SHOOTOUT AT THE DEPOT

By
Maryann Miller

If you heard gunfire last Saturday in Winnsboro it wasn't the James gang holding up the railroad, it was a bunch of reenactors who like to dress up and play Cowboys and... well, Cowboys. Ladies join in the fun, too, as saloon girls and maybe one or two real "ladies".

Pictured here from L-R: Carolyn Sillick, owner of Fitness Express in Winnsboro. Heather Corrior and Brenda Burns from Winnsboro. Brenda owns "Somethin' Different" specialty restaurant and Heather works for her.

Obviously, they are not the refined ladies who came to town to shop at the Mercantile.

All three are new at doing the shows, but they really enjoy it. "It's fun to dress up and play," Carolyn said.

The East Texas Wild West Fest was part of the activities for the Third Weekend of Autumn Trails and was put on by Crossroads Vigilantes & The Texas Pistolaros In addition to several shoot-out reenactments, there were stage coach rides, a best beard contest, a best mustache contest, a bull whip artist, a quick draw booth, Puppet Express and the Running Creek Rangers, and best dressed little cowgirl or cowboy contests.

James "Doc" Davis (Pictured to the right) has family ties to Texas since the late 1800's. He was raised in Winnsboro, then left in 1984 for Arizona where he formed Southwest Legends Gunfighters in 1996. In 2006, he and his wife, Carla, built Jamestown Wild West Town there, where re they did reenactments, weddings, and special history programs for students. On a trip to Winnsboro in 2008 they decided to come back to Texas and bought some property. That decision was encouraged by the fact that Doc had met his long-time friend, Shorty in Arizona. The men had joined the service in the 60's and each thought the other had been killed in Vietnam.

Their reunion was a special moment, and Shorty told Doc that if he moved back to Texas, Shorty would love for him to join him and his group, the Texas Pistolaros.The group is run by Lone Star Shorty and Diamond Lil' out of Ben Wheeler Texas. Performing not only in Texas, they have been to Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and Arizona for over ten years. For years, they could be found on the "Mountain" at Canton First Monday Trades Day as well as touring recently at different events, charities and educational tours. (In the above picture, Shorty is second from the right.)

Diamond Lil and Deadeye Jake, who didn't want to give their real names, said they just teamed up with the Pistolaros. "But we've been doing this a long time," Lil said. "We started in Tombstone at the OK Corral."

In addition to the Saloon Girls, there were some other Winnsboro folks "playing" that day. (Below: L-R) Danny Fisher, Efton Edwards, and Charlie Enloe, a longtime member of the Pistolaros.) Danny has been part of the Pistolaros for a several months, but Efton and Zane are new at it. In fact, this was their first performance.

Zane recently moved to Winnsboro from Southern California. He was raised in Wichita Falls and said it was "just time to come back to Texas." He used to e a fast-draw artist and has been doing the reenactments for just under a year.

Efton, who retired from the U.S. Post Office in Winnsboro said he had fun for his first time to perform. "They didn't tell us until a few minutes before we went out what we were supposed to do," he said. "But I guess I did alright."

The Pistolaros have a variety of skits they put on, and the major players like Doc, Carla, Shorty, Diamond Lil, Coyote Charlie and Ace all have scripted lines, although there is always a bit of ad libbing that goes on. The rest of the cast members know generally what is supposed to happen, but may not have specific scripted lines.

In addition to the skits and demonstrations and contests, there was other entertainment. "Tymza Flyin" the clown may have been having more fun than the kids. He said is steer is named "Has Been" because he has been a bull. Under the makeup and costume is Carlos Miller, who grew up in Winnsboro and graduated from WHS in 1955. He said he always wanted to be a rodeo clown and when he decided to give it a try, he wrote to companies that made blue jeans. "I told them I was going to college to fight bulls and would they send me clown jeans," he said. "So they did,. All three. Wrangler, Levi and Lee. And these Lee jeans I'm wearing today are 55 years old."

Another fun attraction was an authentic stagecoach that folks could hitch a ride on. The coach is owned by Ben Buckwalter from Van Alstyn, pictured here with his wife, Vickie. When he is not having fun with his stagecoach, he is a farmer, and Vickie said he got into this because he's always had an interest in horses and buggies. "We used to have a Doctor's buggy that we took to festivals like this," she said. "Then he found the stagecoach. He bought it on E-Bay and refurbished it."

The stagecoach is authentic, and Vickie said they have a lot of fun taking it around to small towns for events. "We find lots of little towns we probably never would have found if we weren't doing this," she said. "And we meet really nice people. What better way is there to spend a weekend?"

That is probably a sentiment shared by lots of folks who came out to see the show that Saturday.