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Craig Titus once earned the championship title of Mr. USA, but that was before his illegal drug use and terrible temper got the best of his body—and his career.

" on August 30, 1985, he married Susan Kathleen Bell in a speck of a town called Cee Vee. Susan was six years older than Craig, 26 to his 20. Craig rarely talked about Susan over the years except to criticize her. Susan gave birth on July 11, 1988, to twins, a boy named Aaron Colby Titus and a girl, Ashley Marie Titus . . .  "  Read more Look inside

Here are a round dozen tales about the "unexplained" side of Texas. The stories inform, arouse and even move the reader, allowing a view of the state from a different perspective at each turn. As varied as the stories may be, they all share the theme of mystery. Found inside: "In the summer of 1953 the farmers of Cottle County held an all-night prayer for rain, and they were rewarded with two inches on July 16. It wasn't nearly enough ... two sons, my uncles, leave Cottle County to search for work in Los Angeles and Lubbock. They had to support their families. She was left to face the drought alone, a woman in her sixties, with a thousand acres of unirrigated cropland and pasture and more than a hundred head of livestock  . . . Read more

Tracing the struggles of incipient criminal justice in the Southwest through an engaging progression of outlaws and lawmen, plus a host of colorful frontier trial lawyers and judges, Neal reveals how law and society matured together.

Chapter Three: High Noon In Paducah; "I kilt him Purty... Real Purty"

"On May 23, 1912, in the washroom of the Goodwin Hotel in Paducah, Texas, Burk Burnett, and his associate, Tom Pickett, encounter and kill Farley Sayers. . .Read more Look inside

"W.Q. “ Bill ” Richards was a cattle baron and owner of the sprawling Moon Ranch in Cottle County , Texas . He was also a lifelong friend of J. J. McAdams . He and his horses were instrumental in officially organizing Cottle County in 1891 so . . . " Read more Look inside

A crack shot, expert skinner and tanner, seamstress, sculptor, and later writer—a list that only hints at her intelligence and abilities—Ella Elgar Bird Dumont was one of those remarkable women who helped tame the Texas frontier. "Living in her handsome two story home in Paducah, she spent the last fifteen years of her life trying to find a publisher that would agree to pay royalties . . . Read more Look inside

by Lorana Hoopes

"Jess Peterson stepped off the bus onto the campus of Texas Tech and took a deep breath. Though not her first choice of colleges -- she'd wanted to get farther away -- at least it removed her from the clutches of her "handsy" stepfather. In fact, if she never saw Paducah, Texas and it's one stoplight again, she would be fine with that ..." Read more Look inside

by Bev Melban

The life of Malcom McWilliams had to be written in a book. Shot But Taking 40 Years to Die will only describe part of what this Man lived through. Malcom went to school in Finny and Paducah Texas. Then Maurine and Ollis moved to Dumas Texas when Malcom was about 10 and he went to school there until about age 17 . . . Read more Look inside

by Carmen Taylor Bennett

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by Carmen Taylor Bennett

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"The first Cottle County lockup was a two-story limestone structure built with the twelve-thousand-dollar proceeds of a bond sale. The The structure was to have walls 22" thick and to include a bell tower with a bell that could be heard for three miles. It officially opened for business on January 1, 1894 and served..."  Read more

"Charlie Johnston clearly has more wins as a football coach than any other football coach in the Panhandle/Plains region. Charlie grew up in Paducah, Texas, played high school football, basketball and baseball. He was an outstanding quarterback at Paducah..." Read more Look inside

See also: Texas Football Books and Stories

"I then drifted to Cottle County in 1892 , I believe it was ; in fact , I helped to organize the county . There weren't many settlers in them parts at that time . We'd see Indians occasionally , but they were harmless... Read more

"It didn't take Barton long to earn an unenviable reputation for himself in the Paducah community. A neighboring farmer, Ed Carnes, would later say that he was so appalled by Barton's mistreatment of his Mexican cotton pickers that he voluntarily appeared before the Cottle County grand jury and testified that Barton was beating his worker. When Barton heard about it, he jerked Carnes off his wagon seat one day in downtown Paducah and beat him soundly. Not satisfied with that, Barton proceeded to bite a chunk out of Carne's ear..." Read more Look inside

John Malone, hailed as one of the great unsung heroes of our age by some and reviled by others as a ruthless robber baron, is revealed as a bit of both in Cable Cowboy. "He surmised from the conversation that their pickup truck had thrown a rod as they were driving back to Paducah, Texas, and that they were stranded at the gin. Magness offered the pair a ride. They visited for the next couple of hours, ..." Read more Look inside

 Shirley A. Ainsworth was born in Paducah, Texas. Her book, Day after Day is summarized by real-life situations that are happening in our world today. It also includes various poems of her personal feelings of things that mean a lot to her. This book consists of a collections of poems written to inspire others through her individual experiences ... Read more Look inside

William L. Wright (1868-1942) was born to be a Texas Ranger, and hard work made him a great one. Richard B. McCaslin argues that, considering his lineage, it is hard to imagine what else he might have done. "...they could convict anyone but Edwards, who had several witnesses ready to testify that he was in Paducah, Texas, 175 miles from Seagraves, when the bank was robbed..." Read more Look inside

Dale Rory arrives in Paddock in the heart of West Texas cattle country, in pursuit of his dream of coaching basketball and owning a cattle ranch, something his recently deceased and highly principled parents had encouraged. "Honey," Dale said to Marilyn, "now that we own the entire canyon, we need to turn this private lake project into a public project. I If the will fill the canyon, it could provide water for all of Cottle County, and the people need to take ownership of it. We can provide the land..." Read more Look inside

If I Can Do It Horseback: A Cow-Country Sketchbook

"In 1893, they were ready to go out of business and contracted to sell the remainder of their herd to White and Swearingen, owners of the O X Ranch in Cottle County. The contract called for approximately 10,000 head to be delivered,... Old-timers in the area consider it one of the best ranches of its size in West Texas because of the fact that it embodies ... A headquarters central to the ranch is located about half way between Crowell and Paducah, in Cottle County ..." Read more Look inside

DeArment has tracked down stories of gunmen from throughout the West—characters you won’t find in any of today’s western history encyclopedias but whose careers are colorfully described here.

"J. M. “Bud” Barrow, ex-sheriff of Cottle County, related how a man named W. M. Coombs had told him as early as 1910 that Sayers had “asked him how he could kill Burnett and get out of it.” Barrow had heard Sayers repeat his threats in . . ." Read more Look inside

Liedtke had migrated to the United States from Prussia in 1856. After the war, he would leave North Carolina for the West, serving as state auditor of Nebraska and later as a justice of the peace in Cottle County, Texas. Once appointed, Liedtke would prove a tough-minded magistrate, determined to . . . Read more Look inside

Life is never easy but specially so when your born in a boxcar in the center of a railroad siding in the Great Depression. Add in the fact the Dust Bowl is flooding the air your can hardly breathe to survive each day. "There was another recruit that was going to San Diego, and he was from Paducah, Texas, a small town south of Childress. We were going to ride the bus to Amarillo and then get on a troop train headed for California. My personal outlook was . . . " Read more Look inside

"Where did you get that calf? Bill and George both looked at the ground and hesitated. Finally Bill mumbled: "We bought him off of Farmer Blank, over west of Cee Vee." Deputy Wiley Ellis shifted his left foot, eyeing the two men suspiciously. "You sure that's where you got 'im? This calf's a white-face, and Farmer Blank doesn't have anything that would even come close." . . . Read more Look inside

This is a splendid collection of stories about Texas by Texans—stories that appeared in leading magazines in the first half of the twentieth century.

"My name is Kavanaugh Flinders, law-enforcement officer of Hackberry, Texas, livestock division. “Well, you must not be very much on the ball. I came to report a cattle theft.” Powderhorn was all keen interest now. “You don't say? How many? . . . " Read more look Inside

"One Texas reporter referred to him as “the Japanese Gardner” and equated the Texas GOP to a bonsai tree because it was ... Hobart McDowell, a lawyer and former judge from San Angelo, and W. C. “Colley” Briggs, a lawyer from Paducah. Both men favored moderately liberal policies and were in sync with Dewey's pubic pronouncements. Briggs, in a letter to Brownnell, castigated the . . . Read more Look inside

by Carmen Taylor Bennett

A must for genealogical researchers with ancestors from this Texas county situated near the southeastern corner of the the Texas Panhandle

Spanning four and a half centuries, James A. Michener’s monumental saga chronicles the epic history of Texas, from its Spanish roots in the age of the conquistadors to its current reputation as one of America’s most affluent, diverse, and provocative states.

"There was, however, a woman on the lower level, now married to a roustabout, who had once taught school in the rowdy town of Paducah when it was still called Pekin, and she said that she could teach Otto reading, writing and numbers up to ..." Read more Look inside

by Neal Constable

Neal Constable grew up at Lazare on the Cottle County side of the border. Executive One, a John McNeill Adventure uses Cottle County as part of its backdrop." John McNeill is a retired rancher and lawman who finds himself unexpectedly transporting the President of the United States out of harm's way in McNeill's personal aircraft. John must dodge missile attacks and mid-air ramming attempts in order to successfully complete his mission by delivering POTUS safely to Washington, D.C. from Lubbock, Texas against all odds. Along the way he enlists family members, local law enforcement, and Marine and . . ." Read more Look inside

Resources:

West Texas History & Memories (Face Book Group)

Early Life in Texas County by County

Books about Texas People and Places

Famous People from Texas County by County

Cottle County Unclaimed Estates

These Deceased Residents of Cottle County Left a total $8,316 in Unclaimed Money for their heirs. Please share this with your family and friends from Cottle County, Paducah Texas to let them know how to claim their inheritance from the Texas Comptroller's Office. . . see the list