history of wall (part 2)

On October 1, 1893, Charles Hardin was arrested in Carrol County Missouri on charges of horse thievery. On condition that he leave the state and not return, Charles traveled north and west to eastern Pennington County, South Dakota and set up camp on the Cheyenne River near Pedro not far from the wagon route from Ft. Pierre to Rapid City in the Black Hills. Charles became a mail carrier for the US Post Office and was the first mail carrier in the area to travel by vehicle across the rutted, bumpy prairie. It is not a matter of history where or how Charles acquired his first Model T Ford, but it is a matter of thoughtful speculation.
It has been put forward that Charles robbed an ox-drawn wagon full of gold bound for the railhead in Ft. Pierre. To date, no stronger argument has been put forth and it would explain the hookers and beer.
Charles Hardin was brutally robbed and killed in Chicago, IL in 1912, 5 years after playing an important, though hardly noticed role in the establishment of Wall. The infamous Hardin Hotel was Wall's first and only full service brothel. Today little is known of the establishment and the town elders, a tight-lipped bunch of semi-illiterates, have mostly passed away.
HOOTENANNY staff have peeled away several layers of the old onion behind which the history of the Hardin Hotel stands silent and mute. In future posts, that sordid history will be revealed. Though reputations may be damaged and/or altogether lost in the telling, it is a story that must be told.