Last hoedown before eviction

A troupe of women line dancing to country music at Mary’s, one of two saloons at Old Texas Town. — Lena Mucha/The New York Times

ON a recent windy November evening, the town’s sheriff and a handful of his deputies, clad in duster coats and Stetson hats, smoked on the porch outside the county jail, their Colt revolvers holstered and their Winchester rifles stowed away.

The men knew they were powerless against the trouble headed their way.