Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-20
ROBERTS COUNTY.
Another Letter Regarding the State of
Affairs There-How the People Feel.
Facts Brought Out in the Case of the State OF
Texas and a. A. ParselI VS.. j. K.
Little Over the Judgeship.
CANAD1AN. TEX, Sept. Is, 1859.

CANADIAN. Tex, Sept Is, 1889.
To the Gazette
As L. K. Little of Miami, Roberts
county, has been furnishing the people of
Texas with SO many sensations lately
through the press, in the shape of 'Hor-
rible Outrages in Roberts County -
"'Rangers Sent to Miami, - 'eScotch-
men Owning $50 900 Acres of Land in
Roberts County - and his widely cireu-
! latsd and justly celebrated letter, it
fslsght be well to let them know of the
true state of affairs that exists in Rob-
| erts county, and the facts that were
| brought out in the case of the State of
! Texas and a. a. PaTsell VS.. J. K Lit
| tie for the Office of county judge of Rob-
! erts county.
1t viii be remembered that at the last
| regular term of theLipscomb district court
! in the case of AllcOrn VS.. Burns for the
| Office Of clerk of Roberts county, Burns,
who had run on Little s ticket and been
counted in, was declared an usurper and
that Alcorn had been elected, and when
! the writ of custer was placed in a con-
stable hands for service and the rangers
ordered to Miami to see that peace was
! kept, Little set up such howl about out
RACES. etc.
There not being time at that term of
| the court TO try Little s case, a special
term was called by Judge Willis, which
! convened last Monday The whole week
was taken up with hearing evidence and
! affidavIts, and the case was given TO the
| jury at $50 Saturday evening They,
after being out but half an hour and
taking but one ballot, brought in the
verdict that A. A Parsell had been
| elected to the Office of county
/ judge of Roberts county and that J K.
! Little was an usurper.
! J. n. Browning of Clarendon and B
NJ. Baker of this place represented Par
! sell, and w. H. GriAby and w. H
| WoOdman of Mobeetie, Temple Houston
of this place and a lawyer named Brown
from Dallas represented Little.
In the closing speech, Mr. Browning
made fine argument, lasting five hours
with telling effect on the jury.
It was proved on this trial that at
precinct No. 2, side track on the rail-
road, there were fOrty-eight votes said
to have been pOiled, when in reality
! there were but three persons living in
the precinct, and that there were two of
! the Parsell party watching this poll from
until they closed, and as they coufG
see the house where the voting was being
done for two miles before they arrived.
the jury thought that the voters had
never been there, but that the box had
beepf'' stuffed, and the plaintiffs proved
shyTeliable men that the names on the
tally sheet were the names of men who
! were not voters in the county, if indeed
| they were voters anywhere.
At Miami No. Cd Little received sixty
one votes. Twenty-tOur OfSthese were
illegal and fourteen of the balance were
never cast.
Shortly before his trial Little had the
| county surveyor who had been elected on
his ticket or rather counted in with him
to run the county Zines so as
to throw some of ParselI's
votes into this county, (Hemp9'
hilD and Hutchinson This was done
with the desired result. County Sur
veyor Spiller of Lipscomb county, when
placed on the stand, stated that the men
| that the Roberts county man had sur
veYed out of Roberts county were, in
fact, in the county, as ne had surveyed
all over the county and was well &C
auainted with the lines of the county.
This verdict has been hailed with delight
by the law-abiding citizens of the PAN
handle, who knew that the law had been
outraged in Roberts county by this
crowd, that ballot boxes had been
stuffed, $50 ZOO worth of county bonds
given away, etc.
THE GAZETTE contains in its issue Of the
9Th letter from j K. Little on the
condition of affairs i'll Roberts county
AS the writer has within the last ten days
travelled all over the county nearly, and
has had occasion to talk with a great
many of the citizens of the county who
live in the district that Little claims Nc
Kenzie is fighting the settlers of, he will
say he did not hear one word of COM
plant against Mckenzie.
1t is true that Mckenzie owns great
deal of land in this county. This he has
the right to do if he can pay the high
taxes of Roberts county; and it is also
true that he leases a large number of
school sections. This he is com-f
Mr.. Little does not like thS
law he should have it ohangeds
The company Mr.. Mckenzie represents
came to this county years ago with their
cattle when Mr.. Little and others like,
him thought the Panhandle and WesA
Texas was fit for nothing but to give 50
railroads and TO build capitols with
They fought and drove the Indiansout
and made everything safe for Mr.. little
to come up and steal a county whichever
he feels inclined.
Mr.. Little mentions Mr. G. M Gard
ner as a man who a representative of
Mckenzie s called on to pay 500 or get
off the land. We were looking for land
and inquired of Mr.. Gardner the number
of his section and asked him if he had
filed on it. He said no, that he did not
propose to file or to stay in the county if
the Lipscomb jury decided that Little
was county judge of Roberts.
NJ. j. Newly is another poor farmer
that Mr.. Little says in his letter of the
9th State Agents Hoffer and Mckenzie
are oppressive. The following is a letter
sent by this same Mr.. J. H. Newly to
the g Free Press
TALAHoSE, ROBERTS COUNTY, TEX,
Sept. u, 1889.
Editor OF the Free Press.
VIII you allow space in your paper to answer
an article in the Miami Sentnel'' IittIe's pa
per-. Of August 50 headed Scotch Landlordism
in Roberts County, - which says J. H. Newly,
who moved from Young county a few months
ago and bought the improvements on piece of
kssehool land in this county and ap-
ssplied for it, was told by State Agent
Hotter that he must get the consent of Mr. Nc