-With characteristic
rec cklessness, neither caring or enquir-
trusting IN their own stout arms and
q hearts to keep a footing. OF course
? all such were very soon engaged In
desperate feuds with the horse thieves
and plumbers around them and as
e they were not yet strong enough to
7 make head sufieiently-Wer one af.
ter another finally Ousted or shot. II
was to exterminate this honest class
that the more lawless and brutal of the
other associated themselves and as.
: sumed the the name of Regulators
! They numbered from eight to twelve
and under the organization of ran
gers, commanded by a beastly WretcL
5 named Hinch, they prOfessed to under
take the task of purifying the county
limits of all bad and suspicious char
acters or, In other words, of all meI
who dared to refuse to be as vile as they
were,-or if they were, who chose t.
act independently of their schemes
This precious brotherhood soon be
. came the scourge of all that region
Whenever an individual was unfortu
1t nate enough to make himself obnox
II ious to them, whether by successful
: villainy, the proceeds of W hich he re
Of fused to share with them, or by tn
Is hateful contrast of the propriety Of hi
course-he was forthwith surrounde
., -threatened-ha his stock drive
" off or killed wantonly-and if thes
* annoyances and hints were not sufH
= cient to drive him away, they woul
t. publicly warn him to leave the couu
a try IN a certain number of days, unde
Il, the penalty of being scourged or shot
oI The common pretext for this was th
N N accusation of having committed som
he crime, which they themselves had pei
e, petrated, with view of furnishing
charge to bring against him. The
F. hate was entirely ruthless and nevC
e stopped short of accomplishing i
purposes and in many bloody fra
and cruel outrage had the question
n their supremacy been mooted, until
er last there were few left to dispute wit
20 them, and they tyranized at will.