Z-L Ranch Cowboy
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In Remembrance of


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Rose Spray

The burial that almost caused a riot was that of a Negro who got shot accidentally on the Z-L ranch. The usual thing when a cow hand got killed on a ranch, he was buried there. Green Ilgo, manager of the Z-L, was a very superstitious man, and refused to let the Negro be buried there, so he ordered the cowboys to take the body to Emma cemetery for burial, which they did. When the news got around, the citizenry all but dug the body up to take it back to Green. However, the more sensible people of the time prevailed, and the body still lies in the northeast corner of the graveyard, away from the settlers. But the ones who dug the grave for Old Uncle Billy Weatherby, a Yankee soldier, saw fit to place Uncle Billy in the same corner.

Information researched by Marcia Lockwood

Submitted by Bettye Odom

Original Marker

This monument was not placed in the cemetery until 1980,
when Bill McLaughlin purchased it to mark the site.

The real name of this cowhand is unknown, all that he went by at the ranch was
"Little Nigger"

Black Cowboys
Burial Loctaion: N-1




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