Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) a euph. for damned adj.

1834		W.A. Caruthers Kentuckian in N.Y. I 23: I wish I may be contwisted if you ain’t one of the queerest men [...] I have clapped eyes on.
1836		Constantine Republican (MI) 7 dec. 1/7: I wish I may be contwisted if, when i gets a quid of genuine Kentuck twist [...] I arn’t as proud a man as the Grand Turk himself.
1845		C.M. Kirkland Western Clearings 71: His father [...] tore his boot almost off with what he called ‘a contwisted stub of the toe’ .
1860		Nat. Mag. 8 8/2: I’ll be tetotaciously contwisted if I don’t believe you're losin your non compos, old fellow!
1874		Frank Leslie’s Ladies’ Mag. 35 279: ‘Well, I’ll be con twisted!’ was his first exclamation.
1888		Ohio Democrat (Logan, OH) 16 June 6/1: Now if I was teacher of the con-twisted Coyote Purary skule, I’d jest about churn the daylights outer some of ’em.
1911		El Paso Herald (TX) 25 Feb. 4/2: I know of a dealer in pickles and tin, Who hates a glad spiel or the sight of a grin. / He prances the floor [...] scowls at his clerks / And seems to bne sore of the contwisted works.
1921		Mexico Wkly Ledger (MO) 10 Mar. 8/4: You hear much near profanity here — I heard a new coinage the other day — ‘contwist’. It means ‘blame it,’ ‘confound it,’ as I get it.