Garrard County, Kentucky - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 2 of those read), 1854

Chapter with an unread heading (no. 2 of those read)

False rumors. - Mrs. Rus Hill's debut - Woman's depravity - Jesse Hill's chase - Bravery of the little boys - Hill's horses found, in the Doctors orchard - Two of the boys retreat before a party of the Hills - -Neighbors help the Doctor to defend his house - Squire Level and Ben Dunn take - the horses.

The barbecue fight happened on Saturday evening, and on the Monday following, it was rumored by the Hill party that the Doctor had been seen lurking near one of their houses. This was entire! v false, for he was scarcely able to move a limb, from the soreness of his wounds.

Time, pregnant with dire events and livid crimes, soon raised the curtain and exposed Mrs. Rus Hill to the scorn of the expectant multitude. The sinking sun shone forth in all the resplendency of his evening glory, but mantled in a mournful blush of crimson, that youthful innocence had thus grown to aged depravity. She took her child into her arms, and with the sincere affectation of an expert actress, set out from her lone cabin of rudeness, and made the welkin ring with lamentations for her miserable fate. The proud hills, disdaining to listen to such airy wailings, repulsed the empty sounds and with reproof echoed them from their rock-ribbed sides to the ear of their degenerate mistress; - while the crystal waters murmured along: their innocent way, leaping with jov and child-like gambol, apparently unconscious that one so repulsively black with crime was mirrored on their bright surface. But she bellowed most lustily and made the big tears stream like liquid diamonds down the furrows of her woe-begone countenance, to attract the attention and commiseration of the passer-by ; and well did she succeed, for Mr. Gardner, James Hutson, and William Wails, ever tender to the woes of others, inquired into the cause of her overflowing grief.

The Iiill And Evans Fedd

beech tree and shoots into the door. Two of the balls struck the cradle in which rnj child was sleeping. I picked up the bali3 as they rolled across the floor, for here they are now." (She held out to exhibition two balls that had never been' in a gun.) u Being very much alarmed for the safety of my child, I took it up in my arms and walked to the door ; he shot at me again and struck the door-facing. I then started to run through the corn, the negro woman bringing the other children, and he shot at me twice again, cutting the corn blades near me."

~ Were this the extent of her depravity, I could rejoice ; but it is an episode to the gloomy scenes yet to be revealed by our history. It does seem that woman is susceptible of an infinite degree of either virtue or vice. A maiden, just blooming into maturity, may possess a purity of heart and holiness of mind that elevates her to a comparative level with the chanting seraphs of angelic glory - then again, her heart may be full of the blackest vice, and her mind such a demoniac work-shop as to merit the lowest pit in the infernal regions. The one, we can but admire and love, the other, despise and abhor. See this woman as she walks down the creek, bawling deception, with her little innocent in her arms. What a contrast ! Her bosom is stained with all the vice to which human beings are heir, while the cheerful babe, innocence and purity personified, peeps forth with its bright little eyes upon the beauties of nature, a stranger to guile, and unconscious of the boisterous passions and rankling depravity of the one in whose arms it rests.

After she had gone, Walls told his comrades that her tale was all a lie, for he had been to Dr. Evans's during the dav, and he was unable to get out of the house. Further down the creek, she met David Gordon, and told him the same yarn. He invited her to go home with him, but she refused, and went on down the creek, making the woodland slopes reverberate with her lamentations. The next morning, Gordon went down to Rus Hills's, and saw where some one had actually shot the door-facings. But we have reason to believe that the Hills did the shooting themselves, in order to raise the report, and have the signs for evidence. After widely circulating this report.

and exulting in their success, they determined to swear out a warrant against the Doctor. But James Naler, John Hill's nephew, told them they could not prove anything against him, for his uncle, and aunt, and Mrs. Hutson, had been staying at Dr. Evans's house all day, expecting him to die of his wounds. With this counter evidence, they said nothing more about it till the sitting of the grand jury, when they attempted to bring it up ; but the jury would pay no attention to them. Thus ends a tale of female baseness, a baseness too enormous, I hope, to find room in any other woman's heart.

The. object of the Hills in spreading these reports was to get public sentiment in their favor, and make it appear justifiable in the eyes of the world for them to beset Dr. Evans's house. Circumstances soon proved that they had succeeded in their design. One morning the Doctor sent out one of his little sons to the pasture to get a horse to go to mill. He came running back, very much alarmed, without the horses, and said Jesse Hill was out there. The Doctor, though scarcely able to walk, took up an old rifle and a small pistol and started to rout him. He told some of the little boys to bring the ammunition, and tried to make the others stay; but they would not - one of them, Sam, led the way. They went to the place where Hill had been seen ; but lie was then invisible. They believed him to be hid somewhere near, and began to search. Soon, the little fellow who had the pistol, jumped him up behind a bank of earth, and ran after him with all his might, without ever thinking of his pistol, and hallooing: "Yonder he is - yonder he is ! shoot him, Pap - shoot him, Pap ! " As Hill ran off about one hundred and twenty yards distant the Doctor fired, but missed him. The little boys ran on in pursuit, presenting a miniature buck chase. The Doctor found a horse belonging to one of the Hills hitched in his pasture. He turned it into Hill's field, and called to the boys to know where they wrere. To this call, two of the Hills, lower down in the thicket, near their own house, answered :

" You had me once, but did n't kill me ; - but I don 't thank you for not doing it ! If you want me, here I am- - come and get me - I am at the service of even such poor, pitiful scoundrels as you are ! "

On his return home, the Doctor found three other horses hitched in the orchard, but did not know to whom they belonged. He started two of his sons to mill, the remainder to school. The two going to mill had gone about half a mile to the creek, when a party of the Hills gave chase and ran them back home. In the meantime the Doctor sent a negro boy to one of their houses to inform them that they could get their horses. On receiving intelligence of this fact, they replied that they were d - d sorry that they were absent, for they would have taken out the black scoundrel's heart. The Doctor then sent the boys around to several respectable neighbors to invite them to come with their guns and help defend the house, or give counsel for future actions. They came and saw where eight or ten horses had been hitched around the fence, beside those in the orchard, with signs indicating that they had been standing there all night. They knewr not what advice to give, but two or three of them, whom the Hills had mutilated almost as badly as they had the Doctor, remained with their rifles. Before night, about twenty of the Hill party collected on the creek, and swore they would have their horses that night or die, and if the old coon did not keep a sharp look out, they wrould take the white house. Late in the evening Col. Hall Anderson saw the party and advised the Doctor of the danger, and also informed him that one of the horses belonged to the wife of old Henry Ware, and the others to John Hill, jr., who had nothing to do with the difficulty. John Hill, jr., had sent them down to old John Hill's in a wagon loaded with lumber, and through Mr. Anderson asked if he could get them. The Doctor replied -

" He can come unarmed ; I have no objection to his coming in davli^ht, but as it will be dark before he can get here, I rather he would wait till morning. I will have his horses stabled and well attended to." orders to shoot everything that came near enough. Four guns heard during the night, but no one was found hurt in the morning. He sent a note to John Hill, informing him that he could get his horses in perfect safety - that no one would be allowed to hurt him. Hill replied that he knew the Doctor would not molest him, or permit it to be done if he could help it ; but, as Sellars was there, he feared to go. 'Squire Level, ^seeing so much preparation on the previous evening, supposed they had an action, and came up to learn who had fallen on the battle field. The Hills had previously sent for Ben. Dunn. As these gentlemen were particular friends of the Doctor, the Hills requested them to go and bring the horses. When they went up to the Doctor's house, they informed him that there tv a 8 no crowd of Hills collected below - the only persons having -been seen were old John Hill, Utile John Hill, and Col. Hall -Anderson. . But the Doctor knew better the tricks of the party, and told them if they wanted to see a crowrd lying in ambush, all they had to do was to look into the bushes as they returned. -And, sure enough, they did see some fifteen or twenty, with their rifles, lying in the shade. They delivered the horses and left as quickly as possible. From that time forth the Hills con- -tinually lurked around the house and shot at any of the family who chanced to be seen. -

I do not know that I ever heard of the stern and rigid laws of our enlightened State being violated with such impunity. They roved, a bandit clan, insulting and stamping bleeding justice to the earth. The whole country should have arisen in arms and humbled in the dust the necks of the miscreants who would thus dare to violate the laws.

Sundry Incidents

The Doctor meets Rus Hill on the creek - Attempts to shoot, but gun snaps - The Doctor's sons come to help him - lie makes them go back to work - Haney Baker's interposition - Hill sheltered by the wagon while Haler drives it past - The Doctor's superstition - The peace warrant - Could not -get it served - Inefficiency of officers - Hills besiege the house - Narrow escape - Cowardice of the Hills - The hat stratagem - The Hills increase their forces.

The next incident happened on the creek. The Doctor's negroes and sons were pulling fodder in a little field near the creek, and to see how they were progressing, the Doctor shouldered his rifle and went down there. He soon heard a wagon coming up the road, and saw that Rus Hill was driving it. As soon as Hill saw him, he began to rip out some of the blackest blasphemies, and stopped his wagon about thirty paces distant.

The Doctor leveled his gun and took deliberate aim at Hill's breast, but the cap snapped. He put on a second and a third cap, but all missed fire. During this time, Hill was standing before the oxen, fair to view ; but when the fourth cap went on, he ran behind the wagon, drew a large pistol, and presented it as if he intended to shoot. *

" Fetch them all out, - sons, negroes, women, children and all - I can whip the whole camp-meeting of you ! " shouted Hill, flourishing his pistol over his head, to indicate his boisterous bravery.

Mr. Naler then came along, and said he was afraid to pass while two such belligerent fellows were near; and that he might pass safely, asked the Doctor to go away. The Doctor did as requested. Naler drove the wagon past; while Hill walked beside it, to shelter himself, even after the Doctor had gone away two or three hundred yards distant.

These snappings made the Doctor believe that he should not take revenge for past injuries; and from that time forth he only acted on the defensive, up to a certain period. This opinion betrays a good deal of superstition. It reminds me of old lady who would not flog her son because the first lick broke the switch, believing it to be the decree of heaven thus manifested, that she should not whip him. This wms a dangerous policy for him; he would not take the proffered advantage of the law, which rendered his arms inoffensive. Had he shouldered his rifle, searched the country, and shot down every Hill that he chanced to meet, the law could not have hurt him, since they had threatened and already attempted his life ; and this, too, would have brought the war to a speedy close.

The Doctor soon got out a peace warrant against the Hills. But the constable could not, or would not, serve it on more than two or three of them. This was a desperate s:ate of affairs; -

In the mean time, the Ilills, with shouldered rifles, scoured the country, swearing they would serve a peace warrant on the old white headed coon at the first opportunity. The}7 continually laid around the house and shot at every one seen, either black or white. One evening when the front door was half open, one of the hoys passed by it, going up stairs ; at that instant an ounce ball was fired at him. It passed through the side light of the door, and had it not been for the hair of the door which swung open, it .would have killed, him. The ball glanced from the swinging door and fell at his feet on the stair-way. Many such incidents might be pointed, out, but this one is sufficient to show the eminent danger to which Dr. Evans and his family Were continually exposed. The reports and long echoes of guns were so many familiar tunes, and the rattling balls on the house top lively accompaniments to the music. They had the house perfectly besieged - every road and outlet had its blockade of veteran troops. Of course the Doctor and his family had to keep pretty close and quiet, through motives of personal safety. Jesse and William Ilill had command of the forces employed in this siege, which lasted more than two months.

About the first of March, the Doctor was called to see a patient in the family of Ben. Dunn, who resided just across the creek. On the way thither, he had to pass the house of old John Hill, who professed to have nothing to do with the difficulty. He knew the Doctor's destination, and immediately sent a negro messenger with the news to Bus Hill. Bus came, and as the Doctor returned, went to the door and tried to shoot, but his gun would not fire. The Doctor jerked a pistol from his b ister, Hill jumped back, and he roue on unhurt. From this you inav see their mode of operation. Old John Hill professed perfect friendship for the Doctor, but in reality was the general of the Hill party. He would not come out boldly before the enemv, but staid in the back ground and boldly gave orders for others to boldly fight by. After this incident, he went another way to 'Mr. Dunn's, but they soon discovered that trail and waylaid him, though it was through open ground and rln*y could not lie in ambush. On one occasion they besieged the Doctor at Mr.

Dunn's house, and kept him there nearly a week, and that too, within a short mile of home. Finally, during a very dark night, he succeeded in making a safe retreat. A man could scarcely be hunted more perseveringly, or watched more closely than the Doctor was. Of course he had to use considerable cunning and dexterity to keep out of their clutches. But if he saw a party in open ground, and started toward them, they would turn upon their heels and make tracks in double quick time.

The Doctor wished to sow a piece of oats, but feared to let the boys do it, for the field was surrounded on three sides by a continuous thicket. But they told him that there was no danger of the Hills molesting them if he would give them his old hat. The Doctor thought this rather a strange idea, but obeyed their request. The field was in sight of Bus and Bill Hill's houses. The boys took the old hat and placed it nearly behind a tree, so that it looked like the Doctor standing guard, and peeping round the tree to watch the Hills. Every night they changed the position of the hat, as if the wearer had changed to a more comfortable posture. The Hills thought it was the veritable Doctor himself standing guard. They continually shot at it with their ounce balls, ana cursed it with the most bitter oaths, telling it to " come down here, you old bald headed coon, and get something to drink, I know you are dry - there's nothing like having plenty of " liker " to drink and a good horse to shoot from ! " After these eloquent harangues, they would mount their horses, gallop around a tree and shoot at it, to show the Doctor's old hat what good marksmen they wrere, and how well their horses -were trained. Thus, even an old hat was as much guard as needed, until the boys finished sowing their oats. The Doctor's hat must have imbibed some of the military from his warlike head ; at any rate, it knew how to stand guard pretty well.

The Hills drew many other people, and even strangers, into their difficulty. They gave little dancing parties, wrood-cuttings, log-rollings, house-raisings, etc., to collect crowds of the floating loafers of the country. When thus collected, they pleasantly detained them with the fiddle's charm, and the bold spirit of Bacchus, and with the embraces of women of no enviable reputation. What could better please a rabble crowni - frolic, whisky and women! These were the tools needed to help prosecute the war, for no respectable person could be caught in such society, or voluntarily engage in such a disastrous strife. You may know that even the females of the Hill party had no exalted opinion of virtue, when such names as Sail Hill's Bill , etc., are familiar to the citizens of Garrard ; no better name having been found for a numerous class of progeny vhose paternal origin is debateable