This is from a short lived magazine called Free & Easy that was published in Austin, Texas in 1979. It does not say who the author of this article is…
Part 1
There wasn’t much peace on earth and goodwill toward men and women at Milton’s Store and Saloon, Mcdade, Texas on Christmas morning, 1883.
Tom Bishop was sitting on a bench in front of Milton’s when three wild eyed young brothers rode up into town and tied up in front of the store. Two of them slammed the door open and went inside. The third stomped over to Bishop and announced. “Folks in this town are accusing some folks of things they didn’t do”. He stepped closer to Bishop, waiting for a reply. Bishop stood up and pulled his gun. The young cowboy lunged for the pistol. It went off and shattered his leg.
Inside the store, his brothers were confronting Milton in the same manner the saloon keeper was ordering them out when the shot was fired in the street. The pair rushed outside. Milton went for the rifle he always kept behind the door.
Willie Griffin, a patron at the store, heard the commotion and ran out to help break it up. He and two of the brothers were gunned down in the fusillade of bullets. The wounded third brother struggled to his horse and rode through town into the thicket near the creek.
This Christmas confrontation ended several years of robbery and killing and vigilante justice in Mcdade. Collectively, the events that cleaned up the town became known as the Christmas Killings, an important part of the history of Bastrop County and an example of what can be accomplished by an aroused citizenry. In this case, they chose a year of grisly killing to end a decade of lawlessness.
Mcdade’s history paralleled that of another Bastrop town. Red Rock. Both were made by the railroad and broken by violence. Red Rock called on a pistol packing preacher for salvation. Mcdade’s menfolk took the law into their own hands.
The town was a natural haven for killers, robbers and shylocks. Its economy revolved around cotton and other agricultural products, or more specifically, the shipping of these commodities. Elgin, a few miles to the north, had no rail service, and the farmers in the broad, Fertile Flatlands brought their produce to Mcdade for shipping. There were several gins and freight companies, as well as an appropriate number of salons and gambling halls to entertain the millworkers, railroad roustabouts and ox cart drivers.
A man. Who has just sold a wagon load of melons or cotton generally has a decent wad in his pocket. While he was in town, he might play a few hands of poker, down the sarsaparilla or two, and perhaps employ the services of one of Mcdade’s Loose Women. If the crooks couldn’t get his money fair and square on the gaming table, they’d way lay him outside of town and relieve him of his profits somewhat less ceremoniously.
Criminals in Mcdade operated with brazen disregard for the law. The County Sheriff was way down in Bastrop and couldn’t mount the kind of persistent campaign necessary to rid the town of undesirables. The townspeople were just plain intimidated. Fearing reprisals from the criminals, they rarely reported robberies. Their. Apprehensions were well founded. On the few occasions that crooks went to trial, those who testified against them often suffered greatly for their courage.
The cleanup began several months before the Christmas killings when a vigilance committee was formed to investigate crimes around Mcdade. As it turned out, the major part of their investigation duties was to select a stout tree for lynchings. Shortly after the committee’s formation, Alan Wynne, a well respected farmer, was returning home after selling a wagon load of cotton in Mcdade. As his wagon was climbing out of a dark river bottom, Wynn was startled by two men who appeared out of the darkness and jumped on his wagon. They pulled him backwards out of his seat, beat him and stole his money. Bloodied as he was, however, Wynn was able to recognize the assailants as local ne’er dwells, and reported their identities to the vigilance committee.
More in part 2!
More from the 1970’s magazine Free & Easy
