John A. Holmes
Panhandle, Carson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1886-1929) Born in Mississippi; received law degree from University of Texas. Became county attorney of Roberts County. Elected district attorney of 31st Judicial District in 1922. In 1928, appointed district attorney of 84th District by Governor of Texas to relentlessly prosecute criminals who infested oil fields during Borger's boom years. Often threatened by gangsters, he was shot to death by gunmen at his home in Borger.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John A. Holmes (1886–1929) earned a University of Texas law degree and built a career as a Panhandle prosecutor, rising from county attorney to district attorney. In 1928 the governor appointed him to clean up the lawlessness that gripped the oil-boom town of Borger, where gambling, bootlegging, and gangsters ran rampant. Repeatedly threatened, Holmes was gunned down at his home by hired killers.
Why it matters
Holmes's murder became a rallying point against boomtown corruption, dramatizing the violent lawlessness that accompanied the oil rushes reshaping 1920s Texas.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · John A. Holmes
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Terminus of the Santa Fe Railroad_Panhandle, Texas
Panhandle, TX
Renamed from "Carson City" in 1887, Panhandle was expected to boom as the meeting point of two railroads — until the Fort Worth & Denver City line swung 16 miles south, seeding Amarillo instead. Yet the town thrived anyway as a shipping hub, moving more freight during the great ranching era and the 1926 oil boom than any other stop on the Santa Fe line except Chicago.
Last Great Panhandle Cattle Drive to Montana
Panhandle, TX
After 1880, Texas herds streamed north each season to fatten on northern grass, and in 1892 the N Bar N ranch organized the last of the great Panhandle drives from these headquarters. Under manager J.L. Harrison and trail boss Tom Coffee, one hundred cowboys pushed roughly 25,000 cattle all the way to Montana between April and September. The herds belonged to the Niedringhaus brothers, St. Louis tinsmiths who had poured an enamelware fortune into ranching before the range was fenced and sold off to smaller farmers.
Finch-Lord-Nelson and the Founding of Panhandle City
Panhandle, TX
As the railroad pushed across the Texas Panhandle in 1887, the cattle firm of Finch, Lord & Nelson—already known for bringing the first Hereford cattle to the region—set out to found Panhandle City. They dispatched ten cowboys to stake claims around the new townsite, which flourished as the county seat. This little red barn is a replica of the frontier structures the firm built for those 1887 claimsmen.
Carson County
Panhandle, TX
Carved out of the vast Texas Panhandle in the years after the Civil War, Carson County was created in 1876 and formally organized in 1888 as ranchers and railroad promoters pushed into the high plains. It took the name of Samuel Price Carson, who served as Secretary of State for the young Republic of Texas. The town of Panhandle became the county seat and, though it lost the great rail junction it was promised to nearby Amarillo, it endured as one of the region's early enduring towns and an early player in the oil and gas boom.