MIDLAND 101: PATIENT, SHARP-SHOOTING MEDLIN HELPED PAVE WAY FOR MIDLAND TO BE SETTLED. Christopher Columbus “Lum” Medlin is mentioned in most, if not all, history books that have been written about Midland, and it is intimated in John Howard Griffin’s book, “Land of the High Sky,” that Medlin was probably the second resident of Midland after Herman Garrett set up a bed role in an open field on the future site of First National Bank in the early 1880s. The first time Garrett laid eyes on Medlin he was said to be barefoot. Griffin described the buffalo hunter as a “medium-sized, carefree man.” He eventually moved to Tatum in New Mexico territory, but Medlin’s children attended Midland schools and he was closely associated with the town until he died of pneumonia here in 1898. According to George Pemberton, an avid antelope hunter himself, Medlin was the most proficient hunter in the plains, whether his target was buffalo, antelope or the Comanche. History has come to know Medlin mainly as a hunter of bison, and it was that animal’s eradication, a controversial practice often seen as wasteful at best and senseless mass slaughter by others, that served at least a two-fold purpose. Medlin‘s hunting forays not only helped drive out the Comanche, but the buffalo kills also helped feed troops stationed at forts and railroad workers who worked along the T&P Railroad as they laid the track westward. Why was he so adept at buffalo hunting? According to The Thorny Trail (Vol. XXX, Nos. 1 and 2), Medlin was not only skilled with a rifle but he was patient and stealth-like in his movements. “He would walk toward an antelope until it would raise its head and look at him,” an old-timer once recalled. “Then he would stop, perfectly still, until the antelope would start grazing again. Sometimes he might have to wait 20 minutes, but he walked up to within 200 steps of the buck, raised his gun, toppled him over and then turned around and walked back to the camp.” It was said that Medlin killed the Comanche the same way. Once warned about an approaching band of marauding natives, Medlin’s reply was, ‘Let ‘em come.’ He reportedly sat patiently. “As they galloped toward him he bided his time, waiting until they were within range of his buffalo gun,” the old-timer said. “Then, one by one, he picked them off. After seeing six of their comrades killed, the Indians turned and made a speedy retreat.” Jimmy Patterson’s book, “A History of Character: The Story of Midland, Texas,” will be completed this year.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 20:51:56 +0000
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