Mick Lang

Slaughter at Sorrel Creek Mick Lang

A macabre story of the old Texas west: That fateful day in 1879 turned Becky McPherson's mundane Texas ranching lifestyle upside down as she crossed Sorrel Creek into the remains of a crimsoned blood bath. Traveling to New Braunfels, she and her husband discovered a pen of rotting slaughtered pigs. But inside the farmhouse was where the real horror awaited them. This western woman grew up in the quiet town of Fredericksburg and had not visited any other places in Texas until her crush, retired Ranger Caleb McPherson, returned there and proposed to her. The couple moved to Blanco where they married and tranquilly settled into daily lives, working a ranch together. But that's another story. On their way to New Braunfels to visit Caleb's oldest friend in Texas, the two crossed Sorrel Creek and there they made their gruesome discovery. Someone had attacked the man of the farm at the riverside. And his bloody path home led them to the farmhouse. Inside, Becky found gore: there the rest of the family lay on the dirt floor in their own blood, all slaughtered, each hacked to death with what appeared to be a hatchet. Mother and daughters were scalped. The man of the house, hair untouched, lay at his wife's feet where he died. Becky found the body of youngest daughter collapsed on the bedroom floor with her hand still gripping a bloody knife. She apparently went down fighting leaving important clues as to who had killed them. When the word got out, panic hit other pig farmers along with the rest of the New Braunfels citizenry. Neighbors began to speculate. Some thought it was Comanches, and others feared for the safety of their local Comanche friends. Pig farmers blamed each other. The crime shook the serenity of Comal County at its foundation. The citizens, left with fear and suspicion, were ready to turn on one another. Though the sheriff's office dutifully took on the search for the killer, events thrust Becky into the forefront of the investigation. And because of that, her life was clearly in peril. Dauntless she rode head-on in to danger to try to help this community solve this horrendous crime and bring the killer to justice. In doing so, discovered traits about herself that would otherwise have remained hidden. Becky McPherson emerged a new woman, a stronger woman.