"On the road again, on the road again, seeking Old West Justice, and paying sales tax, on the road again."
That's right, folks, I'm on the road again in our final Avalara-sponsored Sales Tax Trip Tuesday for 2025. This is the second part of our exploration of old west justice. Last time we looked at the justice 'meted out' in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the Oklahoma Territory, and Fort Worth, Texas.
Today, we are going to turn back the clock and look at justice' West of the Pecos', in Lincoln County, New Mexico, and Tombstone, Arizona. As we travel the route, we will also be examining sales tax along the way using Avalara's free 'Sales and Use Tax Calculator.'
When last we left off, we had gorged ourselves on Buffalo Burgers at Hopdaddy's in Fort Worth. As we head down I-35W, we need to 'gas up'. This big old pickup drinks up the number one crop of West Texas: Oil & Gas. Where I-35W and I-35E merge, just north of Hillsboro, is one of our favorite watering troughs… Buc-ee's.
If you've never been to a Buc-ee's, you've just not had the 'fill-up' experience of a lifetime. When it opened in 2024, this Buc-ee's was the largest in Texas, with 120 gas pumps, but I don't know if a bigger one has been built since then.
Buck-ee's Hillsboro, TX website
Today, gas is at $2.46 per gallon. Of this amount we're paying the standard Texas gas tax of 20 cents per gallon, plus the federal excise tax of 18.3 cents per gallon, totaling 38.3 cents in fuel taxes per gallon, with no special local gas tax, however, they include a LUST fee of 0.1 cents and the price also reflects the Texas state sales tax 6.25% added to the pump price. So, at twenty-nine gallons of E10, we are shelling out $71.35.
As if that wasn't enough, we are headed into the 74,000 square-foot convenience store for some munchies. There is almost anything you want here, a variety of hot fresh food, sandwiches, fruit cups, salads, a 'jerky' bar, homemade fudge, general merchandise, auto accessories, heck… I can even buy a hat rack for my pickup here.
All told, the damage from making the mistake of walking into that place was $84.60 (pre-tax), according to the Avalara Sales and Use Tax Calculator we are paying $6.98 in total sales tax, of which 6.25% is the Texas state sales tax, 0.5% is the Hill County sales tax, and 1.5% is the Hillsboro (city) sales tax, for a total of 8.25%.
From Hillsboro, we cruise down I-35 toward Austin and then San Antonio. We've got a little over three hours of driving ahead of us in two slightly different regions of this vast state. Texas Tourism will tell you our drive down to Austin lies within their 'Prairies and Lakes' region. Most of the lakes are north of us; this is definitely prairie land and cattle country, as is most of the area we will cover between Austin and San Antonio, even though Texas Tourism calls that 'Hill Country.'
Texas Tourism Website
Besides the herds of cattle, you might happen to see a herd of these 'American Buffalo.' While some Buffalo ranching is for conservation purposes, more and more of it centers around the growing taste for those Buffalo Burgers (and steaks) we ended with in our last installment of Sales Tax Trip Tuesday.
Texas Tourism Website
Knowing we would arrive in Austin just in time for lunch and how early the lines form to get into Franklin Barbecue when they open at 11 AM, I decided to 'order ahead'. Of course, let us not forget that this is 'a trip of my imagination' and while Franklin's does allow 'ordering ahead' they have a minimum of 5 pounds of any of the meats they offer, and large containers of their sides. Slightly more than my companion and I could eat in one sitting (but not by much).
Franklin Barbecue - Austin, Texas (website)
So, I'm imagining that Aaron hooked me up with something special, a 'favorites platter for two (plus), with ribs, turkey, brisket, and both hot and mild sausages. Sides include his pickles, potato salad, beans, and coleslaw. You are probably going to be 'gasping for air' when I mention my check, but let me remind you that Aaron Franklin is not just a true Barbecue Pitmaster, and considered by many to be the 'Best BBQ guy in all of Texas', but also the recipient of the James Beard 'Best Chef' Award and an American Royal Barbecue Hall of Fame recipient.
With that said, my imagination tells me we have a check for $137 waiting for us, excluding sales tax. According to the Avalara Sales and Use Tax Calculator, we are paying $11.30 in sales tax, bringing the total to $147.30. The sales tax is composed of 6.25% Texas state sales tax, 1% City of Austin sales tax, and 1% Austin MTA Transit Authority sales tax.
Before departing Austin, I'd best insert a little 'Old West Justice' news here. In 1823, Stephen F. Austin proposed hiring ten rangers to defend the Texas territory. You can visit the Former Texas Rangers Foundation and Heritage Center in Fredericksburg, Texas, to experience the role the Texas Rangers played in Texas legend and lore. If you've read any of the Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurtry, or watched any of the movies adapted from McMurtry's novels, you have had a glimpse (although romanticized) of Old West Justice at the hands of the Rangers.
After this delicious lunch, I really wanted a nap, but we had to get back in my pickup and continue on down I-35 to San Antonio. We've got another Buc-ee's stop just ahead at New Braunfels because we've used about half-a-tank of gas, and I'm not sure there is another Buc-ee's on the remainder of our route.
Buc-ee's New Braunels, TX (website)
There is quite a difference in gas prices here; we are at only $2.18 per gallon for E10, so I'm glad I stopped. Of the $2.18, 20 cents per gallon is the Texas gasoline tax, which is added to the federal excise tax of 18.3 cents per gallon, totaling 38.3 cents in fuel taxes per gallon and a LUST fee of 1 cent per gallon, and since there doesn't appear to be any special local tax on gasoline sales, it seems that 38.4 cents per gallon is the total fuel tax at this station. With BBQ leftovers and much of our earlier Buc-ee sundries, we are off just as soon as we can make our way back to I-35.
Of note in our 'Old West Justice' for San Antonio proper is the Bexar County Courthouse, the largest and oldest continuously operating historic courthouse in all of Texas. The courthouse was built in 1892, but before its construction, the French Building was used as the courthouse from 1859 to 1892.
Bexar County website
Although it has undergone at least two renovations over the last 133 years, the Bexar County Courthouse still looks its age from a historic perspective. Old West justice in the San Antonio region was a mix of legendary, colorful characters and raw, deadly violence, evidencing a time when justice was often a personal, hard-earned commodity.
Texas Historical Society website
One of the characters who was likely headed to 'meet justice' at the newly constructed Bexar Courthouse was King Fisher, who had earned a reputation for being both feared and respected. Apparently, he walked a thin line between being a lawman and an outlaw, as did many of the old west lawmen. Less than one year after having been appointed as Sheriff of Uvalde County, he gunned down a stagecoach robbery suspect, only to be gunned down himself after traveling to San Antonio to visit a friend.
While we could have headed west out of Austin to reach our next destination, the roads just aren't as accommodating a drive as taking the interstate to meet up with U.S. Highway 90, which takes us through Uvalde and Uvalde County, that I mentioned above. Continuing on U.S. 90, we reach Del Rio, which sits nearly on our border with Mexico. Laughlin Air Force Base is nearby. Laughlin AFB has nothing to do with the 'old, old west', but for more than 50 years, it has trained more than 15,000 pilots for the U.S. Air Force.
It won't be long now. As we continue westward on U.S. Highway 90, we will soon be at our next destination: a little unincorporated wide place in the road in Val Verde County, Texas called Langtry.
Texas Tourism Website
It is literally a stone's throw from this place across the river to Mexico. Of course, in that short distance, there are probably more Rattlesnakes and Beaded-lizards than you can count, even if you see them all before one of them bites you.
Texas Wildlife Website
This rattlesnake is opening his mouth as to say, "Welcome to the 'Law West of the Pecos', Court is now in session. Judge Roy Bean, presiding."
Texas Historical Society website and the Judge Roy Bean Museum
On August 2, 1882, the Pecos County Commissioners appointed Roy Bean as 'Justice of the Peace for Precinct No. 6. He is likely to be the most notorious of the legendary 'lawmen' in all of Texas.
Texas Historical Society website and the Judge Roy Bean Museum
Judge Bean held Court in his saloon at Langtry, and today, more than 40,000 visitors per year come to this 'way, out of the way' spot to visit the Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center, which is a recreation of his 'Jersey Lilly (Langtry) saloon.' The Center is complete with Bean's .41 Smith and Wesson pistol, which he used as a gavel, along with his sole law book, the 1879 Texas Statutes.
Judge Bean later built an adobe home adjacent to his Saloon Court. It was remodeled with the white stucco finish (seen below) as part of the Memorial and Museum operated by Texas Tourism.
Texas Historical Society website and the Judge Roy Bean Museum
Bean's brand of justice was improvised and governed mainly by his sense of fairness rather than any formal legal code. Just add in a little 'showmanship,' and with only a passing knowledge of the law, he made rulings that ranged from the practical to the absurd. For example, Bean once declared two men, in perfect health, as being 'dead' so he could collect $10 in 'inquest fees' from the county.
Despite movie renditions of Bean's life, or excerpts of it, which depict Bean as having been shot, hung, or burned on his own saloon porch, it is a documented fact that he actually died of 'natural causes' in 1903. In many ways, Bean's 'real life' was much more legendary.
But generally, or so they will tell you at the visitor's Center (shown below), Bean was a good-hearted man, despite his long list of faults. and entertaining than the artistic license with which movie producers represent his life.
Texas Historical Society website and the Judge Roy Bean Museum
Unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing close by in the way of lodging; you either drive 60+ miles back, 60+ miles out of the way, or 60+ miles further west, which at least keeps us moving in the right direction. That is where we find the Desert Air Motel, a quaint, older motel typical of the era in which it was built, but which has been reconditioned and maintained well enough to have a 4.7-star rating.
Desert Air Motel website
It's clean, and by the time we get there, that and the fact that it has 'air conditioning' is just about all we are concerned with.
The old saying, "Desert travelers can't be choosers," is obviously true, because the price you pay for a room here is like staying at a Michelin-rated hotel. On top of our $135.00 room rate, we have a 14% hotel-motel tax. Of that, 6% goes to the State of Texas as Hotel Occupancy Tax, and 8% goes to the metropolis of Sanderson as Local Hotel Tax.
We are up at the crack of day and on our way because we have a long way to travel to our next destination, a little more than six hours away. From here, we are on U.S. 285 all the way. I won't bore you with travel details, except to say that along the way we'll stop at another famous location. But first, we need to get some breakfast. We've made it all the way to Carlsbad, New Mexico, where we'll stop at Blue House Bakery Café. Other than the blue siding, this place looks almost like the Judge Bean house.
Blue House Bakery Cafe website
The breakfast 'toaster' sandwich was delicious, and so was the French toast with bacon.
Adapted from the Blue House Bakery Cafe website
With our coffees, including refills to go, the total check was $19.75 before tax. According to the Avalara Sales and Use Tax Calculator, we are paying $1.46 in sales tax, bringing the total to $21.21. The sales tax is composed of 4.88% New Mexico state sales tax and 2.52% Carlsbad City sales (apparently, there is no Eddy County sales tax). What can I say but an outstanding breakfast at the most economical price, with reasonable sales tax to boot.
Before we get to our final destination for today, we have another meal break scheduled. As I said, it's at another historic site, but one that has absolutely nothing to do with the 'old west'; it just happens to be 'on our route.' We are going to eat at The Valley Café in Roswell, New Mexico. Can you say "Alien Crash Site?" For a small-town café, this place is almost 'other worldly,' but it's rated 4.9 and right on course.
Valley Cafe website
One order of chicken strips and steak fingers later, our check is $37.00 plus sales tax. The Avalara Sales and Use Tax Calculator shows that the total sales tax here is 8.28%, with 4.88% going to the State of New Mexico and 3.5% to the City of Roswell, bringing our total to $40.06.
Valley Cafe website
As we continue back on route at the north end of Roswell, we will stop for gas, at where else, a Murphy's USA Gas… let's keep this fill-up "all in the family (George)." $2.19 per gallon of E10 is just fine by me, but what part of that is fuel tax? I mean, we have changed states. As it turns out, the total fuel tax is 37.28 cents per gallon. Of that, 18.4 cents is the Federal excise tax on gasoline, and 18.88 cents is the total New Mexico State Excise Tax and other taxes or fees. After $96.36 at the pump, I'm ready to continue on our journey to New Mexico's 'old west' justice feud of legendary fame.
Between 1878 and 1881, one of the bloodiest conflicts in the New Mexico Territory occurred in Lincoln County. Numerous events led up to the feud, but the foundation of the 'war', as it would come to be called, was 'economic and political control' over the area. You've heard the names, you've seen the movies, and you may even have studied these events in a Western history class.
New Mexico Transportation Department
Two distinct groups were involved: Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan on one side, and John Tunstall and Alexander McSween on the other. Murphy had long owned much of the town's business, including a dry goods store, a freight store, the livery, and the saloon. He was also the town's 'loan shark', charging excessive interest rates and repayment terms that frequently led small ranchers and farmers to lose their properties to Murphy when they couldn't repay.
When John Tunstall partnered with Alex McSween to open a competing dry goods store, and local rancher John Chisum agreed to open a bank, Murphy sought to reclaim his control over the area by hiring the Jess Evans (outlaw) Gang as enforcers. Soon thereafter, John Tunstall was killed by members of the Evans Gang who were in cahoots with the Town Marshall.
William H. Bonney (aka: Billy the Kid) and another of Tunstall's employees claimed to have seen the death; however, the town marshal claimed that it was his men who attempted to present Tunstall with an arrest warrant when he drew a gun, and they were forced to defend themselves.
Over the intervening years, numerous members of the Evans Gang, along with Dolan. Members of Billy the Kid's 'regulators' were also killed. Murphy and Alex McSween were killed in the last major stand-off in which much of the small town burned. As a result, there are few buildings left that genuinely reflect the once thriving community.
Lincoln County Historical Society
Finally, while both men had been involved from the very beginning of the feud, the war would finally end in 1881 when Pat Garrett, the acting Lincoln County Sheriff (on the right), killed Billy the Kid (on the left). Thus ended the Lincoln County War.
Pat Garrett left Lincoln County and New Mexico for some time, but he always seemed to be involved in disputes of one kind or another; one such dispute even involved President Theodore Roosevelt.
Finally, in 1908, as he and another man rode between Las Cruces and the San Augustine Pass, a third man rode up and shot and killed Garrett. The man was tried more than a year later; however, he was acquitted of the death when the key witness, Garrett's riding companion, failed to appear at the trial. A historical marker along U.S. Route 70 is approximately 1 mile from where Garrett's murder actually occurred.
Let's not throw in the towel yet. We still have another historic old west justice location to visit, but it's been another full day by the time we make it to Ruidoso, New Mexico, which is on our way back southwest. We will be staying in comfort tonight at the MCM Elegante Lodge and Resort. For all you golfers, you would probably like me to tell you about 'the round I played, only in my imagination,' but that isn't happening.
MCM Elegante Lodge & Resort
I want to say that we had a lavish supper, but actually we were so tired by the time we got to our room, that 'room service' seemed to be the 'best order of business.' And really, can you blame me for not wanting to step out of my room when it is luxurious like this?
MCM Elegante Lodge & Resort
And believe it or not, our total bill, including the evening and morning room service, was just $281.00 before hotel-motel and sales taxes. Of the total, $67 was from room service and was subject to sales tax. Let's look at that first.
Avalara tells us that, in addition to the 4.88% New Mexico state sales tax, there is a 3.31% Ruidoso sales tax, for a total of 8.19% on the room service portion of the bill, meaning $5.49 in sales tax is being added to the $281.00.
Ruidoso has a hotel-motel tax of 5%, and New Mexico has a Gross Receipts Tax of 3.19% on lodging expenses, so we multiply the $214 portion of the hotel bill (lodging charges minus room service) by 8.19% to get 17.53. When we add it all up, our final hotel bill is $304.02, but let me tell you the cushy bed and jacuzzi tub were well worth the extra expense.
The final leg of this trip is upon us, and by now you must know that we are headed to the home of the OK Corral, Tombstone, Arizona. Southwest of Ruidoso, we meet U.S. Highway 54 at Tularosa, then it's a short distance to Alamogordo, where we jump on U.S. Highway 70 and head southwest to Las Cruces. At Las Cruces, we join up with Interstate 10 and continue westward.
I know you are getting tired of hearing about gas stops and lunch spots, so I will skip the desert driving, except to say: always have spare gas, spare water, and at least three rolls of duct tape with you when you are traveling in the desert, even along major Interstate highways. At Benson, Arizona, we exit Interstate-10 and head south on Arizona 8. This desert territory always makes it seem further than it truly is.
As you descend from Boot Hill into Tombstone proper, the town seems to appear much the way that you might have expected it to look in the old west days. In fact, even though the street is paved, they have brought in thousands of yards of crushed gravel and dirt to cover it so that it appears as it would have in the days of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday.
The first time I ever drove to Tombstone from Tucson was several years before the movie 'Tombstone' was made. At that time, the street was mostly paved with asphalt, but the movie crew brought in all the crushed gravel, and the town decided to keep it since it became a major tourist attraction afterward.
Tombstone Tourism website
The crews for both movies were responsible for refurbishing many of the old buildings that were almost falling when I first arrived. Since the movies, many buildings have remained as they were for the movie, while others have cleaned up their act with fresh paint and polish. The once 'silver' boom town is likely to remain a tourist boom town as long as reruns of the two popular movies continue to stream live online.
But this article is not about movies or tourist attractions; it's about old-west justice. In 1879, Tombstone was founded when a local prospector discovered silver nearby. Within a few years, the town grew from a handful of mostly locals to more than 14,000 when millions of dollars of silver were being pulled from the ground.
As you might expect, crime grew right along with wealth and population, and clearly outpaced local law enforcement. When the town marshal or county sheriff didn't go along with the criminal element, they were simply killed. For the most part, the criminal element was a group of former ranch hands who had first found that 'stealing cattle' without any law enforcement to fear was far more lucrative than 'herding cattle' for a wealthy rancher. They also found that stealing silver from prospectors on their way into town, or silver headed to the train station for transfer to Tucson, was even more lucrative than stealing cattle. It wasn't long before these so-called 'Cowboys' were pretty well having their way with anyone and everyone in Tombstone, and those who resisted, well, they found their way into the dirt on Boot Hill.
As the story goes, Wyatt Earp had left his job as Marshall in Dodge City, Kansas, to meet his brothers Virgil and Morgan from California in Tombstone with the intention of getting rich by working a silver mine. They would work odd jobs until the mine began to produce silver ore; however, Wyatt wasn't expecting that both Virgil and Morgan would show up with 'wives' they had to support.
Soon thereafter, Wyatt's acquaintance, Doc Holliday, arrived with his own female baggage, along with a woman Wyatt had befriended in Dodge City. It became evident that life in Tombstone would be far more demanding than 'mining, cooking, and camping, ' the lifestyle of most miners.
As townspeople began hearing stories that the 'great lawman' Wyatt Earp was in town, they demanded that the town's Mayor hire him to bring 'law and order' to Tombstone. Signing on, first as a Deputy and then as Town Marshal after the Marshal was gunned down by one of the Cowboys.
From that moment on, the shoot-out at the OK Corral was a foregone conclusion. Almost immediately, the Earps became embroiled in arguments with the Cowboys, led by the Clanton and McLaury brothers, and several others. On October 26, 1881, when the Cowboys began telling everyone in town to stay off the street if they feared for their lives because the Earps were dying that day, Wyatt, Virgil, Morgan, and Doc Holliday tracked several members of the gang down, preparing to depart the OK Corral through an empty lot off of Fremont Street. Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury, and Billy Clanton were killed in the ensuing gunfight.
Gunfight Reenactment adapted from Tombstone Tourism website
Two months later, Virgil Earp was seriously wounded when ambushed while on night patrol. As a result, Virgil lost the use of one arm. Three months after that, Morgan Earp was shot from outside, through a window, as he played billiards. A rifle bullet could not be pulled from Morgan's spine, and he succumbed to his injuries.
Subsequently, Wyatt Earp was appointed as a U.S. Deputy Marshall for the Arizona territories, and pursued and killed four of the cowboy gang he believed to have been involved in the ambush of his brother Virgil, and the murder of his brother Morgan. Shortly thereafter, Wyatt left Arizona and was seen in San Francisco, California, visiting his brother, Morgan. In late 1882, Wyatt married Josephine Marcus, an actress he had first met at the famed Bird Cage Theater in Tombstone.
Wyatt died in 1929 in Los Angeles, California. Wyatt's beloved Josie died in 1944 while still living in the same small home where she and Wyatt had resided at the time of his death.
Well, folks, this is the end of our story, and our 2-part mini-series on 'Old West Justice.' It's also the end of our Sales Tax Trip Tuesday features, all of which I have enjoyed writing for you. These little trips of my imagination have, in many ways, provided as much relaxation as a real trip might have. I know one thing, they have rekindled my interest in both places and history, and especially places in history.
I want to thank Avalara for their sponsorship of this year's series, and also the past series I've written. Perhaps ending with these 'cowboy' stories is most fitting, so I can sign off by simply saying, "Happy Trails to You... Just maybe, we will meet along one of those trails, I'll be the one wearing the 'Open Road' Stetson."