Gun Barrel City, Texas

Episode 68 / 7 May 2018 / 159 min / full

Too Many Dead Husbands

"We're going all the way to gunbarrel city, Texas... it's in Henderson County, Zip code 75156" about 0:09:02

The case: Murder of Doyle Wayne Barker (1981); Murder of Jimmy Don Beats (August 1983). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2018

Population

5,985

Median age

49.3

Median household income

$37,000

Median home value

$142,000

Two-bedroom rent

$940

Cost of living

in the 90s

Religious

51%

Crime overall

▲ double the average

Violent crime

▲ slightly above average

History, in brief

• Henderson County is named in honour of James Pinckney Henderson. about 0:11:49
• Henderson was the first Attorney General of the Republic of Texas and later the first governor of Texas. about 0:12:12
• Henderson County was established in 1846, the year after Texas became a state. about 0:13:53
• The first town in the county was Buffalo, Texas, laid out in 1847. about 0:14:12
• Cedar Creek Reservoir was put in between Henderson and Kaufman counties. about 0:15:29
• Gun Barrel City takes its name from a former road called Gunbarrel Lane, now State Highway 198. about 0:15:39
• The town seal is two crossed pistols. about 0:15:52
• Gunbarrel Lane was a safe backwoods place to make and gather alcohol for sale during Prohibition. about 0:16:38
• Bonnie and Clyde are said to have hung out in the area. about 0:16:53
• A man used to sit at a window at the end of the road with a shotgun to shoot anyone who was not supposed to be there. about 0:16:59
• The town began as an unincorporated community known as Old Bethel Community. about 0:17:53
• It was not incorporated until 1969, so that it could sell alcohol, since the surrounding counties were dry. about 0:17:57
• The vote to incorporate won by four votes. about 0:18:45
• It is a home rule city. about 0:19:04
• Cedar Creek Lake is the main access point at Gun Barrel City, which started as a weekend and retirement town about an hour outside Dallas. about 0:19:18
• In 1987 residents collected aluminium cans as a fundraiser to help restore the battleship Texas. about 0:19:39
• In May 2000 they elected their 13th mayor, 21-year-old entrepreneur and newspaper publisher Randall Tie Thomas. about 0:21:12
• He resigned in May 2001 after a grand jury indictment on one count of perjury and was arrested for public intoxication. about 0:21:33

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