Murder at the future Soap Creek
Back in the '40s it was Elm Grove Lodge, where the Wright brothers did wrong
Long before it was Soap Creek Saloon, this building three miles from town and up the hill from Bee Cave Road was the Elm Grove Lodge. On June 17, 1947 it was the site of a murder, when Arnold W. Barrier, who managed The Windmill club on the San Antonio Highway (South Congress today), was badly beaten by brothers Elmo "Blondie" Wright and Chester "Curley" Wright, and died three days later. Lodge owner F.B. Cochran was knocked unconscious when he tried to intervene, and his 18-year-old son Brooks was punched in the face. The phone lines were cut so the cops couldn’t be called.
It was a Tuesday night and the club hosted a small wedding party for the Wrights’ sister, arranged by Bowling Center owner M.J. McCandless, who was related to the groom. Barrier showed up, uninvited, with his son-in-law David Chandler, a woman Ann Crawford, and her 11-year-old daughter, arriving in a dump truck that most likely belonged to Barrier’s brother-in-law Bill Suhr. There were words at the front door, and McCandless admitted the Barrier party, which brought their own fifth of whiskey. They sat at a table away from the wedding party.
The band that night was Steve Lightsey and His Rural Rhythm Kings, who often played at the Windmill, which is currently Sagebrush. Lightsey was the bassist for Uncle Walt’s Rural Rhythm Boys (which, for a time, included Western swing legend Cliff Bruner on fiddle) in the ‘30s, and took over the band the next decade. Son Jerry Lightsey carried on the family tradition with bands in the ‘50’s-’70s.
Steve Lightsey testified in the trial, one of the witnesses who established that Blondie Wright sucker-punched Barrier, then Curley pistol-whipped and stomped him. Things got a little wild earlier- Curley had been held down and had lipstick applied against his will- and you wonder if the cackling was echoing in his mind when he went psycho on Mr. Barrier.
And here you thought the strangest thing that ever happened in that building in West Lake Hills was when a roadie from the Grateful Dead dosed the entire audience with LSD circa 1974!
The Wrights claimed the pistol used to beat Barrier to death was taken from the victim, who they saw receive it from Brooks Cochran shortly before the fatal incident. Brother Vernon Wright testified that he saw Barrier reach inside his shirt and say “now’s a good time to get both you sons of bitches” before the punch from Blondie. But other witnesses said no words were exchanged when, at 11:45 p.m. an outgoing Barrett encountered the incoming Wrights at the front door. After Barrett was knocked to the ground, Blondie yelled, “Get the gun, Curley,” which he did, then smacked an already-unconscious Barrier in the face with it repeatedly.
Perhaps because they were investigating aggravated assault at the time, not homicide, police never asked for the gun, which McCandless handed over to his attorney. It was introduced as evidence during the trial while still loaded, which caused an uproar in the courtroom, but defense said it was just preserving the evidence. The murder weapon and its bullets had never been fingerprinted.
At trial, Cochran testified that he didn't give Barrier the gun, and also that Blondie cracked Barrier with a big rock in his hand. But sent to Huntsville in 1952 on burglarly charges, Cochran confessed to the prison chaplain that he had lied on both accounts because, "I was afraid of Bill Suhr."
Suhr was an ex-con who'd built up a successful excavating company. His sister was married to Barrier. Suhr hired attorney Polk Shelton as special prosecutor against the Wright brothers and two other defendants, including M.J. McCandless, the brother of L.L. McCandless, who built the Villa Capri and sold 14 acres at South Congress and Academy to Willie Nelson in 1977.
Polk joined his brother Emmett Shelton on the prosecution team, while other brother Earl Polk handled defense. The three Polks had started out together in their father John E. Shelton’s law firm, but after the old man died in 1929, Earl went out on his own.
Besides being a successful attorney, Emmett Shelton is considered “the father of West Lake Hills,” buying 1,400 acres of “roly poly country with second gear roads” (Statesman) west of Austin in the ‘30s and ‘40s. Building a big house for his family on Red Bud Trail, Shelton subdivided and sold parcels to buyers he liked. “I got the land for practically nothing,” he told the Statesman in 1949, “so I can be choosy” about selecting his neighbors. Emmett Shelton led the charge against annexation to Austin, helping incorporate West Lake Hills in 1953. By a vote of 73-0, it became an independent municipality with no city taxes and no paid officials. “Residents In New Town Dreaming of Utopia” was the banner headline.
Emmett Shelton Jr. followed his father into real estate development, while youngest son Polk, named after his uncle, took the family’s legal path. He also had a ‘60s rock band, Polk Shelton and the Front, which featured 22-year-old Bill Campbell on guitar. Middle son Gilbert Shelton (not to be confused with the Furry Freak Brothers artist) was an orchestra singer who moved to Los Angeles to audition for The Lawrence Welk Show. Gilbert had an “in,” as his cousin Edgar was VP of ABC TV, but he didn’t get the gig and had to settle for lounges. (Tidbit: Former attorney Edgar Shelton was Ronnie Dugger’s best man when the future founding editor of the Texas Observer married Jean Williams in 1951.)
Enough Shelton fam trivia, let’s get back to the mayhem off Bee Cave Road, where bad blood had spilled over, onto the entrance floor. The Nov. ‘47 trial was splashed on the front page of the Statesman, with the Wrights found guilty of murder and receiving sentences of 2-99 years.
It wasn’t over. A year after the brothers were convicted, Bill Suhr was shot to death by former Austin clubowner V.E. "Buster" Davis, after he'd returned to Davis's house after midnight with Orville Barrier, the brother of Arnold. Davis was bailed out by M.J. McCandless, who had sued Suhr for $25,000 after his arrest and confinement to the county jail in the Barrier case. McCandless claimed Suhr used his influence to deny McCandless bail for four days, but didn’t win the case.
He found revenge in the 1948 shooting of Suhr, which was ruled justifiable by reason of self-defense. Davis later managed Hill’s Cafe.
Chester “Curley” Wright was pardoned by Gov. Allen Shivers in 1951, after just three years in the joint, which prosecutor Polk Shelton didn’t protest. Curley violated parole in 1959 with a drunk driving conviction, though there’s nothing in the Statesman’s archives about him being sent back to prison. No word on what happened to Blondie Wright either.
The Elm Grove Lodge, which opened in 1942, closed in 1954. The building and its surrounding 65 acres near where Walsh-Tarlton Lane is today, were bought by entrepreneur Eddie Joseph, who tried to rent it out as a riding school or dude ranch. The lease: $90 a month in 1950s dollars.
In the early ‘60s, the lodge became Roger’s Hilltop Inn, then Jerry Butler of the Iron Gate jazz club on 11th St. opened the Rolling Hills Supper Club in 1966. Eventually the “Supper”was shelved and the club fell into the hands of future Cobras bassist Alex Napier in 1971. As a party barn for Dallas transplants like Napier, it was the first club in Austin where 17-year-old Stevie Ray Vaughan played guitar, with Blackbird in October 1971. Rolling Hills was all-ages because it didn’t have a license to sell beer, but there was a keg where you could fill your cup.
George and Carlyne Majewski bought Rolling Hills from Napier and opened Soap Creek Saloon in March 1973 with Conqueroo and Whistler. Stevie Vaughan’s career really started to take off with Paul Ray and the Cobras, who played Soap Creek a record 282 times, followed by Alvin Crow (190), Greezy Wheels (175), Marcia Ball (135), Uranium Savages (112) and Doug Sahm (90). Lotta history in that building that was torn down for a luxury housing project in 1979, which necessitated a relocation to the former Skyline Club on North Lamar.
Emmet Shelton got the land from Cedar Choppers in payment for his representing them in their criminal trials. Good book on the subject was written by Ken Roberts, Cedar Choppers, Life on the Edge of Nothing
Wow, I can't believe I'm reading this, Michael. I started investigating this story last year but never got to the absolute bottom of it. You've done a stellar job, but there's actually a couple more chapters to the saga of the feuds between this ecosystem of gravel haulers/nightclub operators. I'm not trying to be coy, but I can't go into it now because it would take me all day and use up too much of your bandwidth. Anyway, big pat on the back, daddy-o. Edit: (PS I should've added brothel-keepers to that hyphenate subculture.)