for the defense for the defense - Voice For The Defense Online

Jim Jarrott was killed near a South Plains windmill.
Investigation and Indictments
Lubbock County Sheriff Barrett Penny’s investigation was hampered
because of rain on Thursday. Nevertheless, the lawman
made notes in an attempt to reconstruct the crime:
A man standing by the tower shot him with a Winchester
rifle. This shot seems to have caused the team to whirl
suddenly to the left as shown by wagon tracks. Blood was
found on the right rear wheel and Mr. Jarrott was either
thrown or jumped out at the first shot. Traces of blood
and tracks were found leading to the lake in which he
was found. Two empty shells were found near the water
tower and two near the lake, indicating that at least
four shots were fired, the last and perhaps the fatal one,
taking effect in the small of his back. It is believed Mr.
Jarrott ran into the lake and was chased by the assassin
. . . A reward of $1000 has been offered for the arrest and
conviction of the assassin or assassins.
The murder polarized the West Texas community. Townsfolk
and farmers in the area blamed the ranchers, accusing them
of hiring a professional gunman to kill Jim in order to frighten
away The Strip’s settlers. The ranching interests claimed to be
appalled at the deed, but rumors were soon spread that Jim’s
wife Mollie may have been involved.
The widow was summoned to testify before a grand jury
investigating the murder. She hired a lawyer from her Hood
County hometown, but she did not stand on any legal privilege,
and gave the grand jurors a blistering lecture on her bleak situation
and the unfairness of the inquisition. However, the offended
Mollie was unable to shed much light on the case. The murder
became the South Plains’ major unsolved mystery
Prime suspect Painthorse Hamilton had an airtight alibi.
He was in Portales, New Mexico, on the Wednesday Jim left
Lubbock, well beyond traveling distance to have committed
the crime within the supposed time frame.
The case went cold for more than a year.
Finally, in late 1903, murder indictments were handed down
against four men with ties to Jim’s adversary, the Lake-Tomb
Cattle Company: Ben Glaser, Morgan Bellows, B. F. Nix, and
William Barrington. Barrington was accused as the shooter and
the others as accomplices. In addition, Nix was charged with
perjury. 8 All were quickly released on bail supplied by prominent
area ranchers Frank Wheelock, Van Sanders, W. T. Petty, and
M. V. Brownfield.
Bail bondsman Wheelock would later become the first
mayor of the City of Lubbock, in 1909, 9 and a school in Lubbock
was also named in his honor. Bail bondsman Sanders was a
cousin of George Wolffarth, who would be the namesake of the
misspelled City of Wolfforth, just west of Lubbock. And the City
of Brownfield, 35 miles southwest of Lubbock in Terry County,
was to be named in honor of bail bondsman M. V. Brownfield.
Known as “Pap,” M. V. Brownfield would assume a much larger
role in the Jarrott than that of a surety for a poor cowpoke.
During the grand jury investigation, Glaser testified that
he had unharnessed Jim’s rig at the Twin Sisters that fateful
Wednesday, hung the harness on the windmill, and then watered
his horse. But he claimed he did not see the body. 10 The
M.V. (Pap) Brownfield. Photo courtesy of the Terry
County Heritage Museum