Menard County Texas

Scabtown Fight

EXCERPT FROM "SIX YEARS WITH THE TEXAS RANGERS"
by James B. Gillett
VON BOECKMANN-JONES Co., PUBLISHERS AUSTIN, TEXAS
COPYRIGHT 1921

Page 130

Shortly afterward Reynolds selected Sergeant McGee, Tom Gillespie, Dick Harrison, and Tim McCarthy and made a scout into Menard County. He also had with him his negro cook, George, to drive his light wagon. On the return toward Bear Creek
the scout camped for the night at Fort McKavett. At that time each frontier post had its chihuahua or scab town, a little settlement with gambling halls, saloons, etc., to catch the soldiers' dollars. At Fort McKavett were many discharged soldiers, some of them negroes from the Tenth Cavalry. These blacks had associated with white gamblers and lewd women until they thought themselves the equals of white men, and became mean and overbearing.

On this particular night these negro ex-soldiers gave a dance in scab town, and our negro, George, wanted to go. He was a light mulatto, almost white, but well thought of by all the boys in the company. He obtained Lieutenant Reynolds' permission to at-
tend the dance, and borrowed Tim McCarthy's pistol to carry to it. When George arrived at the dance hall the ex-soldiers did not like his appearance, as he was allied with the rangers, whom they despised. They jumped on George, took his pistol and kicked
him out of the place. The boys were all in bed when George returned and told McCarthy that the

(page 131)

negroes at the dance hall had taken his pistol from him.

Lieutenant Reynolds was sleeping nearby and heard what George said. He raised up on his elbow and ordered Sergeant McGee to go with McCarthy and George and get the pistol. The negroes saw McGee coming and, closing the door, defied him to enter the dance hall.

McGee was cool and careful. He advised the negroes to return the pistol, but they refused, saying they would kill the first white-livered s o b that attempted to enter the house. The sergeant then stationed himself at the front door, ordered McCarthy to guard the back entrance of the place, and sent George for the lieu tenant. Reynolds hurried to the scene, taking with him Tom Gillespie and Dick Harrison. The lieutenant knocked on the door and told the blacks he was the commander of the rangers and demanded their surrender. They replied with an oath that they would not do so. Reynolds then ordered the house cleared of women and gave the negroes just five minutes in which to surrender.

Up to this time the women had been quiet, but they now began to scream. This probably demoralized the negro men. One of them poked McCarthy's pistol, muzzle foremost, out of a window.

(page 132)

"Here, come get your d n pistol," he said.

McCarthy, a new man in the service, stepped up and grasped it. The instant the negro felt the touch of McCarthy's hand on the weapon he pulled the trigger. The ball pierced McCarthy's body just above the heart, giving him a mortal wound.

At the crack of the pistol the rangers opened fire through the doors and windows on the negroes within the house. Reynolds and his men then charged the place, and when the smoke of battle cleared they found four dead negro men and a little negro girl that had been killed by accident. Only one black escaped. He was hidden under a bed, and as the rangers came in, made a dash to safety
under cover of darkness. McCarthy died the following day and was buried near old Fort McKavett. Negro George fought like a tiger and won the boys' praise.

NOTE: While I strive for accuracy in all transcriptions, please be advised that typing errors may be present. I would suggest you always verify my online information with a copy of the actual record.

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Tuesday, July 7, 2009 11:18 PM