Back in the day in Helena a lot of people were left scrambling, running for cover, either trying to hide in their house or maybe their covered wagon, because, after the cowboys, gunmen and rustlers came out well there were all kinds of trouble.
"There were houses here with soiled doves in them, and they'd get into fights over the girls they would get in a fight just to be in a fight, they had what was known as the Helena. Duel two of them would get together, and they would tie their wrists together with a rawhide thumb and give each one of them a knife not sharp enough to kill immediately. But enough to cut and they would turn them loose in the street out here, and they would cut each other until someone bled out and they're taking bets on the side, so that's part of the mystique of Helena," Glenn Toothman said.
"Most people believed that Helena would soon die of its own corruption, but one man wouldn't wait for that he believed in taking an eye for an eye," Robert Taylor said.
Death Valley Days that Taylor was talking about is Colonel William Butler.
Butler was a rancher in Helena and a civil war veteran who played a huge role in the history of the city.
"If you wanted it and you had the money you could buy it here in Helena, anything and that led to a rougher crowd," Toothman said.
Toothman is with the Karnes County Historical Society he knows all about the rich and colorful history of the ghost town north of Beeville. Much of the town's past is kept inside the old courthouse of Helena. There are relics from the past and plenty of photos of those who lived here when it was a rip-roaring town, which all changed after someone in town killed the son of the most influential man around.
"They say that Mr.Butler not being able to hang the guy who shot his son gave the right of way he actually charged a very small amount of money for the right of way to the railroad," Toothman said.
The legend is that Colonel Butler blamed the town of Helena for the shooting death of his son after no one would tell him who pulled the trigger. Butler plotted out his revenge by allowing the railroad to come through his property and bypass Helena.
"So, Colonel William Butler, true to his promise killed the town of Helena, Texas within a year the rails were laid along the new route giving birth to the towns of Kennedy and Karnes City. The true death blow came when the courthouse was transferred to Karnes city next week another true story from western history," Taylor said.
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