Texas History Minute

Texas and Oklahoma have had a rivalry for many years Generations of bad jokes and goodnatured ribbing has sprung up because of it, and it has filled many afternoons of college football. But in one bizarre incident in the summer of 1931, this rivalry almost exploded into violence And it was all about a toll bridge over the Red River

The Red River Toll Bridge Company had operated a toll bridge over the Red River for several years on the combined U S Highways 69 and 75, just a few miles northwest of Denison It was a narrow, twolane blacktop, but it was one of the new U S Highways bringing paved roads to a nation buying new cars by the millions Both Texas and Oklahoma owned the bridge and took modest cuts of the tolls to pay it off By 1931, both states had built a new, stronger bridge nearby toll-free

The new bridge was slated to open that summer when the toll bridge company filed a lawsuit against the Texas Highway commission A year before, Texas had agreed to buy the toll bridge since the company, which was based in Texas, would be going out of business with the opening of the free bridge Texas offered $60,000 for the bridge, but because of sharp funding drops with the Great Depression, the state had only paid a fraction of the cost A federal judge agreed that Texas was in breach of contract and ordered the opening of the new bridge stopped until the state paid its bill

At this point, the issue escalated into a contest of personalities and political egos between the two state governors, Ross Sterling and William H Murray Sterling was born on his parents’ farm near Houston in 1875 He had little education but had a talent for business He had built a number of successful enterprises from the time he was 21 and would form the Humble Oil Company with his brother, sister, and a number of investors in 1911 Humble Oil eventually became what is now Exxon-Mobil, one of the largest companies in the world Sterling had used his business reputation and state commission work to propel him into the governor’s mansion in the 1930 election

Murray, also called “Alfalfa Bill,” was born in what is now Collinsville in Grayson County in 1869 He ran away from his father’s farm in Montague County at age 12 He picked up work on farms in the area and still continued his schooling when work permitted He earned a teaching certificate and started teaching school in Parker County at age 20 Within a few years, he had run a small newspaper in Corsicana and later became a self-taught attorney in Fort Worth He moved to the Indian Territory in 1899 where he was later a delegate to the Oklahoma statehood convention and became the first Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives after statehood in 1907 He served two terms in Congress and himself was elected governor in 1930.

The two men were self-made in many respects but also had long careers of refusing to take no for an answer The two would escalate the bridge dispute to reckless levels within days After the July 10 court ruling, Sterling ordered barricades to be placed on the Texas side of the new bridge until the case ended Oklahoma, however, was not a party to the lawsuit and refused to allow Texas to block access to the bridge Within days, Murray declared martial law and ordered the Oklahoma National Guard to tear down the Texas barricade Sterling responded in kind by ordering the Texas Rangers in to protect highway workers putting the barricade back up

Murray then ordered the National Guard to tear up the highway leading to the toll bridge from the Oklahoma side, cutting off access to both crossings With both sides heavily armed and refusing to give in, newspapers began referring to the standoff as the “Toll Bridge War” as Murray paraded in front of reporters at the river with his own gun

Angry Grayson County residents prompted Sterling to call a special legislative session on July 23 to provide a way for Texas to get out of the case, pay off the bridge debt, and end the standoff. Texas gave the company the legal permission to sue the state, and a settlement was reached Oklahoma attorneys then threw in another assault on Texas by pointing out in federal court that the legal boundary of Oklahoma, dating to the Louisiana Purchase Treaty of 1803 included both sides of the Red River. Texas had put itself in a lawsuit over a bridge that was entirely within the State of Oklahoma

By early August, the entire episode and all court battles were over The new bridge opened without incident Once the dust cleared, both sides tried to move on to other issues as the Great Depression grew worse in both states

Murray continued to be a largerthan-life figure in Oklahoma politics, with Murray State College later being named for him as well as Alfalfa County and Murray County; and he even mounted a campaign for president in 1932 Several schools were later named after Sterling in the Houston area But neither Sterling nor Murray ever held elected office again The bridge that ignited the dispute was demolished in 1995

Dr. Bridges is a Texas native, writer, and history professor He can be reached at y Holland

The beauty of a clear conscience

In every sense, we can say that our conscience is much more important than we think In fact, one of the challenges within our human development is that we are seldom taught to consider our conscience at all

I want to intentionally make a big deal about our conscience because I consider it to be one of our highest treasures How so? We’ve all seen the cartoons that portray the person trying to decide if they should be bad or good along with the angel sitting on one shoulder and the devil on the other

Actually, this scenario represents each of us and the inner turmoil of trying to choose which path to take exposes the war between rebellious temptations and the awareness of doing what is right

What is rarely clarified in this popular presentation is how the angel represents God’s perfect truth and though everyone can have a basic comprehension of right and wrong, it is difficult to understand God’s voice especially if an individual has not personally accepted Christ into their life as Lord and Savior In this light, we comprehend that everyone’s conscience is directly associated with their spirit Some have a value system that is based on emotions and philosophy while others follow and embrace where God guides As pain sensors tell our brain that something is wrong in our body, the conscience also works with the Holy Spirit as a security system that reminds God’s children when they have sinned and warns them if they are even contemplating about being bad Obeying God is the beauty of a clear conscience

I have often mentioned how important it is to cultivate and maintain our thoughts The mind is not only the area of all our ideas and intentions but is the battlefield where we are constantly making critical decisions To not be concerned about incorporating mental discipline and allowing God to help us renew our mind, we are ignoring one of the most crucial responsibilities in this life. George Bernard Shaw is quoted, “A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me, there are two dogs

One of the dogs is mean and evil

The other dog is good The mean dog fights the good dog all the time When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, the one I feed the most ” If the conscience is another word for the heart, we can agree that whichever we choose to use, it involves the deepest part of who we are I personally believe the mind is the ultimate control center but the conscience can influence and persuade our decisions Let us not forget the individual who has invited Christ into their life also has God’s presence as the most important influence to help manage and control Again, the best-case scenario is when a person allows their conscience to be controlled through the Lord I remember watching an interview years ago and the person was asked to talk about their faith and to give their personal interpretation of sin They replied, “Being out of line with my values ” This is hardly a solid answer theologically because right and wrong are not based on human values It’s true that following our conscience is trustworthy when it obeys God’s desires, however, this answer was referring to the act of someone's conscience being violated or compromised Sin has everything to do with us choosing our own will over God’s will

In a fallen world that is filled with distractions, we realize that a clear conscience is associated with spiritual peace and contentment Carl Jung is quoted as saying, “Through pride, we are ever deceiving ourselves But deep down below the surface of the average conscience, a still small voice says to us, something is out of tune ” The world’s motto declares how they cannot obtain satisfaction and within this default disposition, we find that no class of society is immune from this reality When wrong ideas are planted, wrong attitudes are easily developed such as the idea that the more possessions a person gathers, the more contentment we will have

Nothing could be further from the truth. So how can we be set free from the misery of a deceived and calloused conscience? We can ask God to save us from ourselves “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal

Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God” Hebrews 9:14

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