Clarence Scharbauer, Sr.

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The Scharbauer Cattle Company is well known in West Texas.  Clarence Scharbauer, Sr. was born August 18, 1879 in Albany County, New York to Christian and Jennie Scharbauer and was also the grandson of Ferdinand Scharbauer who had come to America from Holland.  Christian’s brother John had come from New York to Eastland, Texas in 1880 where he established a sheep ranch.  A few years later, John moved further west to the Abilene area and then in 1884 he moved again to Mitchell County in the general vicinity of Colorado City.  His sheep business prospered but John became interested in raising cattle, purchasing his first bulls and cows in 1888.  Encouraged by his success, by the mid to late 1890s, he had shifted his production entirely to cattle and become one of the leading cattlemen in the state.

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Benjamin, Texas

Benjamin, Texas (coordinates 33°35′00″N 99°47′36″W) is the county seat of Knox County.  Benjamin Bedford was the son of Hilory Green Bedford (1840-1927) who founded the town in the 1880s.  Little is known about the town’s namesake Benjamin Bedford, other than the fact that he was killed by a lightning strike when he was about 19 years old in 1878.

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Ray Hamilton and the Cedar Hill Bank Robbery

Ray Hamilton grew up in the same Dallas, Texas neighborhood as Clyde Barrow, which is where they are thought to have become acquainted.  He is mentioned in several crimes with Barrow including the August 5, 1932 gunfight in Stringtown, Oklahoma in which Deputy Sheriff Eugene Moore was killed.  Moore and Sheriff Charles Maxwell had become suspicious of the youths at an outdoor country dance.  Bonnie Parker, Clyde Barrow and Hamilton were sitting in a car drinking moonshine when the officers tried to investigate and were fired on by the trio.  Moore was killed; Maxwell would survive six gunshot wounds and Parker, Barrow and Hamilton would escape unharmed.

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Turkey, Texas

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Turkey is located at 34°23′39″N 100°53′41″W in Hall County.  

Its name comes from the nearby Turkey Creek and the community was originally known as Turkey Roost because of the wild turkeys that were found on the creek.  It was thought to have been settled in the 1890s and a Methodist church congregation was established in 1892.  The current name of Turkey was first used when the first post office was set up in 1893.  The first train service arrived about 1928.  It currently houses around 500 residents.

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