A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 16

Author:
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 954

USA > Texas > Henderson County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 16
USA > Texas > Freestone County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 16
USA > Texas > Leon County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 16
USA > Texas > Anderson County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 16
USA > Texas > Limestone County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 16
USA > Texas > Navarro County > A memorial and biographical history of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties, Texas from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospects; also biographical mention of many of the pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 16

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"At the fall term of the court, 1850, an old attorney who had previously brought suit for a divorce for a lady whose hus- band after being served with the process died before court, moved the court to make his administrator a party defendant, which, upon hearing, old Bennett H. re- fused, npon the ground, as he stated, ' that the administrator was not bound to marry the widow.' "

The first record of the Navarro district court in existence is the following: " Tues- day morning, November 27, A. D. 1855. Be it remembered that on this day, the 27th day of November, A. D. 1855, at a term of the District Court begun and

holden in the town of Corsicana within and for said county of Navarro, the follow- ing proceedings were had. The presiding judge ordered the sheriff to open court by proclamation as follows: 'O, Yes! O, Yes! the Honorable District Court of Navarro County is now in session according to law. All justices of the peace within and for said county are required to bring into court any recognizances they have taken for prosecution in behalf of the State since the last term of the court. All sureties for persons charged with crime are hereby commanded to produce the bodies of said defendants according to the terins of their recognizance, under penalty of forfeiture thereof, of whatsoever may accrue thereon. All parties and all witnesses are hereby commanded to appear in open court according to the terms of their several writs and subpoenas at their peril in case they make default therein. And all persons having pleas to prosecute and de- fenses to make will now come forward and they shall be heard,'-which said procla- mation said court ordered to be made be- cause it appeared to the presiding judge that, since the last term of the District Court in this county, the courthouse of said county, together with the minutes, records, books and papers of said court, with the exception of the District Court seal and some few papers, had been entirely destroyed by fire; and thereupon by order of court the sheriff proceeded to call the venire of persons summoned to serve as jurors at the present term of the court, when the following persons answered to the call of the sheriff, to wit: 1, Augustus Barry; 2, John M. Bright; 3, L. B. Pow-

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ell; 4, Sandy Hankins; 5, David Mc- Caulass; 6, Uriah Anderson; 7, R. R. Jackson; 8, C. Rushing; 9, John Bivit; 10, Geo. W. Clary; 11, Reuben Jones; 12, Elijah Anderson; 13, Thomas Lemmons; 14, S. M. Burnett; 15, James Hamilton; 16, David White; 17, Jeremiah Melton; 18, Wm. B. Pellom; 19, James Wilson; 20, J. B. Noble; 21, Joha White; 22, L. Jernagin; 23, Jeremiah B. Bush; 24, William M. Mckinney; 25, Thomas S. Slater; 26, Jeremialı Crabb; 27, Joshua Onstott," of whom McCaulass, Bevit, Burnett, U. Anderson, Mckinney, Wil- son, Slater, Onstott, J. White, Noble, Clary, Milton, Pellom, Crabb, Powell, D. White and Lemmons, were chosen, Mr. Pellom being made foreman. On the 28th they brought in but one bill, a charge of murder against one Hugh Cooper. Several other cases of murder were brought at this term, at whichi Thomas Harrison was special judge.

This is given merely to give a pict= ure of a representative court of Navar- ro's earliest years.

Her first district judge was R. E. B. Baylor, the one who licensed young at- torney Winkler. Bennett H. Martin followed him. He is now dead. A well- known figure in Texas politics next fol- lowed, namely, Hon. John H. Reagan, then of Anderson county. The next in- cumbent of the district bench was one of the ablest judges the district ever had, the Judge Henry J. Jewett. Fol- lowing Judge Jewett was Judge John Gregg, of Freestone, and the war Judge, James Walker, completed the list of ante- bellum days.

At the war's close the judges wore appointed. First came Judge Nat. Hart Davis; then Judge F. P. Wood, appointed by Governor Davis. The later judges are D. M. Prendergast, an excellent judge in civil law; Judge L. D. Bradley; Judge S R. Frost, the only one furnished by Navarro county, except the present in- cumbent, who succeeded him, Judge Ru- fus Hardy.

The real interest in a district court, how- ever, attaches to the personnel of its practi- tioners, and in thisregard Navarro holds no small place, and has done so almost from the beginning. As has been said, her first lawyer on the ground before the county seat was permanently located was Colonel W. F. Henderson. Very soon came C. M. Winkler, afterwards colonel and judge; then came S. C. Cross also, but these are all of the past now. These all came before 1850. But there was one other came be- fore that date, -in December, 1849, -- and that is the Nestor of the Navarro bar, still in active practice as its oldest liv- ing lawyer, Colonel William Croft. Na- varro's well-known citizen, Major Beaton, now retired, came in soon after, and Major L. T. Wheeler. The now venerable Major J. L. Miller was another arrival abont 1852.

Among a few others who located be- fore the war was a young man who, even then, showed that he was made of superior stuff, out of which great lead- ers are inade. He rapidly became influ- ential not only as a lawyer but also as an editor, political leader, legislator, and soldier. Indeed, when the war came on he was the county's representative and recognized leader, destined to hold a simi-

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HISTORY OF NAVARRO, HENDERSON, ANDERSON,

lar position not many years later in the larger affairs of the nation, as the chief exponent of Southern statesmanship. It is hardly necessary to add that none other than Senator Roger Q. Mills is referred to. Mr. Mills has been so long in national af- fairs, however, that he would hardly con- sider himself actively identified with the bar at present, although he still makes Corsicana his home.

Among other of the more notable law- yers who came in during or after the war were R. S. Neblett, S. R. Frost, Colonel E. J. Simpkins, and Rufns Hardy. Besides these the present bar embraces the follow- ing, as is believed, a complete list: C. W. Croft, John S. Callientt, Lee Calloway, J. D. Lee, W. W. Ballew, Henry Ballew, W. J. Mackie, J. L. Autry, Jink Evans, Fred Freeman, Richard Mays, R. B. Molloy, J. M. Blanding, M. B. Montgomery, A. B. Lee, R. E. Prince, J. J. McClellan, W. L. Stone, S. Kerr, W. R. Bright, and J. H. Woods of Corsicana; E. O. Call of Dres- den; Messrs. Pore, Jack, and Palmer of Blooming Grove; and Mr. Williams of Frost.

To further show the standing of the bar of Navarro county it may be noticed that besides Mr. Mills' well known State and national career, this bar has furnished two members of the court of appeals -- Colonels C. M. Winkler and E. J. Simpkins. Col- onel Simpkins was also State senator.

The court is now in the Thirteenth Ju- dicial District. With this machinery of justice and so excellent a force of legal talent, it will be of interest to notice the nature of the practice as the years move on. It must be remembered, however, that

the talent of a county bar need not neces- sarily have much influence in giving the practice an equal brilliance, for the greater part of the bar's practice may, in certain cases, be before the higher State and Fed- eral conrts. This has been to some degree true of the Navarro bar in some cases.

Navarro's practice, unlike that of McLen- nan county, has not been chiefly character- ized by criminal law; on the contrary, it has from the first had its most able and closely fought work along the line of civil practice, and its most notable cases have been in the realm of land law. Indeed this has been so well covered that scarcely a point possible to be discussed in such procedure has failed to appear in this court, and many, a remarkable number, probably more than those produced by any other Texas county, have furnished ina- terial for what is technically known as " leading cases," where a point has been decided for the first time. This has been so thoroughly done, too, that scarcely a dozen unsettled titles now remain, and those comparatively insignificant ones. These grew out of titles held or supposed to be held from the old Burnet or Galves- ton Bay Company's empresario colony grants, and those of the Mercer grants of the days of the Republic. One feature that complicated the litigation for a long time until it was settled by higher courts, was the uncertain boundaries of these colony grants, a fact which was supposed for a long time to affect the titles. As has been described in a previous chapter, the fact whether or not Burnet's or the Galveston Bay Company's territory covered that now known as Navarro county, was a much dis-

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puted one, as the colony boundaries were often left in turns very loose or exceeding- ly ambiguous, while empresario privi- leges were so frequently modified or utter- ly destroyed that abundant room for con- troversy arose, and led to the fighting of many cases up through the higher courts.

The first notable case of this kind was about the year 1852. Jack Elliott had purchased claims for the Jehn Peoples and Rachel Leach leagues a few years before, and now brought suit against several citi- zens who were "squatters" on the land or had bought it unawares under false sales. The case was fought with vigor and ability, and a great deal was made out of the fact that Navarro was north of the Burnet colony and consequently the Peoples and Leach claims could not be valid. This became a " leading" case, as the supreme court decided that it was intended to be in the Burnet boundary, and was given with that intention in good faith: so the title was good. A young lawyer only twenty-three years old carried this case-none other than the venerable Colonel William Croft.

About 1854 occurred another case which, while not so particularly remarkable in itself, yet furnished the basis for innumer- able other cases for scores of years after- ward. This was the case of the heirs of James Hughes against M. M. Hughes, to set aside a deed of gift for several large surveys. The case was gained, but the results indicated followed.

Among other leagues of land which have at one time or another passed through this legal furnace and been purified, are the Taylor league, the James Smith league, the Enoch Frier league, the two Latham

(M. and Jer.) leagues, the Meredith league, parts of the Chambers' grant, and others. But, as has been said, scarcely any unset- tled titles now remain.

No cases of capital punishment or life sentence occurred before the war,-at least none that were carried out. The first mur- der case was that noticed in the earliest preserved record,-that against Cooper for the killing of B. J. Fortson, while out on a hunting expedition at night. This was a hard and ably fought case, General Thomas Harrison leading the prosecution, and Colonel Croft leading the defense. It was a case of purely circumstantial evidence, and in the lower courts resulted twice in conviction and sentence to hang. It had one element, however, that made it a " lead- ing" case, and that also succeeded in revers- ing the conviction both times and finally led to acquittal. This point was the testi- mony of a physician on the course of the ball and his inference as to whence the ball came. The testimony was given as from an expert, but the defense claimed, and the supreme court decided, that a physician was not an expert outside of the mere trac- ing of the course of the ball in the body, and that his inferences were not in the realm of the expert, any more than the inference of any other man.

The following is a lawyer's account of the details of it:

" Hugh Cooper, accused of killing Benj. J. Fortson, September 17, 1855, while on a camp hunt, was the first man convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to be hung," says Colonel Croft. " He was convicted and sentenced to be hung twice, and his case was twice reversed by

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the supreme court, ou appeal, and sent back for a new trial. The last time, he obtained a change of venne to Freestone county, where no witness ever appeared against him, and finally the case was dis- missed. Cooper made a gallant soldier during the civil war, but was drowned on his way back to Texas after the surrender.

" The case was one of circumstantial evidence, and all the circumstances fitted one Jonas Taylor as closely as they did Cooper; and when the attorneys for the defense on the last trial analyzed the evi- dence, and denounced Jonas Taylor as the real murderer, he got drunk and never drew a sober breatlı for six monthis, when death relieved him of his fatal secret.

" The case is reported in the 19th and 23d Texas Reports."

Such cases of legal hanging as have occurred in the county-not more than a half dozen, probably-have occurred since the war, most of them in the first few years after; and, often unlike such cases, they were of little public interest, as they were generally plain cases of quar- reling . among the colored people. It is not recalled that any white men have been hung, although several liave been giveu life sentences or twenty-five-year terms in the penitentiary, cases generally plainly evident and consequently of less public interest-or legal interest at least. Of course public lynchings, which used to seem so necessary in the more lawless days of early Texas, have nothing to do with a sketch of the district court. As far as Navarro is concerned, those are long since

things of the past, it is believed, and are peculiar to any new country, without the means of quickly securing justice,

The first case of legal capital punish- ment was about 1868. This was the hang- ing of oue Riley White, a colored man, who assassinated a fellow negro while the latter was riding along the public highway in a wagon.

One more example of the numerous "lead- ing" cases that the Navarro court has fur- nished will be given. This was during the latter part of the past decade, and was in the case of Sanger against Moody, turning on the knowledge of an administrator's action by a purchaser who dealt with himn.

Probably no feature of a court's practice indicates more thoroughiness and ability in law and justice than the number of lead- ing cases it furnishes, and in this respect Navarro has had an excellent record, and consequently stands high in the practice of the supreme court.

One feature of the Navarro bar inay be given as a final one, that speaks confirma- tory of the broadness, liberality and intel- ligence of its members, and that is the remarkable harmony and unity which have characterized it. This is believed to be largely due to the organization of the Navarro Bar Association about 1871, with Colonel C. M. Winkler as its first chair- man and senior member. There have been but two men chosen to that position, the second being Colonol William Croft, who has now hield it for the past fifteen or twenty years. The association has done its best work in making uniform accepted rules of practice, many of which have been of

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the greatest service in simplifying it, and eliminating as many elements of discord as possible.

The work of the Navarro court has be- come so large that there has been some agitation to secure for the county a dis- trict judge of its own. Whether this is successful or not is probably only a matter of time, as work increases from year to year in an ever increasing docket.

We print in this connection the sketches of two prominent members of the Navarro county bar:

MAJOR ALEXANDER BEATON. of Gem Hill, Texas, son of Donald and Margaret (Bea- ton) Beaton, was born February 19, 1820, in Inverness, capital of the Highlands, Scotland. Ilis parents died when he was in his thirteenth year. He received an academical education in his native town, and in his seventeenth year he was sent to the city of London, England, where he entered the office of an accountant, and resided there in the same calling for about six years. On June 18, 1837, shortly after his arrival in London, he witnessed the grandest sight and pageant of his life, the coronation of Queen Victoria. He came to the United States of America in 1843, landed in New Orleans, Louisiana, in November of that year, where he filled an appointment secured to him before he left London. While at New Orleans. in the month of June, 1844, the Morning Daily Delta newspaper, in startling lead- lines to its article on yellow fever then raging in the city, warned and advised all unacclimated foreigners and strangers to leave the city immediately, as the yellow fever was spreading all over the city, and

had assumed an epidemic form. With this warning and advice staring him in the face, he at once resigned his situation there and left for St. Louis, Missouri, in which State he remained until he entered the United States army as a volunteer in the Mexican war, teaching school and reading law, making Bolivar, Polk county, his home, where he met with Colonel Thomas Ruffin, a profound lawyer of scholarly at- tainments, and then doing a large practice. Judge Ruffin, of the Supreme Bench of North Carolina, was his uncle, with whom as his preceptor and in whose office lie com- menced the study of law.

In the summer of 1847, while so en- gaged reading law, a call was made on the State of Missouri to raise another regi- ment of inounted volunteers for service in New Mexico in the Mexican war then in progress. He at once abandoned his law studies and volunteered as a private in Company K of the Third Regiment of Missouri mounted volunteers to serve dur- ing the war. Colonel Ralls, of Ralls county, Missouri, was afterward elected its colonel. The regiment, being duly equipped and made ready for service at Fort Leav- enworth, now in the State of Kansas, started on its march across the plains early in July, 1847, traveling in separate com . panies, for their destination, Sante Fé, New Mexico, where the regiment was ordered to take the place of General Price's command, whose term of service liad expired. An interesting incident is liere related in the major's career when crossing the plains, as told by himself, which is too good to omit in this sketch. He says that on reaching a point on their

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HISTORY OF NAVARRO, HENDERSON, ANDERSON,

travels known then by the name of Paw- nee Fork, on the old Sante Fé trail, as it was then called, which was considered to be the most dangerous camping place on the entire route from the States to New Mexico, as there the Pawnee and other wild savages of the plains made it an in- variable rnle to attack everything that came in their way, sparing neither age nor sex, and making plunder, murder, rob- bery and other demon-like atrocities their pastime and amusement, it was here his company camped for the night. On Sun- day morning, August 1, 1847, when at- tending to his customary dnties in getting up his morning's report for headquarters (he never carried a musket, though a pri- vate, known to be a man of educated abilities, nseful and necessary in the army, he was placed at once on the major's staff), while sitting at a mess fire talking to a member of the company, the genial, kind and lovable old man, Jacob Konntz, his warm friend, then about sixty years of age, from St. Clair county, Missouri, who had his old musket across his lap, warming himself at the mess fire, as he had just then come off guard duty, when all on a sudden the old man, looking eastward as the sun was rising, exclaimed: "The in- fernal Indians are here upon us, boys; look at the devils,-about a thonsand of them." They numbered about 400. "See!" he again exclaimed; "they are lancing and killing poor Keith." Keith was one of his messmates from his county, and at once, tossing his blanket from off his shoulders, musket in hand, rushed to his rescue, Beaton, the subject of this sketch, at his heels, holding paper and pencil and

morning reports aloft, his only weapons of warfare, running to save his gray horse, Dave, staked within a few feet of the Indian who was striking at Keith lying at full length under him; and just as the Indian was about to give the final and fatal thrust, Konutz fired, and in a mo- ment shonted with great joy: "Boys, I have got one of the devils; Keith is saved, and the major has saved his horse." When the Indian fell dead across his horse, he dropped his bow and quiver of arrows and a rich Navahoe blanket. The bow and arrows Kountz kept, the blanket Beaton got, which he brought with him to Texas, and which was afterward stolen from him in Richmond. The major says he is sure he killed no Indian on that eventful morning.

On arriving at Santa Fé, a part of his regiment, seven companies, was ordered south, near Chihuahua, commanded by Colonel Ralls; and three companies, his and and two others, under command of Major Reynolds, were ordered to Taos, New Mex- ico, eighty miles north of Santa Fé, where he remained doing duty as acting adjutant of the battalion to the end of the war, and until his return to Independence, Missouri, with the entire command, where he was honorably discharged, late in the fall of 1848, for which service he now receives from the Government, as a Mexican war veteran, a pension of $8 a month. While at Taos, as aforesaid, he had frequently met and chatted for hours together with the famous and noted scont and mountain- eer, Kit Carson, who had there a family in Taos, and who often called at headquarters. Shortly after his discharge from the army

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in the winter of 1848, in company with Colonel Ruffin, he came to Texas, reached and stopped at Houston for a brief period. Next took a look at the town of Washing- ton, a new town that had sprung up like magic in Washington county, at the head, as was then thought, of the Brazos river navigation, much spoken about at the time, and believed by inany that it would be a city some day of great importance. And finally for that dreary, rainy and cloudy and gloomy winter, he and Colonel Ruffin settled down temporarily at Bren- ham, Texas. While sojonrning here for the time being, Beaton, learning of a fine opening at Chapel Hill for a teacher, he, to employ his time and recruit his fin- ances, taught a five months' term of school at that place, and then located at Rich- mond, Fort Bend county, with his friend Ruffin, who had in the meantime gone there to settle and practice his profession. In November, 1849, Ruffin, becoming dis- couraged with the outlook, decided to re- turn to North Carolina, his native State, and tried hard to persuade his young friend Beaton to accompany him, etc. Ruffin afterward located at Goldsboro, North Carolina, in the practice of the law, and in April or May, 1850, at a Demo- cratic convention held for that Congres- sional district, he was nominated for Con- gress, and remained continuously its repre- sentative up to the period of secession. ·On the breaking ont of the war he entered the Confederate service, raised a regiment, and was killed leading and at the head of his regiment, at the battle of Kelly's Ford. It was found, on his death, that he

had a brigadier general's commission in his pocket, received by him on the morning of his untimely end.

Mr. Beaton arrived at Corsicana, the county seat of Navarro county, on the 16th of March, 1850, then a small frontier village of about 100 inhabitants, where he deter- mined to settle, rest from his travels and wanderings and make it his future home. A frontier town then it certainly was, as some scattered wild buffaloes, he was told, were then to be seen by hunters and others in the Trinity river and the large creek bottoms, and on two or three occa- sions he has himself seen a few friendly Indians with their squaws and papooses equipped with bows and arrows, etc., show and air themselves on the public square. Navarro county, in the spring of 1850, then in her prime, and "dressed in na- ture's best array," appeared to him to be the most lovely and picturesque country his eyes ever beheld. He recalls his first ride over her wide prairies, shortly after his arrival. The landscape, in beauty and loveliness, was up to everything that the eye or heart of men could wish to thrill and enchant him; the prairies, robed and carpeted in green, mantled and dotted all over with countless millions of wild flowers of variegated colors and with a gorgeous intermixture and blending of all colors to charm and please thie eye, wast- ing and diffusing their sweet fragrance on the desert air, are still a part of his being, a soul delight that he has never forgotten, and will always remember.

In a short time after settling in Corsi- cana, he was employed by R. N. White, county clerk, who is now dead, to assist .

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him in the duties of his office, and keep- ing well up at the same time with his law studies. While so employed, he was ap- pointed by the county commissioners' court of the county to fill the unexpired term as assessor and collector of a former incumbent, of said office. His labors and duties under this appointment were ditli- cult, perplexing and onerous, He had to travel alone over the now prosperous counties of Hill, Johnson, and McLennan, etc., then unorganized as counties, to as- sess and collect taxes, and also to take the State census. The county was sparsely settled, the Indians made occasional raids and attacks on the settlers; and as he now recalls some amusing and adventurous in- cidents of the trip, spiced and tinged as they were with some little romance, he congratulates himself on his return that the thing ended as well as it did. In the bloom of manhood, light of heart, free and happy as the wind that whistled over him ever and anon as he traveled over this rich and magnificent country, once the bed of a vast inland sea, he would arouse his vocal energies to their utmost, and, with a fervor and feeling unknown to him be- fore, would make the welkin ring with Burns' noble lyric in vindication of the natural rights of his species, " A man 's a man for a' that," and often with some other heart-thrilling ditty from his favor- ite Burns, to cheer him onward as he rode along ou his lone journey over the pathless prairies. At the spring term of 1851, of the district court for Navarro county, he obtained license to practice law, Hon. O. M. Roberts, presiding judge, afterward governor of the State, and now

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Author: Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 954

Author:
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 954