March 24, 1886. Gordon, Texas. John Fortner was 28 years old. Blue eyed, light complexioned, with a red moustache and an otherwise good appearance. He was said to have a good name in the town, with no history of criminal mischief or other malfeasance. But at 7 pm on March 24th, having encountered a small boy returning from a hunt and carrying about a quarter pound of powder, John Fortner, baggage-master and warehouseman at the Texas and Pacific Railroad’s Gordon depot, undertook to dispose of the powder by burning down the Gordon depot, an act which produced a lot of smoke, but very little damage. Still, Fortner was caught, placed under arrest, and conveyed by US Marshals to the Parker County jail for incarceration pending trial. What occasioned this act so out of character for Fortner? Well, turns out, it was just one of many acts of vandalism and property damage resulting from the Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886. Idling regional rail traffic with a 200,000 worker strike, the action was one of the earliest labor versus management disputes, and it drew the attention of four regional governors and even the president and federal authorities. And in the end, it would go down as a colossal failure and even lead to the collapse of one of the first national labor unions, the Knights of Labor.

March 17, 1981, Liberty, Texas. Girls like Vicki Moore didn’t travel in the circles of high society. They were far more likely to be found at the bowling alley, the trailer park, or working the afternoon shift at the local Dairy Queen. And that’s right where Vicki was, when she met local Liberty attorney Price Daniel, Jr. If that name sounds familiar, it should. Price Daniel, Sr. was kind of a big deal. A lawyer, like his son, Price Daniel Sr. was a state rep, then the Speaker of the State House, then Texas Attorney General and Texas Senator. In 1957, he was elected the 38th governor of the State of Texas, and even finished his career as a justice on the Texas Supreme Court. And Price Daniel Jr. had a similar career arc planned. Well before the age 40 he was already the speaker of the Texas house, and planning a run for Attorney General just like his dad. And if that wasn’t enough, Price Jr. was also a direct descendant of Sam Houston on his mom’s side. What motivated Price to order that afternoon coffee at the Dairy Queen and court Vicki Moore may have been nothing more that the oldest temptation that men confront. But when Price Daniel Jr. died on the floor of his family estate, the victim of a .22 caliber bullet fired by his wife Vicki, his death would lead to accusations and claims that shook the town of Liberty to its very roots. Because on March 18, 1981, as Price Daniel’s sisters sued for custody of the couple’s children, Vicki spun a tale of drug use, pederasty, and domestic abuse that nobody was ready for.

March 10, 1945. Stephenville, Texas. Eula Langston Donaho had lost her husband Cody just nine months earlier. And though she had four other children, her mind and heart were preoccupied with the fate of her son Horace Elmo Donaho, a captain in the US Army. Elmo had left John Tarleton College and been commissioned an officer during World War II. He had fought in Italy and been captured by the Germans in June of 1944. Cody died just weeks after getting word that his son was missing. Ultimately, it was learned he had been captured and taken prisoner by the Germans. But today, in Stephenville, good news was on the way. Elmo had been liberated from a German POW camp by Russian allies advancing on Berlin and was on his way home.

Additional Information:

Article on Reunion of Elmo’s Camp Bowie Commissioning Class (The Unholy 10)

Details on Silver Star

Obituary for Maj. Horace Elmo Donaho

Article of Elmo’s Return to Combat
Article from Aug 18, 1950 The Galveston Daily News (Galveston, Texas)