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complained that he had been cheated. Hamilton threatened Jim
more than once, but there was no violence. 4
An Ill-Fated Journey
South Plains of Texas, circa 1900. Photo courtesy of the
Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University
land extending from the western boundary of Lubbock County
almost to the border of the Territory of New Mexico, a huge
expanse of real estate. A hundred sections is roughly equivalent
to a hundred square miles of land, an area greater than five times
the size of the island of Manhattan. So, the diminutive nickname
bestowed on the property, “The Strip,” was a bit of a misnomer.
The Strip did, however, properly describe the shape of the
property, which extended some 60 miles in length, and less
than two miles to five miles in width. The tent the Jarrott family
pitched on their Hockley County claim was the only human
habitation within a 30-mile radius, but friends from the
east—Parker, Erath, and Hood counties—would soon follow.
The law required settlers to occupy and make improvements
to the land. So, with small landowners feverishly stretching canvas
and digging dugouts—and certain to soon build fences—
the hostile ranching conglomerates became alarmed. Lined up
against what they called “The Jarrott Gang” were ranchers from
spreads with colorful names: the Mallet, Slaughter, L7, Jumbo,
J. Cross, Osxheer, DOV, QIV, YellowHouse, XIT, K, Spade, TFW,
Lazy S, Cros C, Flying D, 9R, and Fish.
Ranching interests labeled the newcomers “nesters” and
took action. Their attorneys filed lawsuits and complaints against
Jim and the other settlers. An Illinois corporation, the Lake-
Tomb Cattle Company, spearheaded the ranchers’ litigation.
Jim zealously defended his clients’ rights to The Strip in
far-flung South Plains courthouses and in the Texas Capitol
at Austin, with Land Commissioner Rogan steadfastly taking
the settlers’ side in the bitter litigation. By the summer of 1902,
Jim had firmly established all of his clients and their families
on the land.
But the controversy was about to get uglier, and bloody.
According to legend, when Jim filed his family claim on
land in Hockley County, a man named Painthorse Hamilton
On Wednesday, August 27, 1902, 5 Jim departed from Lubbock
in a wagon with provisions for John Doyle, an employee who
was camping on the proposed site of the Jarrott residence,
some 30 miles southwest of Lubbock. Jim had a choice of two
roads to his destination. He chose the southern route, which
midway through his journey offered a spot with two windmills
for watering—known as the “Twin Sisters”—near present-day
Ropesville, Texas. 6
The journey would take the unarmed lawyer through the
L7 Ranch, owned by his chief adversary, the Lake-Tomb Cattle
Company.
Doyle expected his grocery delivery by Thursday, but when
Jim failed to show, the hungry Doyle traveled by horse to Lubbock,
taking the northern route. He arrived Friday night and
went directly to the Nicolette Hotel to inform Mrs. Jarrott that
his food and her husband were both missing.
She panicked, immediately fearing the worst. “Oh, he has
been murdered!” she cried. Mollie Jarrott was right.
Saturday morning, Doyle and Lubbock pioneer merchant
J. D. Caldwell traveled the southern road in search of Jim. At
the Twin Sisters, the lawyer’s lifeless body was found lying in a
stock tank on the L7 Ranch, property of the Lake-Tomb Cattle
Company. He had been shot to death, probably on Wednesday,
and scavengers had gnawed on the remains. 7 Jim’s wagon was
nearby, his harness was hanging in a windmill tower, and his
horses were found hobbled, grazing on the prairie grass.
Jim Jarrott was only 41 years old.
Nicolett Hotel, Lubbock. Temporary home of the Jarrott family.
Photo courtesy of the Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University