Category Archives: Today in Texas History

Today in Texas History – June 5

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From the Annals of Banditry –   In 1880, Myra Maybelle “Belle” Shirley Reed, married her third (or possibly only second) husband, Sam Starr.  Belle, known as the “Bandit Queen” married Starr in the Cherokee Nation.  Reed’s family (the Shirleys) were from Missouri and had supported Confederate marauders including Quantrill. By the end of the Civil War, the Shirleys had been forced to relocate to Scyene near Dallas.  In July 1866 Cole, Jim, Bob, and John Younger and Jesse James, outlaws who had ridden with Quantrill, used the Shirley home as a hideout. Belle’s first husband, Jim Reed rode with the Younger, James, and Starr gangs.  Despite later popularization, they were vicious and remorseless criminals who killed, looted and pillaged in Texas, Arkansas, and the Indian Territory. Jim Reed was killed by a deputy sheriff in 1874 in Paris.  Belle may have married Bruce Younger.  Even so, Belle and Sam Starr were married and engaged in their own criminal exploits.  They  were charged with horse stealing, and  Belle received two six-month prison terms.  Starr was later killed in a shootout with an Indian policeman.   Belle allegedly continued her amorous ways.  Her loves included Jim July (or Jim Starr), Blue Duck, Jack Spaniard, and Jim French. In 1889, while she was living in the Choctaw Nation, an unknown assassin ambushed and killed her.

Today in Texas History – June 3

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From the Annals of the Horse Marines – In 1836, a Texas mounted ranger company captured a Mexican ship.  Maj. Isaac Watts Burton’s unit was keeping watch over a stretch of the Gulf Coast south of San Antonio Bay. When they heard of a suspicious vessel in Copano Bay, the rangers hid on the shore and sent up distress signals. The ship responded first by hoisting American and Texan signals, which were ignored. Only when the ship raised Mexican signals did the rangers respond. Thus tricked into thinking the supposedly distressed soldiers were Mexican, the captain came ashore and was captured. With him as hostage, sixteen rangers rowed out, boarded the Watchman, and seized its cargo of provisions for the Mexican army.   The mounted rangers were dubbed “Horse Marines.”

Today in Texas History

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Wegefarth and Greer Ghost Counties TX 1876 RR Map

From the Annals of the Lost Counties –  In 1873, the Texas Legislature declared the existence of Wegefarth County.  It was named for C. Wegefarth, president of the Texas Immigrant Aid and Supply Company. The county, which was created in a disputed area west of Greer County in the eastern panhandle region, had but a brief existence. It was abolished by another act of the Legislature in 1876 which created the current Panhandle counties.

Today in Texas History – May 29′

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From the Annals of Hospitality –  In 1947, Hilton Hotels was incorporated in Delaware.  Hilton would later become the first hotel chain listed on the New York Stock Exchange.  HIlton had it humble beginnings in Texas.  In 1919 Conrad Nicholson Hilton purchased the Mobley Hotel in Cisco.  Hilton expanded his holdings in several ways.  After his first purchase in Cisco, Hilton began leasing and renovating old hotels.  After acquiring several such properties, he began building new hotels in Texas on property he ground leased.  Then he moved on to buying existing, low performing hotels at bargain prices. Hilton opened a new hotel in Texas every year between 1925 and 1930 eventually owning 8.  He managed to survive the Depression even though he was close to bankruptcy in1931. But the troubled times forced him to look to outside investors.  Shearn and William L. Moody, Jr., of Galveston were the primary source of new capital and HIlton merged his hotels with the Moodys’ operations to form the National Hotel Company.  The merger was unsuccessful and in 1934 Hilton resumed his independent operation with five hotels. In 1938 he acquired the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, his first hotel outside of Texas. Hilton later established his corporate headquarters in Beverly Hills.  Ultimately, Conrad Hilton owned 188 hotels in 38 United States cities, including the Shamrock in Houston, the Mayflower in Washington, the Palmer House in Chicago, and the Plaza and Waldorf-Astoria in New York, and another 54 hotels in foreign countries.  He also endowed the University of Houston which named the Conrad Hilton School of Hotel and Restaurant Management after him.  His archives are located at the University Hilton on the UH Campus.

Red vowed to never stay at another Hilton Hotel after they tore down the Shamrock.  For those who never stayed at the Shamrock, it was a glorious place and Red spent many a lazy Saturday afternoon at the enormous pool sipping a libation with friends and planning that evening’s dinner and trip to the Astrodome.

Today in Texas History – May 28

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From the Annals of Big Oil – In 1923, the Santa Rita No. 1 oil well came in.  The gusher came in the early morning at the solitary rig located in Reagan County.  The University of Texas had leased 670 sections of its west Texas land to Rupert P. Ricker.  Ricker in turn hoped to make enough selling drilling permits from various wildcatters to make the rental payments to UT.  Frank T. Pickrell and Haymon Krupp bought the drilling permits and formed Texon Oil and Land Company.  They then hired geologist Hugh Tucker to select a site for drilling among the almost 200,000 acres.  Carl G. Cromwell drilled the well which was spudded in only minutes before the drilling permit would have expired.  The incredible gusher and the ensuing development of UT’s vast land holdings transformed the school from a small land grant college in a small city to a major institution of higher education.  The University of Texas system has the second highest endowment of any US university ranking only behind Harvard.

Today in Texas History – May 26

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From the Annals of Slavery –  In 1837, the executor of William Barret Travis’s estate placed a notice in the Telegraph and Texas Register for an escaped slave named Joe.  Joe had been one of the few survivors of the battle of the Alamo the year before. The notice ran for three months before it was discontinued.

During the final battle for the Alamo, Joe was armed and defended with others before retreating to an interior room.  After the battle, Joe answered the call of the Mexican troops for any slaves to reveal themselves. Joe came out was immediately shot and suffered a bayonet thrust. A Mexican captain prevented his death.  He was taken by the Mexican Army and later interrogated by Santa Anna regarding Texas and the Texas Army.  He was apparently released and on March 20, Joe was questioned by the Texas Cabinet at Groce’s Retreat about the siege and final battle at the Alamo. William F. Gray reported that Joe impressed those present with the modesty, candor, and clarity of his account. Joe was then returned to Travis’s property near Columbia.  On the first anniversary of the battle of San Jacinto, Joe escaped with two fully equipped horses while accompanied by an unidentified Mexican man.  Joe was never returned to slavery and was last reported in Austin in 1875.

Today in Texas History – May 22

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From the Annals of Golf –  In 2003, Annika Sorenstam became the first woman to play on the PGA tour in 58 years.  She did so at the storied Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.  The Colonial Invitational invited her to play based on her stellar record on the LPGA in the preceding years.  When she retired Sorenstam had won 72 LPGA events and 10 major championships.  But for Sorenstam  her two rounds at the Colonial provide a large part of her legacy. Sorenstam refers to the experience as “one of the highlights of my career.”   She ended the day at 1-over par and missed the cut by a stroke.

On a personal note, Red was there for her second round on Friday and strategically placed himself where he could watch Sorenstam play on holes 5, 6 and 7, and managed to catch her only birdie of the day.  The crowds were incredible and largely supportive.  It was a fun day to watch golf.

And who was the last women to play in an PGA event before the striking Swede?  It was Texan Babe Didrikson Zaharias at the Tucson Open in 1945.

Today in Texas History – May 20

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Identification Order of Bonnie and Clyde in 1934

From the Annals of the Bank Robbers –  In 1933, the United States Commissioner in Dallas issued a warrant for the arrest of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker for interstate transportion a stolen vehicle.  The FBI (then known as the Division of Investigation) became involved in the hunt for the dangerous duo in December 1932 based on the discovery of a Ford automobile which had been stolen in Pawhuska, Oklahoma and abandoned near Jackson, Michigan. The investigation revealed that another stolen vehicle (from Illinois) had been abandoned in Pawhuska near the time of the car theft.  A search of this car turned up a prescription bottle which led special agents to a drug store in Nacogdoches.  Further investigation led to the revelation that the prescription had been filled for Clyde Barrow’s aunt and that she had been recently visited by Barrow, Parker, and Clyde’s brother, L. C. Barrow. It was also discovered that they had been driving the Ford sedan stolen in Illinois.

This was enough evidence to obtain issuance of a federal warrant against Barrow and Parker for interstate transport of a stolen vehicle from Texas to Oklahoma.  For the first time, the FBI became involved in the hunt for the notorious bank robbers and folk legends.

Although glamourized in the ridiculously inaccurate 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, the duo were ruthless criminals who were implicated in at least 13 murders, numerous bank robberies, thefts and in staging a prison escape from the Eastham Prison Farm to free their former gunman Raymond Hamilton in which two guards were shot.

The two would continue their crime spree for another year after issuance of the federal warrant.  On May 23, 1934, acting on information that Barrow and Parker were in the area of Ruston, Louisiana, a posse composed of police officers from Louisiana and Texas, including Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, staged an ambush near Sailes, Louisiana. Barrow and Parker appeared in another stolen car.  The officers opened fire and the saga of Bonnie and Clyde came to a gory end in a hail of bullets.

Today in Texas History – May 19

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From the Annals of Depredations –  In 1836, Commanche, Kiowa, and Caddo Indians in kidnapped nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker and killed her family near present day Mexia.  Silas and Lucy Parker had moved to Texas from Illinois in 1832.   Their homestead included a civilian stockade called Parker’s Fort intended to protect the family and others from Indian raids. The wooden stockade probably was capable of holding off an Indian raiding party if properly manned and defended.  However, a long lull in Indian raids induced the Parker family to drop their guard and they were caught by surprise on the fateful day Cynthia Ann was kidnapped. The more than one hundred raiders killed five of the Parkers and abducted five women and children.  Cynthia Ann was taken by the Comanche. The tribe routinely kidnapped their enemy’s women and children for either enslavement or adoption into the tribe – typically in the case of young children. That was Parker’s fate as she lived happily with the Comanche for 25 years.

But her story does not end there.  Four years after the Fort Parker raid, her relatives learned that she was still alive.  A trader named WIlliams reported seeing her with a band of Comanche in north Texas.  He tried to bargain for her, but it was obvious that the girl was happy with her life as a Comanche. The Commanche Chief Pahauka allowed Williams to speak to the girl, but she stared at the ground and refused to answer his questions. After four years, Parker apparently had become accustomed to Commanche ways and did not want to leave. In 1845, two other traders saw Parker, who was 17 years old.   They were told that she was now married to a Comanche warrior Peta Nocona and the men reported “she is unwilling to leave” and “she would run off and hide herself to avoid those who went to ransom her.” She stayed happily married to Nocona and gave birth to 3 children including Quanah Parker who would become a famous leader of the last of the free-roaming Comanche bands.

In December 1860, a Texas Ranger force surprised Nocona’s camp on the Pease River in present day Foard County.  Nocona was killed and the Rangers captured Parker and her daughter, Prairie Flower.  Parker was unwilling to adapt to Anglo and tried to run away several times.  But as it became clear that her adopted people were fighting a losing battle, she accepted her place as a stranger among her relatives. After her daughter, Prairie Flower died of influenza and pneumonia in 1863, Parker struggled on for seven more years. Weakened by self-imposed starvation, she died of influenza in 1870

Today in Texas History – May 18

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From the Annals of the Depredations –  In 1871, more than 100 Kiowas, Comanches, Kiowa-Apaches, Arapahoes, and Cheyennes from the Fort Sill Reservation in Oklahoma attacked Henry Warren’s wagontrain on the Butterfield Overland Mail route.  The attack ended with the wagonmaster and six teamsters dead while five others managed to escape.  The raiding party suffered one killed and five more wounded.  One of the escaped teamsters related his story of the attack to Gen. Sherman and Col. Ranald MacKenzie at Fort Richardson. As a result the leaders of the raid, Chiefs Satank, Satanta, and Big Tree, leaders of the raid, were arrested. Satank attempted to escape and was killed. Satanta and Big Tree were tried for murder in Texas which was reputed to be the first use of Texas courts to try Indian for criminal acts.  They were found guilty and sentenced to death, but had their sentences commuted to life by Gov. Edmund Davis.   The raid restarted U.S. military operations against the Comanches and their allies who remained at large.

Photo of Chief Satanta from http://www.Kansas.com