Tag: texas

Unsolved Mystery: Texarkana’s Moonlight Murders

A couple, Jimmy Hollis and Mary Larey, had been on a date after which they had parked on the last road of a subdivision in Texarkana the night of February 22, 1946.  At the time, Hollis was 25 and Larey was 19.  After a double date to a movie, they had only been parked for about ten minutes when someone walked up to Hollis’ side of the car and shined a flashlight in his eyes.  The man with the flashlight ordered the couple to exit the car.  Hollis recalled that the man was armed with a gun.  The man then demanded that Hollis remove his trousers.  Hollis had initially resisted but complied, only to be struck hard in the head either with the gun or some other object.  Hollis suffered a fractured skull in the attack.  Thinking it was probably a robbery, Larey was scared but pulled Hollis’ billfold out of his trousers to show the man that Hollis had no money.  The man then ordered Larey to open her purse.  She replied that she didn’t have one and she was knocked to the ground by the assailant after being struck with an object.  The man then ordered Larey to get up and run, which she did.  The man quickly caught her and bewildered Larey by asking her why she was running.  Larey was again knocked to the ground and this time was sexually assaulted.  After the attack, the assailant disappeared and Larey was allowed to escape, managing to get to her feet and run to a nearby house.

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Cherokee Bill Goldsby

“Cherokee Bill” was a name adopted by Crawford Goldsby, a youth born February 8, 1876 at Fort Concho in Texas.  He was actively an outlaw for several years, mostly across the Red River in Indian Territory, before he was apprehended.  His father was George Goldsby and his mother was Ellen Beck Goldsby.  His father was of mixed blood, part black and part white, and was a Buffalo Soldier in the 10th U. S. Cavalry.  His mother was also of mixed blood, part Cherokee, black and white.  Crawford was probably named for his father’s brother, also known as Crawford Goldsby, who lived and died in Alabama.

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Doc Holliday

John Henry “Doc” Holliday was born August 14, 1851 in Griffin, Georgia to Henry Burroughs and Alice Jane McKey Holliday.  He was an educated man, having first studied at Valdosta Institute, Valdosta, Georgia.  He learned to shoot and play cards when he was still a youth.  It is generally thought that he lived in the southeastern United States, fairly close to home, until his 20s.

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Cyd Charisse (Tula Finklea)

Cyd Charisse was born Tula Ellice Finklea in Amarillo, Potter County, Texas on March 8, 1921 to Ernest Enos and Lela Norwood Finklea.  Ernest was a well known Amarillo jeweler of French descent, though he was born in Texas.  Ernest was the proprietor of E. E. Finklea Jewelers at 410 South Polk Street in downtown Amarillo.  Finklea’s billed itself as “The Jewelry Store of the Panhandle.”  The name Cyd is a respelling of the nickname her brother gave her when he could not pronounce “sister” and she adopted it as her stage name.  The last name Charisse was actually her married name.

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Battle of the Knobs/Battle of Stone Houses

This battle took place in late 1837 in North Texas involving a group of Texas Rangers and a number of mostly Keeci Indians.  According to the various accounts, a Lt. Van Benthuysen was searching the area looking for some stolen horses.  After several  weeks of scouting, the Rangers encountered the Keeci (also spelled as Kichai and Keechi) at a place known for its appearance, mounds of rock described as rock teepees or rock houses.  According to all accounts, the Keeci outnumbered the Rangers several times over, with the Indians amounting to an estimated 150 and the Rangers numbering seventeen or eighteen.  The Rangers held out after losing four of their party.  Also during the battle, the Indians set off a ring of fire around the troops who escaped on foot through the smoke, but not until having lost ten men, over half their number.  Out of their eighteen, four were killed in the battle and six were killed during the escape.  They walked and foraged for ten days until reaching a friendly Kickapoo camp near the present city of Dallas where they stayed for a while before returning to safety near Houston.

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