The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-08-20
A HAUNTED VALLEY.
A Weird Spot that Seems Pecul-
iarly Liable to Visitations
Of SMALLPOX
Sad Fate of Mr.. Anguish and His Family
"A Vaquero and His Asth-
matte Accordion.
Spectral Game.

Spectral Game.
Ask any old settler in this county
where game is most likely to be found,
ind he will direct you to go to the Pieta
valley, writes California correspond
ent of The NeW York Times. Ask him
if he has ever been there, or knows any
one who has been there, and he will
say no. He will add that he has no in
tentiun of going. Ask him why, and
he will shrug his shoulders. Later on,
if you artfully gain his confidence and
judiciously oil his vocal machinery, he
will relate to you grisly legends of the
place which are calculated to explain his
reluctance to visitit.
About thirty ycare ago a gold-seeker
grew weary of tramplng the Russia
river valley, and resolved to abandon
the shovel and pan and start ranch.
He summoned his wife and four sons
from San Francisco and went to Pieta
valley to settle down. He announced
to the early settlers of this place that
he would build his two log cabins and
then return for supplies and live stock.
A month passed, and he came not.
Another month, and he had not appear
ed. Finally curiosity was aroused and
party was organized to explore the
mystery 1t found its way with difficult
ty to the valley. AT its head it found
two log huts half built, and within the
walls Of one lay five skeletons, picked
clean by buzzard and coyote and whit
ened bv the fierce suns of July. In a
cleft stick placed conspicuously within
the inclosure was scrap of paper, up
on which was scrawled this legend:
JIM Anguish & Family, SNlal Pochs.
Terror-sticken with fear of contag-
ion the exploring party fled, but some
; weeks later summoned courage to re-
! turn, for the rough frontiersman beliey-
ed in the burial of the friendless dead.
Here curious fact was disclosed-no
trace of the tools employed by the
Anguish family in their recent archi-
tec.nra labors could be found, nor a
footprint of the horses they were
known to possess nor shrewd OF their
clothing or blankets. Another curious
fact was that the skull of Mr.. Anguish
himself exhibited two apertures not
usually provided by nature. one on the
frontal bone near the temple, the other
| in the occiput-both looking remark
ably like the work of q bullet. Also a
rib, presumably once the private pro-
perty of Mr. Anguish's elder son bore
| a scmi-circular scar which seemed to
1 indicate violent contact with another
bullet. Also there was a notable alb
sence of all weapons, ammunition, and
rovisions-merely the low four walls
of each uncompleted cabin, a few logs
half hcwn the bleaching bones, and
! the tell-tale letter in the cleft stick.
So the bones We're gathered, and
roughly, yet not irreyerently, placed in
Il shallow grave between the unfinished
1 cabins. At the head of the sand-heaE
that covered them rude cross was
erected. and the explorers rode grimly
and in deep thought from the valley.
Two months before these occurrences
a traveller from one of the few ranches
scattered where Cloverdale now stand.
had noticed hut by the road tcnantet
by four drunken Mexicans and vicious
white who had been driven from set
tlcment. lney had not hailed him Du
a something impelled him to recap hi:
reyolvers and put spurs to his mustang
Two days after the burial i'll the vale,
he returned by the same road. 1t wa
nearly dusk. AS he entered the grow
near the hut, which he remembered
with fear, his horse SHE'D violently. A
the same time the traveller noticed tha
where before stood the hut there wa
now but heap of ashes, with ember
smoldering. He raised his eyes. From
an arm of the grim old oak stretches
across the road hung five curious, mis-
shapen objects. swaying and twistin
slowly in the freshening wind that rush
ed from the mountains. Beneath wa
cleft stick holding a fragment of pa
per. 1t bore this concise statement an
moral:
SMAWL POks.