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North Texas StarOctober 2013

OUTDOORS ALONG THE BRAZOS

C.C. SLAUGHTER:CATTLE KING OF TEXAS, Part 4

SAIN-TOH-OODIE-GOOMBI: FORT BELKNAP CAPTIVE?

October 2013 • NORTH TEXAS STAR •

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North Texas Star 4OUTDOORS ALONG THE BRAZOSBy Don Price

8CHASING OUR TALESBy Sue Seibert

16SAIN-TOH-OODIE-GOOMBI: FORT BELKNAP CAPTIVE?By Gene Fowler

12By Jim Dillard

C.C. SLAUGHTER:CATTLE KING OF TEXAS: PART 4


Outdoors Along the BrazosBy Don Price

The following vignettes have been extracted from Outdoors Along the Brazos columns, begin-ning in 1963. Occasionally, a sentence has been paraphrased for clarity.

Outdoors, Part I

Always the first criers to show us approaching splendor, the sumac bush blushes scarlet, usually in October.

Along our familiar roadsides it is to be found, discovered aflame, but only by those who will take a moment to notice.

Found in abundance in limestone country, sumac has for a number of years been strong along that stretch of roadway between Palo Pinto town and Brad. Two species were found common there: Shining and Smooth sumac.

The halcion days of fall often meld, blend before our eyes. A man who owns nothing may be richer than others simply because he observes nature more than we: a stop along the highway west of Palo Pinto to soak up the colors. Perhaps we won't be there to enjoy it with him because we can't spare the time.

A bright yellow pecan, a golden cottonwood, look before it's gone, because the next gusto...

And before you know it elms and willows will be the guilded ones, each a treasure taking over when the sumac undresses, affording wealth for anyone who will stop, anyone who has the time to notice.

Myriad roadside flowers are abloom until frost, even common broomweeds, gasping one last breath before Jack Frost oozes the cracks in the old sandstone fence your grandfather took years to build, while hoarfrost blankets the pasture.

Bobwhites were plentiful [during wet years of the late 1960s] but you'll be mighty lucky to bag a brace today.

You'll have to comb the pasture grasses even 10 feet distant as their camouflage is better than Cabela's; this is why you need a dog.

My best year behind "Bud," an English setter, was in 1969; although physically Bud isn't with me anymore; his spirit is; I can just hear him over that little rise.

Grit is my hunting companion now, fourteen months old, a Brittany spaniel, and he thinks he knows all about it. I keep telling him Bud wore mighty big shoes around our pasture.

A local bird hunter, himself a spry octogenarian, told me to watch out for every sixth year...let's see, my best year was 1969, and this is 1975. Sure enough, this year looks to be as good, maybe even

better. Come on, Grit, we've got a lot of sniffing to do before Christmas.

We'll hunt out the hollows on some of those hazy mornings in the Palo Pinto Mountains around Brad, stopping at noon to perk black cof-fee in a rusty bucket and woof down a sandwich.

And we'll run up-and-down the [1950s] motor-cycle hill climb trace near Metcalfe Gap, foot express, and never tire. It was at least 60 years ago but we were in our 20s. Even the rattlesnakes feared for their lives as we were afraid of nothing. We were wild and we were free. Freedom, total, no strings attached, not a worry in the world. Now, those were the good old days! It's a down-right shame we have to grow up anyhow.

The great American essayist said: "He who knows the most, he who knows what sweets and virtues are in the ground, the waters, the plants, the heavens, and how to come at these enchant-ments, is the rich and royal man." This quote is from Ralph Waldo Emerson; we school kids stud-ied him in the seventh grade.

I just don't know how Emerson and President Lincoln could think up these sublime thoughts anyhow, not without the aid of cellphones and text messages, do you? And just to think, no TV. How in the world did they do it?

Outdoors, Part II

You love your job. You really wouldn't trade your kind of work for anything. And so you've dragged yourself around the family's mom-and-pop shop to service customers the whole day with only a 15-minute lunch break.

This is one of those days you should have stayed home: tire adjustments, battery pro-rated guarantees, irrasible customers at the exchange counter; besides, our store air conditioner has bro-ken down [the month is August] in 100 degrees, at least.

All of our good customers are reminding us it's a terribly hot day when you already know it's a terribly hot day.

You keep looking at your wristwatch, checking the sun time through the front plate glass window, noticing the tiny shadows beginning to lengthen behind the merchandise display. You'll take a deep breath, knowing closing time will soon be here.

Family members and hired help are just stand-ing on the sidewalk, talking, just like a thousand by gone evenings, and someone locks the front door.

It's time to get away. Faster, faster, you mutter Continued on page 6


Continued from page 4to yourself, trying not to bite through your

favorite Kaywoodie stem as you take corners on two in order to save rubber. You've always been great at rationalizing, but fooling no one.

Why don't you just floorboard your life, you feel like it sometimes, not really, but you sense the temptation just the same. But holding one's speed to 55 will make his motor stay in better shape longer. This was mainstream in 1950.

The city limits sign... only this time you're going out instead of in. Away from the facade of masquerading.

My element at long last. To cast a deer hair mouse, to slap the water 1 inch from the stickup that the lunker calls "home" is all that matters. Three times you've caught him and released. He's getting wise – you have to change flies. But stay-ing humble to God is the highest art, eclipsing everything.

Dark, it's your own reflection, mysterious water. Grotesque trees in the middle add charac-ter to the tiny lake's composition, and the barna-cled stump, a hiding place for a bronzed warrior. This is our sanctuary, no cell phones either.

And so you paddle the little green boat away from technology until you find it safe to let the breeze carry you, to drift awhile, to remove a town's mask so that the wind and sun can cleanse. A lot of us yearn for "40 winks" to get away from it all, at least as far away as Millsap. Gosh.

Locusts machinegun one another from tree branches on the stock tank's dam; a mockingbird tries to mimic the locust, while a squirrel berates because you've dared invade its territorial imper-ative.

The wind is cooler and kinder; certainly the air is fresher and cleaner.

Pincushioned awry on the stock tank's dam are the wind-in-the-willow trees [this is getting a lit-tle corny], while red-winged blackbirds rise and fall nosily on switches, a Cub Scout's future wie-ner sticks.

On a rock in the spillway rests a sculptured turtle with rubber-band neck, as a gray fox nim-ble-foots it across the spillway, a mighty poor-looking fox, I mean a thin fox.

Hunkering low, a jackrabbit is in the spillway,

too, braced like a cinder starter for the World Olympics. I'm sure he sees the fox coming.

It's very serious for the jackrabbit because his life at this moment depends on speed and agility. The fox is thin and no doubt hungry. Survival of the fittest, nature's way of balancing species...

Then twilight; it gives one a lot to ponder.

Outdoors, Part III

If you've come reading this far, its a lot farther than I expected, yes indeed.

The young kids I know don't seem to be inter-ested in nature much anymore, not like in my time; what with their video games, seemingly it's a different world.

Perhaps if you'd take your kids this next week-end to a local lake, such as Lake Mineral Wells State Park, and if they'd catch a few perch and crappies, then they'll want you to take them again. They might get hooked on nature and this is what it's all about. It's worth a try. Park Interpretation/Education Manager David Owens is knowledgeable. •••


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Chasing Our Tales baileypate By Sue Seibert

I found an old query that I hadn’t researched, and I thought I would endeavor to do so. However, there was so little information in the query, that I am stuck with more questions than answers. Here’s the query: “Hello, I am doing research on the Bailey Clan descendants

of William M Bailey, and Mary Ann Barnett. My question, do you have any infor-mation on William M. Bailey's history prior to Mary Ann Barnett? June bailey.”

Since I don’t recall who June Bailey is, and I don’t have a clue where these people were supposed to live, and I know there are lots of people with the Bailey name, I am going to try to do research using Palo Pinto County as a basis, and go from there.

However, I would like to add here that when you are asking someone to search for you, please give them as much information as possible. The more you know about places and dates of births, marriages, and deaths, the more you will help your researcher to find your ancestors!

I did find information about a William M. Bailey here. He was the son of Francis M. Bailey and his, wife Margrett. He was born about 1866 in Mississippi, but by the time he was 14, on the 1880 federal census, he and his family are found on the Palo Pinto County census. I later discovered they had come by way of Fannin County, Texas.

The siblings the census listed for William are George, age 11; Clark, age 7; Eli, age 5; and John Pink, age 1. Looks like the Bailey family were raising some strong sons to help with the farm, as they are listed as being farmers.

Upon further examination, I discovered that William’s mother may have been Sarah Margarete Sanders, born about 1843, in Mississippi. She was married to Francis Marion Bailey who was born on Oct. 19, 1840, in Marion County, AL. The death certificate for Francis tells us even more.

Francis was 96 when he died on March 2, 1937, in Oran, Texas, and he is buried there. He was a wid-ower. He was the son of Wiley Bailey, who was born

in Georgia. His mother was unknown. The informa-tion was provided by his youngest son, John Pink Bailey of Graford, Texas. The undertaker for this funeral was E.L. Lee of Graford. It appears he died of senility, something that I believe may no longer be put on a death certificate.

Doing more research I found Sarah Margarete/Margaret/Margarett’s death certificate. But although

she was born in Mississippi, it was really on May 2, 1844, and her children did not know who her parents were when the death certificate was filled in. (How sad.) She also died in Oran at the age of 90 on Feb. 23, 1935. She died of old age, another no-no in today’s politically correct age! Her son, John Pink, was also the one who gave information on her death

certificate.The only further information I found on William

M. Bailey was his birth and death dates, April 1, 1865 - June 10, 1890, so he did not outlive his par-ents. He was 25 when he died. I have no idea where Mary Barnett came into the picture, and so far as I can tell he was not buried in Oran.

Now, for some extremely interesting information. Francis Marion, known as Frank, was the last surviving Texas veter-an of the Battle of Bull Run. A clipping of his obituary from the Mineral Wells Star states:

“Frank M. Bailey, 97, last known Texas survivor of the Confederate Army at the first battle of Bull Run, and the last member of Stonewall Jackson Post United Confederate Veterans, died Tuesday at his home in Oran.

“Bailey participated in most of the early engagements of the Civil War but received a wound at White Oak Swamp which lamed him for life. He was on guard duty at General Robert E. Lee’s headquar-ters at the beginning of the seven-day battle around Richmond and saw General Lee and President Davis go up in an observation bal-loon to inspect the military situa-tion.

“A native of Alabama, he came to Palo Pinto County in 1874. He

was a building contractor and funeral services Wednesday were held at the Oran Baptist Church, which he built. He is survived by two sons, George F. Bailey and J. Pink Bailey of Graford.”

To take the Bailey family into the next genera-tion, since I can find nothing more about William, let’s talk about John Pink Bailey. He was born Sept. 27, 1878, in Honey Grove, Fannin County, Texas. His mother’s last name was White, not Sanders, at least on his death certificate, and on his death certificate her name

is spelled Margaret. He died on June 14, 1965, in Mineral Wells. At the time he was living in the Crazy Water Hotel. He was listed as a farmer and rancher, and at one time the had been he tax collec-tor and accessor in Graford. He was buried from the Baum - Carlock - Bumgardner Funeral Home. He

Continued on page 10

Pink Bailey


Continued from page 8 had been widowed when he died and was 86 at his death. His sons, Rich Lawrence Bailey, Herbert Bailey, and August Embre, are also buried in the Oran Cemetery. Their other children were Mary Nell Clinton and Frank Harris Bailey.

John was married to Mary Howard Pate Bailey. She was the daugh-ter of Roy Howard Pate and Florence Low Pate. She died on October 11, 1960, at Nazareth Hospital in Mineral Wells. She was born on Feb. 17, 1881, in Tennessee. She was a housewife, and she died of heart problems.

The Mineral Wells Star printed the following concerning John Pink and Mary Howard’s wedding:

“At the residence of the bride’s parents Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Pate on the evening of the 15th January 1902, Mr. Pink Bailey and Miss Mary Pate were married, Rev. George W. Lewis of Millsap officiating. The bride, one of Orans most beautiful young ladies, wore a pearl gray silk trimmed in white with the brides veil and a wreath of orange blossoms, while the groom, one of our most prominent young men, was dressed in a suit of black. They received several nice presents from their many friends who predict for them a bright future and wish them much hap-piness through life. There was the largest crowd present that we have seen at a wedding in a long time. Besides the community, there were present Misses Nora and Estelle Longino of Jacksboro; Jno. Meeks and sister, Katie, and Miss Katie Woldridge of Whitt; Misses Mary Lasater, Sarah Davidson, and Ura Hall of Weatherford. After congratulations all were invited out to supper where was found a table loaded down with every thing good to eat. On the next day the bridal party went to the residence of F. M. Bailey, the father of the groom, where quite a num-ber of friends had been invited to partake of one of the best dinners that it has been our privilege to enjoy for a long time.”•••

* * * * * * *

If you have more information on the Bailey family, especially what happened to William M. and Mary Barnett Bailey, please contact me through email, [email protected].

If you would like to read other of my ramblings, you may go to my blog at http://siouxsue.blogspot.com.

Frank Bailey


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C.C. Slaughter - Cattle King of TexasBy Jim Dillardpart 4

(This is Part 4 in a series of articles on the life of Christopher Columbus Slaughter, oldest son of George Web Slaughter, who settled in Palo Pinto County with his father in 1856 and began his long career to become one of the most successful and wealthiest cat-tlemen Texas has ever known.)

When an organized group of meat packers in Chicago known as the “Beef Combine” began control-ling the price of beef at the marketplace during 1886, cattlemen organized to combat the practice which was bankrupting them. At a Range Association meeting in Denver on Feb. 9, 1887, a movement was set in motion to create the American Cattle Trust. It would create a $100 million corporation that could “arrange, manage, and sell every animal from the time it was dropped a calf until it was beef in the consumer’s bas-ket.” Slaughter was named to the board of directors, but by 1890 the trust disolved due to dissension among the directors, overvaluation of stock certificates and lack of support from cattlemen.

At the national level, Slaughter was also named first president of the National Beef Producers and Butchers Association where he used his influence to lobby for the passage of livestock inspection laws and against the “Beef Combine.” In Washington he testi-

fied before the United States Senate’s Select Committee on the Transportation and Sale of Meat Products where he testified that the cattle depression was the direct result of price fixing by the “Beef Combine.” He also revealed stockmen could not find any competition between buyers and were forced to take the first bid offered at any market, a price that had been preset by the beef packing monopoly.

At the Interstate Convention of Cattlemen held in Fort Worth in 1890, C.C. and his brothers, Bill and John, heard a letter read from Gov. Lawrence Sullivan Ross agreeing that something should be done to com-bat the beef trust and remove the “syndicate” that dominated the cattle markets. He also lauded many of the pioneering cattlemen, including the Slaughters, who had become famous during the early days of the cattle industry but were then needing protection at the marketplace. Although Slaughter worked in the politi-cal arena and through organizations established to pro-tect cattlemen and their interests at the marketplace, not until 1921 did Congress pass the Packers and Stockyard Act that curtailed the monopolistic practices of the big meat packers.

Where other ranchers had failed, Slaughter was able to survive the drought and depressed market price for

beef. When creditors clamored for their money, he would simply have his ranch foreman

ship the appropriate number of fat cattle and young heifers to market to

cover his expenses. He employed a veterinarian in April 1887 to teach his cowboys how to spray cattle for insect and tick pests, which usually resulted in extra weight gain. In 1886 he had also contracted with the XIT Ranch to provide 10,000 head of 1- and 2-year-old steers for a reported $14 a head. Located near Slaughter’s Long S Ranch, its three million acres along the edge of the Texas-New Mexico border made it the largest fenced ranch in the world.

The cattle were herded from Slaughter’s Long S Ranch to his Running Water Draw Ranch and then to the XIT. By

removing that many cattle from his land, he was better able to withstand the effects of the three-year drought. In addition, market prices began to improve and in September 1888 he sold 80 fat steers at the improved market price of $3.10 per hundred. Another change occurred on the Long S Ranch when Slaughter’s long-time ranch foreman, Gus O’Keefe, left to start his own ranch and was replaced by Slaughter's 18-year-old son, Robert L. (“Bob”) Slaughter. On July 6, 1890, C.C. Slaughter dissolved his six-year partnership with W.D. Johnson on the Running Water Land and Cattle Company by trading his half interest in the cattle, horses and equipment for Johnson’s interest in the land which included 89,000 acres in patented holdings and a similar amount in leases.

Things were changing in West Texas during the 1890s as more ranches were fenced with barbed wire and windmills were installed for a more reliable source of water. Less open range remained for the big cattle-men to use as farmers infiltrated the region. Between 1888 and 1892, 34 counties were organized in West Texas and the Panhandle. Although Slaughter was deeply involved in banking, real estate, industrial investments and philanthropic activities in Dallas, he kept close reins on his West Texas ranching interests.

Drought once again set in with a vengeance on the dusty High Plains between 1890 and 1894. During 1892 pastures were barren of vegetation and cattle died by the thousands. By January 1893, Slaughter owned title to more than 250,000 acres and 37,000 cattle on his West Texas and Panhandle ranches. Calf produc-tion dropped dramatically forcing many cattlemen out of business. In April 1893, Slaughter sent 5,000 head of cattle by rail to Glasgow, Mont., and others to feed-lots in Council Grove, Ks. Another 5,000 head of cat-tle were herded to lease lands in New Mexico and other parts of the Panhandle less affected by the drought. With cattle sent elsewhere and the sale of $100,000 worth of cattle sold at market during 1894, Slaughter once again was able to survive another drought. In May 1894 heavy rains returned to the region to break the drought and by fall range condition improved dramatically.

C.C. Slaughter soon followed the example set by Charles Goodnight on the JA Ranch and began to incorporate purebred Hereford breeding stock in his ranching operations. He purchased 10 carloads of Hereford bulls for the Long S Ranch to breed with his cross-bred shorthorn-longhorn cattle. With the shift toward using and producing purebred stock beginning to dominate the cattle industry during the late 1800s, Slaughter once again was at the forefront of the change. In 1895 Slaughter purchased a herd of 1,900 pure bred Hereford cattle, known as the Cross-J herd

C. C. Slaughter – Greenwood Cemetery, Dallas


C.C. Slaughter - Cattle King of Texas that had originated on Goodnight’s JA Ranch, from Hockley County rancher John Scharbauer for $50,000, sight unseen.

He also began purchasing champion Hereford bulls including Ancient Bison, the 1893 first-prize winner at the Chicago World’s Fair and Columbian Exposition, for $2,500, the most ever paid for a bull at that time. In 1896 he purchased another champion bull named “Protection,” winner at state fairs in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois and at the St. Louis Fair in 1896, and three other top bulls. These bulls and the herd of purebred Herefords purchased from Scharbuaer were released in Hockley County on the Diamond A Ranch, an adjoining ranch owned by Fount G. Oxsheer. He had made a deal with Slaughter to pasture the Hereford herd for three to four years at $1 per head and a one-quarter interest in the herd. Slaughter per-suaded Oxsheer to rename the ranch the Ancient Bison Herford Ranch and subdivide it into six pastures for better control of breeding by his prized bulls.

In 1899 Slaughter purchased 4-year-old Sir Bredwell, the champion Hereford bull at the Omaha Exposition, at T. F. B. Sotham’s annual Hereford sale at Kansas City. After an unprecedented auction between Slaughter, Kirk B. Armour, meatpacker and president of the American Hereford Breeder’s Association, and several other wealthy cattle breeders, Slaughter bought the bull for $5,000. With great fan-fare, Slaughter transported the bull to Texas in a rented box car with a sign that read, “I am Sir Bredwell and I Am Heading for Colonel C.C. Slaughter’s Ranch in Texas.”

To better accommodate Ancient Bison, Sir Bredwell and other selected bulls and cows with the forage and care they required, Slaughter purchased a 2,000-acre alfalfa farm in the Pecos River Valley 2 miles east of Roswell, NM. Slaughter’s son, George, was named manager of the new Slaughter Hereford Farm. The farm also produced badly needed hay for winter feed-ing and a place to winter horses from their Texas ranches. It also produced fruits and vegetables for the ranch’s line camps and headquarters.

For five years Slaughter produced some of the finest cattle in the country and rose to the top of the purebred Hereford business. But with more favorable beef mar-kets and the expansion of farming on the South and

High Plains of West Texas, land seekers began to put a greater demand on Slaughter and the leased grazing lands he had been using for 20 years. More favorable laws were passed by the Texas Legislature allowing settlers to purchase one section of agricultural land and three for grazing for $80 down and four years to pay. All a settler had to do to secure the title was live on the land and make certain improvements such as installing windmills or constructing fences. As a result, Slaughter was forced to purchase more land to sustain his vast cattle enterprise.

In 1897 he purchased the 1,600-acre Tahoka Lake Ranch in Lynn County with 140,000 acres of leased land and the TJF Ranch in northeastern Dawson County for his purebred Hereford herd. Next he turned his sights to unoccupied waterless and arid lands in the western Panhandle. In 1893 the State Legislature had deeded lands in the public domain in Cochran, Hockley and Bailey counties in blocks of four square leagues (17,712 acres) to approximately 30 counties for local school revenue. Some of the counties that owned school lands leased them to cattlemen and oth-ers were willing sellers. Slaughter saw another oppor-tunity to increase his land holdings and began a dedi-cated effort to acquire as much of the school lands as possible.

It was necessary to use agents to conduct the land purchasing process, since most counties would not sell their lands to established cattlemen such as Slaughter. Calling on several of his friends who were indebted to Slaughter’s Dallas bank, they began negotiating with numerous counties for the purchase of their school lands. Though fraught with legal wrangling and law-suits, by 1901 Slaughter eventually wound up with 246,699 acres for which he paid $240,000 plus $95,000 in bonuses to his agents who helped purchase the lands. Total cost for the new land acquisition aver-aged $1.36 per acre which would be known as the Lazy S Ranch. Slaughter named his son George who lived at Roswell, NM, as manager of the new ranch in addition to managing the Running Water and Slaughter Hereford ranches. Son Bob continued to manage the Long S Ranch and lived in Midland.

By 1900, Slaughter’s ranches totaled 1,373,000 acres and were stocked with 54,500 head of cattle. He had become one of the great cattlemen of America.

Slaughter maintained tight control of all his ranching interests and oversaw the operations of the ranches by his sons. Each year he would tour the ranches, travel-ing by train and coach from Dallas to evaluate the con-dition of range and cattle and supervise shipment of cattle to market, inspect watering facilities, and place-ment of herds for summer grazing. From 1882 to 1898 he accompanied his cattle to market, traveling as far as Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City and Buffalo. He would arrive ahead of his shipments by rail to analyze and observe market trends and be in position to get the best price for his cattle.

In 1901, Slaughter began to lose lands to agrarian interests as farmers moved into the South Plains and Panhandle following the election of 1896. Higher pric-es for agricultural commodities and favorable weather patterns prompted an influx of farmers into the region to take advantage of the Four-Section Act. Lands Slaughter had once leased were now being purchased by farmers who erected fences and excluded his cattle from their former ranges and water sources. Slaughter even lost eight sections he had been leasing at his German Springs headquarters on the Long S Ranch when two of his cowboys secured title to the land, sold it and disappeared. New laws favored the newcomers and further fractured Slaughter’s vast grazing empire. It was becoming apparent that he would have to con-solidate his land holdings and reposition his ranching operations to survive and remain active in the ranching business.

In 1901 he sold his patented interest in the Tahoka Lake Ranch in Lynn County. Other land leases he had held on the Long S Ranch for years expired and became open for purchase by settlers. During that year several land rushes took place in Dawson, Borden and Howard counties for land Slaughter had once leased from the state. Volatile confrontations between local officials, Slaughter cowboys and settlers took place during the next three years until the land law was changed in 1905. The sale of state lease land was then put under jurisdiction of the General Land Office who would begin selling land to the highest bidder.

As land values rose and Slaughter’s former ranches and leases became more and more fragmented, he began to sell much of his ranchland. In 1908 and 1909

Continued on page 14

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Continued from page 13 he sold the Running Water and Long S Ranches along with thousands of cattle. He then began to invest more of his assets in the Slaughter Building on Main Street in Dallas.

In 1902 he had purchased the adjacent National Exchange Bank Building and by 1909 had added extensions and three stories to the building to create one of the most incredible and unique hybrid build-ings in the history of American architecture. It was designed by Chicago architect Clarence Bulger in Romanesque style. He would eventually purchase 30 pieces of property in Dallas includ-ing 1,000 front feet of prime down-town Dallas.

When 200,000 acres of the Long S Ranch failed to be sold by his agent W. P. Soash, Slaughter once again found himself in the cattle business. Under his son Bob Slaughter’s man-agement, the ranch facilities had fallen into disrepair. Slaughter hired old friend Jack Alley to become his new manager and set about making improvements including new fences, additional water wells and wind-mills, and the acquisition of addi-tional land adjoining the ranch. The ranch once again became profitable and Slaughter would spend his sum-mers at the ranch headquarters at Soash located on the border of Borden and Howard counties east of Ackerly in present Dawson County.

On Aug. 10, 1910, 74-year-old C.C. Slaughter, while vacationing at the Resthaven Hotel in Waukesha, Wis., fell and broke his hip which would leave him crippled for the rest of his life. With failing eyesight he turned management of this cattle business over to his son, George, and Long S Ranch manager, Jack Alley. His Dallas real estate interests were turned over to his son-in-law G.G. Wright and other family mem-bers.

Although C.C. Slaughter had risen to the pinnacle of the cattle industry and created a land empire in West Texas and the Panhandle, his philanthropic achievements would have profound influences on many organizations and people throughout Texas. He kept in close contact with his ranch managers but began to devote more of his time to charitable organi-zations and medical and religious institutions. When he moved to Dallas in 1873 the population was 7,054, but by 1919 it would increase to 150,000. Through his investments and bank dealings he had become a director and vice-president of the First National Bank

of Dallas which was created in 1910 by the merger of American Exchange and City National Bank with assets of $2,500,000.

One of Slaughter’s greatest contributions to Dallas was his service as president of the Confederate Veterans Reunion Association in 1901 and the organi-zation of the annual convention in Dallas in 1902. It turned out to be one of the largest gatherings of peo-ple the state had ever seen when 10,000 veterans and an estimated 200,000 visitors celebrated at the con-vention. He was also a longtime member of the First Baptist Church of Dallas and served on the building

committee during 1890 to build a new sanctuary. He paid about two-thirds of the costs for the building out of his own pocket.

To help consolidate the debt of seven Texas Baptist schools, he and J.M. Carroll, Baylor University finan-cial manager, created the Texas Baptist Education Commission and made a presentation at the Texas Baptist Convention in 1896 on the matter. Slaughter’s contribution of $37,000 helped stimulate other contri-butions and four years later the debt was eliminated.

In 1903 Slaughter’s pastor at the First Baptist Church of Dallas, G.W. Turett, persuaded him to donate $50,000 toward a new Baptist hospital which he did. The five story Texas Baptist Memorial

Sanitarium opened in 1904 and became one of Slaughter’s favorite charities. Slaughter would con-tribute in excess of $320,000 to the hospital which was renamed Baylor Hospital in 1920.

Slaughter remained active overseeing his ranching business, civic and philanthropic activities and trav-eled extensively between 1912 and 1916. C.C. Slaughter died on Jan. 25, 1919, two weeks before his 82 birthday. Funeral services were held at his home at 3506 Worth St. He is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Dallas.

Although Slaughter had proclaimed his 246,000-acre Lazy S Ranch (C.C. Slaughter Cattle Company) to be indivisible by his heirs, it was nevertheless divided

among 10 family member share-holders. By 1937 oil was dis-covered five miles south of Sundown, Texas, and the 52,000-acre Slaughter Oil Field began production. By the end of 1975 it had 849 oil wells and total production of 642,687,368 barrels worth $20 million a year to the landowners. The Roswell Hereford Ranch was also divid-ed among his heirs as was his Dallas financial assets and prop-erty.

From the early days of cattle ranching in Palo Pinto County to his rise to the title of “Cattle King of Texas,” C.C. Slaughter’s name will forever be branded to the indomitable spirit of Texas. His strong entrepre-neurial drive separated him from the pack to create a cattle and land empire like Texas had never seen. He also gave gener-ously of his time and resources to help promote and advance religious, civic and educational institutions for the benefit of

generations to come. Every time I drive north of Palo Pinto on Farm Road 4 and gaze across the prairies and hills toward the Brazos River, I can almost hear the echoes of bellowing longhorns and cowboys bust-ing through the brush on another roundup in “Slaughter Country.” •••

(References: "C. C. Slaughter: Rancher, Banker, Baptist," by David J. Murrah; "Painted Pole: The Beldings and Their Ranches in Palo Pinto County – Pioneer Days to Computer Age," by Barbara Belding Gibson; Handbook of Texas Online and other Internet sources.)

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APlace in TimeOCTOBER 11, 1878Kiowa Chief Satanta, incarcerated in the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, leaps to his death from a prison window. The chief had been convicted in the Warren Wag-ontrain incident in North Texas. He and fellow chieftain Big Tree were convicted and sentenced to hang; but the Texas governor, fearing Kiowa reprisals and humanitarian ak commuted the sentences. After being pardoned, Satanta fell back in with raiding parties and was rearrested and returned to Huntsville. Learning he would never again be free, he chose suicide.OCTOBER 13,1824Palo Pinto County pioneer Simpson Crawford is born near Bear Creek in Breathitt County, Ky. In 1854 he built a home three-quarters of a mile northwest of Graford in the Keechi Valley. He was a successful rancher, owning some 3,100 acres. He also served in the Mexican War and as a Texas Ranger. He died Aug. 17, 1908, and is buried in Crawford Cemetery near Graford.OCTOBER 13, 1940Announcement is made that Mineral Wells has been selected for location of Infantry Replacement Training Center (Camp Wolters).OCTOBER 15, 1861Author Fannie Davis Veale Beck is born in Dresden, Texas. Her family relocated to the center of Palo Pinto County in 1863. "On the Texas Frontier" is a rsthand account of her life in Texas, published in 1937.


Sain-toh-oodie Goombi: FORT BELKNAP CAPTIVE?

Some of the most compel-ling accounts of life in frontier Texas concern the often surprising cultural experiences that resulted

when Native Americans captured Anglo settlers. These stories are espe-cially intriguing when the captives were young people who generally proved more adaptable to the Indian way of life. Cynthia Ann Parker, cap-tured by Comanches at her family's fort, near present-day Mexia, as a pre-teen in 1836, never readjusted to life in white society, making several attempts to escape and rejoin her Comanche abductors before her death in 1870.

Equally enigmatic, though not near-ly as well-known, is the abduction story of Millie Durkin (also written as Durgin, Durgan, and Durkan), who was taken captive at 18 months of age by Kiowas in the Elm Creek Raid, near Fort Belknap, in 1864. In 1930, several Fort Belknap-area old-timers helped Mrs. Sain-toh-oodie Goombi,

then in her 60s, reach the conclusion that she was the same Millie Durkin. The blue-eyed, light-haired Mrs. Goombi had grown up with Kiowas in Oklahoma.

Sain-toh-oodie and her family attended pioneer reunions in the Belknap area until her death in 1934. The visits always created a sensation in the newspapers and helped salve ancestral wounds between cultures. Young County native Barbara A. Neal Ledbetter sat in the Newcastle High auditorium as a grade-schooler, watch-ing Mrs. Goombi speak Kiowa on the stage as her grandchildren performed Indian dances. The experience set Barbara wondering, and half a century later, in her 1982 book, “Fort Belknap Frontier Saga,” she concluded that the real Millie Durkin had died shortly after her capture, advancing the alter-native theory that Mrs. Goombi had been kidnapped near Mason. Other researchers have disagreed, and the exploration of the mystery continues today on the Internet. •••

by Gene Fowler

Sain toh oodie Goombi


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STORIES & SNIPPETSFridayNovember 7, 1919

Miss Alline Holloway entertained a party of her friends most delightfully last evening in her home on E. Hubbard. The Halloween idea was carried out in decorations without and within the games played and refreshments served. The guests came in costumes appropriate to the occasion which added to the festive effect.

For a time the hostess and guests joined other revelers on the streets and peeped in upon other merry makes in true Halloween fash-ion.

The guests of the affair were: Esther Shorten, Maurine Jones, Louise Gray, Olivia Hazelwood, Maurine Rutland, Nancy Byrd, Mary Tom Needham, Kathleen York, Frances Robertson, Thelma Louise Rich, Alline Holloway, Marvin West, Clar-ence Wristen, Harrold Burch, Charles Bennett, Frank Payne, Sid Yokley, Arthur Wells, C.D. Reynolds and Robert Yeager.

Publisher’s note: Sound like a good time was had by all at this long ago do. Some of these surnames belong to folks still liv-ing here. I remember Halloween chiefly through the lens of fun and controlled “wildness.” Some chose eggs as their weapon of choice; but water balloons made my Halloween happy. Of course I had confederates in this watery warfare, but I’m too discreet to name them here. Usually I’d tromp up S.E. 21st Street to Randall Polk’s house (ooops!) and we’d position ourselves on his roof just above the front door, armed with colorful balloons filled to bursting with water. You know what happened next. ...

This series of pieces from the past is meant to remind us of this area’s unique history. The material comes from old issues maintained at the Index office and is presented pretty much as it appeared in print. These papers are quite yellowed and brittle, deteriorating from age. By publishing these pieces perhaps we can keep them in play in the digital world for years to come. For clarity, some punctuation issues have been addressed. Hopefully you will enjoy these tiny windows to the past. Feedback is appreciated and will be shared. E-mail [email protected] or send your letter to Mineral Wells Index, P.O. Box 370, Mineral Wells, Texas 76068, attention pub-lisher. You may also drop it by our office at 300 S.E. 1st. St. in Mineral Wells. Thanks for reading!

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