Women, Whiskey & Sin (Part One)

Women, Whiskey & Sin (Part One) is an historical account of the first twenty-five felony, district court cases filed after Tom Green County, Texas was organized in 1875. The thirty chapters, 73 photographs and 209 pages also include details of the "vice crimes" that Justice of the Peace E.A. Nimitz dealt with in his court. This is not a "dirty" book. The title comes from a description of the small village known as Santa Angela that was established across the river from the United States military post - Fort Concho - on the Texas Frontier. The village grew into what is now a major Texas city known as San Angelo. A visitor from New York wrote in the 1870's, "San Angela is overrun with drink saloons, gambling dens and dances houses of the very lowest class. It is the most immoral town I ever was in... every crime known to the calendar is committed there." This work was done to define what crime was really like in a time when civilization was just starting to show itself on the Texas frontier. Women, Whiskey & Sin (Part One) offers the reader transcripts of the handwritten documents that were the court records, the district court minutes and writs of the day. There are photographs of the handwriting that is at times hard to read or understand. There are dispositions that just might surprise you, especially if you watched many of the old westerns.