DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — every word of this one straight from the Texas Historical Commission's account of Emanuel Dubbs. Now, some men come to Texas through the front door — born here, raised here, never knew another sky. Emanuel Dubbs was not that kind of man.
He came in through the back door, with a rifle, following the buffalo. Dubbs was born in Ohio in 1843, and whatever Ohio had to offer him, it apparently wasn't enough. Because somewhere along the way, he found himself out on the Llano Estacado, hunting buffalo.
And if you're huntin' buffalo in the Texas Panhandle in 1874, well — you're liable to find yourself in the middle of something considerably bigger than a hunt. That year, Dubbs was present at the Battle of Adobe Walls. Famous, the marker calls it — and it earned that word.
That battle would leave a mark on any man who lived through it, and Dubbs lived through it. Now here's where the story turns, and it turns hard. A man who came to the Panhandle as a buffalo hunter became the first county judge in Wheeler County — and the first county judge in the entire Texas Panhandle.
Let that settle for a second. The very first. He served 1879 to 1880, and again 1885 to 1890.
But it wasn't the years on the bench that made his reputation. It was one particular moment that earned him, as the marker puts it, wide respect. A United States marshal — a lawless one — came through that jurisdiction thinking, perhaps, that a frontier judge wouldn't have the backbone to do what needed doing.
He was wrong. Dubbs had that marshal arrested. Not chased off.
Not warned. Arrested. Emanuel Dubbs died in 1929, having outlasted the buffalo, the battle, and at least one U.S. marshal who forgot who held the gavel.
What the marker says
(1843 - 1929) First county judge in Texas Panhandle and in Wheeler County, Dubbs was born in Ohio. Came to know Texas as a buffalo hunter, and was in famous Indian Battle of Adobe Walls, 1874. Gained wide respect when, as judge, he had a lawless U.S. marshal arrested. He served 1879-1880; 1885-1890. (1968)