Former Governor Conrad Meyer Zulick did not respond the year before either even though the widowed Elizabeth Scott begged him as well. Her only son had been murdered in Heber (town not founded until 1890), Apache Country, A.T. (James Lane Scott, III was 26 years old – born in 1861 in Anderson, Grimes County, Texas.) For 131 years, this mysterious murder has remained unsolved until now.

 “Murders on the Mogollon” by Robert Hutchinson has been entered into the Austin State Archives Library. Excerpt from book written by this author: “And now Betty Scott, I am so proud to be the one to bring you the greatest amount of comfort that I possibly can so that you might rest more easily in your Grimes County, Texas grave. I found the killers of your son, James Lane Scott, III and I am proud to know him!”

Elizabeth Scott’s influence was directed by her two brothers, Ben and Briggs Goodrich. Briggs was Attorney General for Phoenix, A.T. during 1888. Ben was a prominent District Attorney in Cochise County, A.T. and moved to Phoenix after the hangings. Another uncle of Scott was a sheriff or deputy from Austin, TX and was assassinated upon his return from Phoenix, A.T. where he had gone to see what could be done to find the killers of his nephew. My source, Austin, TX resident Margarette Mills, was a distant relative and unsure of the uncle’s name. James Lane Scott, III came from an influential family. His paternal grandfather was one of the 61 members of the Texas Constitutional Convention in 1845. His maternal grandfather was Dr. Benjamin Goodrich, a graduate of a medical school in Baltimore, MD. Dr. Goodrich was a signer of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence for the State of Texas. Dr. Goodrich’s brother died at the Alamo. Scott’s brother was a distinguished Cavalry soldier in the Spanish-American War and was married to the daughter of the Lieutenant Governor of Texas.  

The Arizona Historical Review ran an article as stated by Apache County Undersheriff Joe McKinney: “The cause for which he (Scott) was hanged was for calling Apache County, A.T. Deputy Sheriff James Dennis Houck’s hand (bluff) one night in Holbrook, A.T. When Houck had diarrhea of his whiskey mouth (my coined words). Houck backed down and refused to go (slap leather) but forever afterward had an awful grudge against Jimmy Scott…Jimmy was very agreeable but was far from being cowardly. There was no backing down to him. Jim Houck was the cause of his demise. I thought a great deal of Jimmy Scott and felt his death very keenly.”

This author is 100% positive that Scott was murdered -- not for what he did but because of who he was. What better way to influence the A.T. Governor (Zulick) than to murder the nephew (Scott) of his two right hand men: Ben and Briggs. The huge Texas based “Aztec Land and Cattle Company Ltd./Hashknife Outfit” had just bought one million acres of checker-board Arizona Territory-- for 25 cents per acre --which was formerly owned by the Apache Railroad Company. The A.T. Sheriff Commodore Perry Owens and his ten deputies were in direct competition for the same water and grazing privileges allotted to the citizens of Apache County. 

 Zulick moved to Pennsylvania to grow figs. (Go figure – Pun intended!)

On August 11, 1888, Stott, Scott and Wilson were abducted and taken 19 miles to the Mogollon Rim. They were murdered by 28 men (eye-witness count) in this exact manner, on this exact limb of this exact tree, just as my photograph indicates. “They would not be seen again for 54 years and Jamie Stott was still wearing the gold wedding band of his father…”