Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1882-03-08

I sire to use a huge bowie-knifc upon
Wash's person, ard which he con.
stantly fiourished in close proximi.
ty to Mr.. Kellogg's ham-strings
Meanwhile, as has been the case
ever since, the decent people Of
Union county were paying the costs
of the numerous suits which were
brought by the Hell Benders, and
which were the outcome of theil
own barbarous and lawless proceed
lings.
| Thus, in sportive and congenial
pursuits these social outlaws whiletl
the iieeting months away, and the
spring of 1866 came round. With
it came to the classic shades Of Hell
Bend, a stranger by the name 81
Blackmore. History does not re-
late whence or how Blackmore cam
but it is sufficient to say that he
died shortly after his arrival and
was planted in the Cemetery de
Somers. And he died not like one
who had wrapped the drapery of
his couch about him and lain down
to pleasant dreams" but with a shot
| gun shot wound through his dia-
phragm, placed there by one of the
disciples Of jim Somers. Thus was
the reputation of Hell Bend main
tained, and for time its denizens
again turned their attention to the
peaceful pursuits Of fighting, scdu-
cling, and stealing an honest living.
Their conduct became so bad that,
for several years it is well known
fact that the honest farmers of JEFF
fcrson township, when hauling wood
from the timber where these desper-
ados and blood-tubs congregated,
were compelled to go in armed
squads, dozen men at a time, in Or
der to rcpcl unpfovoked assault.
And still the honest people of the
county kept paying the costs of the
criminal suits brought by the law
less hellions, ninety-nine out of a
hundred of whom never owned nor
never will own a hundred dollars
worth of taxable property.
But about these days new star
began to rise Oh the lurid horizon of
He'll Bend diubolism. We are now
about to write Of the rise, progress
and fall of Lewis L. Gibbs, than
whom He'll Bend never produced n
worthier example Of its peculiar
practices. GIBBS! The Justice and
District court dockets of the county
tell the tale Of the debt this man
piled on the people! And with old
'Ironsides," as he was generally
termed, are irscperably connected
the names, Savina Schoonover,
Hamp Geddes, Jackson Barker,
"Old Mitch" the Edwards roughs,
and the devil. When Gibbs first
came to Hell Bend in. 1865 or there
abouts, he was, and for some time
thereafter, "hail fellow well met"
among his fellow hellions. And so
admirable was his general Gus ed
ness of character, that they elected
him county commissioner. But it
finally came to pass that Gibbs fell
out with his constituents, and from
that time for the period of three
years, the wclkin rang with the
sounds of internecine warfare in He'll
Bend, and Union county courts
were crowded with the herds of vag-
abonds who flocked to the trials
brought by the opposing parties.
Half the stumps in the Hell-Bcnd
timber furnished a place of conceal
ment for some skulking whelp wait
ing to bushwhack some other skulk-
ing whelp; and the halls of justice
reeked with the stencil Of the
wrctches as they gave in their testi-
naony in this, that, or the other trial
for attempted murder, rape, adul-
terry, perjury, and SO on down
through the whole catalogue of
criminal offenses. And decent folks
paid the costs! It was fun for the
He'll Benders but death TO the tax
payers. Numbers prevailed, however,
and Gibbs, after having sued all his
fellow-devils, individually and col
lectiveiy--sued them up and sued
them down; sued them half doz-
Ell times, and then sued them for
luck, and having the compliment re-
turned with intorest-tucked the
fair Savina under his wing and lit
out for Lake county, where rumor
says he is yet pursuing the same
old business under the same sign.
Oh, Gibbs was a daisy, and no mis-
take! But if he had been born
dead Union county would be hun
dreds Of dollars better off to-day.
Malcolm II. Kidd was a mild
hammered young man, who, during
the winter of 1869 attempted to
teach school near the haunts of a
i l,>~.1~ .,c ~olo.1xoA1n IIan Do., ,lox..