Vol 22 No. 03 - December 1944

Sixty-Seven Years "On The Dodge"

By Odie Minatra.

Account of General William Banks, Commander of the Trans-Mississippi Valley Department of the Confederates. Born in Coffee county, Alabama, December 25, 1845, he enlisted in the 18th Alabama Infantry July 29, 1861, "raising" his age in order to get in the army. He could ride, shoot, and endure hardship, and was eventually made a Captain. At the battle of Atlanta he was wounded and taken prisoner. After the war, he relocated to Texas.

Mentions: Generals Hawkins and Taylor * the bloody battles of Corinth, Shiloh, and Vicksburg * Morgan's Ferry, Maryland * Hiram V. Banks * the Harris family * O'Hara ranch * Bat Cave * J. C. Scott * the Ben McCulloch Camp * Carpetbag Governor E. J. Davis *

Harking Back To Long Ago

By J. D. Dillingham

In this story, Mr. Dillingham goes over his years and those of his brother W. W. (Wood). He talks of outliving all his old friends and stories of the past

Mentions: Old Merrilltown * Mrs. Lowrey Smith King * Lowrey * old Brother Whipple * S. C. Shirley, an early settler of the Pipe Creek community in Bandera county * Mrs. Lydia Buell, of San Antonio * Mrs. D. M. Newcomer of Pipe Creek * R. N. Padgett * J. G. Richards *

German Colonization In Texas

By J. Marvin Hunter.

The plan of German colonization in Texas forms a link in the history of Texas that is little known to the average citizen. Had the plan, formulated and promulgated by certain German princes, been successfully carried out it is possible that Texas could have been made a Province of Germany, which might have changed the history of the world of today. But the plan failed, and as a result of that failure, Texas has a goodly population of German-American citizens, whose loyalty to American ideals has been patriotically proven during the years and especially with the World Wars wherein Germany was our greatest enemy. This account, gleaned from authentic sources, is the chronicle of a people who came to the Texas wilderness and played a most important role in making that wilderness "blossom as the rose."

Mentions: J. V. Hecke * Gottfried Duden * St. Gallen, Switzerland * F. Hoeke * Charles Sealfield * Hermann Ehrenberg * G. A. Senerpf * Leipzig * Augsburg * Biebrich * Adelsverem * Duke Adolf of Nassau, Duke Bernhard Erich of Meiningen, Duke August Ernst of Saxe Coburg, Prince Frederic William Ludwig of Prussia, Prince Gunther of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Prince Carl zu Leiningen, Prince Hermann von Wied, Prince Ferdinand von Solms-Braunfels, Prince Franz Collerado-Mansfield, Prince Otto Victor von Schoenberg-Waldeuberg, Prince Solm-Braunfels Reingrafenstein, Prince Alexander von Solms-Braunfels, Count Christian von Altleiningen-Westernburg, Count Carl von Isenburg-Meerolz, Count Edmund von Hatzfeld, Count Carl William von Inn una Knypbausen-Lutelsberg, Count Armand von Rennessee, Count Carl von Castell and Baron Paul Scirnay. * Prince Leiningen * Count Castell * the Duchy of Nassau * Biebrich * Adelsverein * Boos-Waldeck * Count Leiningen * Henry Castro * Alsatians * Bourgeois (d'Orvanne) * Chevalier Bourgois * Bourgois d'Orvanne * Henry Francis Fisher (Heinrich Franz Fischer) * Burchard Miller (Burkhart Mueller) * Prince Selma * Johann Dethard * Bremen * Dr. Ferdinand Lindheimer * Las Fontanas * Sophienburg * Baron Otfried Hans von Meusebach *

Old Cowboy Writes A Letter

By Wyatt E. Heard, Sabinal, Texas

This story was written for a few old trail driver friends of Mr. Heard whom he had not seen for more than fifty years.

Mentions: old Bro. Barker * Bro. Spoopendyke * Council Bluffs, Iowa * Florence Fenley

The Outstanding Texas Ranger

By J. Marvin Hunter

Account of Captain John R. Hughes, who had one of the most outstanding records of any of the Texas Rangers of the old days, and did more than any other one man to rid the Texas border of outlaws and desperate characters. He enlisted in the Ranger service in 1887, was promoted to Sergeant in 1891, and when Captain Frank Jones was killed by Mexican bandits on Pirate Island, near El Paso in 1893, Sergeant Hughes was made Captain of Company D. He was actively in the Ranger service from 1887 to 1915, a period of twenty-eight years, longer a Ranger and longer a Ranger captain than any other man. This is his story.

Mentions: Henry county, Illinois * a small ranch near Liberty Hill, about 30 miles northwest of Austin * his brother, Emery H. Hughes * Ysleta * El Paso * Patsy, Katherine Nell, and Master John Reynolds Hughes * the Catarina Garza Mexican revolution, in 1888 * Realitos * Tooney Dillard * Sabre and Dillard * Sheriff Sheely * Major McClendenning * the King pastureage * Charley Fusselman * Franklin Mountain * J. W. Saunders * the Salta ranch * Garza *

Mrs. Harriet Harrison Earle Roddy

By Mrs. Julia Jones.

Account of Harriet Harrison Earle who was born at her father's plantation home, on the Pacolot river, near Spartanburg, South Carolina, in 1789. Harriet and her family took part in all the turbulent events of the Texas Revolution. They were among the San Felipe evacuees who joined hundreds of other families fleeing toward the Louisiana border before the wrath of the bloody Santa Anna. Harriet wept as she set torch to her home, rather than let it fall into enemy hands, but her tears soon dried in the stress of providing for her own small group of refugees. Here is her story.

Mentions: Rebecca Berry Earle * Col John Earle, Harriet's father * General Francis Marion * Ephriam and Harriet Roddy * John Baylis Earle * Dr. Joseph Berry Earle * Rebecca Sloan * Amaryllis Bomar, Lydia Prince, Eleanor Whitten, and Letitia Poole * Spartanburg * Ephriam's parents, John and Elizabeth Jameson Roddy * Cork, Ireland * Quintana * Dr. Thomas Woodlief * Gayhill * George Moore Fletcher * Baylis Roddy * Tanglewood * Baylis John * Jane Murray *

The Killing Of Bass Outlaw

Taken from the El Paso Tribune, April 5, 1894.

Bass Outlaw was a native of Florida, but had lived in Texas for a long time. He was formerly a Ranger and served under Captain Frank Jones. Later Outlaw secured an appointment as a deputy marshal and was in El Paso attending court in that capacity when he met his death.

The particulars of the bloody tragedy are here given in the testimony of the witnesses examined by Justice Farrell at the inquest. Mr. Frank Collinson testifying, said: 'Yesterday afternoon I was in federal court on business and met Bass Outlaw, who I have been acquainted with for several years. He told me he thought of resigning his office, But before he died another good man fell before his fatal gun. Yesterday afternoon a, few minutes after 5 o'clock, the sharp report of a pistol startled the residents on Utah street. This was promptly followed by the shrill notes of a police whistle blown in the front door of Tillie Howard's house on Utah street. A minute later and a regular volley of shots testified that a pitched battle was in progress in Miss Howard's hack yard. A Tribune representative hastened to the scene of conflict. On reaching Utah street he saw Bass Outlaw, leaning heavily on the arm of a Texas Ranger, Frank M. McMahan, stagger into Barnum's saloon on the corner of Utah and Overland streets...

Mentions: Constable Sellman * Deputy Constable Wheat * Miss Howard * Joe McKidrict * Barnum's saloon * Marshal Ware * Ernest Bridges * Moisen & Thorne's * Lindell * Tillie Howard * the Lindell hotel * John Sellman * Leon Chavez * Etta Clark * Edna Hoyt * Captain Frank Jones * Paul Fricke * Mr. C. B. Dowd * Mr. Frank M. McMahan *

Aunt Jane's Scares

By Miss Ruth Dodson, Mathis, Texas.

The author describes her great aunt, Jane Harris, and of two scares she experienced in the unsettled early days in Karnes county and in LaSalle county. Mentions: Uncle Doc * Escondido creek * Bill Butler * Thiele Doe

Old Buffalo Gap College

By Hamilton Wright

Account of old Buffalo Gap College, one of the pioneer higher educational institutions of the west. The school was conceived by Dr. Alpha Young, pioneer Cumberland Presbyterian circuit rider who, amid privations and hardships, carried the gospel to numerous ranches and small settlements.

Mentions: His daughter, Miss Sallie * Canary cottage * J. H. Dever, who lived near the foot of "East Mountain," * Dr. Jack A. Haynes * Elm Creek * J. M. Wagstaff * J. W. Christopher * W. H. White was the first president of the institution * J. M. Wagstaff, John Collier, .T. N. Ellis * R. W. Benge, J. W. Milton, Charlie Murray, a Prof. Bowen, and a Prof. Melton * Dotta Garroutte * J. N. Ellis * Merkel * Baynie Lyon * Mrs. Baynie Kincaid * Buffalo Gap * Sallie Young * R. C. Stanford * Justice Eubanks * the Buffalo Gap Messenger * Zee Rhubottom * Mrs. Haynie L. Kincaid * J. M. Wagstaff * Mrs. Will Ward of Buffalo Gap *

The Fortitude Of A Frontiersman

Account of pioneer settler and frontiersman, William Jenkins, who was born in the State of North Carolina, and settled in Texas in 1849. He settled in Williamson county, where he resided for some time, then moved to Hamilton county. Mentions: a Mr. Willis * the Lampasas mountains * Jenkins and Willis * Wilburn Powell