Traces of Tx (today)

[Shakey Jake]

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

[Shakey Jake]

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

[Shakey Jake]

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

[Shakey Jake]

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

[Shakey Jake]

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

[Shakey Jake]

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

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

[Rifletom]

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

[Shakey Jake]

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

[Shakey Jake]

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

[Shakey Jake]

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

John Selman picture: