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DeWitt County
Courthouse
Cuero,
Texas
DeWitt County has
had three courthouses: 1847, 1858, 1897
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DeWitt
County Courthouse in Cuero
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, November, 2007 |
The
courtroom
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, November, 2007 |
The
courtroom
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, November, 2007 |
DeWitt
County Courthouse
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, November, 2007 |
Photographer's
Note:
Even though the rededication ceremony was on October 27th (2007),
the building is far from done. The exterior is mostly finished and
the scaffolding is gone. The original slate roof, the doors and the
clock mechanism have been restored. The two story district courtroom
is mostly finished but the rest of the interior is pretty much a mess.
- Terry
Jeanson, November, 2007
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DeWitt County
and DeWitt County Courthouse
by Lou Ann Herda,
Ed. D |
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What does a
turkey drive, a thirty-year feud, a lady in a clock, and a headless
horseman have in common? The answer is DeWitt County.
The present county of DeWitt, named for colonizer Green DeWitt,
was created from parts of Gonzales, Victoria, and Goliad counties
in 1846. Since that time, there have been three courthouses in three
different cities, including its present county seat, Cuero. Somebody
or somebodies didn't care for the second courthouse because on Sunday
night, April 8, 1894, it was torched. The Hallettsville Herald
said it had been an eyesore to that beautiful city for many years*.
The replacement building was definitely not an eyesore. But getting
there was a challenge.
Acclaimed Austin architect A.
O. Watson both designed and built the courthouse. He had quite
a time funding it, however. Finally in December 1896, the unpaid
workers walked away, leaving the courthouse without a roof. Citizens
complained. I guess it would be hard to hold court with rain beating
down on your heads.
Watson went broke on his "labor of love." Winter was looming, when
in steps Eugene Heiner,
who saw its completion. DeWitt county got not one, but two Golden
Age architects constructing their courthouse.
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The
Courthouse as it appeared in 1939
Photo courtesy TXDoT |
DeWitt
County Courthouse clock tower
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, November, 2007 |
The
1897 Courthouse & Lady in the Courthouse Clock
This 1897 Romanesque revival style structure is built of brown sandstone
and pink granite quarried from near Marble
Falls. Initially, the tower and the corner roofs were topped with
fluted finials. Soon, at night on the lighted face of the clock on
the north appeared the shadow of a full-skirted woman moving back
and forth. No one knew who she was or why she was pacing. Some figured
she was the ghost of a lady who had died waiting for her boyfriend
to return. Her spirit then flew up to the courthouse clock. Maybe
that way her boyfriend could find her more easily. (More Texas
Ghosts)
Thirty years later, one of the four lower finials fell. Officials
feared someone might be killed if others fell, so all the ornaments
were removed. Legend has it that the lady in the clock had something
to do with it, for right after that, she was gone forever. One of
the original finials is kept in storage in the courthouse. I got a
look at it, and it's taller than three watermelons stacked up on top
of each other and fairly hefty. I wouldn't want that thing falling
on me either.
Another oddity is that one of the balusters on the second floor balcony
above the Gonzales Street entrance is upside down. The workers noticed
it, but they thought that no one else would. |
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One
of the finials that was removed shortly before the Lady in the Courthouse
Clock disappeared.
Photo by Lou Ann Herda |
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The Sutton-Taylor
Feud
El Muerto, the headless horseman
Now, the county has had its share of trouble makers. The most infamous
ones are those who were involved in the Sutton-Taylor Feud. No one
knows why this thirty-year fight started, but eventually over one
thousand people were involved, including gunslinger John
Wesley Hardin. Records of this court case are on display in
the foyer of the courthouse.
The patriarch of the Taylor clan, Creed Taylor, was a former Texas
Ranger, a Texas Revolution fighter, and cattleman. At one point,
he and his Texas Ranger friend, Bigfoot
Wallace, tracked down and killed a Mexican bandit who had been
stealing horses and cattle for many years, including Creed's horses.
Wallace made an example of this bandit, resulting in El Muerto,
the headless horseman. Legend has it that this horseman, with its
head dangling, can still be seen riding across DeWitt County during
the darkest nights. You'll know when you see them because lightning
flashes from the ghostly wild mustang's hooves and flames burst
from the eyes of the severed head. Sounds like a wild ride.
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Chisholm
Trail
The cattle industry was big in DeWitt County from the late 1860's
to the 1880's. Trail boss Thorton Chisholm from Clinton helped blaze
a trail that has gone down in cow history as the Chisholm Trail.
Before the end of the trail drives, over 5,000,000 Texas cattle
walked to the railroad in Missouri or Kansas or to the ranges of
Wyoming and Montana*.
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Cuero Turkey
Trot
Once the cattle drives stopped, people started driving something
else. As many as 20,000 turkeys have been driven down the streets
of Cuero. Since 1908, these gobblers, which could have been our
national bird, would trot from their roosts along main street down
to the packing house. People soon started flocking to see them.
In 1912, the first Cuero Turkey Trot was held.
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Turkey
Trot in Cuero
Photo Courtesy TXDoT |
Now, I'm not
prejudiced against any birds, but you won't see any eagles trotting
along together to their deaths.
July 2001,
Copyright
Lou
Ann Herda, Ed. D
References:
*Hallettsville Herald, April 12, 1894, page unknown.
*The History of DeWitt County, Texas, 1991, p. 29.
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