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I am searching for any info on James Wiley Carrington. 10-28-1861 / 4-27-1938. He is
burried in Vernon Texas. This is the only info I have on him from a book Early day History
of Wilbarger County. Thank you for any help. Nona
From page 54 “Early-day History of Wilbarger County” .Published in
1933
Veteran Peace Officer Came Here in 1882
J.W. Carrington, veteran peace officer of the county, arrived in Wilbarger County in 1882.
He was a native of Tennessee and came to Texas in 1870, settling in Collin Co. He was
married to Miss Bess Crawford, a native of Kentucky, who came to Texas and also settled in
Collin Co.
Mr. Carrington served as city marshal for two years. He was deputy under Johny Williams
for five years and was jailer four of the five years. He served as deputy sheriff under
Jim Key and while W.A. Ish was sheriff he was deputy and jailer for four years. Since
that time he has served as deputy under Frank Edmonson and R.L. Rheay.
Perhaps no other man knows more of the criminal happenings in Wilbarger County than does
Mr. Carrington yet he seldom mentions any of the. He began serving as peace officer in
the days when horses and buggies were the chief means of travel and had many interesting
experiences during the early days.
In talking about the early days, Mr. Carrington told of once getting some bank robbers out
of Oklahoma into Texas. The bank at Harold had been robbed and he, with Sheriff Williams,
trailed the robbers over into Oklahoma, finally capturing the men north of Frederick.
A number of Frederick people were crowded about the depot at train time. Al Jennings, who
was practicing law in Oklahoma at that time, was also at the depot with papers to serve
Sheriff Williams to keep him from bringing the man back to Texas. Rain had fallen all
night and the roads were very muddy. Before reaching Frederick, Sheriff Williams told Mr.
Carrington to go on in and catch the train and he would take the prisoners to Davidson and
put them on there, as he knew that Mr. Jennings was trying to keep them from coming back
to Vernon.
When the train pulled in, Mr. Carrington got on and so did Jennings. He wanted to know
where Johnnie Williams was and Carrington told him that he ought to be here pretty soon.
The train moved on. When it reached Davidson Mr. Williams put the prisoners in the smoking
car with Mr. Carrington and he remained on the back of the train. Mr. Carrington stood
guard at the door of the smoking car with a .45 until the train was in the middle of the
bridge across the Red River and he told the lawyer to come on in, while Mr. Williams came
on through the train to the front end.
Mr. and Mrs. Carrington have six children: Mrs. Nell Null and Leland Carrington of
Oklahoma City, OK, Mrs. G.W. Moscky of California, and Jake, Jack( my grandfather), and
Jim Carrington of Vernon.