[From Hunter's Frontier Times Magazine, August, 1929]

J. C. Goar, Johnson City, Texas.

I HAVE NOT SEEN much Blanco county early history in Frontier Times, so I will write a short sketch of some events for you. I have lived here practically all of my life. I was six years old when my father moved to this section, which at the time was a part of Comal county. My father came into the hill country for his health, but died. When I was six years old the war between the States came on, and I was deprived of an education. At the age of eighteen years I enlisted as a Texas Ranger in Captain Hamp Cox's Company B, in 1870, serving until 1871. I am sending you the pictures of Captain A . H. Cox and Lieutenant A. W. Cox, first stationed at old Fort Griffin, and later moved to a camp six miles north of Enville and about thirteen miles north of Dublin. Captain Cox has been dead about forty years and Lieutenant Cox has been dead over thirty years.

In 1858 there was a little town located on the Little Blanco river about seven miles south of the present town of Blanco, which was called Middletown, because it was supposed to be halfway between New Braunfels and Fredericksburg. The first store opened in the county was owned and operated by O. Wooperman in Middletown. This was before Blanco county was organized. I remember there was much talk as to the location of the county seat. It was later decided to locate it on the south side of the Blanco river, near the present town of Blanco, and a town called Pittsburg was laid out one half mile below Blanco. When the county was laid out by survey it was discovered that the location of Pittsburg lacked about a half mile of being in the geographical center of Blanco county, so it was moved north of the Blanco river to the present town of Blanco. At that time the south line of, Blanco county took in what is known as the Curry Creek and Kendall country. Some of our first county officers were from that section. During the war between the States, while the men were in the army fighting for the Confederacy, a part of the county was cut off from Blanco county and attached to Kendall county. This caused lot of contention, for the county seat to be in or so near the center of the county.

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Shortly after the county was organized a very sad tragedy occurred in which two good men were killed and one badly wounded. The facts, as stated to me by my old friend, John M. Watson, were about like this: There was a young man by the name of Tom Blasingame, who had done some farm work for Captain James H. Callahan. The Captain was away from home a great deal of his time while the young man was working for him. Someone started a slanderous report concerning some of Captain Callahan's folks, and this young man was accused of starting the slander, which he stoutly denied. When the Captain came home and heard of the matter he became very much enraged, and sent word to the young man that he would have to leave the country by a certain day or risk the consequences, and that he would be over at that time to see him about it if he had not left the country. On the day stated Captain Callahan went to Blasingames's accompanied by W. S. Johnson and E. C. Hinds, the two latter being asked to go with him to hear what was said between them and to try to adjust matters. As the three rode up to the front gate two shots were fired from the inside, and Callahan and Johnson both fell dead. Mr. Hinds' horse became frightened and turned to run, when two shots were fired at him, both taking effect, one breaking his arm and the other passing through his neck. With his arm dangling by his side he was unable to control his horse, so the horse went home. My old friend Watson met him, but could not get hold of the horse, until the animal reached home. He helped him from the horse and did all he could to stop the flow of blood from his neck. He then went to see about the other two men, and said he found them just as Mr. Hinds said they fell. They had not been molested. The young man and his father and mother were in the house he said, and he asked them what they were going to do. The young man said he was not guilty of the slanderous talk and that he was going to stay at home. Mr. Watson told him he could get away, and advised him to go, to which he said: "I will take my chances." He could have gone to Mexico before the officers could have arrested him, but he said he would stay with his father and mother and stand his trial, insisting that he was not guilty of the charge, and that he and his father and mother had as much right to live in the settlement as anyone else.

The next day after the killing a deputy sheriff by the name of Lang, with a posse of men, arrested the young man and his father and mother. The old lady was placed under guard and sent to some of her kinspeople, while the young man' and his father were held by the officer and his guards near the deputy's home on Little Blanco. There was no jail, so the prisoners were placed in a cow lot and the guards were placed around the lot on the outside. Late in the night a great crowd of men came up and demanded the prisoners. The guards claimed they were over-powered and had to give them up. The mob ordered the prisoners to run for their lives, but the young man told them to shoot, that he would not run; that they were willing to abide by the law, but would not run. So they were shot down and the mob diapersed. This sad incident left the little settlement on the Blanco river with two distinct factions, and it took several years for them to become reconciled. These are the facts as related to me by Mr. Watson. At the time this happened I was just a small boy, about seven years old.

I recently read in the Blanco paper a very good account of the murder of William Sheppard and wife and baby, in which I noticed one error. The boy, Tom. Huckabee, who was traveling with them and was never heard from, was Mrs. Sheppard's brother, and not her son. Tom Huckabee was a half brother to the Tanner boys, James, Sol, Ike and Sam Tanner, who are all dead now.

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