​The Whorlie Well

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Marker No: 11299

18 x 28 Aluminum Subject Marker 

Geographic: ​30° 44.916′ N, 99° 14.539′ W

Location: ​Farm to Market Road 1871, 0.1 miles west of South Avenue D, Mason

Marker Text: Named for a victim in famous "Hoodoo War", provoked by cattle rustling in Mason County. John Whorlie (or Worley), a deputy sheriff, on May 13, 1875, lost a prisoner to a lynch mob. On Aug. 10,1875, Whorlie was killed and scalped while working on this well. His killer was identified as Scott Cooley, a friend of the lynched man. Masonic burial for Whorlie was conducted by the McCulloch Lodge No. 273, A.F. & A.M., of which he was a member.
     No one in Mason County was ever convicted for wrongdoing in the "Hoodoo War", but after 1876 law, order, and peace were restored. (1971)