A former Texas Ranger named Woods had been helping Henry Baylor, long time sheriff of Uvalde County, to round up horse thieves.  He ended up going under cover to work for Edwards County sheriff, Ira Wheat, to catch members of the gang that included Will and Alvin Odle, George Chisum, and others.

He would ride through the little towns of Edwards County posing as a drunk and shooting his pistol, etc., all the while gathering evidence on the gang. Later, he worked under sheriff Corder in Kimble County and was successful in breaking up a ring of thieves in that area.  Soon, members of the gangs began to suspect Woods.  He disappeared on the way home from Chicago to Ballinger, Texas, after last being seen on a cattle train.

Woods was killed on the Dry Frio River and his body, horse and saddle thrown into a cave where they were found many months later.

The story of Woods’ untimely end later came to Baylor by the name of Jim L— ⁽¹⁾ who lived on the Dry Frio and who was in jail in Uvalde County on a charge of having killed a suitor of his daughter. ⁽²⁾ Lafferty made bond through some of the men whom Baylor suspected of belonging to the gang Woods had turned in.  Some time later while Lafferty was working on the Jack Burt ranch south of Uvalde, he was seen in company with one of his former bondsmen, who, as it later turned out, was also implicated in the thievery.  Baylor went to the Burt ranch and arrested Lafferty as he was saddling his horse preparatory to leaving the country.  He was convicted and given seventy-five years in the penitentiary.⁽³⁾

Some months after he was taken to the penitentiary, Lafferty wrote Baylor and offered, in exchange for his freedom, to carry Baylor to the spot where Woods was murdered and his body hidden.  Baylor was unable to get his release on that condition, but Lafferty drew a plot of the place where Woods’ body was supposed to be hidden on the headwaters of the Dry Frio where his body was thrown in a ravine and covered with brush.

Several years later, his [Woods'] remains, which consisted of a skull and one leg, were found ten miles from the spot where they were supposed to be buried.  It was then that the remains were carried to Rocksprings, where they were identified by Ira Wheat as those of the murdered deputy.

Baylor later remarked that he knew some of the men who were implicated in the crime, but had insufficient evidence to bring about a conviction.  Baylor concluded by saying that there was no doubt in his mind that Woods had been murdered by Lafferty.  These men, no doubt, had Woods a prisoner and sent for Lafferty to come up the Frio and kill Woods, promising in return to help him out of his trouble.⁽⁵⁾

Stovall notes that Bill Chisum was a large cattle rancher in the area who had many legitimate business interests.

1. See Documents & Notes for information from Hardin on Stovall’s use of “L—” for Lafferty in the book.
2. If Lafferty was in jail in Uvalde for killing a suitor of his daughter, that information has not heretofore come to light.  In fact, no actually marriage information has been encountered for Lafferty, nor the births of any children.  He was imprisoned (Rusk Pennitentiary) perhaps between 1893-1891 for killing a U.S. Marshall in Yselta.
3. Stovall has the story somewhat confused at this point.  Lafferty was convicted of murdering Ben Maples in September 1892, and for that crime he was sentenced to 75 years imprisonment.
4. Stoval cites as his sources the following issues of Frontier Times Monthly:  Vols 5, 3, 14, 25, 15, 22, 6, 12.

Excerpted from Breaks of the Balcones, by Allan A. Stoval
Published by Firm Foundation Publishing House, Austin, Texas 1967

— In “Early Settlers in the Frio Canyon”

“Ben Maples was killed by a local badman, one Jim Lafferty, for which crime Lafferty was given a seventy-five year prison sentence.  Jim Lafferty’s brother, John, lived in one of Ben Maples’ houses and was a good citizen of the community.  He tried without success to persuade his brother Jim to move out of the settlement, knowing that he was connected with a gang of outlaws and horse thieves, which gang was, later on, to be broken up by the sheriffs of Edwards, Uvalde, and Kimble counties, together with members of the Texas Rangers.  Jim Lafferty killed Maples at the John Lafferty cabin and narrowly escaped being killed himself by one of Ben Maples’ sons.”

“Other men connected with this gang of rustlers were Alvin and Will Odle, Sarge C–, Lon and Jess Bass, and Bill Chisum.  The red-headed detective mentioned in another part of this record (1), later identified as Ranger Jim Woods, became, under pretense, a member of this gang and how he was killed and his body hidden in a lonely cave on the Dry Frio, is also a part of this record.”

“Dan MacMillan, a bad man himself, married one of Ben Maples girls.  After his marriage, he became a guard at the penitentiary where Jim Lafferty was being held.  MacMillan took advantage of his authority as prison guard to avenge his father-in-law’s death by ending the career of Jim Lafferty with a charge from his double-barreled shotgun.”

1. – It’s unclear what “record” Stovall is referring to.  Perhaps the prison record or trial records of the Maples murder?  These records, which may have been borrowed by Stovall to write the book, have disappeared from the Texas State Archives, according to Donely Brice.

1856 Indian Territory – 1896 Huntsville Prison, Williams Farm, Riverside, Walker County TX

Jim was the troublesome brother of John Henry.  The Lafferty/Cox Agreement gives his age as having been born in 1856, yet his prison records indicate that he was born in 1849.  There are no census records found (to date) that would corraborate either date.

Jim is well known to Lafferty/Cox researchers for having murdered Ben Maples, wife of Serilda Cox, in 1892 after a quarrel whose boundaries are a little vague.  Trial testimony points out a couple of things about Jim’s life — his brother states that “he had left the country before this to go to New Mexico, and had returned two days before the killing. “  Additionally, John Henry testifies, “My brother was in the penitentiary at Rusk several years, and I did not see him.”

If Jim was born in 1856, he would have been about three years old at the time we believed that he lost his mother, who was likely killed or captured by the Comanches from the ranch along the Pendencia Creek.

“Wesley D. Lafferty, the son of John Lafferty and Sarah Osbourn born 5 Dec 1813 at Champaign Co., Ohio. while a young man he enlisted in the US Calvary and was in the Seminole and other Indian Wars. At the expiration of his term, he was discharged at Ft. Leavenworth, MO. He married Martha Ferguson (a widow), who owned several
slaves. They moved to Fayette Co., TX where they bought a farm near the town of Rutersville where she died in the early 1850′s. They had no children. He was ailing in health at start of the Civil War and died in the fall of 1857 (1867 ?).”

“I believe this Wesley is the son of John Lafferty and Sarah Osborn of Berkely County, VA (now WV) who moved to Champaign Co, Ohio in the early 1800s.  Wesley is born there in Union Twp on 5 Dec 1813.”

Source:  “lmcconkey” <lmcconkey@prodigy.net>

“One of the first Lafferty’s to go onto Texas was Wesley Daniel. Who his father is I do not know.
1840 Citizens of Texas Volume I – Land Grants by Gifford White, page 144:
Lafferty, Wesley Daniel arrived in Texas 9 Nov 1839, class 3, Acreage 640,
in Red River Certified 23 Nov 1839 in Fayette 15 Sept 1845

1840 Citizens of Texas Volume II Tax Rolls page 147
Lafferty, W.E. Red River County, Polls 1 land 0, Other Property 4 Slaves,
1 Metal Cl

1840 First Settlers of the Republic of Texas Vol II
#133 Lafferty, Wesley Daniel, Red River County, Lgs 0 Lbr 0 Acres 640
Date rem. 23 Nov 1839.

Source:  Mary Lafferty Wilson

A.H. Abney (born 1822 VA) is the author of “The Rover” book.

In 1860, he is listed as a teacher in the Point Pleasant Community of Upshur County (later Gregg County) in east Texas.

He states in the prelude to his book that he met Lorenzo Dow Lafferty in Atascosa County in 1869 and ‘gathered’ the story from him at that time.

In 1870, he is on the Fall County census in Marlin with his family.

In 1875, the ‘Rover’ book is published.

In January 1878, he is listed as performing marriages as Judge Abney in Aransas County.

In 1879, he is a judge in Wilson County.

APPEAL from the County Court of Wilson. Tried below
before the Hon. A. H. ABNEY, County Judge.
The information was based upon the affidavit of Juan
Hernandez, and charged the appellant with an aggravated
assault and battery. On trial he was found guilty of a
simple assault, and his fine fixed at 82.50.
Frank Payne was the only material witness for the
State, and he testified that, while sitting in front of
Abney’s store in Lodi (Wilson County), on the 2ith day of June, 1879, he
saw Hernandez walking along the road about one hundred
yards distant, drunk and laden with bundles.

Source: Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Court of Appeals of the State of Texas

Henderson Lafferty was the older brother of old Lorenzo, born in Georgia in 1798.  As a young man, he moved with his family to Arkansas.  He became a Methodist minister, and as such was called to service in the Texas Conference in 1846.  Just prior to his leaving Arkansas, he is noted as having performed several marriages in Indian Territory — the part of [now Oklahoma] adjacent to Arkansas which was previously settled by the Cherokee people.  He is found in this area with Rev. John Carnihan, a Lafferty family friend, who christened many of the children.

“On 1 November 1833, by act of the Territorial legislature, Carroll County, Arkansas, was formed. The County at that time included, Boone County, and a Part of Newton, Madison, Marion Searcy Co. Henderson Lafferty, a pioneer Methodist preacher and shrewd businessman, was the first merchant of Carrolton and Carrol County. Lafferty had extensive knowledge of the Carroll Co. Territory. He successfully impressed the County Commissioners Henry Keys, John S. Blaire, and Barnett Cheatham that Carrollton was the logical location for the new county seat. He purchased 80 acres of land from James Jones. The Commissions paid Lafferty $1,000.00 for the land for the county seat center. This was considered a big sum for the land. Henderson Lafferty held church services in the Court House before a church was built. Carrollton Methodist church was organized in 1836. This Circuit included more than a dozen preaching places.”

Source: Independence County Chronicle/contributed by Mary Lafferty Wilson

Henderson and wife, Nancy Craig Lafferty, are liberally sprinkled in the pages of Texas history, from their arrival in 1846 until his death in June 1870.  There are numerous references to him in Methodist publications as well as local historical resources.

Living on Bear Creek, in Exile.  1880 Census finds John Henry living with them.  Also note names on Survey #249 sales.

Reagan Wells land records and connection to John Henry and Maggie, 1880 census note, Indian stories.

Link to a bio of this famous Texican and tell of his relationship to Henderson and Dow Lafferty.