Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1909-03-05
The House of the Black.
- ! s.s.. Ring Copyright. 1905

fled for his life, leaving his coat-tails
In the hands OF a hend who had
snatched at him as he bolted for the
door. A rifle shot, a mad laugh, and a
volley Of curses had followed him out
into the forest.
Thus ran the valley tradition.
THAT very winter the crew of men
which Hartswick had put In to cut the
pines had noted "a strange thing. All
winter long there was no track In the
snow to the Heller hut, though a
smoke arose daily from the chimney.
And they noted with horror that in a
circle some 20 feet wide about the
house there was no trace OF snow,
though II lay piled deep over the rest
of the valley,
That was the beginning OF strange
things.
Not once in 20 years that he lived
was Matthew Heller seen in the
valley, on land outside his little
circle. What he did. where he OBJ
tanned supplies, how he lived, no NOR
tai outside his home ever knew. Zone
visited him or his wife or his strange,
wild son. 1t vas as II they did not
live In the valley at all, ave that they
furnished abundant food for conjecture
and for superstitious awe. Many
averred that they had seen the old
man during hunting trips in distant
valleys wen in winter, and some were
positive that they had run across the
whole family on the ridges In berry
time, put no one ever saw any of them
on the valley lands, and, strange as 1t
may seem, though smoke arose daily
from the chimney of the old hut, no
track, year after year, vas eve seen
through the snow TO the dwelling. Fur
thermore, in all the century during
which the valley folk had known the
place not one flake OF snow had ever
lain within the strange circle about the
cabin.
At length the old man had been seen
no more, though none knew when he
died, or ii. indeed, he did die. Then
the old wife came 40 more TO the blue
berry ridges In midsummer. and the
son., a dark, silent man, lived alone in
tho hut. After a few years he had
brought from no one knew where a
d~ark-haired wife, who said little and
who encouraged no advances by the
valley folk. Then, after years, the
grandson OF Matthew Heller, a man of
ambition and energy, had rebuilt the
old cabin, and later, in the early '40s.
had bought of Thomas Hartswick, heir
OF the original John Hartswick, 30 acres
Of and at the entrance of the gap, and
had built on the little stream near by
a set of modern farm bulldings-those
now occupied by Allen F%arthing. At
llic lit mas DIoSDtItu. MS ciltI HOi,
Andrew, who had inherited the shy,
hermit traits of the family, had re-
tired in early manhood to the ancestral
cabin, where he had lived much as his
grandfather had done. but the younger
son, a forceful fellow like his father,
had remained at home until an unfor-
innate affair had forced him to fee
from the valley,
1t would seem from local tradition
that this younger Heller had possessed
a singularly winning and masterful
personality, n that he had won with
ease the leadership of the valley boys.
AS a result, however, he had stirred
w a venomous hatred in the breast
of young Ira Hartwick, son Of the
great estate, and hereditary heir to the
valley lordship. 1t vas impossible that
there should be two leaders In Hell
Bottom, and the result was a war,
waged on one side with unutterable
and on the other with n
stout defiance In the open. The eli
max had come suddenly. In a burst
of passion over a taunt about his an
cestry, young Heller had given the
Hartswick scion a thrashing so severe
that the old squire had had him ar
rested at once for assault with attempt
To kill.
The plight OF the young fellow was
then indeed a serious one. There was
no lack OF witnesses who would swear
TO anything the old squire desired, and
it was hard to get a jury In the whole
county who would bring In a verdict
against his expressed wish. The out
come was not doubtful. T~hereupon,
with the righteousness of youth, the
young man had promptly fled the val
ley, a fact which naturally p~rejudiced
his cause. 1t was known after a time
that he had enlisted In one OF the
DannGNlxfa min raQipoantu for tha ngr.{I
war was In progress, and after Gettys-
burg his name had appeared on the
list of the union dead. Thus he had dis
appeared from the annals of the val
ley,
Old Hartswick, however. had not
been baked of revenge The son hav-
ing escaped him, he began to prosecute
the father. In five years the farm was
In his hands, and the parents, crushed
down by calamity after calamity, both
died In the old cabin where they had
begun their married life. The elder son
lived on alone, but late In life he mar
ried the daughter of old Poppy Miller.
both had died OF sudden fevers some
years later, leaving twin children, a
boy and a girl, to be brought up by the
grandparents. The boy, Leon, a head
strong fellow, had disappeared one
summer day, drowned In a foolish at
tempt TO run In a boat the whirlpool OF
Roaring Run, though his body was
never found; and now the girl, L~eonora,
the last OF the Hellers, WAS living, q
strange. seldom-seen creature, with her
grandparents in the Gap.
So much for tradition and family his
tory.
AS for the Hartswicks, they had been
men OF property-hard. grasping drivers
CT business. who had answered In the
full the wild prayer of old Matthew
Heller. And OF them all the hardest
had been the present squire, Ira Harts-
wick, owner of the village grocery and
half OF the valley besides.
The center and focal point of He'll
Bottom vas this store at h heel OF the
stocking, under the shadow of old
Nance mountain, In the jaws of Bald
Eagle gap. Near II were the little
church OF the community, the black
smith shop, and the school house. all
on the mountain side Of the road, and
or the other side. to balance II all,
was the farmstead of Squire Harris
wick. a village In itself.
First, there was the mansion-Harts-
wick Hall-built when the country was
scarcely of age, OF blue limestone n
native mortar, a venerable old struc-
ture half hidden among the locusts and
horse-chestnuts. Behind and around 1t
sprawled a motley collection OF build
ings. The original log cabin, a tumble
down affair, used now for o o pen.
stood o far from the spring. and