Wichita, Red Liquor and Blazing Barrels
A Wichita newspaper of the day described the city in
great detail: “Broad-brimmed and spurred Texans, keen
businessmen, real estate agents, land seekers, [Mexicans],
hungry lawyers, gamblers, women with white sun
bonnets and shoes of a certain pattern, express wagons
going pell mell, prairie schooners, farm wagons, and all
rushing after the almighty dollar. The cattle season has
not yet fully set in, but there is a rush of gamblers and
harlots who are ‘lying in wait’ for the game which will
soon begin to come up from the south. There was a strug-
gle for a while who should run the city, the hard cases
or the better people. The latter got the mastery, and have
only kept it by holding a ‘tight grip.’ Pistols are as thick as
blackberries.”
Joe and Kate were definitely counted among the “hard
cases,” and Delano was but a shadow town, the seedy
underbelly of what the “better people” considered the
“proper town” of Wichita. It was common in those days
for this dichotomy to exist in frontier towns.
Joe may not have run a tight ship, but he was heavy-
handed in his management style. If one of his customers
stepped out of line, Joe would settle him down by beat-
ing him about the head and face with whatever came to
hand. Rowdiness was fine for Rowdy Joe, but not much
tolerated in others. Kate, sometimes described as the
“brains” of the Lowe enterprises, often felt the brunt of
his violent temper, but could give as good as she got. The
Feb. 17, 1899, issue of the Wichita Eagle, in Rowdy Joe’s
“Big Nose” Kate
Serving Parker County
for over 60 years
Photo by Megan Parks
Misty Plowman-Engel | Angie Plowman-Hernandez | Norma Plowman | James R. Plowman
913 N. Elm St., Weatherford, TX 76086 | 4941 I-20 Frontage Road | Willow Park, TX 76087
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