Amarillo Sunday News-Globe (Amarillo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 33, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 14, 1938 Page: 56 of 264
two hundred sixty four pages : ill. ; page 23 x 18 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
THIRTY-TWO—SECTION A
AMARHX.O SUNDAY NEWS AND GLOBK. AMARILLO. TEXAS.
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY CTIinON,
Witherspooril Spins Them Wide
By ALMA McOOWEN THOMPSON
Vera Witherspoon, native Texan
and old time XIT cowboy, says that
he "just grew up with the rest of
the yearlings." He was born In Ellis
County In 1880 and came to La
Plata, Deaf Smith County In 1890.
An older brother, C. O., had pre-
ceded the rest of the Witherspoon
family and was living in Amarillo
in a little two-room house, Just
about where the courthouse is now,
and a mile from the old town. He
*-as one of the first teachers in
Amarillo schools—in fact, he was
the first to teach a full length term
made a sort of picnic out of wood-
hauling.
"One day on our way to get wood,
we ran upon too big loboes. Broth-
er Hugh killed one, and it measured
0"er eight feet from tip to tip. An-
other time one of the boys saw a
lobo run into a hole in a cliff, and
the idiot crawled in after it. He
had more nerve than brains to
tackle a lobo in its den, but he did
it. He killed the she-wolf and cap-
tured her cubs. We a.vked him how
on earth he did it, and he said that
all he could see was two green
points of fire In the gloom of the
The big boys of the town didn't i cave and that he struck at the
vant a school, it seemed. At least, j point between with his long knife.
I wouldn't believe the yarn If some-
they invariably ran the teachers off
but C. G. stayed, even though he
received a broken foot in a scuffle
with two of them before he con-
vinced the boys that he meant to
•tay.
Although a mere boy at the time
Deaf Smith County was organized,
Vern Witherspoon. without hesita-
tion, named the first county offi-
cials who came into their offices by
appointment: J. R. Dean, judge; C.
O. Witherspoon, clerk; J. M. Cook,
Sheriff; a Mr. Frisbee, tax collec-
tor; Emmet Powers and Tom
Skeins, commissioners; and a Mr.
Dicky was Justice of the peace.
"I wonder how many old-timers
ever heard of Dicky's Run? Well, it
was like this—the justice lived in a
dufcout about four miles east of Iji
Plata, about where the Higgins
School is now, and he nearly always
walked to town and back when he
went. Now. in those days great
herds of cattle roamed the' prairie.
As the Justice was wending his way
slowly home one evening, his Judi-
cial mind probably weighted down
by the cares of office, he failed to
notice that one of those herds was
Inquisitively edging up a little closer.
Not until a bellow of bovine curosity
announced their presence did the
Justice realize his predicament. Here
his Judicial reasoning deserted him
and he turned and fled back across
the flats toward town. Now, the cat-
tle weren't after him. they were
simply curious, but when Dickey
ran, the herd followed. They nearly
ran the old man to death before he
reached town and safety. The trail
was thereafter known as 'Dicky's
Run'."
According to Mr. Witherspoon,
Hereford hasn't always been county
peat, of Deaf Smith. It, was first La
Plata—originally called Grenada
(evidently the names were relics of
the first settlers—Spanish or Mexi-
can) and there was quite a contro-
versy with Air as to which would
be county seat. There was nothing
but a dugout or two at either place,
but the people nearby had reasons
for prefering one place or the other.
Jack Killough (brother of Joe in
Amarillo) and Mr. Mercer were pul-
ling for Air, while C. G. Wither-
spoon and Judge Hadden (later of
Amarillo) were for La Plata. The
Capital Syndicate (XIT's) were also
for the latter because their camp
w-as only two miles distant, hence,
as might have been expected, La
Plata won.
"People in those days," said Mr.
Witherspoon," were glad when pas-
sers-by stopped in to spend the
night, for neighbors were few and
far betwen. I remember one boy—
Just a kid—who came by one eve-
ning. He said he was headin* west.
Next morning he was asking direc-
tions, and I told him as best I could
but advised him that the next stop j it was a case of something to eat
was nearly a hundred miles. How- j and not sport with us in those
ever, he said it didn't matter, that ' days.
he was just going west. So out he i . •
I did, too, Just once when I was
about 21. At Goodnight Collcga I
went on# whole school year, and
half of another. I lacked a little
bit of graduating, but just had to
hit the trail. I thought the XIT's
just couldn't run the outfit with-
out me.
"Or maybe it was their perfectly
equipped chuck wagon that proved
too much for my resistance. Why,
its complete compactness and per-
fect, order would turn any woman
grce. with envy.
That's one thing the XTT's al-
ways had, - complete chuck wagon.
No other outfit had one that could
compare with it!
"Cooking and serving a meal was
>1R. AND MRS. VERN WITHERSPOON
in* the stranger get out of there
with Tom in his hair,,
• ♦ •
"I spent many years with the XIT
outfit, and I wager that there were
many years in which I didn't aver-
age sleeping under a roof three
nights during the year.
"If I weren't afraid everybody
would call me a liar, I'd tell you
about af Smith's 'aeroplane' of
t.' e 'nineties. But if anybody
doubts the authenticity of my yarn,
h i can ask Charles Hodges, who
lives here in Hereford and Mrs. C.
G. Witherspoon of Dallas. They
have both seen it,
A man named Wallace had an old
hack that he had stripped down to
almost nothing but the running
gear. To this he attached a sort of
steering apparatus—more on the
principle that a small boy use." in
guiding his little red wagon, any-
how it got the steering Job done
satisfactorily. Then he took some
wagon sheets and rigged up some
sails very much on the order of
those on a sail boat,. He certainly
was ingenious. I tell you, it was
the funniest sight, and a never-
ending source of amazement, to see
the old man crawl upon his strange
contraption and set sail for Ama-
rillo. And by jiggers he got there
•—and back, but of course, he'd have
to wait until the wind changed.
However that didn't matter, for time
didn't matter to the old man, and,
besides, he was a sociable fellow.
"No, Deaf Smith County hasn't
aiways been 'dry.' What pioneer
place was? La Patta had a saloon,
and Hereford had one, too, when the
county seat, was moved there. Main
Street in those days wasn't very im-
posing; it had only two buildings,
the Northern Hotel and a restau
rant.
Pioneer Judge
By J. M. WINCHESTER
The Bishop family came to Wash-
burn from Saline County, Mo., in
1893. There were eight children in
the family. Henry Bishop with his
brother rode in tiic immigrant car,
which was loaded with stock and
household furnishings. He consid-
ered the trip a great adventure. Mr.
Bishop's father had bought a plat
had often to eat his own cooking,
Judge Bishop lgoks back upon the
time that he spent at the foot of
Qultaque peak as the happiest of
his life.
The next term of ichool, he
taught at Matador, and then a
couple of terms near Washburn.
• • •
On'the first hour of the first day
of the first week, of the first month
of the century. Judge Bishop left
Amarillo for Austin where he en-
tered the University of Texas to
finish his law course, graduating in
the spring of 1902. When he re-
turned home, he heard that the
district attorney was a candidate
for the judgeship of the district, so
he decided to nnounce himself for
the office of district attorney.
In a team-drawn buggy, he drove
from one county scat to another,
following up the terms of court
stopping at ranch houses and vis- j
it.ing on the way. It was a leisure- j
ly campaign and a pleasant one. |
The blue stem grass was as high
as the horse in the low spots and j
the heads of the short gramma were |
knee high. Row crops were abund-
ant. The cattle brought in from |
the range for market were fat as j
corn-fed beeves. There were lot.-, j
of antelope and countless thous- 1
anris of boh white and blue quail.
The election won, the young law- j
yer moved to Amarillo and became j
the prosecuting att >-ney. The of- j
lice paid $500 a year and extra fees I
but as the majority of the citizens development can best be Judged by
were law-abiding, the fees did not
amount to much.
Amarillo was a thriving little cow
town and had one of the largest
cattle markets in the world. When
the big herds were held at the edge
of town before being loaded for
shipping, the town was kept awake
all night by the bellowing of indig-
nant calves, their anxious mothers,
skittish yearlings and big steers,
loathe to leave the freedom of the
range.
Seven times Judge Bishop was re-
elected to the office of district at-
torney, holding this office until
1918. In 1920 he became judge of
the district court and held that of-
fice until 1934.
He bellcvea that Amarlllo's future
the pace of its past progress.
O. H. Nelson: "Beal of the LX'a
became a prominent banker in Kan-
sas City after leaving here. Bates
never showed up in this country
any more after leaving here but he
was a rich man, too. Both had
families. Frank Bates worked for
me the first spring I was out here.
The first trail work I did was driv-
ing some cattle received frotn Good-
night to Adobe Walls and Bates was
one of the boys on that trip."
Mitch Bell and Jim Christian:
"Goodnight did not use Polled Angus
cattle while he was connected with
the JA, but he did have them later
on his own Goodnight outfit."
COMPLETE
MARKET EQUIPMENT
AMARILLO SUPPLY CO.
ELMER E. KOEN, Owner
410 West 7th
Phone 4249
JUIHiE BISHOP
of land a mile from Washburn,
which was then the principal town,
for it was served by two railroads.
The Bishops lived In Washburn and
most of the children attended school
there.
body else told It, but I saw the wolf
when It went in and when its dead
body was dragged out, and the little
cubs.
*
"We couldn't afford to kill our
cattle for meat, and if it hadn't
been for the antelopes, we'd prob-
ably have gone hungry many a time.
"My father used to climb upon the
windmills out on the range and lie
in wait for the herds of antelope
to come to water. Not good sports-
manship if looked at in one way, but
quite a ritual, believe me. The cook
would get out of the wagon, build
his f're, let down the lid of the
chuck box—the lid made a table
f >m which the cook always ate his
meals. He'd set a dlshpan full of
artillery out on the table, and each
nan would come by, pick ud his
needs, load up his plate, and go off
ar.d sit down to eat. That dishpan
would be set empty on the ground
underneath the lid-table, and woe
was the man who neglected to put
his scraped artillery back into it.
"Did you ever eat
chuck wagon steaks?
Judge Bishop, after finishing the
By the way, that restaurant courses offered in the Washburn
was the first building in Hereford. sc])0ols, decided to teach—to secure
Later there was a school house a lit(iP extra money to continue his
built on Main Street. Part of the
lumber in the old D. R. Gass home
is a part of that, first old school
house. Did you know that Here-
ford use to have a college? Well, It
dll. I went to it for a while my-
self.
"Mentioning saloons reminds me
education. His first school was a
little frame building at the foot of
the Quitaque Mountains. He had
25 pupils. Judge Bishop said that
these were exceptional children of
fine pioneer families, with out-
standing personalities, and pointed
out the fine success some of them
of a funny incident that occurred ; have attained.
in Hereford in its early day: Two ' There was no piace for a teacher
brothers-in-law had been drinking to stay except with a bachelor who
a bit more than was necessary. Jack
lived near the school house in a
Harwell was bartender. Now, It was little dugout; he had no stove and
a sort of law taken for granted, all the cooking was done in a Dutch
tint, if a relative of a man told a I oven in the fireplace. Very little
one o'them I bartender not to sMl that man any j housekeeping was necesary because
Well then more whiskey, one thing sure he had a mr^f.oor. was
you know that that Is the best steak i wouldn't until the oider had been
in the world. We'd kill a calf every ' remanded. In this case, one broth-
other day and it would take a quar- j er-in-law told Harwell that the olli-
ter of it at a meal. The cook would t was drinking too much and neg-
1 v*ic comilv and not to sell
cut it up into the right sized slices,
pile it in a dishpan all ready to
fry. Then he'd put a gallon of pure
hog lard Into the big kettle—some-
times they used deep iron skillets
—to get hot while he busied himself
with the rest of the meal. When
that grease was just right, he'd
dump a lot of those big juicy steaks
lecting his family,
him any more whiskey. And Har-
well said, 'All right.'
"So the next time the second
brother-in-law came into the saloon
he couldn't get a drop. He was
good and hot. and he shouted, "All
right. All right! And now I forbid
your selling h.rn any whiskey. He's
right into that pot. and never
both- 1 c'-inking too much and neglecting
er about them. He always timed
f ie cooking—just so long—and when
that time was up he'd pour off the
grease and leave the steaks In the
pot, which was iron and would re-
tain its heat and keep the steaks
warm. We never had to eat cold
steak.
"And we had sour dough, biscuits
O ' Dow Mercer, who was killed not |
long ago in a car wreck at Hereford,
his family. Not long afterward the
first brother-in-law came in for his
usual drink, and Harwell said,
"Sorry, old man, I've been told not
to let you have any.' And did he
explode. Both drinkers were so mad
at each other they woudn't speak.
Each one would go into the saloon
and try again--explaining just how
was'kiilednot | it was. and bringing in a neighbor
to prove it., but the bartender was
adamant. He'd shake his head and
Vern Witherspoon in 1897, left.
His companion is M, Lovelace.
could make the best sour dough ..
bread I ever ate. There was a rea- i sry again, 'Sorry, old ma ,
son for that, old Dow declared. 1 til the
When he was just a kid setting out
"Guess I was 12 or 14 when I j learned, and how!
Reckon
I loved that old outfit was why I
never went to school much. Oh. I'd
always start every time a new term
! began. I'd sort of mosey down to
the school, see how it looked and how
it was run, and sort of look the
; teacher over, and if I liked the
started. Mother shook her head, but
w.'d done all we could Two days Ptertf,d t0 work on the XIT.
irt*?r *vv6 saw r. Ions rider we&rilv i
Joeging In out of the sunset. It was
our visitor of two nights previous.
He said that, he'd ridden hard all
day and had reached a rise away
rut somewhere and from Its top had |
purveyed the country 'round without
being able to discover so much as a . , „ T., . „ . f
# _ , ... , , set-up I d stav, but soon the wine
fence post. With his saddle for a . . . ... . _ .
... _ v. , . , . open spaces called and Id be out
pillow he had lain there with only > T
l- _ , with the waeon again. I never did
the stars for companions, listening; ,
. .. , go a whole term. Walt,, I belipv*
to the coyotes howl. By morning he ;
hud decided that he had alrrariy
r* cbed the West and was ready to
L& bulk Best. He added thought-
fully nd Tholehearterilv, *T guess I.a
Plat* la the Jumping off placd'
*T tell you." Vern said while speak-
lug cf his mother, "it was no picnlr;
women worked then. It, was pretty
hard gieddlng to make a living. Why,
I remember that In the spring
•«d kmit when milk and butter
were plentiful my mother made lots
r butter end she'd wash it sev-
eral times in cold water from thr
well—wash It and work it until
ever;, vestige of milk was taken out,
end make it Into balls which she
wrapped In white cloths end park-
ed down in brine for winter use Jt.
w • good, too, almost like fresh
butter.
"There were seven families of
Wltherspoons each having three or
four children and each living sround
in the country. Youngsters often
to be a cowpuncher, the bets told
j him that the first step In becoming
j a first class 'puncher was to learn
! 3 make sour dough bread. He
"At one of the camps," the ex-
cowboy continued, the boys had a
pet, a ferocious tomcat well up it, j
years. The camp had only three j
chairs, one of which was Tom's spe-
cial province. When other boys
stopped in It was the great delight,
of the boys stationed there to hasten
and occupy the other two chairs,
knowing that the stranger would
naturally attempt, to brush Tom out i
of nls chair. II. was great sport see-
other brother-in-law tells
me to let you have it, you don't get
a drop.' So it went on for several
weeks, until finally the two of them
got together and went to Harwell
and told him he might sell cach
other whiskey now. After that the
two f them sort of let up on their
drinking."
the parents and patrons, staying
over night with them, in order to
become better acquainted. As the
judge's landlord had gone to South
Texas for the winter to visit, this
custom particularly appealed to him
as it saved him much trouble cook-
ing and keeping house. Most of the
housewives were good cooks and ac-
complished miracles with what
little they had, but even then the j
diet lacked variety. One of the early j
day delicacies was citron pie, served
with cream.
Most of these pioneers were quite
religious, saying grace before meals,
and often family prayer was held.
One ranch family he frequently vis- ;
ited was very musical, and the
rancher would get out his tuning
fork after supper and sing hymns
until bed time. Even though he |
We Offer Our
CONGRATULATIONS
to the
PEOPLE WHO MADE POSSIBLE
THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
OF POTTER COUNTY
AXTELL COMPANY
Amarillo, 1 exas
GOOD MONEY
John Romans, Washburn:
'Snrne-
'Man
good
times I'd say to Goodnight,
down the creek offered me
money t'other day.'
" 'Why in hell didn't you take it
then?" he'd say.
"'Thought I'd see what you'd sav.'
" 'I got, as much money as he has,
I guess,' he'd tell me then."
WERE
Still Young, but
GROWING
FAST
As one of Amarillo's
business firms that is
still young in years and
not very large we wish
our home city many
happy returns of the
day on her fiftieth anni-
versary. Wo also wish
to thank the citizens of
this great plains coun-
try for the success that
has been ours.
We make our own
candies, serve fountain
drink: snd challenge
anyona to find better
popcorn anywhere. W«
are alwayj happy to
serve you.
CAPITOL
SWEET SHOP
322 Polk
giika
9 fakf
van*
i
£
BAKERS OF FINE BREAD
For More Than 25 Years
A bread to suit the taste of every member of the family , . . TRY SALLY ANN RRf AH
NEXT TIME.
MADE WITH SUPER FINE INGREDIENTS!
It's Not Only Delicious . . . It's Healthful!
Bon Ton Bakery
316 Taylor Sf.
Amarillo, Texas
y^AtiMBERS of this
in are
privilege of
wise we are proud
type of personal
field.
proud of the
being pioneers here. Like-
of pioneering
service in
in a
the
distinct
Men's
•urnishings
Our goal for 19 years in this store has not
been to grow big or to make a lot of money but
to carefully look to the best interests and welfare
of our friends—the customers—who
business such a happy privilege for
have made
all of us.
in
We have worked hard to give as much
return for your dollar as we possibly could and
thanks to everyone for this opportunity.
HARRY HOLLAND'S
MENS STORE
500 POLK STREET
T«
h;
Ip|
titl
t hi
rl
sc|
11
nil
8C|
w[
sH
hi
F1
V'\
C
c
1 "I
C'c
v I
VI
si|
\vl
: , I
Rl
nf
111
aI
v;
I
♦ 1
t:|
h|
nil
rJ
df
Jrf
Til
P|f
,rP
thf
Cil
till
[
fT
paf
r|
lis
H
brj
or
Til
r;il
cal
rrl
hlf
"'I
trl
k|
n.f
til
fil[
lo|
i r
i
11
hil
cf
til
nf
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Amarillo Sunday News-Globe (Amarillo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 33, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 14, 1938, newspaper, August 14, 1938; Amarillo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth299921/m1/56/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hutchinson County Library, Borger Branch.