The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-01-23
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DenulnR over MIN. IL was Il man WIFI
a handkerchief hanging over his face
with holes cut opposite his eyes. tie
had not seen my fall and thought, as
I learned later, that l had ridden away.
His gun lay beside him, Its stock
toward me. / observed that a piece
Of wood had been split off the lower
side Of the stock. l Jumped to my feet
and seized a stone to hurl at him As
/ did so the rObber fled with gun in
hand. If the gun had been loaded l
suppose that this little history would
never have been written. Quickly l
hurled the stone at the robber. l re-
member ii was a smallish stone about
the size of Il hens egg. j saw 1t Craze
the side Of his head. l saw his hand
touch the place which the stone had
grazed. He reeled and nearly fell and
recovered himself and ran on, but the
little stone had put the mark of Cain
upon him.
The stranger lay still In the road.
I lifted his head and dropped 1t quick
ly with a strange sickness. The feel
VI IL IL NV way II Y btN uIDh Nv
ground when I let go scared me, for I
knew that he was dead. The dust
around him was wet. ] IAN down the
hill a few steps and stopped and
whlstled to my FLY. / could hear her
answering whinny far down the dusty
road and then her hoofs as she gal
lOped toward me. She came within a
few feet Of me and stood snorting. l
caught and mounted her and rode to
the nearest house for help. On the
way l saw why she had stopped. A
number of horses were feeding on the
roadside near the log house where An
drew Champion lived. Andrew had
just unlOaded some hay and was back
Ing out of his barn. l hitched my
FLY and jumped on the rack saying:
"Drive up the road as quick as you
can. A man has been murdered"
What a fearful word 1t was that I
had spoken! What a panic ii made in
the little doOryard! The mar gasped
and jerked the reins and shouted to
his horses and began swearing. The
oiiuh utttItu u ttttft SCTtdl1 anu TIC
children ran crying to her side.
The physical facts which are further
related to this tragedy are Of little
moment to me now. The stranger was
dead and we took his body to our home
and my uncle set out for the constable.
Over and W. again that night I told
the story Of the shooting. We went to
the scene Of the tragedy with lanterns
and fenced 1T OF and put some men
on guard there.
In the morning they found the rob-
ber's footprints In the damp dirt Of
the road and measured them. The
whole countryside was afire with ex-
element and searching the woods and
fields for the h%ighwayman.
The stranger was buried. There was
nothing upon him to indicate his name
or residence. Weeks passed with no
news Of the nan who had slain him. l
had told Of the gun with a piece Of
wood broken out of it's stock, but no
One knew of any such weapon In or
near L~ickitysplit.
One day Uncle Peabody and I drove
up to Grimshaw's to make a payment
Of money. / remember It was gold
and silver which We carried In q little
sack. l asked where Amos vas and
Mrs. Grimshaw-a timid, tired-looking,
bony little woman who was never seen
outside Of her own house-said that
he was working out on the farm Of a
Mr.. Beekman neal Plattsburg. He had
gone over on the stage late In June
to hire out for the haying. I observed
that my uncle looked very thoughtful
as we rode back home and had little
to say.
"You never had any idee who that
robber was. did ye?" he asked by and
by.
"No-I could not see plain-it was
SO dusk" I said.
The swift words, "Your money or
your life" came out of my memory
and ram in 1t. 1 felt its likeness to
the scolding demands Of Mr.. Grim
shaw. who was forever saying In eff.
feet:
~Your money or your homer
That was like demanding our lives,
because we couldn't live without our
home. Our all was In II. Mr.. Grim
shaw's gun was the power he had over
us. and what a terrible weapon 1t
vast 1 credit him with never realiz-
ing how terrible.
We came to the sandhills and then
Uncle Peabody broke the silence by
saying:
II wouldn't give fifty cents for as
much o. this land as a bird could fly
around In a day."
Then for q long time I heard only
the sound Of feet and wheels mufied
In the sand. while my cncle sat look
Ing th~oughtfully at the siding. When
I spoke to him he seemed not to hear
me.
Before we reached kcme I knew
what WAS IN his mind, bat neither
dared speak Of II,
People came from Canton and al