USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume I > Part 55
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FERD HERFF, JR., cashier of the San Antonio National Bank, was born in San Antonio in 1853, a son of Dr. Ferdinand and Mathilda (Klingelhoefer) Herff, mention of whom is made on another page of this work. His boyhood days were passed in his native city and he was accorded excellent educational privileges. After attending the local schools of San Antonio he went abroad for travel and study, becoming a student in the university at Darmstadt and completing his education in the University of Geneva.
On returning home Ferd Herff, entered active business life in 1872 as an employe of the San Antonio National Bank, with which he has since been connected. He began at the lowest round of the ladder, act- ing as a runner for the bank, but through merit and capability won rec- ognition and promotion, filling one position after another until he became assistant cashier, while in 1893 he was chosen to the position of cashier,
San Antonio National Bank.
thus serving for the past thirteen years. The San Antonio National is the oldest national bank of the city. It was founded in 1866 soon after the national bank act went into effect, by George W. Brackenridge, who has ever since remained its president. The bank was at first located in what is now known as the French building, opposite the courthouse, and later was removed to West Commerce street, occupying what was called the Riddle building. Later its location was at the corner of St. Mary's street and Commerce and about 1888 the present structure was erected at No: 213 West Commerce street. The building is a quaint, picturesque and beautiful structure of two stories, built of gray stone. and in a somewhat modernized Moorish style of architecture. It is set back from the street and there is a high iron fence in front.
Mr. Herff was married in San Antonio to Miss Zuline LaCoste, a daughter of the late J. B. LaCoste, who was largely interested in ice
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HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
factories and established the present water works system of San Antonio. Four children have graced this marriage: Mrs. Alice Beze; Mrs. Ella Duerler ; Mattie, at home ; and Zuline, a student in Vassar College.
Mr. Herff is a worthy representative of the historic Herff family of San Antonio. Since early youth he has been an exceptionally ener- getic and public-spirited citizen and for nineteen years was prominently connected with the famous volunteer fire department of the city and as such helped to put out many a fire, notably one at the Alamo. He has helped to save the city many thousands of dollars annually by extin- guishing fires and at different times was assistant foreman and captain of Hook and Ladder Company No. I and at one time was acting chief of the department. He is an ex-president of the San Antonio Turn Verein and also of the Beethoven Maennerchor. He belongs to the Elks and to the Knights of Pythias fraternity. In such bodies he has held some of the highest offices. In politics he is a stalwart Republican and for fourteen years has been city treasurer, for four years school trustee and for about six years treasurer of the school board. He is likewise a member of the Business Men's Club and is greatly interested in busi- ness affairs. In fact all measures for public progress and improvement along intellectual, social, political and material lines awaken his interest and receive his co-operation. He is a man of distinct and forceful indi- viduality and one who has wielded a wide and beneficial influence. He is now widely and favorably known throughout the city, his abilities well fitting him for leadership in political business and social life.
POMPEO COPPINI, a sculptor of San Antonio, was born in the town of Moglia in the province of Mantova, Lombardy, Italy, May 19, 1870. He was reared and educated, however, in Florence, to which city his parents removed when he was one year old. - When sixteen years of age his ambition to become a sculptor was so strong that he ran away from college where he had been placed by his parents, who wished him to be- come a civil engineer. His parents thus realized that his love for art was such a great influence in his life that they consented that he be edu- cated in that direction. In 1886, therefore, he entered the Academy of Fine Arts at Florence and became a pupil of Emilio Zocchi, while later he studied under Augusto Rivalta, one of the greatest sculptors of Italy. Coppini made the somewhat remarkable achievement of completing the eight years' course in three years. During his term in the academy he won the first prize each year, being graduated in 1889 after having won the monev prize over pupils who had been in the institution for twelve years, this prize being the greatest honor a pupil can receive in the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence.
Signor Coppini then went to Rome and further perfected himself by studying the old masters. He resided in that city until called by his government to serve the usual required service in the Italian army. In 1893 he returned to Florence to study, gaining while there a splendid reputation among his brother artists and winning prizes in competition with works that are still remembered. He modeled a great many por- trait busts of the most famous men of his country and Europe, including Giovanni Bovio, one of the great philosophers and statesmen of Italy; Senator Paolo Mantegazza, a noted scientist and writer; Professor En-
V
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HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST, TEXAS
rico Giglioli, director of the National Museum of Natural History; Dr. Prof. Aurelio Bianchi; Count Pullé; the great German historian Theo- dore Mommsen and many other prominent men who all admired the genius of this young sculptor.
But the opportunities, which Signor Coppini desired to bring him to prominence, were not coming fast enough in his own country, and his desire to accomplish the very most out of his artistic temperament was so great that he decided to come to America, selecting the United States as the most progressive and free country of the world.
In April, 1896, Coppini landed in New York. Not being able at that time to speak the English language, and wanting to learn the Ameri- can ways, study the character of the people, their arts and history, instead of establishing a studio for himself he engaged to work as an assistant to some of the prominent American sculptors. His fine talent being soon recognized, he was commissioned to execute many important works of art. He modeled from life the busts of Hobson, Joseph Wheeler and many prominent men and women of society circles. He also helped to model the fountain in the Congressional Library Building at Washington.
In December, 1901, Signor Coppini came to Texas, being called to model the five well known figures which are a part of the famous Confederate monument on the capital grounds at Austin. Upon finish- ing this work he was so favorably impressed with the natural beauty and the delightful climate of Southwestern Texas, so similar in many respects to that of Italy, that he decided to remain here and make his permanent home in San Antonio, becoming the same year a naturalized American citizen. It should be said in this connection that Coppini be- came an enthusiastic American from choice and without reservation, preferring this to any other country and being an intense admirer of the American people.
It is therefore as a citizen of San Antonio that he has achieved his greatest success and reputation as a sculptor. He won in competi- tion the modeling of the Rufus C. Burleson monument at Waco, which was unveiled June 7, 1905. He also executed the Confederate monument at Paris. Texas, which was also won in competition; he executed the bust of Dr. Ferdinand Herff, Sr., for the Carnegie Library of San An- tonio, which bust was exhibited at the St. Louis World's Fair and at- tracted much attention as afterward it was requested by the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts for exhibition in Philadelphia. At St. Louis he also exhibited many other important works, which were greatly admired and established his reputation as one of the best American sculptors. Among his other works there was a large group: "The Victims of the Galveston Flood," a strong and realistic conception, full of love and sentiment, which certainly denoted a great power of the artist in por- traying nature as well as souls and a masterly, classic and plastic abilitv. He also erected in Galveston a monument to General J. C. Root, com- mander of the Order of the W. O. W. which is surmounted by a colossal portrait statue. A similar monument for the Order of the W. O. W. was also erected in Memphis, Tenn.
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Terry Ranger Statue.
In a strong competition, where many noted American sculptors were represented, Mr. Coppini also won the erection of a colossal equestrian statue to ex-Governor Ross for Waco, and the same month, in May, 1905, in a similar competition, won the execution of an equestrian statue in memory of the Texas Terry's Ranger for Austin, Texas, which is the first equestrian statue erected in the state of Texas. It was dedicated in May, 1907, and is a work of art in which all Texas take pride, as it is in every aspect a most beautiful and inspiring piece of plastic art. This equestrian statue is fourteen feet high, cast in United States Standard bronze, and stands on a fifteen-foot pedestal of beautiful Texas gray granite, the die alone weighing eighty thousand pounds, in one solid piece.
Mr. Coppini has also won in competition the monument for ex- Senator J. H. Reagan for Palestine, Texas; the Falkenberg monument for Denver, Colorado; the Mahncke monument for the city of San Antonio, and executed a number of portraits, busts and bas-relievos of prominent leading men of Texas, which are all much prized as works of art.
The works enumerated in the foregoing, represent only a small per- centage of his total accomplishments, which have been very large con- sidering the fact that he is still a young man. He has all his life been a most indefatigable student and worker, never wasting any time. He had the advantage of being trained in Italy, the home of the highest produc- tions of mediaeval and modern Arts, with world-famed sculptors as his preceptors, and he has shown himself a student worthy of their best teaching.
Mr. Coppini married in New Haven, Connecticut, Miss Lizzie Di- Barbieri, of that city, in February, 1898. His wife, an accomplished lady is a native of America but of Italian ancestry. She is not only the artist's most faithful companion, but has taken such a great interest in her husband's art and success that she has learned how to help him in his work.
CHARLES F. BEITEL, a retired stockman and pioneer now living in San Antonio, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, his natal day being January 2, 1835. His parents were Joseph and Elizabeth (Arm- brust) Beitel. The father was born in Wuertemberg, Prussia, in 1806, and on coming to America settled in Philadelphia. In 1838 he arrived in Texas with his family, traveling by the schooner the "Mason," to Galveston and thence to Houston by steamboat. At that time the latter place was an insignificant settlement, containing mostly slab houses. Mr. Beitel established a small bakery and grocery store, which he con- ducted until 1840, when the family removed to Bastrop on the Colo- rado river. There the Beitels and other settlers built a stockade on the bank of the river for protection from the Indians and one of their prin- cipal elements of equipment was an iron cannon which was fired to notify surrounding settlers to come to their aid whenever the Indians appeared in sight. On leaving Bastrop the family removed to Cedar Creek in Bastrop county, where they established a farm and made a start in the
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HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
cattle business. After about two years they came to Bexar county, settling at Austin Crossing on the Salado, about eight miles east of San An- tonio, where they established a ranch which remained the Beitel home for a long number of years and in fact is still known as such. The father died early in 1887, while the mother attained a very advanced age and died at the home of her son Charles in San Antonio November 28, 1903. Her birth occurred in 1813 at Baden-Baden. Her name is per- petuated in the Elizabeth Beitel Memorial Lutheran church at the old Beitel home on the Salado, built on ground donated by Mrs. Beitel, while the material and construction were furnished by the remainder of the family.
Charles F. Beitel is one of the oldest pioneer residents of Texas. His memory compasses a more extended period in the personal recollec- tion of frontier history than any other man now living in San Antonio,
Pioneer of 1838.
with perhaps one or two exceptions. Coming here with his parents in 1838, he lived here under the republican government and was through the subsequent forms of government in this state. His home, too, was always on the frontier as long as there was any frontier and he recalls many interesting and thrilling reminiscences of life in the early days of conflict with the Indians and contention and trials brought about by the hardships of pioneer life. His mind is a storehouse of historical events and of early impressions, and he has intimate knowledge of many well known characters, so that his reminiscences are of historic value. He well remembers Sam Houston as he appeared when he would sit on a log in front of the Beitel bakery in Houston and drink cider and eat ginger cake, in the meantime discussing the affairs of the Texas Republic with friends and neighbors. Mr. Beitel obtained his first experience in driving cattle when the family began farming at Cedar Creek and from that time until he retired from active life, with the exception of the period which he spent in the army, he was connected with the live-stock business.
After the family located on the Salado in Bexar county Charles F. Beitel made his way to Kerr county, establishing a ranch of his own at the mouth of Cherry Creek in 1857. Kerr county was the outpost of the frontier at that time and Mr. Beitel was much harassed by the Indians. Shortly before the war broke out he returned to the Salado and on February 20, 1862, he enlisted at San Antonio as a member of Company G, Twenty-eighth Cavalry, which later was designated as the Thirty- first Dismounted Cavalry, for they did not have sufficient equipment to use their horses.
Mr. Beitel was under command of Captain John H. Duncan and Colonel T. C. Hawpe. He was made third sergeant of his company and held that rank throughout the war, although he frequently acted as lieutenant. The regiment went first to Northwest Missouri to join the movement planned by the Confederacy to cross the Mississippi river and descend on St. Louis from the north, this being a part of the opera- tions to bring about the capture of that citv. This plan was abandoned, however, and the Thirty-first Dismounted Cavalry started south through
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HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST TEXAS
western Missouri. Their first fight was at Spring Creek, Kansas, the second at Newtonia, Missouri, the third at Shirley's Ford, and on December 8, 1862, they fought in the battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas. The Thirty-first Dismounted Cavalry was known as a flying regiment. that is, a part of a flying brigade engaged largely in skirmishing and scouting. From Prairie Grove they proceeded southward to Louisiana. where they took part in the almost continuous fighting against Hood's expedition up the Red river, including the well known battles of Mans- field and Pleasant Hill, the skirmish at Harrisburg, Louisiana, on the Ouachita river, and the fight at Yellow Bayou.
When the war was over Mr. Beitel returned to his home on the Salado, where he continued in the stock ranching business until 1874. In 1887 he removed to San Antonio, where he has since made his home.
Two of his brothers, Frank and Rudolph Beitel, both now deceased, became prominent lumbermen and established the well known Beitel lumber business at San Antonio in 1873. This is now one of the largest establishments of its kind in Southwest Texas, Albert Beitel, the younger brother, being now at the head of the institution.
ALBERT STEVES, a lumberman of the firm of Ed Steves & Sons at San Antonio, is one of the representative business men who has wrought along modern lines of progress and has found in this city ample scope for the exercise of his industry, diligence and foresight-which are his dominant qualities. As a member of the firm he is thus connected with one of the oldest if not the oldest establishment of its kind in Texas, for the lumber house is certainly a notable and widely known commercial enterprise, intimately connected with the early development and growth of Texas. It bears the reputation of having been established and devel- oped to its present proportions of magnitude on principles of strict, old- time commercial integrity and honor.
The business was started in San Antonio in 1866 by the late Edward (always known as Ed) Steves, who was born in 1829 in the City of Bar- men, Prussia, and came to Texas when a young man in 1848. He settled in the German colony of New Braunfels in Comal county, and first en- gaged in farming on the Guadalupe river above New Braunfels, but later established a farm and stock ranch on Cypress Creek in Kerr county between the present towns of Comfort and Kerrville. This section of the state was a hotbed for Indian raids in the early days and the Steves family experienced the hardships, privations, dangers and difficulties of pioneer life. In 1857 Mr. Steves was married to Miss Johanna Kloep- per, a native of Hanover, who is still living in San Antonio. It was on the Cypress Creek ranch that the three sons. Ed, Jr., Albert and Ernest, who afterward became members of the lumber firm, were born. It is a well remembered event of pioneer life in Southwestern Texas that Mr. Steves brought the first threshing machine to the state, it being landed by boat at the port of Indianola, consigned to Mr. Steves, early in 1861, just before the port was closed through the outbreak of the Civil war. Mr. Steves did all the threshing for the farmers for many miles around. During the war he belonged to the minute-men of Texas in the Indian Raids, this being a branch of the State Rangers for home protection and subject to call.
Ed Steves Dal
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In 1866 Mr. Steves came to San Antonio and established a lumber- yard at the corner of Blum and Bonham streets back of the Menger
Early Lumber Business.
Hotel. Later he removed to Alamo plaza where the Grand Opera House is now located, and still later to Alamo street, where the great building of Joske's store now stands. In 1877, upon the completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad to San Antonio, Mr. Steves removed the lumberyard to the old Southern Pacific depot on Walnut street. In the spring of 1880, when the International & Great Northern Railroad was completed into San Antonio, the Steves lumber business was removed to the corner of Buena Vista and South Medina streets, near the International & Great Northern depot. This yard has ever since been maintained at that loca- tion, and in 1883, when the Southern Pacific Railroad was built west, a branch yard was established at the railroad crossing on East Commerce street, near where the new Southern Pacific passenger depot has since been built. Mr. Steves died April 20, 1890, and few deaths in San An- tonio have been as deeply regretted, for he was a man of the finest qualities, both in business and in private life. He served as alderman of the city during the '70s and in every way was a most public spirited man, who did much to promote the growth of San Antonio, commercially and financially, during its struggling days in the early development of busi- ness life.
The lumber business which he established was at first conducted under the name of Ed Steves. In the fall of 1877 Albert Steves and Ed Steves, Jr., the two eldest sons, began working for their father, and in the following year Ernest Steves, the other son, also began working for the business. In 1882 the father retired from active participation in the business and the lumberyard was continued under the firm name of Ed Steves & Sons, by which it has been known ever since. Ed Steves, Jr., later retired from the firm, which is now composed of Albert and Ernest Steves, the latter of whom was in 1906 elected president of the Texas Lumber Men's Association.
Albert Steves, the senior member of the firm, was educated at St. Mary's College in San Antonio and in Washington and Lee University, Virginia. He was married in San Antonio to Miss Fannie Baetz, and they have four children : Albert, Estella, Walter and Edna. Albert Steves, the father, has throughout his entire business life been connected with the commercial interests of San Antonio as a lumber merchant. He is honored and respected by all, not only because of the success he has achieved, but also by reason of the straightforward methods he has ever followed. It is true that he entered upon a business already established but many a man of less resolute spirit would have utterly failed in en- larging its scope and in conducting it in keeping with modern business ideas. On the contrary he and his brother have carefully managed the enterprise and have shown that success is not a matter of genius as held by some, but is the outcome of clear judgment, experience and industry.
CAPTAIN JAMES MORTIMER VAN RIPER, now deceased, was distin- guished for many years as one of the most noted criminal officers of Southwest Texas. Few men have ever done as much to suppress law- Vol. I. 27
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lessness and crime and to promote civilization and order in this part of the state. His history forms a picturesque and interesting chapter in the annals of Texas and to him the people owe a debt of gratitude for what he did in their behalf.
Captain Van Riper was born at Waterloo, Seneca county, New York. October 14. 1843. When he was ten years of age his parents crossed the plains with their family to California, locating first at Stockton but soon afterward removing to Santa Barbara in the southern part of the state. There Captain Van Riper first entered business life, herding sheep for fifty cents per day. In 1858 the family left California and after a somewhat eventful trip overland in wagons reached San Antonio, Bexar county, Texas, and settled on a farm on the Dry Salado, seven miles northwest of San Antonio. There Captain Van Riper remained until 1861, when the Civil war was inaugurated and he joined the Con- federate army as a member of Company C, Twenty-first Texas Cavalry, in which he made a splendid record as a valorous soldier, serving with distinction and with unflinching adherence to principles and patriotism throughout the entire war.
When hostilities had ceased he resumed farming and stock-raising at the Van Riper homestead in Bexar county, but from that time forward until his death he was best known as a criminal officer, suppressing crime and vice throughout Southwest Texas. His first service in that direc- tion was as one of the minute-men, an organization that, although per- forming duties practically the same as the regular state rangers, was composed mostly of citizens who lived at home but gathered quickly to- gether to fight the Indians in their periodical raids on the lonely and unprotected settlements. His service in this direction won him such a splendid reputation for bravery and efficiency that in the course of time he was solicited to enter official life and in 1876 he was appointed deputy sheriff of Bexar county under Sheriff Knox. Subsequently he served under sheriffs McCall, Stevens and Nat Lewis and for eight years he was chief deputy and the "mainstay" official for Sheriff John P. Camp- bell. For two years he was deputy United States marshal under Marshal Jackson and for a short time was river guard in the United States revenue service at Eagle Pass. Following this he entered the police department of San Antonio and was a patrolman and city detective for two years, while in 1901 he was made city marshal (chief of police) through appointment of Mayor Hicks, and continued in that position under Mayor Fred Terrell. He then left the office but after a retirement of two years he was, on the Ist of June, 1905, re-elected to this position under the Mayor Callaghan administration. On the IIth of December he qualified for the office but was destined to live only a few days, his death occurring on the 16th of December, 1905. This was a sad blow to his family and a distinct loss to the city, as it is uniformly conceded that Captain Van Riper was the best chief of police San Antonio ever had.
As before stated, Captain Van Riper's greatest fame comes from the excellent record he made as a criminal officer in Southwest Texas throughout the long and troublesome period extending from the close of the Civil war up to the early '8os, which period embraces the worst
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