USA > Texas > Dallas County > History of Dallas County, Texas: From 1837 to 1887 > Part 3
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SENATORS FROM 1846 TO 1866.
In 1846, when Dallas county was created, Joseph ] Hogg, of Nacogdoches, represented in the Senate the ea half of the county, and Henry J. Jewett, of Robert& county, the west half.
In 1849, in a new district. Albert G. Walker, of Dalla was elected over John H. Reagan (present United States Se ator), of Anderson, the senatorial term being four years. 1851 Walker resigned, and Samuel Bogart, of Collin, w elected to fill the unexpired term.
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FROM 1837 TO 1887.
1853 to 1857, Jefferson Weatherford, of Dallas county, was senator.
1857 to 1861, Albert G. Walker, of Tarrant, was senator.
1861 to 1865, Jefferson Weatherford again served.
Owing to the close of the war and provisional government by the appointment of President Johnson, there was no elec- tion in 1865. The President appointed A. J. Hamilton pro- visional governor, who served from July 25, 1865, to August, 1866.
Under the constitution of 1866, and the session in that year, J. K. P. Record, of Dallas, was senator. That consti- tution and government were overthrown by the reconstruction act of Congress of March 2, 1867, and various supplementary acts, and from July 30, 1867, to April 16, 1870, the State was under military government.
The reconstruction convention of 1868, in its dual sessions, was largely (but by no means entirely) composed of irrespon- sible adventurers, lately enfranchised slaves and political mendicants, with a sprinkling of men who can be best described as ignoramuses. The following delectable morceau, introduced by a delegate claiming to be a native Kentuckian, is illustrative of the latter species of the genus homo:
"Be it ordained by THE PEOPLE of the State of Texas, in convention assembled, That all officers of Col. Duff's regi- ment of rebel troops; all officers of Brig .- Gen. William Hud- son's Brigade, 21. Texas State troops; all rebel officers or men in the rebellion who, during or since the war, hung, mur- dered, mobbed, or assaulted with intent to kill, or maimed any union man, federal officer, soldier or other government official; all officers or men, formerly engaged in the rebellion, who have been disfranchised by the reconstruction laws of
.
34
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY,
Congress, or by the boards of registration appointed by Maj .- Gen. Sheridan or Brevet Major .- Gen. Griffin; all persons who have been convicted of, or charged with, murder or assault with intent to kill a union man, white or colored, and have fled from justice or legal process; all persons disfranchised by the laws of other States, and all persons engaged in the rebel service, bushwhacking, or guerrilla warfare, from other States, and have since that time immigrated to this State; all per- sons who, on the collapse of the rebellion, fled the State and took refuge in Mexico or other foreign governments; [this was heavy on Isham G. Harris, since United States Senator from Tennessee; Geo. B. Clark, since Auditor of Missouri; Gen. Sterling Price, since honored with the largest funeral ever seen in St. Louis; Alex. W. Terrell, for eight years a Texas senator; George Flournoy, who helped make the constitution of 1876, and a number of others, including Gen. H. P. Bee, late commissioner of insurance, etc., the writer, and Alder- man Haskell, of East Dallas]; all ministers of the gospel who [like half the ministers of that day] entered the rebel army, or preached rebellion from the pulpit, or persecuted union men for opinion's sake; all persons engaged in the abduction of Brig .- Gen. E. J. Davis and Capt. Wm. Montgomery from Mexican soil, and all persons engaged in the murder of Capt. Wm. Montgomery, be and are hereby declared disfranchised and incapable of holding in this State any office of honor, trust or profit under its authority, of being an officer, council- man, trustee, director, or other manager, of any corporation, public or private, now existing, or hereafter established by its authority." [See journals of the convention, page 117, June 16,1868.]
The author of this "Bull " ran for Congress in this (Northern) district in 1871. The people allowed to vote, by an overwhelming majority, elected over him a young ex-fed-
35
FROM 1837 TO 1887.
eral soldier from Indiana, who held that the war was over- that we were all of one blood and one language-and should again be united in a common national brotherhood. It was the spirit manifested in this bloodthirsty resolution of hate, and kindred measures, that converted the great majority of Northern people coming to Texas into friends, sympathizers and co-workers with and of the people. It is only inserted as a sad commentary on the evils springing from internecine war. The author of the " Bull " for perpetual outlawry was said by those who knew him to be a well-intentioned person. His defects, it is supposable, were organic deficiencies, in lack of altitude, longitude and general amplitude in those powers deemed essential to wise statesmanship. His disciples to-day could all be impaled on the infinitesmal point of-nothing!
. By this convention a new (commonly called the "recon- struction") constitution was framed by a convention assembled in Austin in June and December, 1868, when many thousands of the people were disfranchised, while the negroes, for the first time, were allowed to vote.
Following a four days' election, commencing on the first Monday in December, 1869, this constitution, by the military commander, was declared ratified by a majority of those per- mitted to vote. At the same time and by the same authority, a full set of State, district and county officers were declared elected. But this new constitution and the officers so elected, including that rara avis in American government, the Twelfth Legislature, only assumed legal effect on the 30th of March, 1870. Under this regime, Dallas, Collin and Tarrant consti- tuted a senatorial district, and were entitled to three repre- sentatives. Samuel Evans, of Tarrant, was the senator till the election of 1873, when Amzi Bradshaw, of Ellis, was elected, the district (under the census of 1870) having been changed to Dallas, Tarrant and Ellis.
36
, HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY,
In February, 1876, under the then new (the present) constitution, Robert S. Guy, of Lancaster, a clear-headed lawyer and an ex-captain in the Confederate army, was elected senator from Dallas, Tarrant and Ellis, and served for four years with marked fidelity. He was succeeded in 1880 by Anson Rainey, of Ellis; in 1882 (under a new apportionment) by Barnett Gibbs, of Dallas; and in 1884 by Joseph O, Ter- rell, of Kaufman, the present incumbent.
In regard to State and other officers, citizens of Dallas have filled the following positions: From 1861 to 1863, dur- ing the war, John M. Crockett was lieutenant governor. From 1884 to 1886 Barnett Gibbs was lieutenant governor.
From 1880 to 1887 James Madison Hurt has been a judge of the Court of Appeals, and has some time yet to serve.
Sawnie Robertson was appointed in 1884 to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, and served till the next election, but refused to serve further.
From 1878 to 1886 Olin Wellborn represented this district in Congress, his last term expiring March 3, 1887, soon after which he removed to and settled in San Diego, California.
Reuben A. Reeves, for a number of years a judge of the Supreme Court, at one time resided in Dallas, but not at the time of his election. In 1887, the present year, he was appointed by President Cleveland a judge of the Supreme Court of New Mexico, and now resides there. Being absent, it is admissible to say that all Texas endorses the appointment of Judge Reeves as eminently judicious. He is thoroughly qualified, and a more modest and honest gentleman does not exist.
37
FROM 1837 TO 1887.
Murder of Clements and Whistler, Christmas Day, 1842 --- Escape of Their Families and Mrs, Young.
PORTION of the history of Collin county, in its first settlement, is so closely allied to that of Dallas that I condense a few of the facts. In the same month that John Neely Bryan camped at Dallas (November, 1841,), Dr. William E. Throckmorton, from Fannin county, with his family, settled on Throckmorton creek, near the present town of Melissa. [Dr. Throckmorton was, like the first settler of Dallas, a Tennesseean, but had lived in Illinois and Arkansas. He was a man of sterling character, the head of a large family, of whom ex-Governor James W. Throckmorton was one. Throckmorton county was named for the father, and not the son, by John Henry Brown, of Galveston, and Absalom Bishop, of Wise, in the Legislature of 1857-8.] In January, 1842, he was joined by Pleasant Wilson, Edmund Dodd, Wm. R. Gar- nett, Garrett Fitzgerald and Littleton Rattan. Soon after- wards, Benj. White, his son, Archy, and Wm. Pulliam settled in the neighborhood and John Kincaid on Hurricane creek. A stockade was built at the Throckmorton settlement. Early in the summer, a number of families and single men, who had been a short time at Bird's Fort, abandoned it (as Beeman and Gilbert had done in March, when they removed to Dal- las), and moved back to Throckmorton's settlement. They were Henry Helm and family, Walker and family,
John and James Wells, Bly, Doddy, B. C. Thompson and Joshua E. Heath. They built cabins in the stockade, but not long afterwards selected and settled on their own lands in the neighborhood, excepting Thompson, who
38
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY,
died soon after his arrival. In November, 1842, Joseph H. Wilcox, David Helms and Joseph Harlan began a settlement on Wilson's creek, but were broken up by the Indians and joined Jack McGarrah in making a settlement at "old " Buckner, the first county seat. Just before this, Wesley Clements, Samuel Young and Whistler, all with families, set- tled on Honey creek, and erected cabins. A few days before Christmas (1842), Young went back to the Inglish settlement, in Fannin, for provisions. On Christmas day, Clements and Whistler were at work in the bottom near their cabins, when, early in the forenoon, they were attacked by Indians, and Whistler killed on the spot. Clements was pursued towards the house. Hearing the guns, and then seeing her fleeing husband, Mrs. Clements, gun in hand, ran to meet him; but she was too late. He was tomahawked and scalped within forty or fifty yards of the house, and she barely escaped into it in time, with the aid of Mrs. Young, to bar the door, pre- sent her gun and defy the Indians. This she successfully did and they disappeared. In the meantime, Mrs. Whistler, who was at the branch, near the creek, heard the firing, then the screams at the house, and next the Indians pursuing the hob- bled horse of her husband, which had on a bell. The bell was coming directly towards her. The branch was full from back water. She sprang in among driftwood, under the bank, keeping only her nose above water. The horse was caught immediately above her. After everything became still, believ- ing all had been killed, she hurried down the creek, through brambles and briars, to find the road leading back to Inglish's settlement. Her clothing was torn into rags and her person sorely torn with thorns. But her father and mother had been slain by these demons, on the Brazos, some years before, and horror gave her both strength and speed. She finally found
39
FROM 1837 TO 1887.
H. =.
and followed the road to East fork, which was too deep to cross. She went down, found a shallow place, crossed, returned to the road, and when she reached the open prairie, she was virtually naked and covered with blood. Seeing two men, with a wagon, approaching, she deflected from the road to pass them. They hailed her, but she hurried on, exclaiming that the Indians had killed all the settlement. They started toward her, but she ran so fast that they concluded she was deranged, and continued on to Honey creek and encamped. Very soon afterwards, Mrs. Clements, Mrs. Young and their children, after a flight of six miles, appeared on the opposite bank. The creek was up. The men felled a tree, crossed them over, and furnished from their scanty stores every avail- able relief. They retreated as fast as possible, with them, to the settlement. I regret not being able to give the names of those two true-hearted pioneers. Mrs. Whistler had arrived in a deplorable condition, but was tenderly cared for by as warm and gentle hands as ever wrought for progress in the wilderness-for of such were the Inglish family and their asso- ciates. A party volunteered at once to go out and bury the dead .. This tragedy, on Christmas day, 1842, was the first anniversary of the murder of Hamp Rattan, near Carrolton, in Dallas county. It was the third anniversary of Burleson's victory over the Cherokees at the mouth of the San Saba. And at the very hour at which Whistler and Clements were killed, and during many succeeding hours, three hundred Texian volunteers, beleaguered by Ampudia and over two thousand Mexicans, though fated to a cruel captivity, were winning imperishable laurels in the Mexican town of Mier. It was also in the womb of the future that a brother of one of those prisoners (one, too, who drew a black bean, and with sixteen others was murderously slain March 25, 1843,) should
40
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY,
be killed by Indians near Presidio del Norte, on Christmas day, 1849-the prisoner being young James Torrey and the other the lamented David Torrey; their brother Thomas, in the meantime, and equally lamented, dying on the treaty grounds at Johnson's Station, on the 28th of September, 1843.
KILLING OF DR. CALDER, OF DALLAS, FEBRUARY, 1843.
In February, 1843, McGarrah, Wilcox, Helms, Harlan, Blankenship and Rice were engaged in building at the for- mer's place, afterwards called Buckner, and, for a short time after the creation of Collin county in 1846, the county seat. About sunrise one morning in that month, Dr. Calder, who had settled near Cedar Springs, in Dallas county, arrived there, riding one and leading another horse, en route to Inglish's. Soon after leaving, he was seen on foot, rushing toward the house and pursued by two Indians. The men at the house hastened to his relief, but in a cluster of trees he was slain and scalped; and at the same time the relief party found themselves confronted by about sixty Indians, just risen from the high grass and very near them, and were greeted by a shower of balls and arrows. They retreated into the unfinished house and stood on the defensive, using the cracks as port-holes. The chiefs angrily urged their clansmen to charge the house, but without success. It then became evi- dent that Dr. Calder had killed one of their number with one barrel of his shot-gun, which, having a percussion lock, then a new invention, was of no service to the savages, and was left, with one barrel still loaded, where the doctor fell. The numerous dogs on the place furiously assailed the red men, and all but one were killed. The Indians retired during the day, when the body of the doctor was carried to the house, and, a little after dark, the whole party retreated towards the
41
FROM 1837 TO 1887.
Throckmorton settlement, and arrived soon after daylight. Eleven men soon returned and conveyed the dead body to that settlement, and it was interred on the Throckmorton place, beside those of Clements and Whistler.
MURDER OF JAMISON, MUNCEY, WIFE, CHILD, TWO SONS AND YOUNG RICE IN 1844.
In 1843, after the murders described, but few settlers ventured into Collin. McGarrah returned to his place, and was joined by his son-in-law, Jones, with George McGarrah, Fala Dunn and George Herndon. In 1844, among others, arrived Jacob Baccus and sons Godfrey and Peter and their families; John Fitzhugh and sons Robert and William (after- wards the gallant frontier captain and Confederate colonel, who married Mary Rattan and was accidentally killed
-, 188 -; ) Leonard Searcy and his sons, Gallatin, Lang- don, Thrashly and Thomas; William Rice; Thomas Rattan (father of John, Littleton, Hugh, Edward, Thomas, and of the subsequent wives of Wm. Fitzhugh, A. J. Witt, Jas. W. Throckmorton, - Moore, Robert Dowell, Hogan Witt, John Kincaid, and other children); John Kaufman; the old patriarch, Collin Mckinney, with his sons, William and Scott, and widowed daughters, from Red River county, he being a signer of the Declaration of Independence in 1836; William Creager, the Caldwells, John Hodge and others.
In the fall of 1844 a man named Muncey, with his wife, three sons aged seventeen, fifteen and twelve, a child of three years and an elderly man named Jamison, settled on Rowlett's creek, near the line of Dallas county. They built and lived in a board camp hut, and were engaged in building a log house. The location was in dense timber. Leonard Searcy and William Rice, each with a son, went down into that vicinity on a camp hut. On the first morning after pitching
42
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY,
camp, Mr. Searcy went in search of Muncey's camp and four it, but stood aghast at the scene presented-Muncey and Jam son dead and untouched by mutilation on the floor of the hu Mrs. Muncey, horribly mutilated, her breasts cut off, h blood and the blood of her assailants besmeared over ever thing and in coagulated pools, showing that after th stealthy murder of the men she had made a desperate an bloody defense with a Bowie knife in the hut; the child three years lying by its parents with its head mashed into shapeless mass. The horrible affair had occurred early ( the morning of the discovery. At that time the Muncey b of fifteen had gone to the Throckmorton settlement. boys of seventeen and twelve were missing-had been carri away by the savage wretches-and were never again hea from; but subsequent discoveries rendered it quite certa that both were killed on the retreat by their captors.
When Mr. Searcy reported these discoveries to Rice, the sons, on horseback, had gone out hunting. The alarmed o men went in search of them, and soon came upon the mu lated body of young Rice. They mounted it on a horse al conveyed it ten miles to Wilson's creek, where they fow young Searcy, who, seeing Rice killed, had escaped by fligh and was already getting aid to go in search of the two fathe: Adding to these atrocities the burning of Thomas J. McDo ald's house about the same time, it is a pleasurable relief say that they constituted the last fatal depredations in t grand and noble county of Collin, linked with Dallas in birt in tribulation and sacrifices for the more western frontier, a: bound to her by hooks of steel in the memories-the loss fathers, husbands, sons and brothers-the glories and t miseries of the civil war. As Jonathan and David they ha stood-confiding, trusting, loving-and God grant that so shall ever be.
43
FROM 1837 TO 1887.
The Grand Prairie Fight and Preston Witt's Tri- umph, November 25, 1846.
GN the summer of 1846 the few settlers in the upper part of Dallas county met at the house of Preston Witt, on White Rock creek, and organized a minute company for mutual protection against the Indians, small parties of whom occa- sionally depredated upon the settlers. The organization was designed by its members to be always ready, with horse, ammu- nition and provisions, to hasten pursuit and chastisement. Jesse Mounts was elected captain of the squad and Josiah Pancoast orderly sergeant.
In the month of November of the same year a rading party of Indians stole horses from Samuel Chowning and others on Barksdale's creek, near the present line of Dallas and Denton counties. Runners were dispatched to notify the members of the minute company, and twenty-two men promptly responded, and as this is the fortieth anniversary of the fight (this being written on Thanksgiving day, November 25th, 1886), it is gratifying to be able to give all of their names. Here they are: Jesse V. Mounts, captain; Josiah Pancoast, sergeant; Preston and Pleasant Witt (twin brothers), W. Hamp Witt, Wm. Barnes, Allen Bledsoe, James Cates, Thos. Chenoweth, A. J. Clark, Robert Chowning, J. W. Chowning, Charles Dernay (or Demay), Thomas Keenan, Jack Mounts, James Mathis, Joshua McCants, James Mooney, John Mitchell, John Noble, Alex. W. Perry, Robert Wil- burn.
The Indian trail was followed by these volunteers across the Elm fork of the Trinity, the upper portion of Grapevine prairie, through the lower Cross Timbers into Grand Prairie and northwesterly through it to a point very near where Deca-
1
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY,
tur stands when, about noon on the second day, several Indians were discovered a little in advance. Capt. Mounts ordered a charge, which was promptly made. The Indians fled with all the speed they could command, and were hotly pursued; but only Preston Witt and William Barnes gained on them. Both selected an Indian supposed to be a chief, and when Witt was about closing the gap between them, the savage furiously sped an arrow which cut his suspenders asunder and slightly lace- rated his breast. The warrior had previously cast off his baggage, and now realized that he or his fearless pursuer must die. Escape by flight being impossible, he sprang from his horse, and Witt did the same, each holding his horse as a shield. Only a few feet separated them, or rather, only the Indian's horse. No time was to be lost by the red man, or Witt's friends would soon arrive. He rushed under his horse's neck with drawn knife, directly confronting his assailant; but Witt seized his right hand with his own left, and with his right, by one superhuman thrust with his Bowie knife, disem- boweled the wild man, who gave a dismal groan, walked a few paces, and fell to rise no more. Two Indians were killed and one, if not both, scalped. One or two others were wounded, but escaped by the fleetness of their horses. Witt took from his fallen foe several brass bracelets and other trinkets, which are yet in the possession of his son Edward. Several horses were recovered and returned to their owners. The affair, con- sidered in all its bearings and the condition of those new settlers in the country, was highly creditable to all concerned, exceedingly gratifying to the people, and served as a warning to small parties of those wild freebooters. W. Marion Moon, then a youth, belonged to this company, but was sick at the time. Elder John M. Myers and others of those few early pioneers also belonged to it, but on so short a notice it was impracticable for more to go; indeed, it was deemed essential for some to remain as protectors of the families.
45
FROM 1837 TO 1887.
Dallas County in the Mexican War.
TARLY in 1847, pending the war. between the United States and Mexico, and before Dallas county was a year old, a call was made by Col. John C. Hays, of San Antonio, for volunteers to constitute what became subsequently distin- guished as Hays' Second Regiment of Texas Rangers in that war. A company was formed at Dallas, composed partly of men from Fannin, Collin and Dallas counties. The various companies of the regiment were mustered in at San Antonio for twelve months, or during the war, in April and May, 1847 (the Dallas and last company late in June), and were dis- charged in May, 1848, so that each company served twelve months. [The war began at Palo Alto May 9, 1846-the treaty of peace was signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo February 2, 1848, and the American army evacuated Mexico in June, 1848.]
Of this famous regiment of mounted men John C. Hays was colonel, Peter H. Bell (afterwards governor from 1849 to 1853) was lieutenant colonel, and (after October, 1847,) Alfred M. Truitt was major, having been to that time one of the captains, and John S. Ford was the adjutant.
The captains were Samuel Highsmith, James S. Gillett, Middleton T. Johnson, Jacob Roberts, Gabriel M. Armstrong (succeeded in October, 1847, by First Lieut. Alfred Evans,), Isaac Ferguson (died in the City of Mexico, January 1st, 1848, and succeeded by Ephraim M. Daggett,), Stephen Kin- sey (resigned in October, 1847, and succeeded by First Lieut. Preston Witt,), Chancer Ashton (successor to Capt. Truitt, died in the City of Mexico, December 14, 1847, and was suc- ceeded by Alexander E. Handley), Henry W. Baylor, Shapley P. Ross and Hammond Warfield, after August, 1847.
46
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY,
The companies of Capts. Johnson, Ross, Highsmith, Gil- lett and Baylor were stationed at different points on the fron- tier of Texas, under Lieut. Col. Bell. All the others went with Hays to Mexico. They marched from San Antonio to Laredo, and down the west side of the Rio Grande to its mouth, about three hundred miles, and were transported in steamers to Vera Cruz, where their brilliant career began and where, on the return of peace, they re-embarked for home. The Dallas company was discharged in Vera Cruz about May 6, 1848.
Rev. Samuel -. Corley, of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, faithfully discharged the double duties of soldier and chaplain, and was beloved by the whole regiment.
PARTIAL MUSTER ROLL OF THE COMPANY.
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