A TEXAS DELIVERANCE

BATTERED BY DROUGHT, PESTILENCE AND CRASHING CATTLE PRICES, TINY ROBY IS SUDDENLY AWASH IN MILLIONAIRES

At the precise center of Roby, Texas, on one of the town's more expensive pieces of real estate, is a crudely made sign: good used clothes 10 cents to $1. It sits in front of a faded little store and tells you everything you need to know about the economics of this dying cotton-and-cattle town. The average house here costs $30,000. The average income is barely $20,000. Everywhere buildings are boarded up, abandoned, sinking in the rust-red dirt. The population is 616 and dwindling.

The town needed a miracle. And over Thanksgiving weekend it got one. With a mixture of shock...

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