Texas Confidential. Michael Varhola

      

      Copyright © 2011 Michael O. Varhola

      All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any fashion, print, facsimile, or electronic, or by any method yet to be developed, without express permission of the copyright holder.

      Published by Clerisy Press

      Printed in the United States of America

      Distributed by Publishers Group West

      First edition, first printing

CLERISY PRESSPO Box 8874Cincinnati, OH 45208-0874www.clerisypress.com

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Varhola, Michael O.

      Texas confidential: sex, scandal, murder, and mayhem in the Lone Star State by Michael O. Varhola; foreword by Jesse Sublett.

      p. cm.

      Includes bibliographical references.

      ISBN-13: 978-1-57860-458-6

      ISBN-10: 1-57860-458-3

      1. Crime—Texas—History—Case studies. 2. Sex scandals—Texas—History—Case studies. 3. Scandals—Texas—History—Case studies. 4. Politicians—Texas—Conduct of life—History. I. Title.

      HV6793.T4V37 2011

      364.109764—dc23

      2011019717

      Edited by DONNA POEHNER

      Cover designed by STEPHEN SULLIVAN AND SCOTT MCGREW

      Interior designed by STEPHEN SULLIVAN

      Layout by ANNIE LONG

      Front and back cover photos appear courtesy of: Wikimedia Commons; photo of Anna Nicole

      Smith courtesy of Photofest, Inc.

      Photos in Texas Confidential appear courtesy of:

      Michael O. Varhola

      Library of Congress

      Wikimedia Commons

      NASA

      Other photos appear courtesy of: p. 36, IMDB; p. 47, CityView; p. 52, U.S. Congress; p. 74, New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung; p. 90, Chester Harding; p. 95, Mexico City Museum; p. 10, National Photo Company Collection; p. 159, Joe Burgess; p. 175, J. H. E. Partington; p. 180, Paul Joseph; p. 204, © 1980 Larry D. Moore; p. 207, Austin Police Department; p. 208, Austin Public Library; p. 213, Gunnar Hansen; p. 217, Houston Police Department; p. 241, Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys; p. 255, Laura McKenzie/New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung; p. 258, Laura McKenzie/New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung; p. 268, Jasleen Kaur; p. 271, Edward S. Curtis; p. 273, National Archives; p. 280, Frederic Remington; p. 289, Robert Stringer; p. 294, Matthew Rutledge; p. 295, U.S. Air Force; p. 296, Daniel Schwen; p. 309, Avon; p. 342, Diego Fernández

To the good people of Texas who have, over the years, been preyed upon by the villains of this volume and suffered the effects of their countless crimes.

      Table of CONTENTS

      FOREWORD by Jesse Sublett

      PREFACE

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      INTRODUCTION

      SEX in the Lone Star State

      1 Texas Vice

      2 Miss Hattie’s Bordello

      3 Porno, Texas Style

      4 Walking Tall in the White House

      5 The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

      6 Going Down to Get Ahead

      7 Paying for It, Lying About It—And Getting Away With It

      8 Below the Bench

      9 Now All Sex is Fine in Texas

      10 A Risky Proposition

      11 Anna Nicole Smith

      12 Sex Toys Now Legal in Texas!

      13 Mark of Shame

      SCANDAL in the Lone Star State

      1 Jean Lafitte

      2 Rogues of the Alamo

      3 “Ma” and “Pa” Ferguson

      4 The Veterans’ Land Board Scandal

      5 King of the Wheeler-Dealers

      6 The Sharpstown Stock Scandal

      7 The Duke of Duval County

      8 Charlie Wilson’s Whore

      9 The Enron Scandal

      10 Rathergate

      11 A Spacewoman Scorned

      12 The Love of Money

      13 Friday Night Lies

      MURDER in the Lone Star State

      1 The Border Reivers

      2 The Nueces Massacre

      3 The Way of the Gun

      4 The Death of Ambrose Bierce

      5 Texas Ser-y’all Killers

      6 The Ivory Tower of Death

      7 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

      8 The Crime of the Century

      9 The Women of Death Row

      10 A Fatal Attraction

      11 The Most Hated Woman in America

      12 (Bad) Mothers of the Year

      13 Cruel Justice

      14 A Texas Murder Trial

      15 Joe Stack and the IRS

      MAYHEM in the Lone Star State

      1 The Texas Indian Wars

      2 Crime and Punishment

      3 The Texas State Police

      4 The Marfa Ghost Lights

      5 The Aurora UFO Incident

      6 Howard the Barbarian

      7 The Paperclip Swastika

      8 The Texas City Disaster

      9 Mistreating the Treaty Tree

      10 Legend of the Chupacabra

      11 Zombies Ahead!

      12 Let the Bad Times Roll

      13 Gangland Texas

      Bibliography and Resources

      Foreword

      EVERY SUMMER, WHEN THE MERCURY starts heading toward the 100-degree mark, I ask myself, “Why do I live in Texas?” Walk outside on a typical July or August afternoon and the sun is like a hammer hitting you in the back of the head. Why stay in a place where the heat can kill you if you’re not careful? Not that there aren’t lots of other reasons to not be associated with a state that’s number one in executions and dead last or close enough to it in education, environment, and other categories that would seem vital to the quality of life.

      I have a theory, however, that extreme heat causes a kind of amnesia, with the result that once the summer heat wave ends, so does the memory of how awful it was. This may explain why the original