Traces of Tx (today)

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1825, the Mexican legislature, meeting in Saltillo, passed the State Colonization Law of March 24, 1825. The legislation was designed to bring about the peopling of Coahuila and Texas. It encouraged farming, ranching, and commerce. For a nominal fee, the law granted settlers as much as a square league (4,428.4 acres) of pastureland and a labor (177.1 acres) of farmland. Immigrants were temporarily free of every kind of tax. Newcomers had to take an oath promising to abide by the federal and state constitutions, to worship according to the Christian (i.e., Catholic) religion, and to display sound moral principles and good conduct. After accepting these terms and settling in Texas, immigrants earned the standing of naturalized Mexicans. Empresarios Stephen F. Austin and Green DeWitt, among others, started their colonies under this law.

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1918, in what proved to be the last serious incident of the border troubles initiated by the Mexican Revolution, Mexican raiders attacked the Neville ranch in northwest Presidio County. Edwin W. Neville's isolated ranch stretched for eighteen miles along the Rio Grande, six miles upriver from Porvenir. Neville and his son Glen were discussing the rumors of an attack when they heard a disturbance outside. Neville looked out and saw fifty approaching horsemen who opened fire on the house. Seeking protection, the Nevilles ran toward a ditch about 300 yards away. The older Neville reached the ditch uninjured, but the raiders shot Glen in the head and beat him with their rifle butts as he lay dying. The Nevilles' housekeeper, Rosa Castillo, was also shot and her body mutilated. As Neville wandered in the darkness, the raiders stole horses, clothes, bedding, and supplies. U.S. cavalry arrived soon after the raid and followed the trail of the bandits across the Rio Grande. In a gunfight at the village of Pilares thirty-three Mexicans were killed and eight were wounded. One American, private Carl Alberts, was also killed. The American soldiers destroyed all but one house in Pilares and recovered some of Neville's stolen property. It is likely that the Neville ranch raid was not a simple act of robbery, but retaliation for the Porvenir Massacre, which had taken place two months before. It is also likely that the raiders had Villista connections. In addition, soldiers found German-made Mauser rifles at Pilares, a fact that may suggest German involvement in the raid.

[Shakey Jake]

Another great photo from the Basil Clemons collection entitled "Bronco Busting". It is undated but would guess in the late 1910's or early 1920's.

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1836, which happened to be Palm Sunday, at least 342 Texans were executed by firing squad at Goliad. The Texans considered these men prisoners of war, whereas General Santa Anna thought them "perfidious foreigners." The Mexican dictator had decreed that all Texans in arms against the Mexican government were to be treated as traitors, not soldiers. The men were led out of town and shot at point- blank range. Those not killed by the first volley were hunted down and killed by gunfire, bayonet, or lance. The bodies were left unburied. The incident, which became known among Anglo-Texans as the Goliad Massacre, joined the Alamo as a rallying cry for Texas independence.

[Shakey Jake]

Here's another Basil Clemons picture from the UTA digital library. It's noted as "Walker throbreds.. " Looks to me like it was taken in the 20's or early 30's. Edit: Taking a good second look it's dated 1928 so I was pretty spot on.
Jake

[Shakey Jake]

I missed Pete Mayes birthday last Tuesday. I thought it was today for some reason. Pete played at the Double Bayou Dance Hall, located in the small black community of Double Bayou in Chambers County, sixty miles east of Houston, was established in the late 1920s. It was damaged by a storm in the early 1940s and reestablished at its present site in 1946 by returning World War II serviceman Manuel Rivers, Jr., and his wife Ella.
The hall served as a gathering place during the week and a dance hall on the weekends. Mr. and Mrs. Rivers operated the dance hall until Manuel's death in 1983, whereupon their nephew, blues guitarist Floyd "Texas Pete" Mayes, began managing the property. The dance hall was built atop cedar logs and constructed of wood with hogwire for walls; it had a tin roof. Tar paper–covered walls and a low-clearance ceiling were later added. It accommodated 125 people.
From 1946 to the mid-1950s, Double Bayou Dance Hall was home to a thriving live-music scene that operated on the outer edge of the "Chitlin' Circuit." Major touring acts traveling to Houston, including T-Bone Walker and Big Joe Turner, would on occasion make impromptu stops at Double Bayou on a Thursday night. More frequent appearances were made by Amos Milburn (with Texas Johnny Brown on guitar), Gatemouth Brown, Sam Lightnin' Hopkins, Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, Percy Mayfield, Joe Hughes, Barbara Lynn, and Clifton Chenier.
Pete Mayes and the Texas Houserockers played their first professional gig at Double Bayou Dance Hall in 1954 and served thereafter as the house band into the early 1960s. Weekly offerings of live music began to fade at the dance hall in the 1960s, in part because Mayes began traveling extensively. Nevertheless, the hall remained open as a local gathering spot and watering hole. Pete Mayes and his band routinely performed a Christmas Day matinee from 1955 to 2005. Starting in 1991, they played for scheduled tour groups from Houston and on other major holidays. In May 2003 Mayes and his band recorded a live album at the old hall and eventually released the CD Pete Mayes and the Texas Houserockers LIVE! at Double Bayou Dance Hall. With the onset in 2006 of Pete Mayes's failing health and up to his death on December 17, 2008, activities at the dance hall dropped significantly. The building suffered heavy damage during Hurricane Ike in September 2008 was never rebuilt.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=do ... &FORM=VIRE

[Shakey Jake]

I'm almost through the UTA digital library collection of Basil Clemons pictures. Here's one that caught my eye as the detail is fantastic. It looks like a young couple may have just gotten hitched. The young man is looking at the camera while giving a kiss. His coveralls are way to long and looks like they are intentionally split so as not to walk on his shoes. It appears there has been a lot of "modification" to the car. I don't think it would have been too comfortable to drive for long distances. There's not much there to keep the elements out for sure. I would say this is 1910's or early 20's.

Upon closer examination I saw an inscription " Actors 1927" that I didn't see earlier. Also, I believe, that this is two women. I spotted what looks like pearls on the neck of the one in coveralls. Also, the tips of the shoes peeking out of the pant legs appear to be women's shoes!
Jake

[Shakey Jake]

Todays entry is from the Traces of Texas Facebook group:
Traces of Texas reader Brad Bogle generously shared this nifty shot of "The Mint," a saloon that his great-grandfather owned on Washington Avenue in downtown Houston. Brad's great- grandfather's name was Joe Filips. Joe is in the center of the bar, holding the playing cards. Brad would LOVE any information regarding the bar, where it might have been located exactly etc... Brad estimates that this photo was taken in 1910, give or take.

[Shakey Jake]

Found this picture on the web and saved it. It was quite a while ago so I hope I can cite it properly. I never knew that Houston was a "Gateway to the World". Houston Lighting and Power was around for a long time and was still who I paid my electric bill to back in my early days here. About 20 years ago or so it split into Reliant Energy and Center Point Energy. Reliant Stadium is/was where the Texans play but is now called NRG. The name change occurred in 2014.
Jake

[Shakey Jake]

Here's a cool photo of James Kirkland (pictured on the left playing bass). James Kirland was born in Linden, Tx on May 15, 1934. He passed last year on April 22nd. He was known as THE legendary rockabilly slap bassist. That's James Burton on the right who is so closely associated with the Telecaster that many times people assume that's the only guitar he ever played. Well here's James Burton with a 1957 model year Gretsch 6120. Of course, that's Ricky Nelson in the middle with a Gibson J-200 with a leather body sheath /cover.

[Shakey Jake]

From TSHA Today: On this day in 1883, many Texas cowboys went on strike against their bosses, absentee ranchers. The cowboys' grievances, however, were against developments that proved permanent. As closed-range ranching wiped out the previous open-range industry, some of the cowboys' traditional perks were denied them. No longer could they brand mavericks, keep small herds of their own, or receive part of their pay in calves. The strike mustered some 300 cowboys at its peak strength, but after 2 1/2 months the work stoppage was so weakened that the May roundup occurred without incident. The last press mention of the strike was in the Dodge City Times for May 10, 1883.

[Shakey Jake]

Play ball! From Doubleday to double plays, Galveston's baseball history is up to bat on Opening Day 2023. Abner Doubleday found his way to Galveston on November 4, 1866, as Commander of the Army’s forces following the Civil War. Thanks to his posting in Galveston, the state’s first baseball games would be held on the island, and Texas’ baseball history would be born. Pictured here, we have the 1919 Cascade Laundry team, one of a long line of local and regional teams who helped advance the sport throughout the state.

[Shakey Jake]

Per TSHA:
On this day in 1898, controversial journalist William Cowper Brann was fatally shot in the back by Tom E. Davis on a Waco street. Brann managed to pull his own gun and kill Davis. Earlier in the decade Brann's newspaper, the Iconoclast, had launched a series of vitriolic attacks, especially on Baptists, Episcopalians, blacks, women, and anything British. He also went after nearby Baylor University, which he called "that great storm-center of misinformation." Brann was subsequently kidnapped on one occasion and beaten on another, and his supporters had a deadly gunfight with Baylor partisans. Davis, who killed Brann, was an irate supporter of Baylor.

[Shakey Jake]

Belle Star was born Myrabelle Shirley in 1848 in Missouri. At the end of the Civil War, her family moved to Scyene, Texas and settled in the farming the community east of Dallas. She eloped with a horse thief, Jim Reed of Missouri. Reed was also a stagecoach bandit who was wanted in the connection of several killings. He was killed resisting arrest in August of 1874. During the next few years his widow did some roving around and was accused of selling livestock stolen by some of her male acquaintances. She moved to the Indian Territory in 1880 and married a Cherokee Indian named Sam Starr and their home became the headquarters for their gang. Sam and Belle were both convicted of horse theft and sent to prison in 1883. Belle was killed by an unknown assailant on a road near her home in 1889 thus ending the reign of the "Outlaw Queen of the Indian Territory".

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1817, Bigfoot Wallace was born in Lexington, Virginia. He arrived in Texas shortly after the Texas Revolution, fought Gen. Adrián Woll's invading Mexican army near San Antonio in 1842, and then volunteered for the Somervell and Mier expeditions. Some of his most graphic memories were of his experiences in Perote Prison. As soon as he was released, he joined the Texas Rangers under Jack Hays and fought with the rangers in the Mexican War. In the 1850s Captain Wallace commanded a ranger company of his own, fighting border bandits as well as Indians. He spent his later years in Frio County, near a hamlet named Bigfoot. There he was known as a mellow and convivial soul who liked to sit in a roomy rawhide-bottomed chair in the shade of his shanty and recount over the stories of his career.

[Shakey Jake]

Bobby Posted this on Facebook. I'll put it here for anyone interested:

Here’s a bit of our schedule: Total Feeds, Inc. CINCH JEANS CSI Saddlepads MVP Teskey's Capital Hatters Ridin Rank Wild Rags Buzzed Brumby Mustang Heritage Foundation EspanaSilk Grooming Products Hico, Texas PF Wonder Salve Devil's Garden Wild Horses
(Image: May be an image of 1 person, outdoors and text that says 'NEXT STOPS APRIL 21-23 RED BLUFF, CA. PRCA RODEO 27-30 CLOVIS, CA. PRCA RODEO ALPINE, TX. 19 PLEASANT PRAIRI, WI. COWBOY SHOOTOUT JUNE 8-10 COLEMAN TX. PRCA RODEO 22-24 CLEARLAKE SD PRCA RODEO JULY 1-4 BEL FOURCHESD PRCA RODEO 6-9 HAMEL MN. PRCA RODEO')

[Rifletom]

Keep 'em coming Jake! I enjoy these bits of Texas history.

[Shakey Jake]

Francis Scott Key, who penned the words to the "Star Spangled Banner", was once employed by Sam Houston as his defense council. Before coming to Texas in 1832 Sam was insulted by a congressman while he was serving as an Indian Agent in Washington. Houston encountered the Congressman on the street and assaulted him with his ever-present hickory cane. Houston hired Key to defend him in court when charges were filed. Houston was found guilty and reprimanded.

[Shakey Jake]

From the Traces of Texas Facebook group:
The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day:
This is a photo of George Armstrong Custer and wife Elizabeth in Austin, 1865. Custer's division in Austin was mustered out beginning in November 1865, replaced by the regulars of the U.S. 6th Cavalry Regiment. Although their occupation of Austin had apparently been pleasant, many veterans harbored deep resentments against Custer, particularly in the 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry, because of his attempts to maintain discipline. Upon its mustering out, several members planned to ambush Custer, but he was warned the night before and the attempt thwarted.

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1896, in El Paso, U.S. deputy marshal George A. Scarborough shot constable John Selman, a celebrated gunman and gambler who had just left the Wigwam Saloon. Selman died the next day on the operating table. Scarborough was acquitted of murder but was forced to resign his position as deputy marshal. Selman, perhaps best known as the man who killed John Wesley Hardin in 1895, had himself been a notorious figure since the 1870s. Four years to the day after Selman's death, Scarborough died at his home in Deming, New Mexico, following a gun battle with rustlers in Arizona.

John Selman picture: