Lady Justice stands proudly in the hallway of the Comanche County Courthouse even though she is missing her sword, scales, and one arm, has two bullet holes in her neck and what appears to be a third bullet hole between her eyes.
Made of lead alloy sheet metal 3/32-inch thick, the gray statue originally stood high above the courthouse square on the clock tower of the 1890 building. This rendition of the Roman and Greek goddesses doesn’t have a blindfold. Instead of being blind, Justice looks at any issue carefully with both eyes.
The 1891 Milam County Courthouse in Cameron is an almost exact replicate of the stately three-story courthouse in Comanche that was razed in 1939. The Coryell County Courthouse in Gatesville has a twin of the Lady Justice statue on its roof.
Comanche County has been tough on Lady Justice. Legend has it that a local gun salesman and marksman underestimated his ability and shot off her arm in 1897. The arm and her sword were lost years ago. Sometime before 1908, her scales were lost in a wind storm. A lightbulb replaced the missing scales when the courthouse was wired for electricity.
Lady Justice languished in a warehouse until the layers of paint were stripped from her body and she found a home in the main hall of the county courthouse. The courthouse square is at the junction of TX 16 and U.S. 377 in Comanche.
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This article appears in December 2 • 2016.
