Captain J. A. Brooks, Texas Ranger

7. Trouble in Colorado County

Ben Stafford stepped out of the barbershop onto the main street of Columbus. It was a cold, blustery December morning. Sumner Townsend was waiting for him in the street. The hot words that had been exchanged for months between the two cattlemen were suddenly replaced by gunfire. Ben drew his pistol faster and his first shot pierced Townsend’s arm. Sumner’s pistol jerked downward at the impact of the bullet, and his wayward shot imbedded in Stafford’s ankle. Ben fired three more times, wounding Townsend in the shoulder , before both men slumped to the ground in pain.1 The shoot-out between these two men of Colorado County took place in 1871, and trouble simmered another two decades before boiling over once more, although later stories of an ongoing “feud” were greatly exaggerated. Still, there were plenty of Townsends and Staffords to go around, and everyone kept an eye on the other. Light Townsend was sheriff in 1890, and his nephew Larkin Hope city marshal. Capt. Bob Stafford, Ben’s brother, had a son named Warren who drank a bit too often when away from his mother’s watchful eye. Bob had an understanding with the law that they would let him know whenever his boy needed attending to. But on the evening of July 7, 1890, Larkin Hope walked out from a county-wide barbecue going on at The Grove, a park near Columbus, 109 TROUBLE IN COLORADO COUNTY Everyone had a pistol and guns were hidden all over the train. 7 with a drunken Warren Stafford in tow, handcuffed and on his way to the calaboose: Hope deliberately steered the inebriated boy in front of the Stafford house for his mother to see. Several friends of Warren’s persuaded the deputy to let the boy go and not insult the family by locking him up, but the word spread quickly and Warren’s father, and a few minutes later his uncle John, arrived to confront the city marshal. A shouting match erupted near the door of the Nicolai Saloon where Larkin and his brother Marion Hope relaxed. Bob Stafford shouted one too many insults at Larkin Hope, however , and the marshal drew his pistol. The first shot dropped John Stafford to the ground mortally wounded. The second struck Captain Bob and he staggered inside the saloon where he was felled by a shot fired by Marion Hope. Larkin stepped inside through a side door to find Bob dead, then walked back to the street and fired another bullet into the dying brother. Marion Hope dashed out from the saloon and dragged his brother across the street. The two were escorted away by their uncle before any more damage could be done. Larkin Hope went to trial for killing John Stafford and was eventually acquitted of all charges against him; charges against both brothers for the murder of Bob Stafford were dropped. What had been scheduled as a grand celebration for Columbus that July evening—the laying of the cornerstone of the new courthouse —instead became the grist for another round of tales surrounding the mythic “Stafford-Townsend Feud of Colorado County.”2 A few years after the double killing, Sheriff Light Townsend died; he was replaced by an in-law, Sam Reese. Reese served as sheriff in Columbus for the next four years, and Larkin Hope was back in the county’s employ as constable. In 1898 Sheriff Reese was up for reelection and Constable Hope ran against him in what became an overheated campaign. On the night of August 3, 1898, a mysterious rider dismounted near the saloon, crept through an alleyway, and fired two blasts of his shotgun into Larkin Hope, killing him instantly. Several people saw the rider but could not identify him as he rode calmly out of town and into Captai n J. A. Brook s, Te xas Rang e r 110 the night. An investigation led to the arrest of Jim Coleman, a cohort of Sam Reese’s: Reese was believed by many to have orchestrated the murder of his opponent but was never charged. Reese lost the election to a replacement opponent named W. T. Burford, an in-law of the Townsends’, and Coleman was acquitted after his trial had been moved to San Antonio.3 The Reese-Townsend Feud, which actually began with the killing of Larkin Hope, now simmered over the winter months. On...