The Year Was 1877: Of Files, Fillies, and Fancy Ladies

Articles from the Daily Fort Worth Standard of 1877 show what life was like in Cowtown 136 years ago.

These articles show the state of law and order in Cowtown.

In this editorial brief the Standard calls for less post-sunset pistol-packin’ rootin’ and tootin’.

You gotta give this thief an A for “audacity”: Someone broke into the temporary courthouse, stole money from the sheriff’s desk, and left behind a thank-you note.

Two brothers were captured after they smuggled files and a knife blade to their brother in jail.

The horse of Dr. William Paxton Burts had been stolen. The three brothers in this story surely are the three brothers in the preceding article, “Slensby” and “Lizenby” being the same man. Burts was elected Fort Worth’s first mayor in 1873.

The sheriff and an ex-mayor weren’t the only public figures who were the victims of time. So was a future mayor. John Peter Smith would be elected to the first of his three terms in 1882.

These soiled doves probably were members of the Hell’s Half Acre BBB (Badder Business Bureau).

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