Duck You, Cowboy! My Town Monday

Put on your boots. For this week's edition of My Town Monday, we're stepping back in time to the Old West.

As Design Goddess pointed out in the comments of last weeks, My Town Monday, Amarillo is the Spanish word for yellow, so named for the bright yellow wildflowers that grew along a natural creek and lake that ran along the original town site. Ah-mah-REE-yoh is the correct Spanish pronunciation, but around here it is pronounced Am-ah-RILL-oh, or Am-ah-RILL-uh.

But Amarillo wasn't the original town name. Oneida was, and even though today, Amarillo is the largest city and economic center of the Texas Panhandle, Western New Mexico, Oklahoma Panhandle, and Southwestern Kansas, that wasn't always the case.

The original town wasn't even staked out until Spring of 1887. Soon after, the railroad chose a path through Amarillo and the town quickly became a major cattle shipping center and started an agriculture economy which is still strong to this day.

But before that, Tascosa was the bustling community in these parts. Tascosa was a rough and tumble town and along with Dodge City, Kansas the site of a famous "BootHill" cemetery. So named, because most of it's perpetual residents were men who died violent deaths with their boots on. And the story behind Tascosa's first boothill resident (planted sometime in 1880) is quite interesting.

Sheriff Cape Willingham was inside The Equity Bar, just one of Tascosa'a drinking establishments when he heard a woman screaming outside. Women were few and far between in town and reputable gals even scarcer so when he rushed out to find one of the virtuous screaming something about a duck, he sought to straighten out the chaos.

"He shot my duck!" The woman screamed and pointed first at the headless duck at her feet, and then at a man across the dirt street.

The sheriff looked over at the accused, Fred Leigh. The man was the foreman of a the nearby LS Ranch, but he was also a known drunkard who'd been warned before about carrying a firearm while in town.

The lawman calmed the woman by telling her he'd make sure the man paid restitution, and armed with a sawed-off double barrel shotgun approached the shooter.

"Fred, did you shoot that woman's duck?"

The cowboy spit into the dusty street. "Not until it spooked my horse."

"You'll be paying the woman fair market price."

"Hell if I will. I ain't paying for no duck."

"I'm the sheriff and I --"

In that instant Fred reached for his six shooter and the sheriff unleashed two barrels worth of buckshot straight into the cowboy's torso. Tumbling out of the saddle Fred hit the dirt dead as ... well, dead as a duck.

So the Fred Leigh became the first grave in Tascosa's boothill, and he gave his life because a duck had frightened his horse.

By 1930, a flood and the lack of rail service had left Tascosa a ghost town, but the place was later resurrected as a refuge for troubled boys. Cal Farley's Boys Ranch still inhabits the original site of Tascosa and has provided care for thousands of young men and women, and if you listen carefully, on a still quiet night ...

You just might hear the faint whispering of a duck quacking and a cowboy cursing.

As usual, I will post links below for all who participate, so drop me a comments once you get your entry up.

Sex Scenes At Starbucks -- Is there a better blog name out there? Find out about life in the Colorado high country.

Alex Keto -- My Town Monday's resident globetrotter takes on Manhattan.

Terrie Farley Moran - Terrie offers a nostalgic look at New York City over at the Women of Mystery blog.

Barrie Summy -- A spooky look at San Diego, California.

Stephen Parrish -- Bad Kreuznach, Germany. Now that is some town name and after reading Stephen's first post I'm already to hop on a plane and pay the spa town a visit.

DebbieLou -- Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshsire England. Sounds like she has plenty of history to draw on for future posts.

Carleen Brice -- A look at independent book store in Denver on the eve of her book signing.

Pattinase -- A sad lament about the loss of her local Detroit newspapers viability.

Polka Dot Witch -- This week's edition delves deeper into the history of Castleton-on-Hudson, New York with a look at the original inhabitants, The Mohicans.

Britta Coleman -- Shares with us how down to earth life in Texas is, even in a big city like Fort Worth.

WordVixen -- Another look at Lancaster, Pennsylvania that will leave you hungry for more.

Lyzzydee -- We welcome another newcomer to My Town Monday's with an introduction to Welwyn Garden City, England.

Alex Keto -- Yep, he's back. Alex appears to be an overachiever when it comes to taking about towns so here is an explosive post about Oak Ridge, Tennessee.