To a casual traveler, the Hill Country town of Mason exemplifies the calm security of rural living. Families and small business occupy well-cared-for, comfortably-spaced older buildings on tree-lined, not-too-busy streets. The stately courthouse and the historic shops and offices around it give the impression of character and community pride from generations past. Not even the historic rock jail building on the south side of the square would lead observers to guess that Mason was, 132 years ago, the center of one of the most violent "peacetime" episodes in Texas history.

Mason was founded in the 1850s, but it was after the Civil War that it really began to grow. Battles with the Indians were winding down by the mid-1870s, and Mason became a center for the booming cattle business. The first county courthouse and jail were built in 1869, but there was very little organized authority, and oftentimes settlers had to defend their rights as they saw fit.

Most of the established settlers in Mason were farmers, and of German descent. As the value of rangeland and cattle skyrocketed after the war, they began to feel pressure from ranchers (often of Scotch-Irish descent), who rounded up stray cattle on the open range and herded them to market. Mavericking (rounding up any cattle without a brand) was considered a legitimate practice by the ranchers, but farmers complained that many of their cattle were stolen by over-zealous or dishonest cattlemen. Some of the most militant farmers joined in "vigilance committees" to protect their property from rustlers.

Things were getting out of hand already before John Clark was elected sheriff of Mason County in 1873, but his actions definitely seemed to make the situation worse, and it was on his watch in 1875 that the tension erupted into an all-out war between the factions. Many of the facts have been obscured by the passing time, and even the names of some key participants are spelled differently in different accounts. Of the severa ...

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