1899: “It will be a good thing when all the people awake to the evils of pistol carrying [in Stephenville].” A few years later carrying pistols was outlawed because of the frequent complaint of “rudely displaying pistols” whatever that meant. Stephenville Empire

1888: James McCoy was sentenced to be hanged for the murder of the Erath County sheriff and the wounding of his deputy in December of 1886. Stephenville Empire

1908: “Tuberculosis, called the great white plague, is becoming a serious menace to like in Erath County, and many homes have been already been made desolate. By following rigid sanitary rules the disease will be prevented; of course those who now have it will die.” Stephenville Tribune

When I was going around to old blacksmiths in the mid 1970s, asking for blacksmithing tips and stories, I was told that each morning, when the smith was just firing up the forge, while the coal smoke was still green and loaded with sulphur, TB victims would pay 50 cents per week to crowd around the fire, trapping the smoke under quilts and breathing the sulfurous smoke in gulps. I doubt that the treatment helped, but people have to try something. Dan Young