USA > Texas > Tarrant County > Fort Worth > History of Texas : Fort Worth and the Texas northwest edition, Volume III > Part 6
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
tiality, and learning. He heard all the wit- nesses testify, observed their manner, became conversant with every detail of the facts, him- self saw the condition of the injured limbs, and the full effect they had produced upon the health, happiness, and life of the plaintiff ; and it was his duty to see that no injustice was done the defendant, but to accord to it all of its rights under the law. He has rati- fied the verdict by refusing to set it aside, and I fail to see wherein we are justified in reversing his judgment. I think the judgment ought to be affirmed.
The author of this short sketch of Judge Hunter's life cannot close the same without setting forth one of the poems written by him which tells of. his patriotism and love of country better than any further comment of his can do it.
TEXANS TO PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
(Lines by Judge Sam J. Hunter, a prom- inent Texas Democrat, who has admired Mr. Roosevelt from the beginning of his public career as a member of the New York Legislature. Copied from Fort Worth Rec- ord of April 8, 1905, upon the occasion of the President's visit to Texas.)
Hail, Chieftain of the rank and file, brave colonel of San Juan,
We bid thee welcome to the state the hand of valor won.
We saw thee midst the smoke and flame on Santiago's hills,
Leading our Texas boys to fame-sharing their joys and ills.
We heard thy question passed along (tho' Shafter said "lie still"),
"Boys, who will face those guns with me? We've got to take that hill."
We saw thy bold Rough Riders then, in face of shot and shell,
Leap forth and shout in trumpet tones : "We'd follow thee to hell."
And when the blaze of Spanish guns into their bosoms burned,
And other men with faces blanched in deathly terror turned,
The valorous cowboys of thy band beheld with manly pride
Thy proud, heroic form in front, their colonel by their side.
Then came the charge of fearless men-the shout of triumph high-
And then the flag of freedom kissed the blue of Cuba's sky.
30
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
Brave Fish was left on Guasmas field, the first in fight to fall,
That gallant youth of gentle blood heard not his colonel's call,
But o'er thy pallid form, proud boy, and o'er thine early bier,
Brave Texans' heads in sorrow bow and hold thy memory dear.
And thou, brave chief of this proud land, shalt live in song and story,
Thy charge with thy Rough Rider band hath covered thee with glory.
Yet other victories hast thou won since war hath ceased his carnage,
For thy just rule of honest hand we offer thee our homage.
No kingly diadem binds thy brow nor servile throngs surround thee ;
Thy throne is thy brave people's love, and deeds of valor crown thee.
Then welcome to this sunny land, brave colonel of San Juan,
We'll greet thee with an open hand and open hearts will join.
Beneath the Alamo's saintly towers, on San Jacinto's wolds,
The spirit of our deathless dead reanimates our souls.
Thermopylae's messenger of defeat was a Grecian traitor son,
But Texas youth can proudly boast "The Alamo had none."
No braver deeds in history's tomes can pen of man relate ;
No prouder name than Texas bears is borne by any state.
And soon the granite shaft shall rise to point the sacred place
Where heroes fell, in freedom's cause, a nation's birth to grace.
And on that shaft no prouder line can grate- ful hearts unveil,
Than, from that deadly field of strife, none came to tell the tale.
And so, on San Juan's rugged hill, midst fires of death and hell,
Fair Cuba rose-a nation free-thy glorious deeds to tell.
And when thy bleeding wounds are healed, fair maiden of the sea,
Thou'lt sing of the Rough Rider boys whose valor set thee free.
Then welcome to this glorious state, brave champion of the right,
No brighter name in peace or war can poet's pen indite.
No party name can hem thee in; no creed thy conscience claims ;
The glory of thy deeds is all thy country's now-and fame's.
There is a strain of dry humor in Judge Hunter's Scottish blood as evidenced by the following incident :
He worshipped his wife, who was a sincere, devoted Christian and member of the Chris- tian Church. But he was always delighted to crack a joke at her expense or play a prank on her. She was, however, always ready to give him a "Roland for his Oliver." But on the occasion following she had confided to him that she was to give a dollar to her Christian Aid Society with some verses on how she had earned it. So, several days before the event was to occur she showed him her verses. He praised them as very beautiful and sweet and promised to accom- pany her to that meeting to share in the pleasure of the anticipated and enthusiastic approval they would receive from her fellow members.
There were at least 500 members present that night when Mrs. Hunter handed over her dollar and read her verses as follows:
This dollar I lend to the Lord, As my Master hath told me to do, Relying on His precious word-
His love and His mercy, too.
I earned this dollar by toil,
With my hands at the midnight hour, And I bring it, dear Lord, to thee,
That Thy blessing may fill it with power
Power to lighten the load of the poor, To lift from their shoulders the rod, That comfort may come to the door Of all the true lovers of God.
She then took her seat by the side of her husband amid a roar of cheers and several encores, requiring her to rise and bow. She finally settled down in her seat by the side of the judge, very well satisfied and happy, when to her surprise the judge arose and read :
ANOTHER VERSION OF HOW WIFEY EARNED THAT DOLLAR
Yes, "At midnight," while her husband lay All wrapt in slumber sweet,
A-dreaming of the Supreme Court,
And of his bank's red balance sheet,
31
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
His pantaloons unguarded hung On an old split-bottom chair, And in their honest pockets were
Three dollars, bright and fair. Beside him lay his honest spouse, Whose prayers had all been said, A-thinking of the preacher's flock Who must be clothed and fed, And how to earn a dollar-pledged- To "lend unto the Lord" By "giving to the poor" in need According to His word.
She knew her lord the "shiners" had, For oft his hand would stray Down in his breeches pocket where The precious metal lay, While they were eating dinner And while he quaffed his wine, But he told her "'twas for taxes" And not for things divine.
All night she had rolled and tumbled And wondered in her head How she could earn that dollar Which she had promised,
Till a happy thought it struck her And she rose up in the bed.
She saw his breeches all spread out Upon that sturdy chair ; She knew the thing she longed for most Was in his pockets there,
And, noiseless as a mouse, she 'rose Arrayed in garments fair.
She seized the precious bifurcates, The while she turned her head Upon her "Sleeping Beauty" who Lay snoring on the bed, And then into his pockets dived And never left a "red,"
And thus she earned the dollar Which she had promised.
The audience cheered and roared again as the judge took his seat, when the little wife sprang to her feet and smilingly, in a clear sweet voice cried out: "Yes, but that's not so," and the whole audience rose to their feet and cheered her vociferously.
M. R. CARB is one of the prominent young business men of Fort Worth, and since early manhood has been identified with the real estate business, in which his father was a prominent figure and one of the earliest busi- ness men of the Panther city.
M. R. Carb was born at Fort Worth Febru- ary 19, 1888. His father was the late I. Carb, who was born at Hillsboro, Mississippi, No- vember 6, 1853. From 1862 he was reared and educated in the City of New Orleans, and paid his first visit to Western Texas and Fort Worth in 1871, when Fort Worth was a typi- cal cow town without a single railroad. In 1872 he permanently established his home at Fort Worth, and his enterprise and public spirit helped the city grow in the critical years of the seventies. He was a merchant for a long period of years, but subsequently entered the real estate and loan business, and was prominent in that line until his death in 1915. At Fort Worth in 1883 I. Carb married Hattie Kahn, and they had three children: David, who has achieved prominence in literary circles in New York City; M. R. Carb; and Gladys, wife of A. D. Gugenhin, of Austin, Texas.
M. R. Carb was reared and educated in Fort Worth and after leaving school entered his father's office and subsequently became a partner in the real estate and loan business. On his father's death he became president of the company and is also president of the Carb Building Company.
In 1914 he married Miss Bessie Brown. They have two children, Helen Ann and M. R., Jr. Mr. Carb is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias.
RADFORD O. BRASWELL, M. D. While for a number of years he has been numbered among the prominent physicians and surgeons of Fort Worth, Doctor Braswell had much to do with the development of the splendid facili- ties which constitute Mineral Wells one of the great health resorts of Texas. He was founder of the Braswell Sanitarium in that city.
Doctor Braswell was born on a farm in Morgan County, Alabama, September 19, 1873, son of D. B. and Jane Braswell, the former a native of South Carolina and the latter of Georgia. Doctor Braswell spent his youth in a country district, and early realized that to achieve his ambitions for a larger and broader life he must rely upon himself. He literally earned his way through school and college and university and is a splendid exam- ple of self-help. He attended high school at Decatur, Alabama, was also a student in the Southern University of Alabama, and in 1896 graduated from the Physio-Medical College of Indiana. In the meantime he had visited Texas in 1894, and has ever since that date
32
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
considered Texas his home. He also attended Rush Medical College in Chicago, the New York Polyclinic, the Chicago Post Graduate School of Medicine, and neglected no oppor- tunity to improve his powers and abilities as a professional man.
For five years Doctor Braswell practiced at Dallas, and in 1900 moved to Mineral Wells, where he founded and built the Bras- well Sanitarium, a high class, five story brick sanitarium. From Mineral Wells he moved to Fort Worth and still continues his practice as a physician and surgeon. He is chief sur- geon to the Braswell Sanitarium located in Fort Worth, and which he established in Jan- uary, 1921. The institution is limited to sur- gical cases. It is the only strictly surgical hospital in Texas, and only graduate nurses are employed.
In 1900 Doctor Braswell married Miss Mayme McKinnon, a member of a well known Dallas family. They have one daughter, Loraine Braswell. Doctor Braswell served for six years as a member of the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners. He was active in civic affairs while at Mineral Wells, is a prominent Mason and Shriner and also affili- ated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and Elks.
WALTER H. BECK, president of the Beck Automobile Company, was industrial com- missioner of the Fort Worth Chamber of Com- merce several years, and his business asso- ciates and friends look upon him as the pos- sessor of the greatest fund of reliable, accurate and available information respecting every industrial and commercial advantage and asset of the city.
His interest in Fort Worth is all the greater because it is his birthplace. His parents, Charles C. and Myrtle (Hart) Beck, came here about 1877, when Fort Worth was a pioneer railroad town. Charles C. Beck was in the grocery business for a time, but died at the age of thirty-three. He was born in Ala- bama and his wife in Kentucky, and the latter is still living. Walter was the first of three children, his brother Frank being a resident of Dallas. The daughter, Fay, is deceased.
Walter H. Beck was born March 29, 1887. He had to make his own way in the world. Up to thirteen he attended the Fort Worth schools, and then went east to New York City, where he found employment, also attended a term of school, and spent one year at sea. Returning to Fort Worth when about
sixteen years of age, he was employed for some two years by the Fort Worth Furniture Company, and then entered the service of Armour & Company. and part of the three years he spent with that corporation he was branch house manager at Amarillo. He next went on the road as traveling representative for the Remington Typewriter Company, and for three years was manager of its branch house at Fort Worth.
It was after leaving the Remington Company that Mr. Beck became one of the officials of the Chamber of Commerce, beginning as assistant secretary. He handled a varied rou- tine of interests for the Chamber but even- tually specialized in industrial work, and was the first industrial commissioner of the organ- ization, and it is said he was the fourth industrial commissioner of a Chamber of Commerce in the entire United States. Alto- gether Mr. Beck was with the Chamber of Commerce for three and a half years. He was a member of the committee of Fort Worth business men who went to New York and argued the case and closed the contract with the Chevrolet Motor Company to establish its plant at Fort Worth. Members of that com- mittee give the chief credit to Mr. Beck for the imposing array of facts and statistics that convinced the Chevrolet executives of the unsurpassed facilities of Fort Worth. Mr. Beck had spent months studying every angle of the situation, and had fortified himself with data that enabled him to meet every point of opposition raised. Fort Worth citi- zens are justly proud of the Chevrolet Motor Company's local connections. Mr. Beck also had an active part in promoting the erection of the Chamber of Commerce Building in 1913. Whatever is to the interest of Fort Worth is a matter of concern to Mr. Beck. For a number of years past he has been one of the leading exponents in the city of good roads construction, and has lent his influence to all the good roads movements in his part of the state.
In April, 1916, Mr. Beck entered the auto- mobile business as president of the Beck Auto- mobile Company, a distributing concern. He is also vice president of the Liberty Laundry Company, which has recently completed one of the finest plants of the kind in the South. He is a stockholder in a number of other local enterprises, a member of the Fort Worth Club, director in the Glenn Garden Country Club, a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner, director in the Chamber of Commerce, and is
J. a. Richolt,
33
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
vice president of the Automobile Dealers' Association of Fort Worth and a director in the Texas Automobile Dealers' Association. He is a also a past-president of the Fort Worth Ad Club and a member of the Kiwanis Club.
In 1907 he married Miss Gladys Richard- son, of Fort Worth. They have two daugh- ters: Mary Gladys, born in 1910, and Kather- ine L., born in 1918, and a son, Walter, Jr., born December 5, 1920.
JOHN ALBERT RICHOLT. While it is true that a flourishing community gives a man ample opportunities for acquiring wealth and prestige, it is equally certain that if he does not, in turn, bear his part in its further development his prosperity is apt to be short- lived. No one can keep on taking out with- out putting something in; this holds just as true in civic relations as it does in business connections. Therefore when it is stated that a man has lived in a locality for a number of years and become one of its substantial citizens, acquiring a fair portion of material prosperity, it stands to reason that he has been one of the active forces in making his city a center of large interests and added to its public improvements. John Albert Rich- olt, vice president and director of the Security National Bank of Wichita Falls, a member of the important lumber and building material firm of Moore & Richolt, and an ex-city offi- cial, is one of the men who has made a for- tune at Wichita Falls, and at the same time so increased the material prosperity of the city that he is recognized as one of its most promi- nent and influential men.
John Albert Richolt was born at Defiance, Ohio, in 1867, a son of John Martin and Pauline (King) Richolt. He was reared and educated at Defiance, and there learned the carpenter trade. When still a young man he became a builder, and in 1889 left Ohio for Alabama, and after a few months, in the lat- ter part of the same year, came to Texas, first locating at Vernon, but in 1891 moving to Wichita Falls, where he has since resided, and where his wealth has been accumulated and invested. He embarked in a contracting business and for many years took a very active part in building operations in Wichita Falls. In 1896, together with W. L. Moore, he went into the lumber and building material business under the name of Moore & Richolt, and this has grown to be one of the largest firms of its kind in northwestern Texas, the annual
volume of trade being immense. It has large resources and the highest standing in the financial and commercial world.
During the great boom in building at Wichita Falls, beginning with the oil discov- eries in the Burkburnett field, and continuing to the present time, the firm of Moore & Richolt has taken a very important part in the construction of hundreds of new buildings that have been erected in this city.
Mr. Richolt has not confined himself to the building trades, but has invested in a num- ber of local enterprises and is now vice presi- dent and a director of the Security National Bank of this city, one of the great financial institutions of the Southwest. He is particu- larly active in the magnificent work being done by the Chamber of Commerce and other organizations which have in view the devel- opment of "The Greater Wichita Falls," and few men are better fitted to act and advise on such matters than he, for he has had a wide and varied experience and is a man of broad vision and liberal ideas. For ten years he served as a member of the Wichita Falls City Council, and for some years was chairman of the committee on streets of that body.
Mr. Richolt was united in marriage with Miss Kate Huckaby, who was born at Louis- iana, Missouri, but reared in Kansas. They have a daughter, Miss Pauline Richolt.
WALTER R. BENNETT is president of the Acme Brick Company of Fort Worth, during his youth was associated with his father in that industry, and the business has been in the family for upwards of thirty years and is now one of the larger corporations in Texas manufacturing clay products.
Mr. Bennett was born in Dallas November 26, 1886, son of George E. and Octavia (Hen- dricks) Bennett, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Texas. Walter is the sec- ond of five children.
He began his education in Fort Worth schools, attended high school, and then went to work for his father, president of a brick company. He has had every phase of expe- rience in this industry, and eventually suc- ceeded his father as president of the company.
The business headquarters at Fort Worth employ about fifteen people. There is a plant at Bennett Station with a labor pay roll of 125, while another plant at Denton, Texas, is of similar extent and employs about the same number of people. The company is now building a large plant at Perla, Arkansas.
VOL. III-3
34
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
W. R. Bennett is a member of the Fort Worth Club and River Crest Country Club, is a Royal Arch and Knight Templar Mason and a Shriner.
In 1912 he married Miss Ethel Evans, daughter of the late B. C. and Ella Evans. Her father was a Fort Worth pioneer of the early seventies, and long distinguished for his success as a cattleman and merchant. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have two daughters, Lena and Ethel.
GUSTAVE W. LINK is one of Fort Worth's capable young business men, second vice presi- dent of the George W. Armstrong Company, Incorporated, and came to Fort Worth from St. Louis, Mo., January 1, 1916, as clerk of the Armstrong Company, Incorporated.
Gustave W. Link was born at Venice, in Southern Illinois, April 14, 1886, son of John and Bertha (Schultz) Link. His parents were natives of Germany, came to America when young, were married in this country and had ten children, Gustave W. being the youngest Gustave W. Link grew up in the industrial tri-cities of Venice, Madison and Granite City, Illinois, and has been working and earning his own way in the world since he was eleven years of age. In the intervals of his work he managed to acquire a high school educa- tion. For several years he was employed in railroad offices, and at one time was chief clerk of the Merchants Bridge Terminal Com- pany, near St. Louis. Afterwards in Chicago he was connected with the Philip Carey Com- pany, beginning in the office, and later acting as superintendent of construction in the North- west and subsequently was transferred to St. Louis in the same capacity. On January 1, 1916, he came to Fort Worth as clerk in the offices of the George W. Armstrong Company, was made auditor, later secretary and treas- urer and now second vice president of the corporation.
Mr. Link is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He married in 1915 Florence Barth. They have three chil- dren, Laura B., John B. and George W., Jr.
ELBERT G. RALL. The personal success of Elbert G. Rall emphasizes the increasing pres- tige of Fort Worth as one of the important Southwestern centers of the grain industry. Mr. Rall has been in the grain industry prac- tically all his mature career, and the E. G. Rall Grain Company of which he is presi- dent, is an organization commanding a great deal of capital and facilities and is a most
effective unit in the great grain marketing system of the country.
Mr. Rall was born at North Vernon, Jen- nings County, Indiana, March 17, 1866, a son of George S. and Estelle M. (Cary) Rall. His parents were both born in Ohio, his father at Dayton. The family came to Texas in 1877 and George S. Rall was for many years a successful cattle man, though for a time he was also in the drug business at Whitesboro. He was well known in Fort Worth where he lived many years and where he died in July, 1920. He was a member of the Broadway Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth. His wife died at the age of sixty-nine.
Third in a family of six children Elbert G. Rall came to Texas when about twelve years of age and finished his education in the Fort Worth schools. About 1893 he entered the wholesale grain business, and his energies have been focused on that business for upwards of thirty years. In 1914-15 the E. G. Rall Grain Company erected at Fort Worth an elevator and grain handling plant with a capacity of 600,000 bushels, and the company has facili- ties for the handling of fifty carloads of grain daily. Mr. Rall is not only a wholesale grain merchant but is interested in milling and has financial connections with mills and elevators at Paris, Denton, Gainesville, Ardmore and Sherman.
He is a director in the Fort Worth Life Insurance Company, the Mutual Fire Insur- ance Company, the Farmers and Mechanics Bank of Fort Worth, and has other valuable interests in the city and vicinity. Mr. Rall as a young man acquired a liking for the live- stock industry and has indulged his interests along that line by acquiring what is known as the finest ranch in the vicinity of Fort Worth. The ranch is about ten miles from the city and has one of the largest and best herds of white faced cattle in Texas.
Mr. Rall is a member of the Board of Trade of Kansas City and St. Louis, belongs to the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, the Broad- way Presbyterian Church, is a member of Julian Field Lodge of Masons, Worth Com- mandery No. 19, Knights Templar, and is also a member of the Shrine. He belongs to the Fort Worth Club and the River Crest Country Club. In 1889 Mr. Rall married Kate Cren- shaw of Grayson County, Texas. They have two children: Marvin C., who is associated in business with his father, is married and has two children; and Estelle, wife of H. L. Cal- houn, Jr., of Fort Worth.
Www. Seep
35
FORT WORTH AND THE TEXAS NORTHWEST
REUBEN SMITH PHILLIPS. The scene of Mr. Phillips' early triumphs as a lawyer was Cleburne, and from that city he came to Fort Worth with a well earned reputation as a counsellor and lawyer. In the larger city he has acquitted himself with distinction in pub- lic affairs and in the handling of an extensive general practice, and is one of the leading lawyers of North Texas today.
He was born in East Tennessee August 9, 1867, son of J. T. and Mary (Ellen) Phillips, who were also natives of Tennessee. His father spent all his life at farming. February 28, 1879, he arrived with his family in Texas, and after a brief residence in Johnson County moved to Wise County, where he was an early settler and developed a ranch and farm. He died there at the age of sixty-seven and his wife at thirty-eight. They were the par- ents of eight children, four sons and four daughters, one of whom died in infancy while the others are all living at this writing.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.