The Cow Business

Pink Higgins takes care of a rustler.

January 22, 1877. Rancher Pink Higgins walks in to the Gem Saloon in Lampasas, Texas. He points his rifle at Merritt Horrell, says something about “settling that cow business,” and then pumps four bullets into the unarmed man. Horrell dies on the floor. This kicks off the Horrell-Higgins Feud, that would claim several lives on both sides over the next couple of years. Most believe Higgins was angry that Horrell had stolen one of his calves and gotten away with it. But biographer David Johnson says Merritt was actually herding Pink’s wife away from the marital bed.