Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1899-07-07
TWO AGAINST A MOB.
AN OLD TIME MISSISSIPPI RIVER
SHOOTING scRAPE.

SHOOTING ScRAPE.
A Trivial Incident Tint Led to the
WrcckinE of the OLD POstOiIice, and
Pitched Battle In Which Seven
Men Were Slain.
"One Of the worst shooting scrapes
that ever happened along the Missis.
sippi river" began the man at the
wheel, relaxing his hold on the tiller,
which had been hard down, and per-
mitting it to spin around with the
velocity Of u top, ''took place out there,
just above the mouth of the bayou,
about 30 years ago, when they burned
the old postotiice and the warehouse.
You can see where they stood by thu
piles of bricks there Oh the bank"
All admitted the ruins were plainly
visible, when he changed to the OPP
posite sido Of the wheel, and after a
spirited effort made to counteract the
effects of an impinging current that
had caused the boat to swerve from her
course he continued:
tThe boat that was on had got
caught ill the fog. and we tied up ,sn
der the point there about 5 o'clock in
the afternoon, and lot of us went Oh
shore to take littlc exercise. 1t was
on Saturday, and IL good many people
had come in from the country to do
their trading and get their mail Some
of them We're pitching quoits and others
shooting at IL mark when we first land
ed, but they quit when they saw the
man carry the mail bag we had brought
and went in and stood around waiting
for the letters.to be sorted. They had
all been drinking and We're pretty noisy.
When the postmaster said there We're
only two letters and that they We're
both for Bud Johnson, u colored man.
murmur Of disapproval went around,
and several OF them insisted on a new
deal.
"'You can look for yourselves, said
the postmaster, tossing them tho bag,
but after searching and finding it empty
they We're in worse frame of mind
than ever. Presently one of the num-
ber, a local politician, got up and made
speech deroeatory to the administra
ton. He insisted that the government
was preiudiced against white folks, and
that he had no use for the office any
how. Several of the others present ex-
pressed their approval of this senti-
ment, and general smashing up of ev
erything at once followed. During tue
row the coal oil lamp was broken, the
house set OH fire and everything burned
up.
"Colonel Bunch, who owned the
from his plantation below and de
nounced the perpetrators of the Outrage
as vandals. The colonel was higl
spirited man aud didn't stand any fool
ishness, but was getting along i'll year
now and couldn't do much but talk, E
that when one of the men declared h
could whip any Bunch on earth b
looked like he felt himself in u prett
close place, but the colonel stood hi
ground until at last, when the contend
ing parties were about to come to blows
his son appeared upon the scene, and
learning the cause of the trouble, spran
between the two, and, drawing his re
volver, said, My name is Bunch, an
when my father gets to be too old t
defend himself I can stand in his track
and take his part.
cat this juncture the shooting con
menced, and made for the boat. Il,
erybody seemed to take sides again
the Bunches, and you would la,
thought them "a band of guerrillas frol
the way they kept the fight up. Pre-
emily noticed the colonel roll dow
the bank and stop just at the edge
the water, and then his son came sta;
gering down, too, and fell near his sid
They were both dead! We wanted
leave, but the men were afraid to go G
shore to unite the lines. for the infur
ated crowd was still calling for mo-
Bunches aud the colored man who Ii;
got the letters, but he had climbed
tree, and they didn't know where
was. An hour or SO later, when IL
crowd had dispersed, he slid down fro
his hiding place, came aboard the bo
and we had him in the hold until v
got away and he was over his frigh
He said there were five men lying
the bank that the Bunches had kill,
before they fell
The boat at this juncture showing
disposition to become fractious Il
pilot gave his undivided attention for
moment to the wheel, when he went o
"But there is not much shootil
along the river now, and you hard
ever hear Of feud. When there we
only about three families in q count
two Of them were usually engaged
an effort to extermiuate the other
account of some imaginary wrong,
maybe prompted by jealousy. Since t
country has been settled up they are
right. used to think myself" he we
on to say after brief tussle with t
tiller. "that what man wanted "
room. but l have found ont my M
take. What he stands most in need
is plenty Of good neighbors. and Fl
that the thicker you put people the b
ter they get along. It makes them mt
human, and besides they come to KIN,
something, which is not the case wh
they live alone. have learned q &c