Hawks, referred to as “Chicken Hawks” were killed out of the area in the early 1900s, which caused an explosion in the rat population. A rat-killing contest was held in Erath County during April of 1921. $50 dollars was offered for the most rat tails collected in bundles of ten. The winner was a young man from Huckabay with 6, 800 rat tails. Stephenville Tribune

In the first week of March of 1912, there was a panic at Tarleton as “A case of meningitis caused a general stampede of the students and school was dismissed. The stampede was senseless and uncalled for but as confidence has been restored and the students are returning, the injury was only temporary.”

Stephenville Tribune

On March 2, 1898, a vigorous fist fight broke out in front of Latta’s Saloon between Tom Morrison and Bud McWhirter over a horse race. During the fight, Ed Yarbro’s team took fright and ran away, striking a buggy from which a Mrs. Compton was thrown to the ground. Stephenville Empire

In February of 1883, The Stephenville Empire reported that “quite a number of immigrant trains passed through town this week.”

In 1853, from somewhere in Central Texas, Mrs. Jane Wilson and family started out for the California gold fields. When they reached the Guadalupe Mountains they were attacked by Comanches and Jane Wilson was the only survivor. She found a tree stump large enough to shelter her and lived on raw frogs for several weeks. She was rescued by Pueblo Indians who were awarded $50 by the governor of New Mexico for her kind treatment.

J.M. Franks, Seventy Years in Texas: Memories of the Pioneer Days, Gatesville, Texas, 1924

1912: Alaskan gold miners used cat fur for gloves, creating a market for cat skins – which must explain this enigmatic post in the Stephenville Tribune: “John Oxford has won 1460 head of stripped tom cats from Dee Cantrell, which so depletes the Cantrell herd that he will not be able to make his shipment of cats to the gold diggings in Alaska.”

In 1887, Erath County residents had been suffering from drought for nearly two years and residents were moving back east. Reserve seed had been lost in hopeful planting. “Word reached Texas in February that President Grover Cleveland had vetoed the drought bill appropriating $10,000 in seed for the Central Texas area.” Cleveland explained that the drought was a local problem.

C. Richard King, Wagons East: The Great Drought of 1886, Austin: The University of Texas Press, 1965.

In 1843 a party of Caddo Indians were following the Brazos River northwest to their village in present Palo Pinto County when they were attacked by a group of Anglo horsemen. Six of the Indians jumped from their horses, fell to their knees and “began to make gruesome and hideous noises with their bow strings.” The immigrant’s horses became uncontrollable and threw their riders. The Caddos escaped during the confusion.

Joseph Carroll McConnell, The West Texas Frontier: Or, A Descriptive History of Early Times in Western Texas. Jacksboro: Gazette Print, 1933.

February 10, 1900. “Elaborate preparations are under way in Thurber to celebrate Italian Day. Music, festivities, and feasting followed by a grand ball in the opera house to which all are invited.” Erath Appeal

In 1860, E. L. Deaton observed that when fighting at night, Comanches used whistles to keep track of each other. Floyd J. Holmes, Indian Fights on the Texas Frontier: A True Account of the Last Exciting Encounters with Redskins in Hamilton, Comanche, Brown, Erath, and Adjoining Counties, as recorded by E. L. Deaton, Fort Worth: Pioneer Publishing Co., 1927.