Solving a cold case history mystery of a murder on the lonely Llano Estacado.
With cold, unblinking eyes, a well dressed gentleman stared at J.W. Jarrott as he walked with his wife, Mollie, down the main street of Lubbock, Texas, in August 1902. J.W. said to Mollie: “There’s a man I’d rather not see in this country.”
After the Jarrotts passed, the stranger quietly disappeared.
Settling a Slice of No-Man’s Land
That spring, J.W. had begun settling his family and 24 “nesters” on uninhabited plains southwest of Lubbock—a semiarid, windswept wilderness, without trees or flowing streams.
Before the Santa Fe railroad reached Lubbock in 1909, only 293 hardy pioneers populated the county, the 1900 census reported. Just 44 lived to the west, in Hockley County.
J.W. brought his homesteaders to southern Hockley County; the northern part was largely owned by XIT Ranch. A broke Texas had traded this land after the capitol burned down in Austin. In 1882, the legislature granted a Chicago group 3.05 million acres in exchange for a red granite capitol, a frontier skyscraper that stands to this day.
Cattle barons resented any intrusion on “their” turf—particularly by nesters. And particularly J.W.
The lawyer had seized an opportunity to settle a slice of no-man’s land, pointed out to him by his friend, the commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, Charles Rogan. A surveyor error left an unfenced vacancy that ranchers utilized as free grasslands. Rogan classified this strip “school land” and placed it on the market to homesteaders, pursuant to Texas’s Four-Sections Act.
Denne historien er fra November 2017-utgaven av True West.
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Denne historien er fra November 2017-utgaven av True West.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Where Did the Loot Go? - This is one of those find the money stories. And it's one that has attracted treasure hunters for more than 150 years.
Whatever happened to the $97,000 from the Reno Gang's last heist? Up to a dozen members of the Reno Gang stopped a Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis train at a watering station in southern Indiana. The outlaws had prior intelligence about its main load: express car safes held about $97,000 in government bonds and notes. In the process of the job, one of the crew was killed and two others hurt. The gang made a clean getaway with the loot.
Hero of Horsepower - Los Angeles lawman William Hammel tamed one of the West's wildest towns with hard work and horseless carriages.
Los Angeles lawman William Hammel tamed one of the West's wildest towns with hard work and horseless carriages.
From the Basin to the Plains
Discover Wyoming on a road trip to Cody, Casper and Cheyenne.
COLLECTING AMERICAN OUTLAWS
Wilbur Zink has preserved the Younger Gang's history in more ways than one.
Spencer's West
After the Civil War, savvy frontiersmen chose the Spencer repeating carbine.
Firearms With a Storied Past
Rock Island gavels off high profits from historic firearms.
She Means Business!
An energetic and ambitious woman has come to Lincoln, New Mexico, to restore the town's legendary Ellis Store.
Ride that Train!
HERITAGE RAILROADS KEEP THE OLD WEST ALIVE ACROSS THE UNITED STATES.
Saddle Up with a Western
Old West fiction and nonfiction are the perfect genres to fill your summer reading list.
RENEGADES OF THE RAILS
RAILROADS WERE OPEN SEASON FOR OKLAHOMA AND INDIAN TERRITORY OUTLAW GANGS.