The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1890-10-16
REEENGE MOST TERRIBLE
The History Ol 4 CIlnsin the Pinsriss
q Wisconsin.
HoE the Loss Of an Eye was Paid
For with seven Lives
and seven Eyes.


In northern Wisconsin land Office few
days ago. 'the people up there have Law
and Justice these days, but 1t was not al
ways So" He was pre-emptor Of ClarE
county and well posted. ut was away
back some 80 or more years ago thai
many outlaws made their homes in the
dense woods up there. And when Henry
Hoskins and his young wife and two
children came here to settle and clear "
farm for an honest lie, the gang soured
on him an kept up such warfare that
IIoskins finally retorted against one Of
the gang.
$50 one afternoon seven Of the gang
Hugh BOdin, John Giliroy, sam Deakin,
win Beadsley, Duke Thomas, Syl Wor'
den and his brother Hank, got surprise
party on Hoskins. They bound him to q
tree and in presence Of his wife and chill
dren laid the lash on his bare back mOsl
numerically. The pleadings Of the poor
wife were in vain. No sound or murmur
escaped the lips Of Hoskins.
FINALLY, either by accident or design, a
blow struck Hoskins' right eye, tearing
the ball nom the socket. Hoskins tainted
and his wife also fell in swOon. The
scoundrels now felt that they had perhaps
gone too far, so they skunk of, one by
one. Upon regaining consciousness the
suffering wife cut the bonds that held her
husband and conveyed him to their cabin
and under her care he recovered. But
be was not the same man. His ambition
was now only for revenge. In few
months his wife died from nervous pros
tration. He sent his children to the
home Of their grandparents at Dearborn,
near Detroit, Mich. The gang who per
petra,ed the outrage on him were desper-
ate men, but they gave HOskins a wide
berth.
"One day Hank Worden-it was Hank
who piled the lash-was found dead in
the woods. The coroner's jury found a
verdict Of Died from bullet in the right
eve, by parties unknown Weeks sped
by, when the body Of Boden was found
killed by bullet in the right eye. And
now u nameless terror seized upon those
men. They dare not leave the woods, as
a bounty was set on their capture. But
they never left their shanies except with
loaded rifles on their shoulders. The
breaking Of a twig in the woods gave
them spasms Of fear. In week or two
the body Of Gilfroy was found-shot in
the right eye.
"Would not the Nemesis now cOncede
his vengeance satisfied? The state Of the
remainder Of the gang was pitiable, And
when a few days later the bodies Of
Deakin and Beardsley were found, near
the bank Of the river, shot in the right
eye, The remaining members Of the gang
-Syl Worden and Duke ThOmas-pale,
emaeiated. scared and with shattered
nerves, sought to escape from the un-
erring rife Of the man they had so deeply
iniured-whose Life they had ruined.
They donned disguise and set out toward
where now stands the city Of Neilsville,
but which was then an unbroken wilder
ness. They took turns at watching, but
there was no escaping the vigilant eye Of
he who treasures up a wrong.
The two men stood on = slight eleva-
ton, watching the setting sun, when the
report Of a rife broke the stiffness Of the
scene and syl WOrden dropped dead
shot ia the night eye. In a few moments
Hoskins stood in front Of the solitary re-
naindsr Of this gang Of persecutOrs-Duke
Thomas. Thomas pleaded for mercy.
He held his rife in his hands, but he was
Paralyzed with fear and dread.
''Hoskins recalled the scene Of that
dread evening; told Of his dead wife, his
shattered life, his ruined home. He had
sEoFn = solemn oath Of vengeance, and
raising his rife, the last Of the gang lay
in death-shot in the right eye. Hos
kins was never seen after that. Some
say that the hermit, aged and gray
bearded, and with only one eye-the left
who died in his hut on Hermit Island
near Bayfield,, in 1866, vas the same Hos
kins. The initials II. H. were cut into
the stock Of his rife, and seven nOtches
with q rudely engraved eye bore 4
CHASTITY significance and partially solved
the mystery Of the old hermit's liie."-
Hafauhss in lFasEiRgtOa Star.