Once Upon a Crime: Bang Bangs, “Gosh Dang”s, and Chain Gangs

Here are five crime-related stories in local newspapers of the late nineteenth century:

On December 23, 1876, the Dallas Weekly Herald reported a disagreement between Fort Worth City Marshal Jim Courtright and N. H. Wilson after Wilson published an ad in the newspaper accusing Courtright of corruption. N. H. Wilson was co-proprietor of the Empress Saloon on Houston Street. (Rencounter, now archaic, means “a chance meeting.”)

On February 2, 1878, the Dallas Weekly Herald reported the robbery of a stage coach traveling from Fort Worth to Weatherford.

In 1894 the Fort Worth Gazette reported a case of pseudo-religious lasciviousness in Virginia.

In 1883 the Fort Worth Democrat reported that a local woman had been fined $5 for public cursing. Coulda been worse for Ms. Smith: The 1884 Ordinances of the City of Fort Worth lists the maximum fine as $100 ($2,500 today).

The February 23, 1883, Fort Worth Democrat printed a city and county directory. John Peter Smith was mayor. Robert McCart, who would sign the bond for Luke Short in 1887, was city attorney. W. S. Pendleton, who in 1890 would be elected mayor and quickly disgraced by scandal, was county attorney. Note that the last official listed is “Chain Gang Boss.”

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