They just loved to fight.”Ĭleon Nettles: “When someone got too big for his britches, he just disappeared. Everyone had a bootlegger.”Ĭarolyn Miller: “They weren’t all killers. Robert White: “When they widen that highway, they’ll probably find a whole bunch of skeletons.”Ĭliff Helton: “Liquor laws? Practically nil. Anyone who has been there is an expert on Jacksboro Highway.
The stories are legion, an intriguing blend of fact and fiction, a bit of myth and more than a dash of truth. The new freeway, with a 1990 start date, may cut down the few remaining landmarks and provide the final nail in the coffin of a wild and woolly era. A victim of urban growth, changing life styles and its own wicked reputation, Jacksboro Highway has become in recent years something of a toothless lion and a bit of an eyesore.
