Traces of Tx (today)

[Shakey Jake]

Today's post is about the Texas Tall Ship Festival going on this weekend in Galveston. You'll have to endure an ad but this explains what's happening:
https://abc13.com/tall-ships-galveston- ... /13127809/

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1947, the ship SS Grandcamp exploded at the docks in Texas City. The French-owned vessel, carrying ammonium nitrate produced during wartime for explosives and later recycled as fertilizer, caught fire early in the morning. While attempts were being made to extinguish the fire, the ship exploded. The entire dock area was destroyed, along with the nearby Monsanto Chemical Company, other smaller companies, grain warehouses, and numerous oil and chemical storage tanks. The concussion of the explosion, felt as far away as Port Arthur, damaged or destroyed at least 1,000 residences and buildings. The ship SS High Flyer, in dock for repairs and also carrying ammonium nitrate, was ignited by the first explosion; it was towed 100 feet from the docks before it exploded the next day. The ship's anchor monument records 576 persons known dead, only 398 of whom were identified. Probably the exact number of people killed will never be known.

[Shakey Jake]

Grand Funk Railroad features the trio from a Live performance. That performance was at the 1969 Texas International Pop Festival, with the album shot of Mark, Don, and Mel from that particular event, and combined for the classic cover. This photo was released by the Dallas Morning News, and it's an alternate shot of Mark Farner at the Texas event and is similar to the album shot that was ultimately used. A fine capture.
Photo courtesy of the Dallas Library.

[Shakey Jake]

Per Traces of TX Facebook group:
Officers from the Beaumont Police Dept. "arrest" Hank Williams. I am pretty sure this photo was taken April 29, 1952, just about 8 months before Hank's sad passing. The story goes as follows: On April 29, 1952, an opry troupe featuring Hank, Ernest Tubb and Minnie Pearl performed at a fundraiser for the Beaumont Police Association. Sergeant F.D. McMurry (who may be one of the men pictured here) was advised by Hank's manager to keep a close eye on him (so as to keep him relatively sober) and that he did, spending the afternoon with him on a PR junket, where they took photos at police stations around town. Then they went and had supper at McMurry's mother-in-law's house. Then after the meal, Hank was escorted to the Beaumont Municipal Auditorium where he went on, and put on a good performance by all accounts. All of this is per "Hank Williams: The Biography" by William MacEwen, Colin Escott, George Merritt.

[Shakey Jake]

Another Beaumont story this morning:
On this day in 1952, J. P. Richardson, Jr., better known as "The Big Bopper," married Adrianne "Teetsie" Fryou. Richardson, a Beaumont deejay, recorded for Pappy Daily’s D Records and scored a rock-and-roll hit with his song "Chantilly Lace" in 1958. He also penned chart-toppers for George Jones with "White Lightning" and Johnny Preston with "Running Bear." The Bopper wowed audiences with his colorful zoot suits and flamboyant performances but kept his marriage secret to preserve his showy image to fans. He featured "Chantilly Lace" in a pioneering video production in 1958 and coined the term "music video." The Bopper recorded some twenty-one of his own songs--many of which were regarded as novelty tunes. After a performance on the "Winter Dance Party" tour on the night of February 2, 1959, Richardson, suffering from the flu, switched places on the bus with Waylon Jennings to instead take a charter flight with musicians Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens to the tour’s next destination. The ensuing plane crash that killed all passengers shocked grieving fans on a day that was immortalized as the "Day the Music Died."

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1875, Kiowa chief White Horse (Tsen-tainte) and a group of followers surrendered at Fort Sill, Indian Territory. White Horse had gained considerable notoriety during the early 1870s for his raids on Texas settlements, and was considered the "most dangerous man" among the Kiowas. He participated in the Warren wagontrain raid in May 1871 and in the second battle of Adobe Walls in June 1874. He was also present in September 1874 at the battle of Palo Duro Canyon, which apparently convinced him that further resistance was futile. White Horse was among those singled out by Kicking Bird for incarceration at St. Augustine, Florida. He died of a stomach ailment in 1892 and was buried on the reservation near Fort Sill.

[Shakey Jake]

"In 1876, as an incident of the Taylor-Sutton feud, Dr. Philip Brazell and son George were called out of their home in Clinton, DeWitt County, by a number of masked riders and killed. Shortly before Christmas Lieutenant Lee Hall of the Rangers was sent into the county with warrants for the arrest of seven men charged with the murder.
On the night of December 20, Hall discovered that the men he was looking for were attending the wedding of Joe Sitterlie at the home of the bride's father, near Cuero. He se out with his troop in driving rain, got to the scene and surrounded the house. Then unarmed, he went to the front door of the house and announce himself.
"What do you want?" Meador asked.
"I have warrants for seven men," Hall answered. And he read the
names.
"How strong are you?" demanded Meador.
"Seventeen, including myself," said the lieutenant, following the tradition of telling the exact truth.
"Meador snorted. "We've got seventy!" he announced.
"That's about the right odds," the Ranger said. "We'll fight."
"Listen, all of you," he called out.
"You people in the house have three minutes to move out your women and children, starting now."
"You Rangers," he shouted at the men he had posted in a circle about the house, "at the end of three minutes, fire at will. Now you gentlemen in the house, get thewomen away."
"I don't want to go killing," Meador answered in a shocked voice.
"I'll surrender." And the rest of the wedding guests quickly joined him in handing over their weapons.
Hall collected his prisoners in the gallery at the end of the house and the Rangers were bringing up horses when the bride suddenly ran up to him.
"You're breaking up my wedding party," she accused him brokenly. "Why can't you wait for morning with your old law business."
"Now that you mention it, no reason at all," Hall said. "Go ahead with your dance."
He sent the prisoners back into the house, reassigned the Rangers so that, turn and turn about, half of them could stand guard outside while the other half danced, and then joined the party himself.
When day broke, he bade goodby to his hostess and rode away to put the chiefs of the Sutton faction in the county jail. There were no hard feelings between the captors and the captives. Meador and his men would have had no compunction about killing the Rangers if the job could have been done gracefully and safely. If compelled, Hall and his troop would have killed the assassins of Dr. Brazell with no qualms whatever. But until necessity arose for the departure from good social usage, there was no reason why they shouldn't all act like gentlemen."
----- Robert J. Casey, The Texas Border, 1950

[Shakey Jake]

On this day in 1836, Texas forces won the battle of San Jacinto, the concluding military event of the Texas Revolution. Facing General Santa Anna's Mexican army of some 1,200 men encamped in what is now southeastern Harris County, General Sam Houston disposed his forces in battle order about 3:30 p.m., during siesta time. The Texans' movements were screened by trees and the rising ground, and evidently Santa Anna had no lookouts posted. The Texan line sprang forward on the run with the cries "Remember the Alamo!" and "Remember Goliad!" The battle lasted but eighteen minutes. According to Houston's official report, the casualties were 630 Mexicans killed and 730 taken prisoner. Against this, only nine of the 910 Texans were killed or mortally wounded and thirty were wounded less seriously.
Thank you Emily West!

[Shakey Jake]

Performing with Johnny Winter at the Birmingham Palladium in March of 1970 (2 nights), here's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee (2015) bassist Tommy Shannon. Tommy was born in Tucson but grew up in Texas. He began playing music as a guitarist and was in his first band at thirteen. He moved to Dallas after graduating high school and switched to bass guitar. He performed soul music with drummer Uncle John Turner and played in other local bands. A later visit with Turner, now playing with Johnny Winter, landed Shannon the bass chair in Winter's band. When Johnny started a new band with Rick Derringer, Shannon, Turner, and Bruce Bowland started the Krackerjack band. It also featured a young guitarist, Stevie Ray Vaughan. Years later, after many personal problems and a time away from music, Shannon re-connected with Vaughan, joining Double Trouble in 1981. He would be with the band until Vaughan's tragic passing in 1990. Tommy has worked in various groups since then, including Arc Angel and Storyville. In recent years he has been performing with his Tommy Shannon Blues Band. April 18th, Tommy Shannon is 77 years old.
Palladium photo Brian Gary Varga.

[Shakey Jake]

From the SMU digital archieves:
James Buckner ''Buck'' Barry (1821-1906) was a Texas frontiersman who had a dangerous and distinguished career as a Texas Ranger, Indian fighter, scout, sheriff, and rancher. At the time this daguerreotype was made in 1853, Barry was serving as Navarro County treasurer. Source: Lawrence T. Jones III.
From TSHA:
BARRY, JAMES BUCKNER (1821–1906).James Buckner (Buck) Barry, Texas Ranger, was born in North Carolina on December 16, 1821, the son of Bryant Buckner and Mary (Murill) Barry. He immigrated to Texas in 1841 and received a headright grant of 640 acres of land near Corsicana. There he occupied himself, in his own words, with a "little farming and with a great deal of hunting." Barry soon joined theTexas Rangers, first as a member of an independent company at San Antonio and then, from September 15 through December 15, 1845, as a member of Capt. Thomas J. Smith's Robertson County Rangers. Barry then saw service with John Coffee Hays's company. He subsequently went to work surveying headrights in the Robertson district. In 1846 he was elected second sergeant of Capt. Eli Chandler's Company K of Colonel Hays's First Regiment, Texas Mounted Riflemen, for service in the Mexican War. He was wounded at the storming of Monterrey on September 21, 1846, and mustered out of service on October 2, 1846, of that year.
Barry returned to North Carolina, where, on February 24, 1847, he married Sarah Anapolis Matticks. The couple eventually had six children. The family returned to Texas and settled on Bazette Bluff on the Trinity River. For the next ten years Barry was deeply involved in Indian fighting and was especially outspoken as an advocate of the removal of the Comanches and Caddos from their reservations on the upper Brazos River. In 1849 he was elected sheriff of Navarro County and moved to Corsicana. In 1852 he was elected county treasurer and in 1854 was reelected sheriff. In December 1855 he moved his family to Bosque County, where he settled on the East Bosque River east of Meridian. He owned about twenty slaves.
Barry served as a private in Lt. Dixon Walker's Mounted Volunteers in the spring of 1860. In October he raised a company at Meridian that accompanied Lawrence Sullivan Ross into Indian Territory on the expedition responsible for the recapture of Cynthia Ann Parker. During the same period he was the sergeant of Allison Nelson's company of minutemen. On January 10, 1861, Governor Sam Houston issued Barry a commission as first lieutenant with authority to raise a company at Fort Belknap for frontier defense. After secession Barry reenrolled his company into Confederate service in Col. Henry E. McCulloch's regiment and assisted in the removal of federal garrisons from Texas frontier forts. Barry, from his headquarters at Camp Cooper, continued to range the frontier from the Red River to the Rio Grande throughout the Civil War, during which he rose to lieutenant colonel. He also participated in the battle of Dove Creek.
Barry was an active member of the Grange. He was elected in 1883 to the Twelfth Legislature, where he was presented "the finest gun that could be bought" in appreciation of his service in protection of the frontier. He worked in the interest of stock raisers and unsuccessfully sought legislation to outlaw fence-cutting. In 1898 he ran for state treasurer on the People's party ticket but was defeated. He then retired to his ranch near Walnut Springs.
After the death of his first wife in 1862, Barry married Mrs. Martha Anne Peveler Searcy at Fort Belknap, on July 14, 1865. They had three daughters and one son. Barry became blind near the end of his life and died on December 16, 1906.A: