Charles "Leather Bitches" Smith

Charles "Leather Bitches" Smith. Louisiana Myths and Legends Byways. , Main Panel , An Outlaw Arrives in Merryville , A rumored fugitive from Texas, Charles "Leather Britches" Smith brought his nasty disposition to Merryville in 1910. He was a deadly shot. With his two Colt pistols, he could shoot purple martins in flight and a fox squirrel on the run. With his Krag- Jørgensen rifle, he could bring hawks out of the sky. Neither townspeople nor the law dared challenge him. , Leather Britches Terrorizes the Local Population , Legend says that Leather Britches often approached homes to scare folks into feeding him supper. He would shoot the heads off chickens feeding in the yard and toss the bloody body to the woman standing on her porch watching the commotion. "I'll be back for supper," he'd say. Dinner was always ready when he returned. Leather Britches Lands in the Middle of Trouble When Leather Britches arrived in Merryville, many mill towns were in the middle of a fierce battle. The Brotherhood of Timber Workers Union (the mill workers) and the Southern Lumber Operators' Association (the mill owners) were engaged in a fight over working conditions and pay. Many mill towns were at the mercy of the prominent mill company. A mill owner could control nearly everything in a "company" town. He could set prices at the commissary and decide who could and who could not trade in town. His company built the local school, employed the town doctor, and often had significant sway over the local lawmen. , Hero or Villain? , Knowing that conditions were unlikely to improve under the heavy-handed mill owners, the workers went on strike and rallied for better conditions. Initially, the protests were peaceful, but as tensions grew, violence erupted and flowed into the streets. Legend says that Leather Britches was the only man with guts and skill enough to stand up for the little man. For this reason, though he was dangerous when crossed, some people considered Leather Britches a hero. , No One Could Bring the Outlaw to Justice , No one, not the law or the local people, could outshoot or outsmart Leather Britches. Legend says that one afternoon, Leather Britches walked up on a man lazing by a small creek, brewing a pot of coffee. The outlaw asked, "Boy, what you doing in this part of the woods?" "Well," he replied, "I was told Leather Britches travels through here quite a bit. I aim to kill him and collect the reward." The two sat and shared a cup of coffee. As Leather Britches stood to leave, he turned with knowing eyes and said, "I hope you get your man., Left Panel , Lumber Boom Attracts Lawlessness , . The Promise of Making Money Changes Merryville , In the late 1800s, large, dense patches of pine forest still covered the South, Without railroads stretching across the area, lumber companies had no means of shipping harvested timber to market. Once the railroads arrived, the remote stands of timber suddenly became profitable. Almost immediately, lumber companies were scrambling to buy up land and cut the trees. , Leather Britches Merely One of Many Rough Folk , Around 1895 the Santa Fe Railroad arrived in Merryville by way of Kirbyville, Texas, and Merryville quickly turned into a bustling locale. Once the railroad was laid, new sawmills shot out of the ground. These new towns brought an influx of rough and rowdy workers. Saloons and other forms of mischievous entertainment opened to service the new population, sometimes a raucous and dubious lot. , The outlaw Leather Britches Smith was merely one of the new transplants locals had to deal with, and this influx of roughnecks, vagabonds, and criminals did not appeal to longstanding residents and mill owners who wanted law and order and a quiet God-fearing life. , Leather Britches Vowed Not To Be Taken Alive , Of course, law officers and several citizens of Merryville thought Leather Britches should be arrested. Leather Britches, though, walked freely during the daylight hours because the lawmen were afraid to arrest him. , The outlaw swore never to be taken alive, which meant any attempt to arrest him would end in a gunfight, and no one wanted to try to outdraw him. , Capturing the outlaw at night was unlikely, too, because according to legend, Leather Britches never slept in the same place twice and was adept at living in the wild, which made it nearly impossible to track him. , Finally, some in the community viewed Leather Britches as a hero and aided him as he avoided the law. They gave him food and shelter and were not willing to divulge his whereabouts or any of his good hiding places. , The aid of townsfolk is truly what made apprehending Leather Britches nearly impossible. , Right Panel , The End to Leather Britches Smith. , In September of 1912 a local posse led by Deputy Sheriff Del Charlan caught a break that ended the career of Leather Britches Smith. Early one morning, the posse found the outlaw sleeping by the old shed at Pump House Branch. , A Hail of Bullets Kills the Outlaw , Deputy Charlan claimed that when the posse arrived Leather Britches was armed and waiting for them. When the deputy called out for Leather Britches to surrender, the outlaw responded by lifting his rifle. In response, the posse unloaded their rifles, and Leather Britches was killed. Different men take credit for the first bullet that killed Leather Britches, but no one really knows which shot ended him. , Certain Smith was dead and no longer a threat, the posse advanced. They put body in a box and loaded it on the next train to Merryville. When the body made it back to town, the men packed the body in ice and leaned the box up against the outside wall of the Merryville Jail. Residents mobbed the scene to see with their own eyes that Leather Britches was dead. , A Mysterious Past Remains Unsolved , Though known to the residents of Merryville as Charles "Leather Britches Smith, residents suspected Leather Britches was actually a man named Ben Myatt, a known Texas criminal. The two men's descriptions matched down to a little scar. Believing they had the fugitive from Texas, the posse waited for Texas authorities to come and identify the body. To everyone's surprise, when the Texas deputy arrived, he said the dead man wasn't Ben Myatt. He claimed the two men had different colored eyes. , The Strange Burial Of Leather Britches Smith , The deputy caught the next train home, leaving no one to claim the outlaw's dead body. The people of Merryville debated about how to handle the remains. Some wanted Leather Britches buried in the Merryville Cemetery, and some didn't. The people compromised by burying Leather Britches right on the cemetery's fence line. The townspeople marked the spot with a cedar board. , Which Story is True? , A marker for the grave of Leather Britches still stands in the cemetery. After many years the cedar board rotted away, and the first site was forgotten. Years later, local citizens erected a stone marker in another location so that the legend of Leather Britches Smith would always be remembered. How was Leather Britches finally caught? Different stories say the outlaw was betrayed. Some say a member of the train crew saw the outlaw at Pump House Branch. When the train rolled into Merryville, he told the posse. Another version of the story says that one of the union men betrayed Leather Britches, and still others say that Leather Britches himself was so sick and tired of being on the run that he decided to stay put and give it up. Some people even say the outlaw was still dressed in his underwear when the posse surprised him at Pump House Branch and the men shot him in cold blood.