John T. Emerson StoryWhen I was a small girl, Father went to St. Louis and got some rich men interested in a ranch in Texas. He brought the men out and the St. Louis Cattle Company was organized, with Father to run the ranch. We moved to Crosby County in 1884 and lived at the headquarters, which was south of the Yellowhouse Creek and about a mile from Plum Creek.
Mr. Schmeiding, one of the partners, visited us and told Mother when he went back home he would have her a carriage made. It had fine tufted leather on the seats and inside, had glass windows, and there was a box under the back seats which would hold things to be stored for a trip. It was as heavy as a wagon; we called it a hack. Mother made trips to Colorado City in it when she went to buy clothing and supplies, a distance of about a hundred miles.
But the story..a boy came to work on the ranch; he always wore blue ducking pants and jumper so the boys called him "Blucher." His real name was John Emerson. One day his horse ran over a yearling, falling when his leg was broken, then falling on Blucher. He lived some 72 hours. Both horse and steer had to be shot.
Father took a partition out of the two room house and made a coffin. Mother folded a quilt and placed in the bottom, then she unrolled a bat of cotton all around inside, covering it tightly with new white domestic. Some wide lace was scalloped around the top inside edge, then mother told me to get a good feather pillow. A white slip with lace was placed in the coffin and Father dressed the boy in a good suit of clothes. We did not eat breakfast the next morning; the boy had died in the night, so just as the sun was coming and lighting up all the green, flower-covered canyon hills, Mother read the Bible and prayed the prayer, while we children sang the songs. We gave him the very best we had.
Father put an advertisement in the Dallas News trying to hear from the boy's people, but he never heard a word. The boy had two ponies, his saddle, bedding and tarp and the money which was coming to him.
The accident happened where Spring Creek runs into the Yellowhouse. We lived at the ranch for eight years, when Mother got sick and later died. Then Father moved away. I married George Boles, and if he had lived a few more months we would have celebrated our sixtieth wedding anniversary. I have lived in Lubbock County ever since I was married.
By Mrs. Laura BolesSource: "Through the Years, A History of Crosby County, Texas" by Nellie Witt Spikes and Temple Ann Ellis ©1951; The Naylor Company, San Antonio, Texas
Mystery of Skeleton Is Solved; Early Cowboy Reburied in Same Spot
The unearthing of a skeleton by two Crosbyton youths in the south west part of the county Saturday, caused considerable excitement in the city the first of the week, until it was learned that the boys had accidentally dug into the grave of an old time cowboy.
While digging around for possible hidden treasure reported buried in that section of the county, Albert Lieske, Jr., and Don Ballard unearthed the skeleton. They turned it over to Sheriff Jim Williams, and on investigation the sheriff found it to be the remains of a cowboy buried there some 51 years ago.
Oldtimers recalled that J.T. Emerson, a young cowboy from Kentucky, had fallen from a horse and was killed and buried in that vicinity.
The skeleton was found approximately three and a half feet below the surface. The casket had rotted away from the body.
Sheriff Williams said he investigated the matter in the event there might have been foul play. The skeleton has been replaced at the same place and a fence erected around it.
The Crosbyton Review, Friday, April 19, 1940
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