DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. John A. Holmes.
Born in Mississippi, in 1886. He came up through the law the hard way — earned his degree from the University of Texas, then set his sights on the toughest corners of the state. He became county attorney of Roberts County.
Then, in 1922, the voters of the 31st Judicial District elected him their district attorney. A man building something, step by careful step. But here's where the story takes a turn that only Texas in the late 1920s could manufacture.
Borger. The oil boom had come roaring in, and with it came the kind of men who follow easy money and dark opportunity — gangsters, criminals, the whole carnival of lawlessness that tends to plant itself wherever fortunes are being pulled out of the ground. The Governor of Texas took notice, and in 1928, he appointed John A.
Holmes district attorney of the 84th District, with one purpose spelled right out in the appointment: relentlessly prosecute the criminals who had infested those oil fields. Relentlessly. That word did not come with a safety net.
Holmes knew it. The threats came — gangsters made sure he knew exactly how unwelcome his relentlessness was. And still he stayed.
He stayed until 1929, when gunmen came to his home in Borger and shot him to death. John A. Holmes.
The marker doesn't editorialize much. Doesn't have to. The facts do the heavy lifting all on their own.
What the marker says
(1886-1929) Born in Mississippi; received law degree from University of Texas. Became county attorney of Roberts County. Elected district attorney of 31st Judicial District in 1922. In 1928, appointed district attorney of 84th District by Governor of Texas to relentlessly prosecute criminals who infested oil fields during Borger's boom years. Often threatened by gangsters, he was shot to death by gunmen at his home in Borger.