Juice and Apple by Dustin Rice

         Atop a hill in the farthest reaches of the vast plains of the Texas panhandle lies one of the Old West’s most fascinating cemeteries. It holds the bodies of the victims of one of the bloodiest and most adrenaline-filled gunfights in history—“The Big Fight”—which was better known at the time than the now-legendary shootout at the OK corral. 

The Big Fight happened on March 21, 1886. It broke out over a woman, and the bragging of the man who won her over. It ended with 4 dead, 2 severely wounded, and just as many lucky to get away with nothing worse than holes in their coats or hats. (“The Catfish Kid,” for instance, feigned taking a gunshot, then rolled around on the ground and pretended to choke until he was able to get up and run away. He’s buried in the cemetery at Huntsville prison.) The Big Fight lasted over 15 minutes; the shootout at the OK corral took a minute, maybe 2. 

That is just one story buried at Boot Hill, the cemetery for the ghost town of Old Tacosa. (There are other Boot Hills across the West, all so named because the people there “died with their boots on. ”) Twenty-seven people are buried outside Old Tacosa and seemingly each one has an interesting story: The first interred there died over a duck . Alongside gunfighters, there is “The Dutchman,” killed by The Catfish Kid. An unnamed woman and 2 children are stacked triple due to a smallpox outbreak. There was a suicide with no record but a grave, and “Big Jim” Benson was struck by lightning. 

It’s the ones we don’t know as much about that haunt Morgan and I. We know Ruben Juice and Apple Axe existed by the markers on their graves and one line that survived in Oldham County historical logs. It lists their names and dates of deaths . The notes say that Juice “up and died.” and Apple “went with him.” Theirs is a story I wish I could write but can only imagine.

Tascosa was a town that lit like a match. It burned bright for a few years in the 1880s and was mostly gone by the turn of the 20th century. Billy the Kid passed through before he killed 21 men in Lincoln County, New Mexico. Juice might have served him dinner every night he was there, considering there were only one or two places to eat, and Apple probably “went with him….”         It was 1907 and Amarillo was just a panhandle town with denizens as rough as the winters. Horseback and buggy were still the most common forms of transportation and guns were kept on hips. Sallie had already managed to raise two grown men, Mose and Odie, and send them out into the world, what she got back was some joy and mostly heartbreak.