I posted this 1942 photo of Jack Walton's Hot Barbecue restaurant, located on U.S. Highway 80 between Dallas and Fort Worth, once before, but at that time I didn't know the rest of the story. I do now, and it is a doozy!
This was actually one of several barbecue restaurants owned by Jack Walton. Jack's real name was Arden Lee Walton. He was born in 1898 in Clayton, Texas, which is in Panola County, not too far from Carthage. He enlisted in the Army during WW I and made his way back to Texas afterward. In the mid-1920s he opened a restaurant, Walton's Place, in Dallas. By the time this photo was taken in 1942, he owned several barbecue restaurants, all called "Jack Walton's Hot Barbecue." He became wealthy.
Sadly, in 1960, his brother-in-law, Charles Lester Mauney, shot and killed Jack at one of Jack's restaurants. Jack had fired Charles for being drunk at work. Charles didn't take too kindly to it, apparently. They had a fight and Charles shot and killed Jack. Jack's wife, Peggy, outlived him by 48 years, dying in 2008. I can't find any record of what Charles Lester Mauney's legal outcome was, but he died in 1974 and is buried in the Hillcrest cemetery in Forney.
Just another splash of Texas history for y'all!