On this date in 1982, Fayette County Sheriff T.J. "Jim" Flournoy died at the age of 80. Big Jim, as he was known, was the longest-serving sheriff in Fayette County history, had a two-year run as a Texas Ranger during World War II and several stints as a deputy in various jurisdictions. He shot to fame, of course, by defending the Chicken Ranch brothel when KTRK-TV newsman Marvin Zindler campaigned to shut it down.
Big Jim would not have been happy with my writing
Texas' Legendary Chicken Ranch: Truth, Lies and Legacy of a Lone Star Whorehouse (coming summer 2016 from the History Press, if you didn't catch that earlier).
Despite the late sheriff's misgivings, today I'm heading to the Texas State Library and Archives for another photography research run. There's only one or two more of these on my calendar, then all that will remain is compiling the images and captions to go with the manuscript text. There is going to be a
lot of photos in this book once all is said and done. Heck, I'm impressed, but then again I'm easy that way.
Now Playing: Pink Floyd Raving and Drooling
Chicken Ranch Central
This is a relatively of mine not sure how me and my brother are curious about this to learn more about our dad
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting. Who is your father? Sheriff Flournoy had several brothers, most of them also in law enforcement.
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