The Johnson-Sims Feud: Romeo and Juliet, West Texas Style

Endnotes

171 Endnotes Notes to Chapter 1 1. The shooting of Ed Sims is described in the Snyder Signal, December 22, 1916, and testimony of the subsequent examining trial is printed verbatim in this same issue. 2. The only book-length treatment of the Regulator-Moderator War was published by the East Texas Historical Association in 2006: O’Neal, War in East Texas, Regulators vs. Moderators. 3. These feuds were explored by C. L Sonnichsen in I’ll Die Before I’ll Run and Ten Texas Feuds. 4. Two recent investigations of the Sutton-Taylor feud are Parsons, The Sutton-Taylor Feud, and Smallwood, The Feud That Wasn’t. 5. For the Horrell-Higgins Feud, see Nolan, Bad Blood, and O’Neal, Pink Higgins. For the Mason County War, see Johnson, The Mason County “Hoo Doo” War. 6. Sonnichsen, I’ll Die Before I’ll Run and Ten Texas Feuds. 7. Sonnichsen, I’ll Die Before I’ll Run, explores both the Jaybird-Woodpecker War and the Wall-Border-Broocks Feud. For the latter feud, also see Combs, Gunsmoke in the Redlands. Useful for the JaybirdWoodpecker War is Yelderman’s The Jay Bird Democratic Association of Fort Bend County. 8. The quotes in this and the following two paragraphs are taken from essays Doc Sonnichsen wrote about feuding in I’ll Die Before I Run, 3–11 and 316–324, and in Ten Texas Feuds, 3–8. During the late 1980s I was privileged to associate with Doc, who discussed with me feuding in general and the Horrell-Higgins conflict in particular. 9. O’Neal, Fighting Men of the Indian Wars, 4–6, 20–35. 10. O’Neal, Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters. 11. Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, prologue and act 3, scene 1. 12. Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, act 3, scene 1 Notes to Chapter 2 1. Fehrenbach, Lone Star, 554; Frantz, Texas, 127. 2. Fehrenbach, Lone Star, 560, 561. 172 Endnotes 3. Hunter, ed., Trail Drivers of Texas, 597. 4. Census of 1860 and 1880, Gonzales County, Texas; Gonzales County Brand and Mark Book; Gonzales Inquirer, June 2, 1882. 5. For general information on Gonzales County, see History of Gonzales County. 6. Hunter, ed., Trail Drivers of Texas, 597–601; Mellard, Dream of a Youthful Cowboy, 2–6. 7. Lois Lucie Curnutte, whose father was a bank employee and “close friend” of Billy Johnson, wrote one of the most useful articles on Johnson: “W. A. Johnson–A Man for His Time,” First Cattlemen On the Lower Plains of Texas, 13–16. Also see Chamblin, ed., Historical Encyclopedia of Texas, “Sidney Johnson,” 1061. 8. Shelton, comp., From Buffalo to Oil, 11–15. 9. Nunn quote in ibid., 23. 10. “Weldon and Ida Sue Johnson,” Footprints Across Scurry County, 305. 11. Footprints Across Scurry County, 28. 12. Hunter, ed., Trail Drivers of Texas, 600–601. 13. Curnutte, “W. A. Johnson,” First Cattlemen, 13. 14. Ibid. 15. Footprints Across Scurry County, 32–33. 16. “Scurry County,” First Annual Report of the Agricultural Bureau, 200–201. 17. Curnutte, “W. A. Johnson,” First Cattlemen, 15. 18. Ibid. Sidney Johnson recalled going to grade school at the Ennis Creek School. “Sidney Johnson,” Historical Encyclopedia of Texas, 1061. 19. Curnutte, “W. A. Johnson,” First Cattlemen, 15. 20. “Sidney Johnson,” Historical Encyclopedia of Texas, 1061. 21. Curnutte, “W. A. Johnson,” First Cattlemen, 14. 22. The Coming West, October 18, 1900. 23. Footprints Across Scurry County, 30, 34. 24. Ibid., 269–282. Notes to Chapter 3 1. A great deal of information about the family of Dave Sims was compiled onto a concentrated genealogy sheet by Lucille Sims Richards of Post. 2. Census of 1860, Lampasas County. 3. Lampasas History Book Committee, Lampasas County, 346. 4. Ibid., 346, 417–418, 420–421. 5. Ibid., 158. 6. John Nichols, interview by J. Evetts Haley, 7–8. Endnotes 173 7. The only book-length biography of Higgins is O’Neal, Pink Higgins. 8. Information about Dandy Jim and Sarah James Smith was compiled by Emma Smith in “James Gibson Smith,” Burnet County History, ed. Darrell Debo, vol. 1, 282–284. Also see Census of 1870 and 1880, Burnet County. 9. Sparks, “A Winner of the West,” Frontier Times, vol. 16, no. 7 (April 1939); Stokes, Paisano. 10. Lampasas County, Texas, 346. 11. Sims genealogy by Lucille Sims Terry. 12. “Mills County,” First Annual Report of the Agricultural Bureau, 160–161. 13. Ibid. 14. The family stories about Laura Belle...