J. J. Pierce

Sheriff Julius Jewell Pierce had held the office seven months when he went to The Flats, a Ralls neighborhood, on the night of August 2, 1947, to raid a liquor cache. He arrested George Holland, a Black man he had arrested before, and was shot five times. Holland was taken in Amarillo the next morning and held in Lubbock because of lynching threats. A jury of twelve white men sentenced him to death in 75 minutes. His NAACP-retained lawyer argued that witnesses were intimidated and jury selection was discriminatory; the judge denied a new trial.

What the plaque says

J. J. Pierce Born at Blum, Texas. Became Sheriff of Crosby County in January 1947. Was killed in line of duty while arresting a bootlegger at Ralls, Texas. Dedicated to enforcement of law--a man of quiet courage and fearless character. Father of eight children. Recorded - 1967

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum — 1.6 mi
  Crosbyton's museum of Blanco Canyon, built in 1958 as a copy of Hank Smith's Rock House, and the place to learn the canyon's 1871 fight between Mackenzie's cavalry and Quanah's Quahadi Comanche.
• Spur-Dickens County Museum — 24 mi
  Dickens County's museum on the main block of Spur, a town born on November 1, 1909, when the first train reached the land a New York syndicate was selling off from the Spur Ranch.
• Slaton Harvey House — 29 mi
  A 1912 Santa Fe Harvey House in the railroad town of Slaton, restored as a museum, event hall and five-room inn overlooking a working BNSF yard.
• Motley County Historical Museum — 33 mi
  Matador's museum in the 1928 Traweek Hospital, in the county seat a Scottish-owned ranch created by having its cowboys open one-day businesses to pass a state rule.

More markers nearby

• Lamar Family — steps away
• Julian M. Bassett — steps away
• Crosbyton Cemetery — steps away
• Crosby County — 1.6 mi