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

l
Edwards by name, Immediately
pre-empted six feet Of ground in
Jim Somers' graveyard, with a pis-
tol bullet through his neck. Kidd
was arrested and after long exam
ination was discharged, whereupon
he immediately shook the kinks put
of his legs and emigrated, and hpn-
est folks again paid long bill en-
tailed by He'll Bend total deprayity
In August, 1871, the decayjng
body Of a man was found buried
upon a Hcll-Bend sand-bar. He
had evidently been murdered. The
corpse was supposed to be that of n
land-hunter, who had crossed the
| river from Ponca. Han,p Gc3des
ia particularly warty specimen u
toad from the Hell-Bend puddle
was yanked and charged with the
crime. His examination lasted
fourteen days, and he was finally
discharged, although the verdict of
popular judgment was the Scotch
one "Not proven" Again the peo-
pie paid the costs, and again the
rabble drawn from their holes in
He'll Bend, returned to their favor
ite avocations hereinbefore set forth.
The time which elapsed until the
next murder was passed by the las-
zaroni who are the subject of this
sketch, in beautiful series of fights
and stabbing affrays, which our
space does not allow us to particu-
larize on. Somebody fired dose of
buck-shot through Gus Cases diges-
tive apparatus, but didn't quite sue
ceed in inducing him to put on an
gel pinions. Uncle Billy Huddle-
ston, the proprietor of the Texas ho-
tel, was placed under revolver fire
until he imagined that whole bat
terry of mitt'aaleuses were playing on
him. The proprietor of one wood
yard shot the hat-rlm off the head
of n rival wood-hawk. A wagon
load of young people were deliber-
ately fired into by concealed mis-
creants, and Uncle Sam sent detect
ives to our midst for the purpose of
uncarthing gang of counterfeiters,
whom it was almost certain existed
in He'll Bend. One man had his
cattle poisoned by another, and one
brute is alleged to have hired mar
ried man to seduce and run off with
his own daughter The whole per-
formance wound up with grand
matinee in Elk Point, in the spring
of 1874, when the filth;est rape case
on record was tried before Judge
kidder, the parties to which all re-
sided in Hell Bend. And the white
people'paid the costs, and cheerfully
waited for more arson. rape or mur-
der, snch as the Hell-Benders might
in their devilishness, see fit to pre-
sent.
Meanwhile, Jim Somers' burying
ground was becoming hungry; and
so in 1879, 10 LaMear and a pal of
his, both of the same g'nt,s of which
we write, assaulted an old man nam
ed Jenack, on their way home from
Sioux City, and speedily spattered
the old fellows brains all over the
community. Fortunately for Union
county taxpayers, this foul crime
was committed by the young He'll
Benders on Iowa soil, and conse-
quently Woodbury. county paid the
costs of their trial. They escaped
with trivial punishment, and their
conpatriots OH the Dakota side of
the river turned with renewed zest
to the prosecution Of crime and inn
morality.
In the spring Of 1881, another
grave was dug in the now his
torical planting patch of Somers,
and young John Shay filled
it, while "Long Joe," his dad,
displayed numerous shot holes as
mementoes of an old time He'll Bend
contest between the two Shays mcn-
toned, and two other hellions, Bar
ton and Murray. Again tho costs Of
a long examination were paid by
the county, and the two murderous
wretches turned loose. Both are
now contemplating the interior of
jails for other crimes--one in Sioux
City and the other in Deadwood.
And still the dance of death went
on in Hell Bend until it eliminated
in the bloody and disgraccful stab
bing afffay between Eslick and Wal
ters in the same damnable region,
three weeks ago.
The above, we believe is an epi-
tome Of He'll Bends criminal record
during twenty years. Some may
say it is severe, but who can deny
its truth and justicc2 During the
years that this record embraces, not
a man has been murdered in any
other portion of the county. To