DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells this one, and I'm just the voice that brings it to life — so here's the story as it stands, straight from the record. Now, you want to talk about a county seat fight? Sherman County, Texas, had one for the books.
It starts with an election — May 2, 1901 — to settle a question that had folks riled up on both sides: should the county seat stay in Coldwater, a ranching center sitting in the central part of the county, or should it move to Stratford, a growing town riding the momentum of a brand-new railroad? Partisan feelings ran high. The legality of certain votes got questioned.
And when it looked like an injunction might shut the whole move down before it ever got started, the pro-Stratford crowd didn't wait for morning. They called a special session of court. At one o'clock in the morning.
May 6th. The votes were canvassed right then and there, in the dead of night, and then — under cover of darkness — the county records were spirited away. Spirited.
That's the word, and it earns every bit of it. Those archives were moved to a tent about two blocks south of where this marker stands. Now, somebody on the Coldwater side had an injunction riding hard to stop them.
A horseman bringing that injunction arrived. Just too late. For several days after that, apprehensive Stratford citizens kept an armed guard posted around that tent.
A tent, mind you. Guarded. Armed.
Because inside it sat the legal heart of Sherman County, and nobody was giving it back without a fight. The Coldwater proponents did fight — in court. They filed a suit: W.B.
Slaughter Et Al. versus D.W. Snyder Et Al. But courts move slower than horsemen and slower still than a county that's already made up its mind.
By the time court convened, Stratford had been widely accepted as the county seat, and the suit was dismissed. The men who pulled off that midnight move? The marker names them all.
D.W. Snyder, County Judge. C.F.
Rudolph, County Clerk. Dick Pincham, Sheriff. D.D.
Spurlock, Deputy Sheriff. Tom Chambers, Treasurer. Commissioners W.J.
Potts and J.H. Bowman, Jr. And one J.M.
Upshaw — listed simply as a hired freighter — who may have done more for Stratford's future that night than any politician in the bunch. The horseman rode hard. The injunction never landed.
And a county seat was decided not at the ballot box, not in the courtroom, but in the dark of a May night, with a tent, a guard, and a freighter who knew when to move.
What the marker says
On May 2, 1901, an election was held to determine whether the Sherman County seat should be moved from Coldwater (a ranching center in the central part of the county) to Stratford (a growing town on the new railroad). Partisan feelings ran high and the legality of certain votes was questioned. Because of a threatened injunction against the move, a special session of court was held at 1 a.m. on May 6. Votes were canvassed and, under cover of darkness, the county records were spirited to a tent about 2 blocks south of here. A horseman bringing the injunction to halt the move arrived too late. For several days apprehensive Stratford citizens kept an armed guard posted around the tent. Proponents of Coldwater then filed a suit titled "W.B. Slaughter Et Al. vs. D.W. Snyder Et Al.", but by the time court convened, Stratford had been widely accepted as county seat and the suit was dismissed. Those who helped move the records included D.W. Snyder, County Judge; C.F. Rudolph, County Clerk; Dick Pincham, Sheriff; D.D. Spurlock, Deputy Sheriff; Tom Chambers, Treasurer; W.J. Potts and J.H. Bowman, Jr., Commissioners; and J.M. Upshaw, a hired freighter. (1969)