Dewitt M. Christie, ♊

ee "Trinity County Beginnings," Trinity County Book Committee, 1986, p 256-257. Correspondent: Mrs. Jonny Lou Varner.

Mary Means Sullivan, in "The Family Saga: A Collection of Texas Family Legends," tells the story of the Christie/Durham Feud, which she calls "The Sullivan Feud." In short, Doc Durham and Henry Christie were married to Sullivan sisters. Things between the families got very bad: first, Doc insisted on cutting down Christie trees when he needed timber. Then, at a big dance, Jewell Christie made remarks about the girlfriend of one of the Durhams, at which Sollie and Little Doc Durham cut him up so badly he nearly died. After that, the Christie boys started shooting Durham animals and leaving them to rot. Then Doc was shot and killed through a window while he was at a neighbor's party. Lawmen tracked the killer to the Christie house, and arrested Audie, who was later convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison (he was pardoned in 1928). Then, one day, Carr Durham, who had been out hunting and had several guns on him, ran across Henry and his twin sons Jewell and Dewitt, who were returning from trading cotton for farm goods, and killed them all. He immediately admitted to the killings, and was tried for murder, and pled self defense, though he also said he killed them because they killed his father. (He later told his Aunt Pearl that the murders haunted him, and he didn't know why he'd committed them.) Carr and Little Doc were later killed at Alazon in a gunfight, by "Alazon boys" who wanted to see how tough they were.

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth177723/m1/1/ See. "Trinity County Beginnings," Trinity County Book Committee, 1986, p256-257. Correspondent: Mrs.Jonny Lou Varner.