The dipping law and vat bombings in Cass County
Almost any Texan can tell the story of the development of the cattle industry in Texas after the Civil War. The driving of great herds to market has made legends of these early cattlemen. At first these cattle droves were destined for Missouri, but as the country became more populated and the rail lines extended west so did the cattle trails.
As these cattle drives moved north, people in these northern states began to realize that every time one of the Texas herds passed through the general area of northern domesticated cows many of these would die with what was called Texas or Spanish Fever. Those cows that developed Texas Fever developed diarrhea, a rapid heart rate, and bloody urine. Death would come in less than a week. There was about a ninety per cent death rate for any animal that developed the disease. Those that recovered were so sickly looking that they had almost no market value.
But what was the connection? The Texas cattle remained healthy – immune to the fever but why?
In 1889, veterinarians from the United States Department of Agriculture discovered the link, the common cattle tick. The Texas cattle had built up an immunity but not the northern domesticated ones. By 1892, the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture had quarantined seven states and parts of six others including Texas. Cattle from these areas could be shipped north only for slaughter between November 15 and February 15. In 1893, Texas Legislature established an animal health commission to help regulate and control animal diseases. The commission didn’t realize it at the time but the coming of barbed wire fences and the passage o stock laws that required owners not to allow livestock to roam freely across the countryside greatly reduced the spread of disease.
During this period of time, Robert Kleberg began experimenting with dipping cattle on the King Ranch, as a way to control ticks, flies and other insects that were always prevalent. Knowing that the tick was what spread the fever, destroying the tick would eliminate the problem.
In 1906, a national dipping program was started to eliminate the spread of Texas Tick Fever. Starting on a county by county basis, the dipping program reached Cass County and other counties on the Texas eastern border in the spring of 1921. When these counties had complied with the law Texas would be removed from the quarantine list. To eradicate the tick and break its cycle, all animals had to be dipped every ten to fourteen days.
At the May 1920 meeting of the Commissioners Court, Cass County cattle owners were given notice that in the spring of 1921, cattle would be dipped from March to November. The Commissioners Court was furnishing cement and lumber for each community to build their own dipping vats so that no cattle would have to be driven over four miles. All across the county individual cattlemen were building dipping vats on their property. The only thing they had to do then was to have a dipping inspector witness the dipping every two weeks.
The average dipping vat was a cement lined hole in the ground with a width ranging from around three feet wide and about five to seven feet depth (the entire animal including the head must be submerged under water) and a length of between twenty-five and thirty feet. The end of the dipping vat dropped off sharply, while at the opposite end the vat had a gentle slope to make it easier for the animal to walk out. Also, the gentle slope allowed the dip dripping off the cattle to drain back into the vat. The dip was usually a mixture of creosote with other toxic additives from 1911 until the 1940s when such synthetic pesticides as DDT, BCH, chlordane and etc. were added.
In the early spring of 1921 the Cass County Commissioners Court appointed a dip inspector for each precinct and announced that Monday, March 14th would be the first day for dipping. The inspectors then published the locations where the dipping would take place each day. Each inspector had fourteen vat locations to supervise and when the last vat on the schedule was done he would start over so that every fourteen days cattle would be dipped again. By midsummer six additional inspectors were added.
Over the weekend just before the dipping was to start on the following Monday, dynamite blasts rang through the night skies of Cass County, as vat after vat was blown up. The focus of the bombings seemed roughly centered around the Atlanta section of Cass County, Most of the county seemed shocked by this form of lawlessness. Before mid-week, District Court Judge Hugh Carney had charged the grand jury to investigate these acts and to bring the guilty before the court. The judge in harsh terms deplored the actions of some unknown person or persons who openly defied the law In the Thursday March 17th, 1921 addition of THE CITIZENS JOURNAL, the editor J.W. Harrell wrote an editorial urging compliance of the law.
The Commissioners Court gave Dr. John Ramsey, who was in charge of the stock dipping in the county instructions to request and pay for six Texas Rangers at the counties expense. Dr. Ramsey was also to tell the people in areas where the vats were blown up that it would be their responsibility to rebuild the vats at their personal expense or else they would have to take their cattle to other locations farther away to be dipped.
By late June, the vats had been rebuilt and dipping had resumed at these sites according to Capt. M.N. Koonsman of the Texas Rangers. Koonsman also informed the public that there were ten Rangers in the county and that they “were not here for our health.” He also advised people not to go near the dipping vats at night for their own safety. Capt. Koonsman soon made three arrests for the bombings. Two of the men were released until trial if they promised to work in favor of the law. The third man remained in jail.
By late September of 1921 the county was also bringing people who refused to have their cattle dipped to trial. Judge Carney transferred these cases back to JP Court where they would be fined from $25 to $100 for each fourteen-day period that their livestock was not dipped. The County Commissioners had set November 19th as the last day for dipping.
At the end of the dipping season the Livestock Sanitary Commission reported there were 5,393 herds or 44,566 head of cattle dipped on the fourteen-day cycle in Cass County. The Commission also pointed out 3,490 cattle from 1,815 herds had been infested with fever carrying ticks. There were now eighty-six vats in the county.
During the period of the last dipping in 1921 till the first dipping in March of 1922, local papers were filled with the good effects of dipping. It was obvious that dipping had kept ticks, flies, and other insects from draining the immunity system of cattle because herd after herd looked healthier as well as weighing more per animal. In the early part of March, 1922 Judge Hugh Carney charged the Grand Jury with an outstanding speech according to the CITIZEN’S JOURNAL. “He dwelt at length on enforcement of the dipping law, on prohibition, and the Ku Klux Klan.” Once again in the night before the March 20th, 1922 start of the dipping season, blasts were heard in the section of Cass County around Atlanta. A total of thirteen vats were blown up. The location of these vats were Arnold, Adams, Bivins, Piney Grove, Huffines, Law’s Chapel, Good Exchange, W.D. Waters and Tom White.
It seemed doubtful that cattlemen in this area had done this because they were required by law to rebuild any damaged vats at their own expense. No cattleman would bomb vats on their own property such as on Waters or White’s. Destruction of these vats placed a hardship on these farmers or they were now required to drive cattle greater distances to be dipped or get fined for not complying with the law.
The question around the county was “who is doing this,” because the bombings seemed to be planned out, all done about the same time. Even though he did not say so directly, Judge Carney seemed to imply in his charge to the Grand Jury, the Klan or anti-prohibitionists were responsible for most of the unlawful acts taking place in the county. It is interesting to note that the areas where the vats where dynamited roughly corresponded with the parts of the county where the Klan seemed to be most active. For example, about twenty robed Klansmen from the Atlanta Chapter of the KKK walked into a camp meeting near Bivins and gave the preacher $50 for the good works he was doing. At the same time they warned evil doers to beware. The same scene was repeated at the Macedonia and Cass Baptist Churches as the First Baptist Church of Atlanta.
In late December or 1922, the Atlanta KKK had a huge parade through downtown Atlanta. There were over one hundred robed members taking part in the parade. The parade was led by members carrying the American flag and a burning cross. Others carried signs with various warnings. The message conveyed on most of the signs warned that the Klan was watching them. THE CITIZEN’S JOURNAL estimated a crowd of between fifteen hundred and two thousand watched the parade. The parade route started on West Hiram and traveled east through downtown and there crossed over to Main Street and paraded west out of town.
Despite the bombings, cattle dipping went on in Cass County. More than twenty Texas Rangers (the exact number remained a secret) led by Cpt. Hardesty were ordered into the county by Governor Pat Neff and within weeks arrests were made. In an open letter to the “CATTLE OWNERS OF CASS COUNTY AND OTHERS,” Cpt Hardesty warned all parties it would be dangerous to be around dipping vats after sundown. He went on to say that he had enough Rangers to cover the entire county, From this point the bombings stopped in the county especially as the Rangers made arrest after arrest. Obviously feeling political pressure, the Cass County District Attorney resigned. At this time Wright Patman was the state representative representing Cass County in Austin. At the request of Governor Pat Neff, Patman resigned as representative and was appointed the Cass County District Attorney.
As the new district attorney Patman started bringing indictments of those arrested by the Rangers to the court of Judge Carney who was not intimidated and guilty verdicts were returned and sentences given to most of those charged By the end of the dipping season in 1922, the county had already gotten into a normal routine with dipping.
The 1923 dipping season came and went without any major incident. By this time there were well over one hundred vats located through-out the county. By 1924, Cass County was declared free of tick fever and dipping was don voluntary. Most of the cattlemen realized the value of dipping, because cattle were not only healthier but were also more profitable because they added more weight simply because they were. not stressed as much by flies and ticks. Cattle dipping in the county was carried on until the mid-1950s, when other methods were developed to control cattle pests that were less stressful on the cattle. The question remains, what group (if any) was responsible for the bombings? Was it uneducated cattlemen, anti-prohibition groups striking back at the government for destroying their stills, or the Ku Klux Klan simply striking fear into the hearts of honest citizens?
Regardless, Cass County had the distinction of having the second most bombings in Texas behind Shelby County. Only six counties in Texas had bombing connected to the dipping laws.