One of the most amusing incidents of the time occurred in the Spring of
1875. A man by the name of George W. Cole from somewhere up in
Pennsylvania had plotted a townsite out in Palo Pinto County which he
called Lamar. He alleged in his advertisements that it would be a
division point on the Texas & Pacific. He sold a good many lots to the
"sucker" element that is always ready to grab at any thing that sounds
cheap. He went over to Tennessee and worked up an excursion to come and
see Texas. It was farthest from his thought to show them Lamar. He only
intended to let them see what a good country Texas was. Hearing about
the excursion, the Democrat got out an extra edition, telling about
Tarrant county in general and Fort Worth in particular. The editor took
a bundle of the papers and went to Texarkana to meet the excursion
train. It took breakfast at that place and while the excursionists were
enjoying their mututinal meal, the papers were distributed in every seat
in the train. After they had time to look the paper over, the editor
went through the train and made their acquaintance. He so ingratiated
himself with them that by the time the train reached Dallas, they were
nearly all ready to come on to Fort Worth, to which place he promised
them free transportation. That night he preempted every seat in the
stage coaches and engaged hacks for the rest of the party. They spent
the night at the Crutchfield Hotel and in the morning were to have had a
reception by the business men. General W. L. Cabell was the mayor of the
town. When the hour for the reception arrived there was no one to
receive. They had gone to Fort Worth, where they had a royal good time.
Later some of them settled in Tarrant County. Mayor Cabell said he had
heard of thefts of every kind but that it was the first time he ever
heard of any one stealing an excursion.