I’ll be at the blacksmith shop hammering out plan hangers for those with patience.

In October of 1872 Erath County vigilantes hanged so many people, some at McDow Hole near Alexander, that Austin placed the area under marshal law for the winter. People were afraid of assassination if they testified against the vigilantes, so lawyer T.I. Nugent was able to get the charges dropped. Lena Lewis, “Erath County: A Compilation,” Unpublished manuscript in the Tarleton library, Stephenville, Texas, 1938.