The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-04-11
OLD V~INAGAR0ON'S NJ
THE START OF 4 TOWN IN TEXAS
TILT VAS ONCE TOIGH.

] NuuWtuR huht hNhn NNul~hF hNVuN WIN
Sometimes XIII n Desperate AFTER Comhlna-
zion OF Whishcs md scorpion Pniied-The
Homo or n Celebrated Justice OF the Peace.
SHERMAN. Tex. April s.-"Dld any Of you
fellows ever hear how tho town OF Niuagsroon
got its nGme?" asked n citizen OF n little group
In the hack part OF n book store.
NO" answered ono OF tle group. "aad I
never heard of the town. To tell tho truth. I
don't much believe there is any su,h place"
Yes. there Is" was tho reply. ''or. rather.
there used TO be, for the name has been changed
within recent years. You've all heard Of LauG-
try. Texas, haven't your
Wasn't that the place where Fitzsimmons
and Maher crossed tho river into Mexico on
the occasion OF their big nasco ota hGht1"
asked some one after G moment Of thought.
That's the place. was the reply. Every
body in the United States knew OF LnnGyry 1t
the time. but now Carson City has so far
eclipsed IL as to drive IL pretty much out Of
everybody's memory. I don't kno " how the
place ever picked IN the name OF I.hnEtry. Il
may have been named after the Jersey Lily for
aught l know. If ii was. all / can say is that
tlie.lady has n mighty tough to wn named after
her. 1t is to dav merely n sleepy little from
tier hamlet, a why station on the Southern Pa
ciic. In the DAYS when il was known as Vine
Earoon II WAS a great place"
did the name have anything To do with tho
big. repulsive-looiinE worms the Mexicans call
vinagaroons2" asked a listener.
1T did" was the answer. ut was from one
of thesa same critters that the town got its
name. ! suppose most OF you know what a
vinagaroon is-at least. most OF YOU TINT have
ever knocked around much out on the plains.
For the benefit OF those who have never keen
QUO there. ! will state that the vinagaroor is n
variety of scorpion. 1t is from two to four
inches long and has a fuzzy. hairy an peuranc
that makes II particularly disreputable look
ing. 1t Is much dreaded by the Mex!cans. but
is not considered 80 dahgerou sly poisonous as
the centipede or tarantUla. ! don't know
whether the term vibaVaroon is the scientific
name for the thing or not, but IL is the only
name / ever heard anybody call II by. II ap-
plies to n tough insect. and it did apply TO q
tough tuwE. l don't know which would have
tho lower standing il polite society. For sew
eral months. when the Southern Pacific vas
first being bnilt, Vinagaroon was its western
terminus Did any OF you ever spend a fc4
days at the terminus of n railroad under con-
s~tructiou in the first days Of the frontier"
NOBODY had. At least, nobody admitted
having done SO.
Then you haven't any idea OF what il i'm
piled. I was there myself. SO l know. In tho
first place. al the constru -tion crews OF tha
road were located there. and they were not By
any means IA band OF angels themselves. OF
every wen IeS and this drew HrT tor sT = an q, a nsenry
inent of gamblers, ewindlers. fakirs. tough
women, cutthroats. and scoundrels generally.
such as are seldom collected in any one place
on cart. The tough crowd followed the.reil-
road in the course of its construction and moved
devoted its full attention to the town now
called Langtry-only the town didn't have any
soon make a name for itself. and it did.
The incident that named the town occurred
one night in one of the many gambling halls.
Among the Gro Nd nf gamblers was ono known
as Cal Stokes. He was a well know n character
"A hard drinRer. and %aa" desperate y rsSs tirh er. A On
the night in question luck had been AGAINST him
de had been losing steadily for some time. FL
was in the act of stalking his last coin. Tho
whole winnings of his opponent lay in a heap on
Cal n5:!ccd n big. hairy 5 crpion.like crestrre
era Wing up the green cloth Of the table. With
the momen. Cal struck att viciously, but
missed it,,
know that's a vinaaaroonS It'll sting vou.!'"
.II don't care IL it dos ,n; retor na Cal; I'd
" '"PI BET You don't said II the other gambler.
"'irhatil you betg
r.n I,Ih , bet s.I,n my % Ds1 sins sf Sis sn all Of n Keu ana
pointing TO Calls solitary coin,
the players had crowded around 10 see how
Cal would manage TO back out OF his rash
crawled up on the TOP of the table. Before the
crowd could realize what was going To happen.
brought down the open palm with crushing
force upon the ugly worm. Then. before sny
body into his mouth and deIibera tely began
chewing IL. Instantly several pairs of strong
hope of compelling him 20 spit it out and thus
save his life. AS soon as II was found that he
had actually swallowed the thing, this was
vised. No one sent for a physician. for the
simple reason that there was none to send for.
Th n fyan nm rnpEtGNaf rrlnrlnnIlV
in making the patient swallow enormou guam
titles of raw whisk-y. though this was almost
stocked ~ with that commodity at the be-
ginning OF tae episode; In addition to Thu.
8. Guild ne attended to: as the NinaGaroon had
evidently stung it. the regular treatment
inglr applied. This Consisted in putting Vet
Eunpowder on the affected part aud then
Sss1,hs but M on Il n pe,v ed w ]esee eer!e'i IN this his't ea Seas as
IL has, in many, another on the plains. Gals
right hand swelled up, and so did LIS mouth
The man who had bet With him was at nrss
inclined TO back out from making so big n pay
keep his word, When Cal recov. red he found
tune. This pleased him so much that he won't
on a urotracted spree. and by the time it was
after recovering from the combined effects OF
a vipageroon's hitH and unlimited whissssy; he
S MTiskay h aione. S Sats su nisd /. 't tSe fa aes eh''' OF
'Langtry has other claims TO public prom
inence besides the fight and this sinagaroon
incident. For one thing. IL ia near the celo-
brated high. trestle bridge over the Pecos River.
which is said IN be the highest railroad bridge
of tho kind in the world. Moreover. II 10 tho
home OF Roy Beeve. the typical Texas Justice
of the Peace. about whom many newspaper
stories have been set IN circulation. CT course.
every newspaper reader has heaui abolt the
man who was killed Ivy falling from IA bridge.
and upon whose corpse n six-shooter was found.
with $40 in money. 1t is related that the Jus.
lice OF the Peace who held the inquest fined tho
dead man $40 for carving the pistol and
turned in the cash taken from the corpse In
payment of the fine. This story rs been told
In so many different ways and located In
regard II MS fiction. 1t is solid fact. Vina-
garoon was the town, the Pecos River tres'le
was the bridge from when the mar fell. and
Roy Beeve was the Justice of the Peace.
"Langiry isn't much o. a town now" con-
tinued the speaker rcgr-ifullv. but Vina-
garoon used tc be a hummer. West Texas ian's
now what she used 10 be.