Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-21

he had salvaged out of the wreck of
his property 1900 longhorns. These
he drove south from Colorado to the Palo Duro
where he made camp with his covered wagons,
his herds. his family, and his retinue of re-
tanners. Near the mouth of the Palo Duro Can
yon, Goodnight made a dugout and, with the
aid of his young wife, started to rebuild their
shattered fortunes. The valley of the canyon.
miles wide and very deep, was an ideal range
for cattle. Nature had fenced it with walls
hundred feet high
This was in November 1876. Shortly after
ward. Thomas S. Bugbee became the next-door
neighbor of the GoodnightS. mere 80 miles
or SO separated the families The nearest set
Element to the east was Henrietta, 200 miles
distant.
Within two or three years, a score or more
of cattlemen, good many Of them from down
in the skillet" moved up into the watersheds
of the Red River and the Canadian River
Near Tascosa, George w. Littledeld located with
his brand, the L. I. T. Berry and Boice started
the TIT ranch east of Buffalo Springs The
Scissors, the Turkey Track, the Diamond Tail,
the Anchor and the Hat brands began to
operate in the Panhandle.
The only town in the western part of the
Panhandle at this time Tasocosa, and all
OF its inhabitants could have squeezed into
good-sized room. Clarendon had a dugout
two. Due east of TaScoSa was Mobeetie the
official center of Wheeler County. Since
Wheeler was the only one in the Panhandle
that had been organized, the courts sitting at
NTobeetie had jurisdiction over &c other counties,
into which beginning to pour sheepmen
CattIemen and rustlers
The Panhandle was TO become a country of
immense cattle outfits. Goodnight formed
partnership in 1877 with Lord Adair. Irish
man who invested S375,000 against Palo
Duro ranch and the experience of the Texan.
The new organization was known the j. A.
outfit. The Prairie Cattle Co., the Spurs. the
Matadors, were all taking up great quantities
Of land and pouring in longhornS.
WITH the honest cowman came, of course,
the riffrah and the rustIer. It was a
country where thief could hole up easily and
do lucrative business in other mems cattle
Henry Fleming. a saIoonkeeper and gambler.
was elected sheriff. He had nerve of high
quality, and during the years of his incumb-
ency arrested scores Of desperate men without
the necessity of killing.
But the thieves grew holder. meeting of
Cattlemen was called at Mobeetie, and the Pan
handle Stock Association was organized with
Goodnight president.
Fleming was succeeded by Cape Willingham
who willing to humor cowboys on bender,
but found it necessary to let his Sawed-off shot
gun roar occasionally. 1t was soon after he
took Office that the episode of Mrs. Turner's
trail rode into TascoSa to get roostered.
They were already well organized. Mrs. Turner,
who ran restaurant, was in her yard feeding
some ducks 1t is likely that Leigh did not see
Her He boosted that he could shoot the ducks
through the head, and he made good his
promise He did not observe that Mrs. Turner
keeIed over in a faint.
Tascosa would not have stood that sort of
thing, even if Mrs. Turner and her daughter
Victoria, had not been popular. No man on
earth could terrorize a woman in the COW
country.
Sheriff Willingham found Leigh in Jack
Ryan'S saloon and told him ne under arrest
Leigh was not in a condition to understand
why. He asked no questions but reached for the
"A in his belt The sherif's work faster
and Leigh dropped with a load of buckshot in
his heart.
He was buried next day, one of the first
men to find a resting place in the towns Boot
Hill The funeral of Bob Russell, killed by JuS
Howard, had dedicated the cemetery. In the
years that followed it was used frequently as q