From: laro@idworld.net   
      
   Hey, Gerald...long time, no see.  Though I have returned a few times to the   
   spot where we first met, if you recall.  I'll take this opportunity to do   
   some catching up with you.   
      
   This ng seems to be fading, not even much from Steve Grimm and his broad   
   interest in the Old West.   
      
   I first "met" Larn through some stories in books about local characters of   
   Albany, several years back, but there seems to be a wall around his story   
   which is seldom breached.  This author says  that if you walk into a cafe in   
   Albany and ask aloud about Larn, the folks can almost be seen lining up on   
   one side of the room or the other, for or agin!   
      
   That matches the feeling I got when in Albany, talking to Lester at the old   
   Fort as well as when talking to locals about area history.   
      
   I hope that the new book from de Arment will provide a look at what's on the   
   other side of that invisible wall.  I've long had the feeling that Larn was   
   a more interesting character than many other bad boys of the Old West, if we   
   only knew his story.   What has kept his story hidden for so long is rumored   
   to be the facts surrounding his killing.   
      
   The story I "heard" is, contrary to the story you repeat below, that he was   
   arrested and jailed ( so it was no longer "his own jail") by what the writer   
   terms "vigilantes" but who were in reality his own family members, that is   
   men of the Matthews and Reynolds clans who didn't like the husband their   
   sister had chosen (and remained loyal to) and was afraid that he was never   
   going to straighten up and fly right.  So they ended his flight, under oaths   
   of secrecy never to be broken.   
      
   Maybe this writer has more.  I hope so, but I'm a sucker for a new book   
   about an old topic.   
      
   If you'll recall the spot I visited when I was in your town, I was seeking   
   some reminder of an ancestor of mine.  Since that time, the DRT has   
   chartered a brand new chapter in your town and named that chapter for my   
   ancestor.   I'm glad to see that he's being remembered this far down the   
   road!   
      
   Oh, did you get that new job you were interviewing for when I was there?   
      
   Laro   
      
   "Gerald Clough"  wrote in message   
   news:3FF497CC.8010809@texas.net...   
   > GTT wrote:   
   > > I've just bought a book "Bravo on the Brazos" about a feller named Larn.   
   > > The setting is apparently Ft. Griffin, Texas, one of the buffalo wallers   
   and   
   > > gathering place for buffalo hunters and buyers.   
   > >   
   > > Larn is a story of a gunfighter/sheriff/thief who married into a   
   prominent   
   > > family but suffered a "sudden" change of heart about the whole thing.   
   > >   
   > > Can't start it for awhile, but is this name familiar to anyone else   
   around   
   > > here.   
   > >   
   > > (Is there anyone else around here?  Beginning to wonder.)   
   >   
   > Well, poking around the Web finds:   
   >   
   > On a geneology family site:   
   >   
   >       C.  Mary Jane Matthews married (1) John M. Larn, (2) Rev.   
   > JohnBrown. John M. Larn was a cattle rustler and horse thief, he was   
   > killed 22 June 1878 in the Albany, Texas jail by a vigilante committe,   
   > believed to be led by one of his Reynolds brothers-in-law.61  John   
   > Brown was a Presbyterian minister in Albany and later Fall River,   
   > Massachusetts.   
   >   
   > And, in the Ft. Griffin Cemetary on a ranch near Albany:   
   >   
   > 1. Outlaw Bill Henderson Killed by Sheriff John Larn April 1876   
   > 2. Outlaw Charlie (Doc) Mc Bride also killed by Sheriff John Larn,   
   > April, 1876   
   >   
   > And, from a review of A Texas Frontier: The Clear Fork Country and Fort   
   > Griffin, 1849-1887   
   >   
   > "Dr. Cashion writes with equal and obvious passion of the rawboned   
   > hunters and cattlemen, the violent sometimes gunmen like John Larn..."   
   >   
   >   
   > And, from a piece about the first registered Herfords in Texas: "John   
   > Larn of Ft. Griffin appears in the Herd Book as the owner of Fremont   
   > 760, bred by Miller. This bull was calved May 23, 1875, and probably was   
   > taken to Texas the same time the Reynolds Bros. bull was."   
   >   
   > And, from a piece about John Selman: "In the mid-1870s the Selmans moved   
   > to Fort Griffin, Texas, where John became a deputy for Shackelford   
   > County sheriff John M. Larn. The two controlled the vigilantes, rustled   
   > cattle, and at times terrorized the county, until the vigilantes locked   
   > Larn in his own jail and shot him to death."   
   >   
   >   
   > Seems all of a piece with the character of Ft. Griffin and any number of   
   > famous and not so famous folks who walked both sides of the law there.   
   > --   
   >                        Gerald Clough   
   >     "Nothing has any value, unless you know you can give it up."   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)