our history : WETS and DRIES
Imbibers , Bibles and the Battle of the Booze
BY MEL W RHODES
Liquor helped put the ‘ wild ’ in the ‘ Wild West ’ … even in Weatherford
JULY 2017 PARKER COUNTY TODAY
66
It ’ s curious how we tend to think of bygone times as simpler times , purer than our own , not so much rampant sin going on , that sort of thing . But while gents may have tipped their hats to ladies whose dresses dragged the ground , and churches were all-in battling iniquity in its various forms , they didn ’ t call it the Wild West for nothing .
Texas , fiercely committed to freedom and individual rights — whether as a Mexican state , a republic in its own right , or part of the United States — had always been a far-flung country where you could find “ the good , the bad , and the ugly .” To be sure , there were your fundamentalist Bible thumpers , but so were there drunks , murderers , prostitutes , gamblers , and every other type of ne ’ er-do-well and vice common to near lawless places .
“ Even after Texas was admitted to the Union in the mid-19th century , it remained in various ways a frontier territory throughout the 19th century . Though population centers became established early , they were small . There was a steady stream of newcomers into the state with men generally outnumbering women , thus creating a demand for prostitutes . Many immigrants to the state were criminals and others fleeing the law from other parts of the U . S . This was so common , in fact , that in many communities it was considered impolite to ask too many details of one ’ s past . The state held fast to an ideal of freedom , which created a climate for the development of vice … ” — Handbook of Texas Online
The Handbook also reports that “ H . L . Mencken called the years between the American Revolution and the Civil War the ‘ Gothic Age of American drinking ,’ and Texas embodied the frontier excesses of the age .”
After the Civil War ended in 1865 and Reconstruction began , saloons and gambling houses became as common as horse flies . Even after the Indian menace ended in 1874 with the last Indian attack in Parker County , Weatherford , like other Texas towns , remained a mixed bag , and perhaps not so prim and proper as we might like to think . In the Weatherford of 1878 , there were five churches and four schools , but nine “ liquor saloons ,” one “ wholesale liquor saloon ,” two “ billiards saloons ” and one “ beer garden .”
“ Many Texans came of hard-drinking Anglo-Saxon ancestors . They faced a life of rural hardship , tedium , and a diet of meats preserved by heavy salting . They also believed in the medicinal properties of alcohol . Moreover , people were often skeptical about drinking water , for in many cities and towns the water was often polluted . Selective readers of the scriptures took their Bible straight , especially where it said : `Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish , and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts ,’” ( Prov . 31.6 ). — Handbook of Texas Online . Of course this line of thought continues to this day .
The real hotbed of vice in 1870s North Texas lay next door in
Sam Bass
Tarrant County , in Fort Worth ’ s red light district known as “ Hell ’ s Half Acre .” It was a rest stop for scores of rough hombres dry , bored and starved for some sort of release after long , seemingly endless days and nights trailing cattle between Texas and Kansas .
“ It quickly became populated with saloons , brothels , and other vice dens offering gambling , liquor , and prostitutes . The Acre soon became known for its violence and lawlessness , and was sometimes referred to as the town ’ s ‘ Bloody Third Ward .’ It became a hide-out for thieves and violent criminals such as Sam Bass . This led to crackdowns by law enforcement , though they rarely interfered with the gambling and other vice operations in the area . The commercially successful area grew reaching its height in the late 19th century when it covered 2.5 acres