The Archer County News (Archer City, Tex.), Vol. [19], No. [16], Ed. 1 Monday, November 11, 1929 Page: 4 of 27
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Golden Jubilee - Hard Surface Highway Edition
November 11,1929
In
First Murder Case
Welcome Home!
2.
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and his voice failed
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cowboy-ee.
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the lone
any.
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SAM HERRON
fl
Groceries
the lone prairie.
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1
/\
9
Farms
Oil Leases
Improved
Productive
Unimproved
Non-Productive
Greetings to Old-Timers
\
W. C. V C I N 6
Drilling Blocks
Oil Royalties
$
THE ARCHER COUNTY NEWS
I FIRST LANDED in Archer county in Septem-
ber of 1879, and I certainly will be glad to meet
and talk of those old times with you good Old
Timers.
YOU ARE INVITED to make my store your
headquarters while in Archer City.
25 Years
—in Archer County
eagerness
the first
County.
“I fancy I listen to the well-known words
Of the free wild winds and the song of
the birds;
I think of the cottage home in the bower
And the scenes I loved in my chilhood’s
hour.
ELLING
EEVICE
J
>
“There is another whose tears may be shed
For one who lies on a prairie bed;
It pained me then and it pains me now;
She has curled these locks, and has kissed
this brow.
a little churchyard on the green hill-
side;
By my father’s grave there let mine be,
And bury me not on the lone prairie.
“Let my death slumber be where my moth-
er’s prayer
And a sister’s tear will mingle there,
Where my friends may come and weep
o’er me;
And bury me not on the lone prairie.
“Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie,
In a narrow grave just six by . three,
Where the blizzard beats and the wind
blows free,
Then bury me not on the lone prairie.
“I’ve always wished to be laid when I
died
“Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the bold coyotes will howl o’er me,
Where the blizzard beats and the wind
blows free,
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.
on the lone prairie.
He had wailed in pain till o’er his brow
Death’s shadows fast were gathering now;
He thought of his home and his loved
nigh
As the cowboys gathered to see him die.
“Then bury me not on the lone prairie,
In a narrow grave six foot by three,
Where the buffalo paws o’er the prairie
sea,
Oh, bury me not on
women.
/
Yes, we buried him there
prairie,
Where the owl all night hoots mournfully,
And the blizzard beats and the winds
blow free
O’er his lowly grave
And the cowboys now as they roam the
plain,
For they marked the spot where his bones
were lain,
Fling a handful of roses o’er his grave
With a prayer to Him who his soul will
save.
“It matters not, I’ve often been told,
LWhere the body lies when the heart grows
cold;
Yet grant, oh grant, this wish to me,
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.
“Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie!
Where the wild coyotes will howl o’re me,
In a narrow grave just six by three,
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.
on the lone
Where dewdrops glow and the butterflies
rest,
And the flowers bloom o’er the prairie’s
crest;
Where the wild coyotes and the winds
sport free
On a wet saddle blanket by
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the wild coyotes will howl o’er me,
Where the rattelsnakes hiss and the crow
flies free,
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.”
J'HE first murder committed in Archer
County was committed in the southeast
part of the county about 14 miles from
Archer City. M. A. Brookout, who lived
with his family near Flag Springs, was
called up in the night and shot down as
he walked from his door.
Three men were seen to ride away and
were recognized by Mrs. Brookout as Milt
Parks, Theodore Parks, his son, and Dolly
Bowles, a half Indian.
The trail was followed the coming
morning by Newt Jones, Jones Leonard
and Mack Bush. The first evidence the
posse found besides the horse tracks was
given by Bud Covington, who early on the
morning of the killing had seen three
men riding in a northerly direction that
suited the description of the murderers.
The pursuing posses was a few hours
behind, and as the grass in those days
was very rank, it was difficult to follow
at a very rapid rate, but this posse trailed
the three accused men into the Indian
Territory where the trail was lost and the
posse returned, but brought Milton Parks
horse.
The posse that followed them, Newt
Jones, Mack Bush and Jones Leonard all
being crack shots and good trailsmen, the
impression got out among the boys that a
fight had occurred and all the murderers
had been killed. But there was no oc-
casion to not report it correctly, and Newt
said the trail was lost and the men were
never sighted by his party. Further, the
three were indicted by a grand jury of
Archer County and some nine years after-
ward, the writer of this article, then sher-
iff of Archer County, arrested Dolly
Bowles and Theodore Parks in the Indian
Territory and brought them to Archer
City. These men claimed Milt Parks had
left them and gone into Arkansas and had
been reported dead and as the witnesses
who were necessary to convict had also
died, the cases against these men were
retired from the docket.
This clearly exonerated Newt Jones,
Mack Bush and Jones Leonard of the idle
talk among their friends that the murder-
ers had been exterminated in a gun battle
and the only reason that their friends had
talked this was that each of the three pos-
semen were expert plainsmen and could
match their wits with the Indian in track-
ing man or beast, and further that each
of these men were crack shots and their
nerve had been tried on several occasions,
and by bringing the horse back their
friends could imagine no other way but
the one they would whisper among them-
selves, as the result of the chase, and as
Jones, Bush and Leonard after saying the
trail was lost, did not talk much more
about it, and this only added confirmation
suspicion of their friends.
The truth of the matter was, as told by
Jones Leonard in after years: “We were
so darned humiliated over not being able
to follow their trail and come up with
them that we did not have a great deal
to say.”
But there is not a man who knew the
true character of Jones, Bush and Leon-
ard that ever doubted their anxiety and
to capture the men accused of
murder committed in Archer
ICE WATER for the men, stick candy for the
and something nice for the babies—if
OLD TIMERS, I wish to greet and shake hands
with every one of you on this return to your
old home.
Grave of Unknown Man
Inspires Song Words
pOR YEARS there has been a grave on
* the banks of the South Fork of the
Little Wichita river on lands now owned
by Charles L. Abercrombie.
This grave was first discovered in the
year 1879 about the time of the organiza-
tion of the county and it was thought that
it was the grave of some buffalo hunter,
and this came to be the general opinion
of all in speaking about it, but in 1889 a
crowd of young people who were strolling
along the banks of the river found the
grave and looking around found a sand-
stone with something carved thereon, but
the name was too dim to decipher. They
made out “cow boy” and “last words”
and it was thought then that this was
some cowboy who had been with some
passing herd and had taken sick and died
or was shot or other accident happened
to him and his comrades had buried him
in this lonely grave and carved on this
sandstone his name and last request. The
words that could be made out so nearly
corresponded with those in the poem, “The
Dying Cowboy,” it was thought that this
grave or this cowboy might have been the
inspiration for the writer to have com-
posed this cowboy song, and we reprint
same for the benefit of those who may
not have heard it, and for those who may
have often visited this grave and read the
words on the sandstone which furnish the
nly clue as to who is buried in this
•nely and unknown grave.
The grave of this unknown one lies just
half mile southeast of Spring Mountain
on the east bank of South Fork of Little
Wichita river on lands of C. L. Aber-
crombie, 3 miles west of Archer City.
----oxo----
THE DYING COWBOY
“Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie!”
These words came low and mournfully
From the pallid lips of a youth who lay
On his dying bed at the close of day.
“Oh, bury me not—”
there,
But we took no heed of his dying prayer,
In a narrow grave just six by three
We buried him there on the lone prairie.
“These locks she has curled, shall the rat-
tlesnake kiss?
This brow she has kissed shall the cold
grave press?
For the sake of the loved one that will
weep for me
Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie.
“Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the wolves can howl and growl
o’er me;
Fling a handful of roses o’er my grave,
With a prayer to Him who my soul will
save.”
Oh, we buried him there on
prairie,
Where the wild rose blooms and the wind
blows free,
Oh, his young face nevermore to see,
For we buried him there on the lone
prairie.
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Martin, Charles. The Archer County News (Archer City, Tex.), Vol. [19], No. [16], Ed. 1 Monday, November 11, 1929, newspaper, November 11, 1929; Archer City, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1234437/m1/4/?q=Hilltop+Lakes: accessed June 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Archer Public Library.