Category Archives: Justice
The Guardsmen
There was a time in America when lawmen made people nervous —not because they had anything to hide (maybe they did), but because, for the most part, old west lawmen were no one to trifle with. The fact was that … Continue reading
El Pistolero
The date was 12 June 1901. Karnes County, Texas Sheriff W. T. Morris (whom everyone called Brack) and a deputy were investigating the theft of a horse. The sheriff’s inquiry led him to the Thulemeyer Ranch outside Kenedy, Texas. Arriving … Continue reading
Three-Legged Willie
Robert McAlpin Williamson (1804/1805–1859) was the son of Peter B. and Ann (McAlpin) Williamson, who was born in Clark County Georgia. While a teenager, he encountered an illness that confined him to his home for two years and left him … Continue reading
Cap Arrington
George Washington Arrington was born in 1844 in Greensboro, Alabama as John Cromwell Orrick, Jr., the son of John Cromwell and Mariah Arrington Orrick. After John Sr., died in 1848, Mariah married William Larkin Williams, who lost his life in … Continue reading
The Texas Fence-Cutting Wars
Old West Texas was a land of vast grasslands uninterrupted by natural barriers. The landscape was devoid of rock and timber from which landowners might have erected fencing to mark land boundaries or control grazing livestock. In 1883, a clash … Continue reading
One Riot, One Texas Ranger
In 1821, Mexico’s War of Independence from Spain included the territory of present-day Texas, which became part of Mexico, incorporated as part of the state of Coahuila y Tejas. At this time, there were very few Europeans living in this … Continue reading
Jim Courtright
Born Timothy Isaiah Courtright near Springfield, Illinois during the spring of 1845, Courtright married Sarah Elizabeth Weeks in 1870 and may have had three children. Courtright enlisted in the Union Army when he was just 17-years of age and fought … Continue reading
The Hanging Judge
This fellow has been portrayed in a number of Hollywood films, two of the best by actors John McIntyre and Pat Hingle—although the character played by Hingle was entirely fictionalized in the film Hang ‘Em High. But Judge Isaac C. … Continue reading
Lee McNelly
The post-Civil War period in America was a dangerous time to be alive; this is especially true in the American Southwest, where a massive increase in human migration triggered conflict and profane behavior among those who were disenfranchised by the … Continue reading
