The Horrell Wars: Feuding in Texas and New Mexico

Foreword

Foreword David Johnson has followed the trail of the Horrell-Higgins Feud with the tenacity of Pink Higgins tracking down one of the Horrell brothers. A veteran researcher of Texas blood feuds, Johnson checked every document , enlisted local historians, re-thought every accepted conclusion about the brief but murderous little war in Lampasas County. The result of his painstaking effort is the first book-length account of The HorrellHiggins Feud. More blood feuds were fought in Texas than in any other state or territory . Beginning with the Regulator-Moderator War of the 1840s, blood feuds erupted in Texas for three-quarters of a century, and there were more feuds during the 1870s—including the Horrell-Higgins Feud of 1877 —than in any other decade. David Johnson previously published an impressive study of The Mason County “Hoo Doo” War, as well as a biography of John Ringo, the most notorious participant in the Mason County hostilities. The Mason County War exploded in 1874 and violence continued for years. This homicidal conflict raged near Lampasas County, contributing to the atmosphere of extralegal violence which would encourage the Horrell brothers, along with Pink Higgins and his allies, to go to war. xii The Horrell Wars Pink Higgins made his living as a cattle rancher and trail boss, and during his boyhood Lampasas County was ravaged by Comanche raiders, who regularly stole horses and cattle. Pink grew up battling red and white stock thieves, often riding as a young member of pursuit posses. Pink became good with a Winchester rifle, and like many frontiersmen he did not hesitate to use his gun in self-defense or against rustlers and other enemies. The Horrell clan, like the Higgins family, came to Lampasas in the 1850s. The Horrells were ranchers, and it was widely thought that they built their herds by rustling. Perhaps it was because of their proclivity for stock theft, but the family was a magnet for trouble. The family patriarch, Sam Horrell, was slain at forty-eight during a fight with Apaches in New Mexico. One Horrell son died in Confederate service; of the remaining six brothers, five were shot to death. Only Sam, Jr., lived to old age and died of natural causes. My great-grandfather rode with Pink Higgins as a trail driver, although he did not take part in the feud—to my great disappointment. Lampasas was the home town of my mother and her parents and I have lived and taught there. I wrote a biography of Pink Higgins, which included a few chapters on the feud, and I have also described the feud in another book and in various articles. I have written more about the Horrell-Higgins Feud than anyone else—until now. Now David Johnson has compiled a meticulous, richly detailed account of the feud and its participants, including a thorough examination of the background of everyone involved. Johnson has provided special depth to the Horrell family, and he makes a case that the brothers were not the sorry lot of cattle thieves that has been commonly supposed. Indeed, the author challenges many popular assumptions about the Horrell-Higgins Feud, and his fresh approach provides an intriguing read. Foreword xiii Dr. C. L. Sonnichsen was the first researcher to systematically study Texas blood feuds, and he wrote two introductory books on blood feuds of the Lone Star State. In recent years books have been written about the Sutton-Taylor Feud, the Regulator-Moderator War, the Mason County War, the Johnson-Sims Feud, and others. Doc Sonnichsen would appreciate each of these studies, and he would enjoy and applaud David Johnson’s chronicle of the Horrell-Higgins Feud. So do I. Bill O’Neal State Historian of Texas ...