Ballenbaugh 2

Ballenbaugh's son, also known in The Reivers simply as "Ballenbaugh," is, like his father, a "giant" (73). He claims to have served the Confederacy during the Civil War as a "partisan ranger" in Arkansas, but the narrative casts that story in doubt, suggesting instead that he acquired the pile of "uncut United States bank notes" he returns with in 1865 by more illegal means (73). Under his ownership Ballenbaugh's becomes even more lawless: stolen animals are fenced there, illegal whiskey is made there, and under the "euphemistic blanket-term of dance hall," it is also a house of prostitution - until it is cleaned up in 1886 by a Baptist minister (74).