Stone Gardens: A tragic family affray took the life of Abe Eubanks in 1926 at a rural Sallisaw garage|

A longstanding family grudge erupted into deadly violence on September 5, 1926 at a garage jusr north of Sallisaw in an area that harbored and embraced bank robbers and outlaws that used the rural Cookson Hills

What began as a heated quarrel in a Sallisaw garage ended with the death of 22-year-old Abe Eubanks, shot three times by his second cousin Richard Benge during a mutual "shooting affray."

The incident, briefly splashed across Associated Press wires as a classic tale of kin-turned-foes, has since faded into obscurity, preserved mainly through sparse newspaper clippings and lingering local lore in communities like Brushy and Sallisaw.

Abe Eubanks, bornin 1904, was a young man from a local family with deep roots in the area. His mother, Mary Ellen Roberts Asbill (1885–1972), raised him alongside siblings in the tight-knit rural landscape of eastern Oklahoma.

On that fateful Sunday morning, Eubanks was in the company of his unnamed fiancée (ot a wife, as sometimes misremembered) when tensions boiled over. According to contemporary reports and local oral histories, the root of the conflict traced back to longstanding animosity between women in the extended family.

Richard Benge's wife had encountered the Benge brothers (Richard and his twin Mitchell, , sparking an argument fueled by old grudges. This personal feud between the women, details of which remain undocumented in public records, drew in the men, escalating longstanding bitterness between the Eubanks and Benge families, who were second cousins through Cherokee-linked lineages common in Sequoyah County

The confrontation quickly turned violent. Abe Eubanks fired first with a pistol, wounding Richard Benge in the shoulder (a non-critical injury). Richard retaliated with a shotgun, striking Eubanks three times in the chest. Eubanks died instantly.

Mitchell Benge, unharmed, was present but not reported as firing shots. Both Benge brothers were arrested and jailed in the Sequoyah County jail on murder charges. Richard, identified in local lore as the primary shooter, faced a manslaughter charge.

However, no records of a full trial, conviction, or sentencing appear in Oklahoma court archives, newspaper follow-ups, or historical crime indexes, a silence typical of 1920s rural disputes deemed mutual combat or self-defense.

Local tradition holds that Richard Benge was acquitted, likely on grounds that the affray was a fair fight (bolstered by his own wound), while Mitchell was released after the investigation cleared him of direct involvement. In an era when family matters were often resolved quietly without harsh penalties, the case appears to have ended without further legal consequences

.Abe Eubanks was laid to rest in Brushy Cemetery, a rural burial ground north of Sallisaw that holds many local families, including numerous Benges.

The sparse records from those times offer few details beyond his age and family links...no obituary mentions the circumstances of his death or his fiancée.

Several Benges are buried in Brushy Cemetery, such as James Martin Benge (1895–1960) and Columbus H. Benge (1895–1933), suggesting the family's continued presence in the area, but no direct connections to Richard or Mitchell were confirmed in public memorials

.This brief, tragic episode reflects the volatile realities of 1920s rural Oklahoma: extended families bound by blood and land, quick tempers in close quarters, and disputes that could turn deadly over personal slights.

In the absence of official records, the story endures through community memory—a reminder that some feuds, sparked by unspoken grudges between women and resolved in gunfire, leave echoes rather than answers.