|
Fred Wilkinson told me a tale about a day on a coyote drive and hunt out at Wilson Barr's ranch east of town. Now Wilson swore everyone to secrecy that day as to what happened to him. L. E. Murphy was the trapper and was out there. Guys were out there on horseback, in pickups and they also had an airplane helping. Wilson was driving his pickup as has been said "hellbent for election" after a big old coyote. He had a preacher riding with him. They approached a high mound of sand. Wilson didn't have time to turn so he went up and over it. What happened? On the other side in a wash there was a big bunch of sheep. He killed eleven of them. No wonder he did not want it known. This was one of the few times Mrs. Barr (Lucille) was not riding in the pickup with him. No doubt she was cooking for the hunters. Ordinarily when you saw Wilson in the pickup, she was with him. She was bound to have been an excellent rancher's partner. Incidentally, I am reminded that I once wrote that this country has had only four inches of rain in a year. I memtioned this to Jerry Carson, son-in-law of Barr's, not long ago. I told him that this was hard for me to believe. He told me to believe it because over at Mrs. Barr's ranch in Rankin they had 3 inches up until the end of the year. They thought they were through with moisture for the year. What happened? They had a deluge, a cloudburst and a gully washer of 6 or 7 inches practically at once. This was and is West Texas. |