DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Somewhere in Castro County, there's a stretch of road called Jones Street, and it has a story worth knowin'. It starts the way so many Texas stories do — with a meeting.
In 1891, folks around Castro County got together to hash out where the county seat ought to be. Two towns wanted the honor: Castro City and Dimmitt. Ira Aten, a retired Texas Ranger, stood up to speak for Castro City.
Andrew McClelland was there speakin' for Dimmitt. Now, whatever words passed between those two men that day, the marker calls them inflammatory. And that word does a lot of work.
It tells you everything you need to know about the temperature in that room. Five days after Dimmitt was chosen county seat — December 23, to be exact — those words finally caught fire. Right there in the middle of Jones Street, Ira Aten and Andrew McClelland exchanged shots.
When it was over, Andrew McClelland had been wounded. So had his brother Hugh, who had the particular misfortune of being nearby when the lead started flying. Aten was charged with assault.
He was acquitted. And then — here's where the story gets that particular Texas flavor — a short time later, Aten was appointed Castro County sheriff. The county that had just put him on trial handed him a badge.
Jones Street remembers all of it.
What the marker says
At an 1891 meeting to discuss the selection of a Castro County seat, words were exchanged between Ira Aten, a retired Texas Ranger speaking on behalf of Castro City, and Andrew McClelland, a spokesman for Dimmitt. The inflammatory remarks led to a gunfight between the two men on Dec. 23, five days after Dimmitt was chosen county seat. In an exchange of shots in the middle of Jones Street, Aten wounded Andrew McClelland and his brother Hugh. Aten was acquitted of the assault charges and a short time later was appointed Castro County sheriff. (1983)