The Tarrant County Historical
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EDITION
#FIVE |
Editor and photographer , Les Crocker;
General manager, Neva Crocker |
The following is just a
sample of the pictures and articles in the 20 pages of issue #5. |
Send all letters, notes,
correspondence, clippings, complaints, photographs, subscriptions,
requests, press releases, hot tips, hate mail,junk mail, important
information, invites, payola, gifts, confessions, cash, checks, and orders
to:
The Tarrant County Historical Journal P.O. Box 311, Springtown,
TX 76082 |
COWBOY LINGO
Mail Order Cowboy = Tenderfoot Didn't have
a tail feather left = Broke Bucket of Blood = A tough
saloon Boogered up = Crippled Arkansas Toothpick = A large
knife Singin' to 'em = Standing night guard Put on the nose bag = To
eat Bar Dog = Bartender Ace in the hole = A hidden gun Prairie
Tenor = A Coyote Bone Orchard = Cemetery Bending the elbow =
Drinking whiskey Clean his plow = Beat up in a fight Chew gravel =
Thrown from a horse Cahoots = Partnership Hair in the butter = A
delicate situation Bean Master = Camp cook Hot Rock = A
biscuit
Overheard at a Northside Café: A cowboy
was complaining to his waiter that his steak wasn't cooked enough,
"Waiter, do you call this steak well done? I've seen cows hurt worse
than this get well." |
Notorious
Public Enemy #1 George "Machine Gun" Kelly is buried in the Cottondale
Cemetery in Wise county. Kathrine Kelly bought George's machine gun in
a Fort Worth pawn shop. That's how he got his nickname. Sometime in the
early 1930's the FBI added Machine Gun Kelly to it's Most Wanted List.
What mde the Lellys famous was the kidnapping of an Oklahoma city oilman
Charles F. Urshel on July 22nd, 1933. They demanded and received a ransom
of $200,000. Urshel was let go ten days later unharmed. Less than a
month later the FBI agents caught up with them and surrounded them.
Outnumbered, Kelly quickly and shouted to his wife, "Don't shoot! It's the
G-Men." That's how they aquired the nickname "G-Men". Kelly was given
a life sentence and sent to Alcatraz. Later he was transferred to
Leavenworth in Kansas. Katherine Kelly was sent to the federal
Reformatory for Women at Alderson, West Virginia. Later she was
transferred to a prison in Cincinnati. She was released in 1958 and it is
not known where she ended up. Machine Gun Kelly died of a heart attack
July 17, 1954. He was 58 years old. To find his simple marker: at the
Cottendale Cemetery front gate, walk down the middle walkway just over
half way down on your right. It's close to the walkway.
Next I drove to the 1500 block of Pennsylvania
Street. This is Thistle Hill.
Thistle Hill was built in 1903 for Electra
Waggoner Wharton. She lived there with her husband A.B. Wharton. In 1910
it was purchased by Winfield Scott, a cattle baron, for $90,000. He then
spent $100,000 in furniture and landscaping. The Mansion has eighteen
rooms including such as a library, drawing room, dining room, billiard
room, morning room, kitchen, dressing rooms and bedrooms.
How did Fort Worth get the Nickname of "Panther
City"?It seems that around 1876 a Dallas
newspaper was poking fun at Fort Worth. They said that Fort Worth was such
a sleepy little town that a panther could sleep undisturbed in its
streets. Fort Worth residents took this to be a compliment and so Fort
Worth adopted the nickname "Panther City". I checked the Fort Worth
phone book's business pages and found two businesses named after Panther
City and two named after Panther. |
INTERVIEW WITH AN OLD TREE
This tree is on the 2nd Street hill where bulldozers
have torn down the last remaining old house in this area to make way
for the new…..
Les……..Hello old tree. Tree……Who are
you calling old? Les……..Whoops, sorry. But, just how old are
you? Tree……I don't know. They would have to cut me down and count
my rings, you know. Les……..Yes, I know. Tree……That is why I
have this yellow ribbon around me, to remind them not to cut me
down. Les……..Well, I'm glad to see it works. Tree……Me
too. Les……..Do you have any idea how long you've been hanging
around the neighborhood? Tree……Well, I was here before they built
the first batch of houses around here. Les……..It looks like they
are about to build some new houses. Tree……Yes, I'm glad. I miss
the noise and commotion of kids and families. It's been very quite
around here the last quarter century or so. HEY, tell that bulldozer
he got mighty close that time. Anyway, where was I? Les……..We
were talking about the new families that will be moving
in. Tree……Oh yes. One thing I'll miss when the new houses are
built is that they will all have refrigerators. Les……..What does
that have to do with anything? Tree……Well, you remember back when
the iceman came around delivering blocks of ice? Les……..Just
barely. Tree……Well, I just loved it when the iceman would chip
ice and some of it would fall onto my roots. Boy, was that cool. But
most of the time the kids would be waiting to pick the ice
up. Les……..You know, my grandfather was an iceman for awhile. Did
you know him? His name was John Roy Smith, Sr. Tree……Sounds
familiar, but I can't remember much you know. Les……..So you say.
Well, I gotta go. I have to go write this story, old
tree. Tree……Who you calling OLD?
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This stone is on the grounds of the Van Zandt
Cottage. It was a road building tool used by the pioneer Louis Wetmore. He
was a Confederate Soldier and was killed in the Civil War. The rock has a
hole near the center and was dragged by oxen to smooth the roads near his
farm south of Fort Worth.
This is the seventh floor of the Flat
Iron Building at 1000 Houston Street. In the early 1900's it was the
tallest building in North Texas. It was built for $70,893 in 1907 by Dr.
Bacon Saunders. He had seen the 1902 Flat Iron Building in New York and
decided that's what he wanted built on his little triangle shaped
lot. The building has been vacant since the 1970's. At one time about
25 years ago it was for sale. They wanted $75,000 at that time. Wish I had
bought it.
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The little boy knelt down
beside his bed for his evening prayer. He thanked God for his
blessings, just as he had been taught. Then the boy asked God to
bless his parents, brothers, and sisters, pets, relatives, friends,
and all the policemen in the world. He ended with a firm amen and
started to jump into bed. But he remembered something he had failed
to add and knelt down again. "By the way, God", he said, "You
probably won't hear from me again, my Dad got transferred and we're
moving to Texas." | |
From the TEXAS ROADSIDE JOURNAL In March 1897 the Green and Hunter Brick Company
was organized. The company had 18 kilns in operation and at its peak, over
80,000 bricks a day were produced. The company made thirty-five different
bricks. |
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Thurber…. On Interstate 20 about 70 miles West of Fort Worth.
Thurber was a booming coal mining town for
about 30 years. It was on the main shipping line of the T & P
Railroad. When the railroads converted their locomotives into oil burners,
the town started its slide down into oblivion. At one time there were
more than 10,000 people in the company town. When the company decided it
was of no more use, they demolished it. The company ordered everything on
the surface to be removed or torn down. A few things were spared, the old
brick smokestack for the power and ice plant, W. K. Gordon's home, the
home of the assistant superintendent, the drugstore, and the store
building. Although the coal mines were closed in 1921 the brick plant
was kept operating through the 1920s and finally closed around
1930.
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