Texas Small Town Sagas

Murder, Mysteries, Robberies, Hangings .....

• Ben's Pistol by Mike Cox 5-8-08
  Whatever became of Ben Thompson’s six-shooter?
  Thompson, a British-born former Texas Ranger and soldier of fortune with a penchant for booze and gambling, made quite a reputation as city marshal of Austin in the early 1880s. His life ended violently in San Antonio on the night of March 11, 1884 when someone gunned him down along with former outlaw-turned-lawman King Fisher of Uvalde...
• Santa Robber by Mike Cox 12-6-07
  Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” stands as an enduring classic, but truth being stranger than fiction, Texas can claim one of the nation’s more bizarre real-life holiday tales – a story of a Santa Claus gone bad...
• The Mystery of Lady Bountiful by Bob Bowman 11-5-07
  November 22 will mark the 85th anniversary of an East Texas murder that created a still-lingering mystery and put a timber baroness in a pauper’s grave.
• The Bones in the Courthouse Crawlspace by Johnny Stucco 10-24-07
  What the exterminator saw...
• “Witch’s Gate” by Johnny Stucco 10-11-07
  In Cold Blood: Clay County, Texas 1975
  A needless killing for a fortune that wasn’t there.
• Tragedy in South Texas: Reading Black - Unionist, George Washington - Wall Confederate by Linda Kirkpatrick 10-8-07
  The northern end of South Texas is still considered by many as a remote, desolate area that could only be home to rattlesnakes, horned toads, scorpions and occasionally an outlaw...
• Sullivan Mike Cox 10-4-07
  Ex-Ranger W.S.J. Sullivan, and the hanging of condemned preacher Morrison, the last man ever legally hanged in Wilbarger County.
• Horrell-Higgins Feud in Lampasas County by Clay Coppedge 9-19-07
  
• Bloody Christmas by C. F. Eckhardt 4-16-07
  The Murder of LaSalle County Sheriff Charles B. McKinney
• Looking for Hangings by Bob Bowman 4-16-07
  Before the electric chair gave Texas an alternative way of punishing murderers and the like, Texas counties had the local authority to hang criminals...
• John Ringo by Mike Cox 4-5-07
  "It didn't play out quite like a scene from "Gunsmoke," but two of the Old West's more notorious characters faced each other in Austin's red light district in 1881..."
• "No Gallows" by Bob Bowman 4-2-07
  The names of some East Texas towns can be downright confusing. And much of the confusion arises from mispronunciations which, during the passage of time, have become actual names.
• Belle Starr The Bandit Queen by Maggie Van Ostrand
  "I regard myself as a woman who has seen much of life," said Belle Star to The Fort Smith Elevator in 1888, a year before she died...
• Shootout at Shafter
  Ranger Meets His End on New Years Day 1940
  Story and photos courtesy of William G. Howell
• Yoakum's Soda-Pop War by Murray Montgomery
  It seems that people will often fight over some mighty ridiculous things. I remember a while back seeing a story, in the Hallettsville paper from well over 100 years ago, where a fellow shot and killed his partner just for playing the wrong domino. People in the old days took things pretty seriously, to say the least...
• The 1862 Hangings at Gainesville Texas by W.T. Block
  Certainly one of the worst atrocities of the Civil War occurred in Gainesville, Texas in Oct. 1862, when 40 men, suspected of Union sympathies, were hanged...
• The Night the Posse Chased Santa by Maggie Van Ostrand
  December 23 will mark the 79th anniversary of the bloody melodrama which was about to take place in the town of Cisco in West Central Texas, on the day before Christmas Eve 1927. I know about it because of an article written at the time by the great Texas columnist, Boyce House. He should know. He was there...
• O. Henry and the Shoal Creek Treasure by C. F. Eckhardt
  "...While Santa Anna was trying to put down the Texas rebellion of 1836, two high-ranking Mexican officers-one was, so the story goes, the paymaster, the other a high-ranking general-decided to steal the entire payroll for the Mexican Army in Texas. ...In the meantime, two of the common soldiers hatched a plan of their own. Why enrich the paymaster? Why not kill him-and the other five soldiers-and have the fortune to themselves?..."
• The Worst Feud by Bob Bowman
  The deadliest feud happened in East Texas between 1840 and 1844. The Regulator and Moderators War was the first and largest American feud in numbers of participants and fatalities.
• William Marsh Rice by Archie P. McDonald
  Everyone loves a murder mystery, especially if the murder happened a long time ago and did not involve someone they know. The story of William Marsh Rice's demise is such a case...
• The Case of Beaumont's Missing Marble Corpse by W. T. Block, Jr. ("Cannonball's Tales")
  It was July of 1901 in Beaumont, and the frenzy of oil excitement rushed on unabated... In the midst of all the oil madness, there emerged one of the strangest tales ever to unfold in the "sawdust city," the case of Beaumont's missing corpse that had turned to stone...
• The Gunfight that Killed Helena by C. F. Eckhardt
  "The Colonel's son has been gunned down, in cold blood or so the story implies..."
• Murder of Local Doctor During Reconstruction by Murray Montgomery
  After the Civil War ended, folks in Texas and throughout the South underwent a phase in time known as "Reconstruction." During this period, the states that had previously been part of the Confederacy were now subject to military rule as well as, occupation by Union troops...
• Seth Carey's Escape from the Murderous Yocum Gang by W. T. Block
  Just another fly caught up in Yocum's web of murder and intrigue, Carey not only survived his slated assassination and dismemberment in Yocum's alligator slough, but he lived instead to finger the gang and account for its destruction.
  
• A criminal or a saint? You never know by Delbert Trew
  "Route 66 certainly endured its share of crime in its heyday."
• Yocum's Inn: The Devil's Own Lodging by W T Block Jr.
  "A gentleman's life...held no attraction for Squire Yocum, a man who literally was nursed almost from the cradle on murder and rapine, and for many years Yocum's Inn was actually a den of robbers and killers..."
• Three Tragedies by Bob Bowman
  An intriguing family mystery spanning more than 135 years is told by three tombstones lying behind a rusting iron fence in a small East Texas cemetery.
• Hardin Shootings at Albuquerque by Charley Eckhardt
  
• Book Burning by Mike Cox
  “'Where they have burned books,' German poet Johann Heinrich Heine wrote in the 19th century, 'they will end in burning human beings.'
  Indeed, Texans have done both...."
• Freeny Hanging by Mike Cox
  "... No matter White’s official status, most folks remembered him as the sheriff who hanged a tenant farmer named George Freeny for killing his son-in-law..."
• Poisoned Supper by Bob Bowman
  A tragic, unthinkable incident in the spring of 1847, frequently associated with the Regulator-Moderator War, remains after 157 years one of East Texas’ worst mass murders -- if it was murder.
• PRAIRIE DELL, Tranquil setting belies past by Clay Coppedge 9-24-04
  The principle set for the sequel to the movie "Texas Chainsaw Massacre."
• Poison Doc by Mike Cox
  Herman Webster Mudgett, America’s first serial killer
• How Bonnie and Clyde Were Caught by Bob Bowman
• Rockledge, A Panhandle Ghost Community by Delbert Trew
  Two murders and a bank robbery
  
• Murder at Camp Swift 1942 - The Tragic Death of Little Lucy Maynard by John Troesser
• Camp Bowie by Mike Cox
  On the night of May 5, 1837, two officers of the Republic of Texas' army lay asleep in their tent at Camp Bowie. Only one of them would wake up.
• McDade Hanging by Mike Cox
  While not quite on the level of "A Christmas Carol," "The Miracle on 42nd Street," or "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," the story of the McDade Christmas clean up has become one of Texas' more frequently told Yuletide tales.
• A Famous Murder by Bob Bowman
  80th anniversary of one of East Texas' most famous mysteries
• Range King by Mike Cox ("Texas Tales" column)
  "It can't atone for his murder, or even the apparent contempt of those who buried him, but at least James W. King lies in a beautiful cemetery."
• Pearl by Mike Cox ("Texas Tales" column)
  Pearl was tried and convicted in Brown County. The jury's finding in regard to his punishment was easily written on a single piece of paper: Death by hanging.
• Looking for Old Murders by Bob Bowman
  Between the 1860s and 1940s, East Texas produced some of the strangest murders in Texas.
• Cranfill - by Mike Cox
  For about the last quarter of the 19th century, and the first two decades of the 20th century, being a "wet" or a "dry" defined a Texan politically much more accurately than being Democrat or Republican. Both sides of the issue passionately believed they were in the right. Often, they were willing to fight over their belief, sometimes to the death.
  
• The Barrymore Shooting by Bob Bowman
  Someone asked John Barrymore, the patriarch of America's famous family of thespians, what he thought about Texas. In his deep, resonant voice, Barrymore replied: "Texas is a no man's land where sudden death lurks in every bistro." He had good reason for feeling that way.
• The Bank Robbery (Dalton Gang, 1894) by Bob Bowman
• Bill Longley Does Not Get Along Well With Others. A Visit to the Giddings City Cemetery
• The Day Doc Newton Robbed Bonnie Parker's Bank - He could've been charged with disturbing one hundred years of solitude
• The Double Murder in Granger, 1934
• The Tall Texan : The Story of Ben Kilpatrick by Arthur Soule
• The Last Full-sized Train Robbery in Texas by Brewster Hudspeth
• The Double Hanging at Bellville in 1896
• The Infamous East Texas Sewing Needle Jailbreak
• The Day Eastland Texas Hanged Santa Claus
  "....And to think that it happened on Mulberry Street!"
• Diamond Bessie: The Trial of the (19th) Century
• The Huston-Johnston Duel

Romance

• Lillian by George Lester
  Probably every boy has had a crush a girl who didn't even know he was alive. It happened to me.
  
• Romance at Spunky Flat or Little Schoolhouse in the Cotton Field
• The Tailor and the Hideaway Bride: The man who kept his wife in stitches
• The Espersons - The "Mr. and Mrs. Esperson Buildings".
• Schulenburg's Heartbreak Hotel

Passion and Pathos

• The White Lady of Rio Frio by Linda Kirkpatrick 10-16-07
  A ghost that haunts the banks of the Frio River. A true story of love and murder in the early 1900’s.
• Leaping Lovers
  Knowing their love can never be, the young couple stare at the swirling river far below. One last kiss, and then, holding hands, they leap off the cliff, united forever in death - and legend.
  Texas has at least four landmarks known as Lover's Leaps
• Robert and Harriet Potter by Archie P. McDonald
  "There ain¹t no good in men"
• Waxahachie's Courthouse Grotesques Or
  The Star-crossed Romance of Harry and Mabel
  A Stone-cold Love Story - A local legend involving courthouse carvings known state-wide.
  The Legend from Three Sources
  
• Woman Hollering Creek
• The Photographer and His Sculptor Daughter:
  William and Waldine Tauch
• "Please Don't Kill Brownie!" and The Naked Man of Honey Island
• The Most Photographed Statue in Ballinger

Hardship, War and Famine

• Where are you Benny Goodenberger? by Perry Peary
  Mark Davis was in the Merchant Marine and was assigned to serving on oil and gasoline tankers coming up the east coast from New Jersey to Texas. In May of 1942, he was on the SS Virginia coming out of New Orleans when a German submarine, the U-507 torpedoed the ship....
• Sarah by Mike Cox
  Few Texas women ever saw any worse than Sarah Creath McSherry Hibbens Stinnett Howard. A woman with true grit, the way she came by her long name is one of Texas' more gripping tales. Born around 1812....
• Barbecue Bust by Mike Cox
  With more than 20,000 chanting anti-war protestors headed downtown from UT, the governor decided he was hungry for barbecue...
• Upshur County Chronicles - George Lester remembers Union Grove
  Helmet-less Football, Bone-chilling Movies, Short Boxing Careers and Why Teachers Should Be Demanding
• Wends in Texas by Raoul Hashimoto
  The Brides Wore Black: A look at Texas' most unique immigrant group
• Private and Corporal York: Lee County Cousins killed in the Great War. Giddings City Cemetery
• Kaiser's Burnout and Other Big Thicket Adventures by Archie P. McDonald
• Lonesomeness redefined: Indian Hot Springs (Hudspeth, County), "Fort Unworthy" and Victorio's Secret

• The Bathhouse that Wouldn't Die
  Reader's comment : I enjoyed your piece on the Luling Bathhouse. I had no idea all that history was there. - Chandra Beal, author or "Splash Across Texas"
• Hotel Wars in Seguin - Two hotels in one town, the rivalry of building them and the little girl who loved them both. No, it's not a Shirley Temple movie script.
• Rooms With a Past (A series) - Texas hotels built before 1950.

Disasters and Adventure

• Old West fires often impossible to tame by Delbert Trew 11-13-07
  
• The Texas Flood of 1935 by Edward Aquifer 11-7-07
  Vintage photos courtesy of TxDoT
  
• Locomotive Boiler Explosion 6-1-07
  Smithville Blast of 1911 Kills 9, Injures 12
• The Emporia Mystery by Bob Bowman 3-29-07
  In the early 1900s, an explosion and fire spread throughout the old Emporia sawmill in south Angelina County. An estimated 30 sawmill workers, most of them black, are believed to have perished in the conflagration...
• Texas City 1914 by Mike Cox
  "A small town with a big name, Texas City hosted an Army camp. Not that it amounted to a strategic location - it had not yet become a petrochemical port -- but with Mexico embroiled in a bloody revolution, the military had moved more troops into Texas in anticipation of trouble..."
• Slocum by Sandy Fiedler
  Slocum's Great Tornado of April 24, 1929
• Deadly Explosion in the Oilfield by N. Ray Maxie
  The Day J. B. Taylor was killed
  This is a post World War II story...
• Humble Fire by Mike Cox
  "...Hudson's enthusiasm for the oil business changed abruptly on July 23, 1905. That evening, a thunderstorm triggered a bolt of lightning that ignited the oil in one of the large tanks Hudson had helped build. Sending billows of thick, black smoke high in the sky, the fire spread quickly..."
• The Eagle Befriends the Stork by John Troesser
  Port Arthur's legend of F. B. Wright, A Hurricane Story
• Friendship, Texas - Now under Lake Granger
  "The rain started at 6 p.m. on September 10, 1921 and continued until 6 a.m. on September 11th. Although no official measure was mentioned - it was estimated that 50 inches of rain fell...."
• Hollywood Soot by Audrey A. Herbrich
  Photos by Boyd Photography, La Grange
  The fire in La Granger.
  "The north wind—unusually strong this March—carried the voices from those gathered below to me, and I could hear their whispers and gasps. And it wasn’t the ablaze Botts Title Company that trumped the conversation, or the equally ablaze China Inn Restaurant, Bertie’s Barbershop, or the income tax lawyer’s office. No, it was the Cozy Theater, slotted between Bertie’s on the left and the JC Penney catalog store on the right."
• The Volunteer Fire Departments of Sunray and Dumas -
  The Shamrock Oil refinery explosion in the late 1950's
• Circuit Board Fragments on Pine Needles
  The American Spirit, Observations by Gary E. McKee
  A volunteers account of the search for space shuttle debris in East Texas
• Scurry County: Fire on the Square
• Ben Ficklin, Texas
  "The short history of Ben Ficklin has many of the elements that other counties have built legends upon. A county seat rivalry, a rowdy frontier fort, friendship beyond the grave and a disaster that killed many of the inhabitants..... "
• Night of the Iguana x 11,315 
  Ol' Rip, The Entombed Horned Toad of Eastland County 

• Top 10 Worst Slogans for Small Towns

• Find Two Willies and a Max in Hall of Fame, at Tracks by Bill Bradfield