The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1890-12-11
AN EYE FOR AN EYE.

-
Pineries.
"You see," said an old timer as he sat
| in northern Wisconsin land offiua a
| few days ago, athe people up there have
law and justice these days, but it was
not so always" He was pre-emptev of
! Clark county and well posted ut vas
away back some fifty years ago that
| 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 settie and
clear up farm for an honest life the
gang soured on him and kept up such a
| warfare that Hoskins finally retorted
| against one of the gang.
$50 one afternoon seven of the gang,
Hugh Boden, John Gillroy, Sam Deakin,
Will Beardsley, Duke Thomas, Syl Wor-
den, and his brother Hank, got sur
pl Use Itrty on Hoskins They bound
] him to a tree, and in presence of his
wife and children, laid the lash on his
| back most numerically. The plead
ings of the poor wife were in vain. No
| sound OF murmur escaped the lips of
Hoskins
Finally, either by accident or design,
| blow struck Hoskins's right eye, tear
| ing the ball from the socket Hoskins
| tainted, and his wife also fell into a
swoon. The scoundrels now felt that
| they had perhaps gone too far, so they
skunk off. one by one. Upon regaining
consciousness the suffering wife cut the
bonds that held her husband, and con-
veyed him to their cabin. and under her
care he recovered, but he was not the
same man. His ambition now was only
for ravopno Tn foxy ,,,op fJ,s hi x,,ifo
died from nervous prostration. He sent
his children to the home of their grand
parents at Dearborn, near Detroit, Mich.
Hoskins remained on his land. The
gang who perpetrated the outrage on
him were desperate men, but they gave
Hoskins a wide berth.
Zone day Hank Worden-it was Hank
who piled the lash-was found dead in
the woods. The coroner's jury found
verdict of died from bullet in the
right eye by parties unknown Weeks
sped by, when the body of Boden was
found-killed by a bullet in the right
eye. And now a nameless terror seized
upon these men. They dare not leave
the woods. as bounty was set on their
capture. But they never left their
shanties except with loaded rifles on
their shoulders The breaking of twig
in the woods gave them spasms of fear.
In week or two the body of Gillroy
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 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, emaciated, scared, and
with shattered nerves. sought to escape
from the unerring rifle of the man they
had SO deeply injured-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 wilderness 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 rifle broke the stiffness of
the scene, and Syl Worden dropped
dead, shot in the right eye. In few
moments Hoskins stood in front of the
solitary remainder of this gang of perse-
cutors-Duke Thomas. Thomas pleaded
for mercy. He held his rifle in his hand,
but he was paralyzed with fear and
dread. -..H-,. DDS
"Hoskins recalled the scene of that
dread evening; told of his dead wife,
his shattered life, his ruined home He
had sworn a solemn oath of vengeance,
and, raising his rifle, the last of the
gang lay in death-shot in the right eye.
Hoskins 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 was the
same Hoskins The initials H. H.
were cut into the stock of his rifle, and
seven notches with rudely engraved
eye bore a CHASTITY significance, and
partially solved the mystery of the old
hermit's life. "-[Milwaukee Letter to the
New York Star.