Texas Historical Marker

Whorlie Well

Mason · Mason County · placed 1971

Outlaws & Lawmen

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Mason County, Texas

The story

Named for a victim in famous "Hoodoo War", provoked by cattle rustling in Mason County. John Whorlie (or Worley), a deputy sheriff, on May 13, 1875, lost a prisoner to a lynch mob on Aug. 10, 1875, Whorlie was killed and scalped while working on this well. His killer was identified as Scott Cooley, a friend of the lynched man.

Masonic burial for Whorlie was conducted by the McCulloch Lodge No. 273, A. F. & A. M., of which he was a member.

No one in Mason County was ever convicted for wrong doing in the "Hoodoo War", but after 1876 law, order, and peace were restored. (1971)

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