The Wild Adventure of a Man Named Shirley

The February 14, 1895 issue of The La Grange Journal relayed the thrilling story of how a local man had been involved in the killing of Jim French, one of the last members of the murderous Bill Cook Gang, who had been terrorizing the Oklahoma Territory. French had taken on a new partner, Jess Cochran, aka Kid Swanson or Slaughter Kid. Bill Cook himself had just been apprehended and would spend the rest of his life in prison. The Journal’s editor and proprietor, P. E. Edmondson, printed the story of his 28-year-old stepson, Shirley G. Wilkins, who had traveled to visit an old friend:

“I left La Grange on Tuesday, the 6th inst., for Catoosa, Indian Territory, where I arrived about 5 o’clock p.m. Wednesday. After calling on a few friends and acquaintances, and obtaining my supper at one of the hotels of the place, I went by special invitation of my friend, Mr. Sam Irvine, to pass the night with him, at his bedroom in the rear of his store. We sat and conversed until about half past nine o’clock p.m., when we heard footmen approaching the bed room through the snow, which was about 10 inches deep. They arrived in front of the room and a man, whose voice we recognized as that of a good citizen of the place, demanded that we open the door. Mr. Irvine arose to comply with the request, and as he did so said to me: “there is my gun,” (a double-barrelled shot-gun) and I took it up, and as he was about to open the door a shot was fired through it, which blew it open, and as it did so it placed him in the rear of the door and I directly in front of it. There were two lamps burning in the room which lighted it up very brilliantly, which we neglected to turn down or extinguish, thus placing us at a great disadvantage.

As the door opened the light shone on the men in front of it, and I saw Cochran had his Winchester and was in the act of raising it to shoot me and I fired on him, some five or six buckshot taking effect in his head. As this occurred Irvine started to his bed to get, as I now know, his revolver, and just as he passed one of the windows, French [jabbed] his Winchester through the glass and fired, shooting him through the body, and he sank to the floor. I then fired my other barrel through the window at French, but missed him, and having no more cartridges I laid the gun on the floor near Irvine and secreted myself in the corner of the room behind a bureau and awaited events without anything to defend myself with. In a few moments French stepped in the door and said: “Come out with your hands up and I will not kill you.”

You will have to wait until next week to learn what happened next.

Footprints Of Fayette

Fayette County is one of the most historic counties in Texas. In this weekly feature from the County Historical Commission, a rotating group of writers looks back at local history.