Category Archives: Today in Texas History

Today in Texas History – August 5

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From the Annals of Cross-Dressing –  In 1973, Vander Clyde, known to the world as Barbette, died in his home town of Round Rock.  Clyde was famous for his high-wire and trapeze act in which he dressed as a woman, performed incredible stunts and then removed his wig and flexed muscles at the end to show that he was actually a man.  Clyde was apparently enamored of the circus from his first visit to one in Austin.  He immediately began training to walk the tight rope on his mother’s closeline.  After graduating from high school at 14, he joined a circus act called the Alfaretta Sisters on the condition that he dress as a girl. After a few years of circus work, Barbette went solo and adopted the stage name Barbette. Although popular in the U.S., Barbette gained his greatest fame in Europe and particularly in Paris where he was championed by Jean Cocteau. He was forced to retire from performong after a bout of pneumonia left him unable to perform, but continued to work training circus acts for many years.

Today in Texas History – August 4

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From the Annals of the Governor’s Office – In 1941 Lt. Gov. Coke Stevenson became Governor when W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel was installed as U.S. Senator following a special election.  Known as “Mr. Texas”, Stevenson was a no-nonsense conservative whose remarkable life story appealed to most Texans.  He had basically educated himself rising from mule team freight hauler, to bank custodian, to bank cashier, to lawyer.  Stevenson’s political career began with election as county attorney of Kimble County.  He later served as County Judge. Before being elected as Lt. Gov. he served several terms in the House and was selected as Speaker of the House.  Stevenson’s approach was so low-key that his critics accused him of doing nothing. He served two more full terms as governor stepping down in 1947 at which time he was the longest serving governor in Texas history.  Unfortunately, Stevenson is perhaps best known for his loss in the 1948 Senate race to Lyndon B. Johnson.  Stevenson is portrayed heroically in Robert Caro’s Means of Ascent.  Critics have complained that Caro’s portrait of Stevenson was influenced by his growing disgust with LBJ as his research progressed.  Nonetheless, Stevenson’s rise from poor country boy to Governor is a remarkable story in itself.

Photo from http://www.texashistory.unt.edu

Today in Texas History – August 3

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From the Annals of the Feud – In 1898, the Colorado County Feud began.  The Feud was ignited by the County’ Sheriff’s race and involved a series of gun battles between members of the Townsend family of Columbus. The actual election was between incumbent sheriff Sam Reese and a former deputy Larkin Hope. Former state senator and power broker Mark Townsend dropped his backing of Reese and endorsed Hope. The move indicated victory for Hope since Townsend typically backed the winner.  It was not to be, as Hope was gunned down Columbus.  Hope’s backers suspected Jim Coleman, a close friend of Sam Reese’s sons, Walter and Herbert, was behind the killing. Townsend picked a new candidate, Will Burford, and, with feeling running high against the Reeses, Burford won the election. Less than a year later, on March 16, 1899, Sam Reese was killed in a gun battle on the street near where Hope died. Will Clements, Marion Hope, and Mark Townsend were among those shooting. Stray bullets killed Charles Boehme, a bystander, and wounded a boy named Johnny Williams. Even though the best evidence suggests that Reese had provoked the fight in which he was killed, his sons vowed to get revenge. In five more gunfights five more men were killed and several others wounded. The dead included Reese’s brother Dick, Burford’s son Arthur, Will Clements’s brother Hiram, and Jim Coleman. No one was ever convicted of any of the murders. Those accused included Mark Townsend, Jim Townsend, Step Yates, Will Clements, Walter Reese, Joe Lessing, Frank Burford, and Marion Hope.  Perhaps not so curiously, the Townsends, Reeses, Burfords, Clementses, Hopes, and Lessings were all related to each other.

Today in Texas History – July 31

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From the Annals of the National Pastime –  In 1990, Nolan Ryan posted his 300th career win.  Pitching for the Texas Rangers, Ryan threw 7 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts in an 11-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. His historic 300th victory came in his 24th season in the majors, his second with the Texas Rangers.  Ryan had failed in his first bid for a 300th win the week before, pitching at his home stadium in Arlington, Texas. His second attempt came against the Brewers in front of a friendly crowd in Milwaukee. Ryan improved as the game went on, and by the fifth inning, the Rangers had taken a 5-1 lead. Ryan rung up two strikeouts in the fifth, one in the sixth and two more in the seventh inning. With two outs in the eighth, a defensive error put two runners on base, but with a crowd of 55,000 rooting him on, Ryan once again summoned the fastball that had won him 299 previous games. The talented young Gary Sheffield popped-out on a 96 mile-per-hour fastball to end the inning. After the Rangers tacked on insurance runs and the bullpen closed it out for an 11-3 win, Ryan became the fourth-oldest 300-game winner in baseball history after Phil Neikro, Gaylord Perry and Early Wynn.

Today in Texas History – July 28

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From the Annals of the Toreros – In 1908, James Harper Gillett made his first appearance as a novillero  at Plaza de Toros in  Guadalajara. Gillett was born in Ysleta in 1884. His parents divorced in 1889, after which he had no contact with his father for twenty-four years.  His mother married Guadalajara resident Samuel M. Lee in 1895. The family lived in Guadalajara and Gillett began calling himself Harper Baylor Lee.  Lee learned the art from his friend Francisco Gómez, El Chiclanero, a retired matador from Spain.  Lee determined to see if he could make it as a as a professional torero. In 1910 he became the first American to attain the rank of matador de toros.  He appeared in fifty-two corridas and killed 100 bulls. His career was cut short by the chaos of the Mexican Revolution. After reconciling with his father in 1914, he changed his name to Harper Baylor Gillett.

Today in Texas History – July 27

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From the Annals of Local Government –  In 1888, Randall County was organized. Among its first settlers were Lincoln Guy Conner and his wife, who grazed cattle in the vast Palo Duro Canyon area in the Panhandle. The Conners bought their land for three dollars an acre, built a half dugout, and established a general store and post office. When the county was organized, the dugout was a polling place. The Conners’ daughter was the first white child born in the county. In the spring of 1889 Conner laid out the townsite of Canyon City. He donated town lots to anyone willing to build a home or a business. Over the next two decades he became one of the growing city’s most prosperous citizens.

Today in Texas History – July 23

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From the Annals of the Outlaws –   In 1877, Texas Rangers captured outlaw John Wesley Hardin in Pensacola, Florida. The Rangers finally caught up with Hardin when an undercover ranger intercepted a letter that was sent to Hardin’s father-in-law by his brother-in-law, the outlaw Joshua Robert “Brown” Bowen. The letter disclosed that Hardin was hiding out on the Alabama-Florida border under the assumed name of “James W. Swain”.  When Hardin realized he was in danger of capture, he attempted to draw a gun, but got it caught in his suspenders He was brought back to Texas and  tried at Comanche for the murder of Charles Webb and was sentenced to 25 years in Huntsville prison. Hardin served 17 years and was released at the age of 40.  He obtained a pardon, passed the bar and obtained a law license.  He practiced law in Gonzales for a time.  He moved to El Paso where he was shot dead in a bar in Constable John Selman, Sr. after a dispute over the arrest of Hardin’s friend and part-time prostitute the Widow M’Rose.

Today in Texas History – July 22

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From the Annals of Discrimination – In 1944, Lawrence Aaron Nixon, black physician and voting-rights advocate, was given a ballot to vote in the Democratic Party primary.  In that day, the Democratic nominee was all but assured of election and thus, the Democratic primary was the “real” election.  Nixon had become involved in the civil rights movement after seeing the disgusting number of lynchings of black men in Texas, one of which occurred in Cameron where Nixon was practicing at the time.   He moved to El Paso, established a successful medical practice, helped organize a Methodist congregation, voted in Democratic primary and general elections, and in 1914 helped to organize the local chapter of the NAACP.  But in 1923 the Texas legislature passed a law prohibiting blacks from voting in Democratic primaries. In 1924, with the sponsorship of the NAACP, Nixon took his poll-tax receipt to a Democratic primary polling place and was refused a ballot. This began a twenty-year legal fight.  Nixon and his attorney, Fred C. Knollenberg, twice prevailed at the U.S. Supreme Court in their quest to secure voting rights for blacks. The Nixon decisions were major steps toward voting rights, but Texas and the dominant Democratic Party employed a number of legal maneuvers to continue to deny primary votes to blacks.  Only after the decision in Smith v. Allwright ended the white primary system, did blacks have a clear right to vote.

Photo from http://www.blackpast.org

Today in Texas History – July 21

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From the Annals of the Civil War –  In 1861, Gen. Irwin McDowell began a premature offensive into northern Virginia.  The overconfident McDowell let 34,000 largely inexperienced and poorly trained troops in a search for the main body of the Army of Northern Virginia.  Learning of the Union advance, General P.G.T. Beauregard massed some 20,000 troops at Manassas where he was joined by General Joseph Johnston’s 9,000 troops.

McDowell had initial success when three Union divisions crossed the Bull Run stream driving the  Confederate flank back to Henry House Hill. Beauregard had established a strong defensive line at the hill anchored by a brigade of Virginia infantry under General Thomas J. Jackson whose men repulsed a series of Federal charges.  Gen. Barnard Elliot Bee, Jr. allegedly shouted an order to his men to “Rally behind the Virginians! There stands Jackson like a stone wall!” No-one knows if this was meant to be complimentary or an insult regarding Jackson’s men not advancing. Bee then began to advance at the head of his brigade and fell mortally wounded. He died the next day 22nd July 1861.

The battle turned when Confederate cavalry under J.E.B. Stuart captured the Union artillery.  Beauregard ordered a counterattack. With the soon to be famous “rebel yell” the confederate charged down Henry House Hill breaking the Union line and forcing a retreat across Bull Run. The retreat quickly disintegrated into an unorganized flight back to D.C.

Union forces endured a loss of 3,000 men killed, wounded, or missing in action while the Confederates suffered 2,000 casualties.  Such casualties were unheard of in previous American combat and foreshadowed the long violent struggle to come.

Photo of B.E. Bee from http://www.nps.gov