In Boomtown, Joe Pappalardo (Four Against the West; Spaceport Earth) presents a riveting biography of 1927 Borger, Tex., a city sprung from the oil gushing beneath its surface.
Asa Borger learned of a 1926 Gulf Oil discovery on Dixon Creek and immediately, with the help of his lawyer John R. Miller (a "legal and morally flexible talent"), purchased 240 acres of nearby land and called the town Borger. Then he made Miller the mayor. Soon, men arrived for jobs on the rigs, with women and saloon-keepers at their heels. Prohibition didn't stop the criminal element from running distilleries just outside of town and making a fine profit while the law looked the other way. Within 90 days, the population grew from zero to 30,000. Texas Governor Dan Moody had run on a promise to clean up the state, so when two of Borger Sheriff Joe Ownbey's deputies wound up dead outside the open doors of their vehicle, Moody sent the Texas Rangers to find out what was going on.
Pappalardo's colorful, well-researched account documents just over six months in 1927, from February 2 to August 26, plus a postscript to chronicle what happened to the main players. Events unfold primarily through the perspective of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer (who would go on to win fame for ending the antics of Bonnie and Clyde). Readers watch him size up the characters populating Borger, as he develops a strategy for shaping up the town and making a smooth exit. But things didn't always go according to plan, including a fellow Ranger arresting a journalist, and another Ranger accused of attempted murder. Hamer's development of a defense for the latter demonstrated his cool head, intelligence, and commonsense approach.
Drawing from newspaper articles and the self-published memoirs of Borger citizens John "Slim" Jones and John H. White, Pappalardo places readers in the thick of the action. Even his footnotes add contour, such as the distinction between dance hall girls (10 cents a dance) and prostitutes, as well as the outcome of an open bounty on bank robbers "dead or alive." Pappalardo leavens the atmosphere with fascinating supporting characters, such as the wrestler "Dutch" Betke and Tex Thornton, the asbestos-suited firefighter called in whenever the oil wells blew.
This compelling story of a town--from its birth to how the criminal element insinuated itself into politics and law keeping--also serves as a cautionary tale of how overreach by the government, as in the case of Prohibition, can foster the workings of the black market. --Jennifer M. Brown
Shelf Talker: Anyone interested in Texas history or the early towns popping up as railroads and industry spread West will be captivated by Joe Pappalardo's history of Borger.