Feuding Families Fight For A Half Century
T EXAS History
The death of Bill Mitchell sometime in April 1928 closed the book on an epic Texas feud that lasted more than 50 years.
The trouble between the Mitchells and the Truitts started with an act of Christian charity. Cooney Mitchell took pity on the starving strangers he met that day in 1872 at the foot of Comanche Peak. Even though his own clan had precious little to spare, the generous patriarch gave the wretched immigrants food and shelter.
When the guests regained their strength, Cooney found work around his ranch for their five boys. The Mitchell lads -- Bill, Dan and Jeff -- did their part by helping the Truitts put a permanent roof over their heads and ensuring they had enough to eat that winter.
After the Truitts harvested a couple of crops and became self-sufficient, the warm relations between the two families quickly cooled. The Truitts wanted to forget the past and resented reminders from Cooney that they never would have survived without his assistance.
The newcomers’ ingratitude rubbed their benefactors the wrong way. When Jim Truitt, the oldest son, entered the ministry and his proud kin began putting on airs, the Mitchells were fit to be tied.
To make matters worse, the Truitts bought property next door to the Mitchells. A quarrel over a sliver of land escalated into a bitter battle that eventually wound up in court.
The trial degenerated into a verbal donnybrook full of vicious name-calling and violent threats. The instant the frightened judge ruled in favor of the Truitts, he ran to his chambers and bolted the door.
The two versions of what happened next were as different as daylight and dark. In each instance, it was a battle of good versus evil with no gray in between.
According to the Truitts, they were attacked on the way home after the verdict by Cooney Mitchell, his oldest boy Bill and several friends. Two of the five Truitt brothers, including 15 year old Isaac, were slain in the short but deadly skirmish.
In the Mitchell account, the roles were reversed. They were the innocent victims and the Truitts the aggressors hellbent on provoking a fight.
A Truitt, teenaged Isaac, fired the first shot barely missing Bill Mitchell’s back. In rapid succession James Shaw killed the reckless adolescent with a shotgun blast, and Bill plugged the nearest Truitt, another brother named Sam.
As soon as the Mitchells reached the safety of their ranch, Bill sized up the situation. Pointing out that the only fact on which both sides were likely to agree was the identities of the dead, he stressed the Truitts had them over a barrel. Bill predicted that, when forced to choose, a jury would take the word of Reverend Jim Truitt as the gospel truth.
Bill Mitchell left that very day for parts unknown. Disappointed by the cynicism of his son but confident of acquittal, the elder Mitchell stood trial along with Shaw and a second neighbor.
The moment the Reverend Truitt took the stand, Cooney Mitchell realized too late Bill had been right. The jurors bought his embellished story and scowled with undisguised hostility at the despicable defendants.
Cooney was prepared for the guilty verdict but never imagined that he alone would receive the death penalty. Although Jim Truitt admitted that the old man was unarmed, the preacher swore he had shouted, “Give ’em hell, boys!” The inflamed panel held Cooney responsible for the killings and sentenced him to hang while sparing the lives of his two co-defendants.
As the execution date approached, Jeff Mitchell lost his head. Driven by a desperate desire to save his beloved parent, the youth tried to slip past the sentries surrounding the Hood County jail. But a guard detected movement in the darkness and sent the boy to his reward three days ahead of his father.
Standing on the makeshift gallows, an ordinary wagon, with the noose around his wrinkled neck, Cooney Mitchell surveyed the sea of 5,000 faces that waited to watch him swing. Recognizing the Reverend Truitt in the crowd, he called out to his accuser.
“Jim, when you didn’t have nothing but one pony and a wagon, didn’t I take you in and feed you?” The minister meditated on his boots unable to look the condemned man in the eye.
“When you wanted to go preaching, didn’t I buy you the first suit of clothes you ever had? And didn’t I buy you a Bible to start you out?” Truitt kept silent, but the unanswered questions made the spectators squirm.
Cooney sighed in disgust at the unrepentant Truitt’s silence. He addressed his last words to his absent son calling upon Bill to avenge his legal lynching. Then the wagon lurched forward and Cooney Mitchell dropped to his death.
(continued next week) “Murder Most Texan” is a must read for fans of true crime and Texas history. Order your copy for $24 by mailing a check to Bartee Haile, P.O. Box 130011, Spring, TX 77393.