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Author O'Neal, Bill, 1942-

Title The Johnson-Sims feud : Romeo and Juliet, West Texas style / Bill O'Neal.

Publication Info. Denton : University of North Texas Press, [2010]
©2010

Item Status

Edition 1st ed.
Description 1 online resource (xiv, 208 pages) : illustrations, map.
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Series A.C. Greene Series ; no. 9
A.C. Greene series ; 9.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents Introduction to a blood feud -- Billy Johnson, cattle baron -- Dave Sims, cattle baron -- Gladys and Ed -- E.C. Sims vs. Gladys Sims -- Storm clouds -- Tragedy in Snyder -- The search for revenge -- Assassination and retribution -- Aftermath and redemption -- Rest in peace.
Summary In the early 1900s, two families in Scurry and Kent counties in West Texas united in a marriage of fourteen-year-old Gladys Johnson to twenty-one-year-old Ed Sims. Billy Johnson, the father, set up Gladys and Ed on a ranch, and the young couple had two daughters. But Gladys was headstrong and willful, and Ed drank too much, and both sought affection outside their marriage. A nasty divorce ensued, and Gladys moved with her girls to her father's luxurious ranch house, where she soon fell in love with famed Texas Ranger Frank Hamer. When Ed tried to take his daughters for a prearranged Christmas visit in 1916, Gladys and her brother Sid shot him dead on the Snyder square teeming with shoppers. One of the best lawyers in West Texas, Judge Cullen Higgins (son of the old feudist Pink Higgins) managed to win acquittal for both Gladys and Sid. In the tradition of Texas feudists since the 1840s, the Sims family sought revenge. Sims' son-in-law, Gee McMeans, led an attack in Sweetwater and shot Billy Johnson's bodyguard, Frank Hamer, twice, while Gladys--by now Mrs. Hamer--fired at another assassin. Hamer shot back, killed McMeans, and was no-billed on the spot by a grand jury watching the shootout through a window. An attempt against Billy Johnson failed, but a three-man team shotgunned the widely respected Cullen Higgins. Texas Rangers and other lawmen caught one of the assassins, extracted a confession, and then prompted his "suicide" in a Sweetwater jail cell.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Vendetta -- Texas -- Scurry County -- History -- 20th century.
Vendetta.
Texas -- Scurry County.
History.
Chronological Term 20th century
Subject Ranchers -- Texas -- Scurry County -- Biography.
Ranchers.
Frontier and pioneer life -- Texas -- Scurry County.
Frontier and pioneer life.
Family violence -- Texas -- History.
Family violence.
Texas.
Scurry County (Tex.) -- History -- 20th century.
Chronological Term 1900 - 1999
Genre/Form Biographies.
Electronic books.
History.
Biographies.
Other Form: Print version: O'Neal, Bill, 1942- Johnson-Sims feud. 1st ed. Denton : University of North Texas Press, ©2010 9781574412901 (DLC) 2010008815 (OCoLC)644642381
ISBN 9781574413489 (electronic book)
1574413481 (electronic book)
1283109026
9781283109024
9781574412901
1574412906
1574414755
9781574414752