Helena, Texas

Helena is a ghost town in Texas, approximately 70 mi (110 km) southeast of San Antonio in Karnes County.

[1] The town was the birthplace of the so-called "Helena Duel", in which the left hands of two opponents are tied together with buckskin and each fighter is given a knife with a three-inch blade[1] – too short to reach a vital organ or cause a single fatal stab.

Helena is a ghost town allegedly because of the vendetta that Colonel William G. Butler (1831–1912), a powerful rancher, had against the town he blamed for the death of his son, Emmett Butler, who had been killed by a stray bullet from a saloon brawl on December 26, 1884.

A few days later, Colonel Butler went to Helena with group of cowhands and demanded to know who had shot his son and found that none of the townspeople was willing to tell the truth.

"[4] Following through on his threat, Butler, a veteran of the American Civil War, arranged for the tracks of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway to be built 7 mi (11 km) away from Helena.