The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1900-08-03
IN THE HILLS OF KENTUCKY.
"Reminiscences OF An Old Inhabi
tant--TWenty-five Years AGO.

BraCken county, kentucky, Is Sttu-
ated on the Ohio river about 40 miles
east Of Cincinnati. O. portion of
this county Is rough and billy. though
the soil Is very fertile, and years ago
that part of the country of which
speak was inhabited by an ii!iterate
class of people, whose only knowledge
was how to shoot. raise tobacco and
ride horse. Then very ordinary to-
bacco would bring SIS hundred, and 1t
was poor farmer who could not raise
enough tobacco to have $500 or $500 at
the end of the year. They were a pc
culiar people within themselves. gen.
erous to fault. and nowhere in Ken
tuck was the old saying The latch
string always hangs out" more fully
demonstrated than among these to-
bacco growers Of Bracken county.
My father lived at Foster, little
town of 200 inhabitants, situated on the
river. At that time all of the trade
from ten miles in the interior came to
Foster. There was one saloon in the
town, and though l was but child,
yet l can distinctly remember how
mothers would warn their children
about going outside of the yard on Sat-
urday afternoon.
Everyone had money, and times were
good. The crowd would generally ar
rive at o'clock in the afternoon, and
no man felt that he was dressed up
unless he had on pair of the regula-
ton high-heel, red-top boots, and red
silk handkerchief loosely tied around
his neck. Horse trading would begin
Immediately upon their arrival, and
by 4 o'clock everybody would be drunk
enough to be noisy. Then there would
be fight, and sometimes it would re-
suit in one man being hacked to pieces
with KNIT, or shot, or. again. one
would get off leaving part of his
ear, or prabably finger, between the
teeth Of the man underneath.
I remember one thing which made
an indelible impression upon my young
mind. Luther Arms, who owned the sa-
loon, had q buxom daughter. whose
smiles were sought by all men of the
high-heeled boots She, exercising all
the tact characteristic of her sex to
avoid showing any partiality, endeav-
ored to treat all alike, but. this being
an utter impossibility with such per-
sistent wooers, finally gave all but two
their dismissal. Which Of these she
would have was a question, and as she
appeared unable to decide the matter,
the men agreed to fight it out, with the
understanding that the defeated one
should cease his attentions to the bux-
ON Mary.
The fight was to take place just out
side the town limits. SO that the town
marshal would have no jurisdiction in
the matter and could act as one of the
judges. he being a man of many
scraps" which fact alone elected him
to Office. The day came and all the
countryside were present, and bloody
and brutal affair it was Each man
was veritable Hercules. Only when
one had beaten the other into insensi-
bility did the fight cease. AS Is usu-
ally the case, when the conqueror APP
peared before Mary for her smiles. she
treated him coldly. In little while
afterward she showed her utter con-
who was whipped.
There was no place in the community
to have a horse race except at some
distance in the interior, at place
called Pribble's Crossroads. Old Colo
mel Pribble had served in the confed-
ONO "a n nm " with boror opd po1u GUINEA
a large farm out on the ridge" and
conducted general merchandise bust
ness. The country roads intersected
at this place and one of them was level
for distance of half mile along one
side Of his farm. In the summer time
and fall this road afforded good track
for race. There was board fence on
either side of road and reserved seats
on the straight edge of the top plank
were free to all.
Whisky could be had from ODE
Cowles' distillery on Flower Creek,
three miles from the Crossroads, and
any one not having at least a pint in
his pocket on his arrival was not con-
sidered eligible to pass judgment on
horse or pick q winner.
These races were unlike the races of
today. Sometimes one horse would be
ridden by a man weighing 200 pounds,
while the other would carry probably
half the weight, and never were there
more than two horses In the races.
AS the afternoon would wear on and
the whisky began to take effect, It
was nothing unusual for some little fell
low to jump down off the fence with q
whoop and swear that he was the best
man in the crowd, and begin to shed
his coat The challenge would prob
ably be accepted by someone on the
opposite side who weighed. perhaps. as
much again. For the next few minutes
more dust would be raised In the center
Of the road than was caused by the
race. No attention was paid at that
time to . mans size In q night, his
power OF endurance and his staying
qualities deciding the battle.
One Of the best known men Of that
particular locality was Wash shafer;
his father before him had always been
known in the community as a bad