In 1888 a transcontinental tour took Lillie Langtry to the Southwest, where she displayed her talents and her wardrobe in Galveston, Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, and San Antonio. This brought her as close as she ever came to an ardent Texas admirer, Judge Roy Bean, who had become "the Law West of the Pecos," first at Vinegarroon and later at a hamlet near Eagle's Nest Springs just west of the Pecos River.
Regarding the title, the definition of Vinegarroon is: a large whip-scorpion of Mexico and southern United States that emits a vinegary odor when alarmed.