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Bastrop County, TX |
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The Bastrop Advertiser
Ad: J. S. Simpson Hardware Co. Hardware, Implements, Vehicles Our New Lines of Paint and Wall Paper Will Please and Satisfy
You. We ask an opportunity to demonstrate that for a given amount of
money spent for wall paper or paint, that it is to
your interest to buy here. J. S. Simpson Hardware Co, 308-10 East 6th St, Austin, TX. A TRIBUTE TO AN AMERICAN SOLDIER A Veteran of the War of 1812. A most interesting and patriotic promramme was rendered on
Friday afternoon, June 23rd, at ? o'clock
at Fairview Cemetery under the auspices of the T. C. Cain Chapter of the
United Daughters of the Confederacy, in appreciative recognition of the
Daughters of 1812 and their work. It was the occasion of the
placing of a marble pedestal or monument upon the grave of Colonel Chancey
Johnson, born in 1778, a veteran of the War of 1812, by his grand-daughter,
Mrs. Geo. W. Maasie (nee Miss Mary Eilers), Regent of the Olive Hazzard Perry
Chapter at Austin, who was appointed by that Chapter to pay this tribute of
respect to her ancestor, a faithful and worthy American soldier. The scene was animated and inspiring, as many U. S. flags, large
and small, waved their bright colors above the lowly mound on the flower-clad
hill and the audience listened with rapt attention to the following programme: Opening Remarks, by Mrs. J. N. Jenkins, 1st Vice-President of
the T. C. Cain Chapter of the U.D.C. Invocation, Rev. Breihan. Song: "Blest Be the Tie that Binds", by the Chapter
and Audience. Reading: Drake's "American Flag", by Miss Lucile
Eilers. Historical Data (an address) by County Attorney, Mr. Jack
Jenkins. Reading, "Soldier Rest! Thy Warfare O'er," by Mrs. S.
J. Orgain, Historian of the Chapter. Song, "Red, White and Blue". Benediction, Rev. Breihan. Placing of Wreaths and Flowers. Col. Johnson was not only a soldier of the War of 1812, but was
also a Texas soldier, having paned through the Era of Revolution, being one
of the Mier prisoners, who drew a white bean in that Fatal
Lottery. So it was highly fitting that his great-grandson, Master
Cullem Massie, of Austin should adorn the pedestal with the Texas flag, while
his great-granddaughter, Miss Lucile Eilers, placed the U. S. flag, and his
great-grandson Master Louis Eilers, Jr, hung a wreath of evergreens above the
mound. Meanwhile, all joined the loyal group of three generations of
descendants in thus honoring a brave soldier of our Common Country. It was an interesting occasion and credit is due to Mrs. Massie,
Regent of the Austin Chapter, Mrs. Robt Gill, Chairman of the Programme
Committee and Mrs. B. C. Duval, who directed the music, for its
success. E. H. J. --------------------- THE MCDADE POTTERY McDade is one of the few towns in Texas that has long been known
for the pottery that has been and is yet manufactured there. There
is no record of the beginning of this industry at McDade, but we can trace it
back to the advent of the white man, when the Indians fashioned crude vessels
from the clay near town and baked them in the sun. The white men
recognized the value of the clay for their own needs and utilized it
advantageously in many ways, and in time the first commercial pottery was
started. It was of the small backyard type and one man molded the
ware by hand, and burned it in a small mud kiln. Bowls, crocks,
and clay pipes were in most demand and operations were principally confined
to these simple articles needed by the early settlers. The Allen Pottery was the first of note. It was
located east of town on Marsh Branch. A few years later the Dunkin
shop was established near Oak Hill. Hugs were in demand and this shop was
designated "The Jug Shop," a term yet used by many of the country's
older inhabitants in referring to the present plant. The Dunkin
shop was followed by the Stoker shop. To the Stoker Pottery, in the year 1887, there came a young man
by the name of R. L. Williams, a potter by trade, originally from the state
of Pennsylvania. As was characteristic of his progression, he had
traveled about over the entire country, working at first one pottery and then
another. Mr. Stoker employed Mr. Williams to mould ware for him
and to, otherwise assist him in the business. In a few months,
however, Mr. Stoker realized the ability of this young man and offered to
sell him a share in the business, perhaps thinking this would insure him the
service of a good potter, as they were scarce and the business demanded
constant production. The business was profitable and the idea of
eventually owning it appealed to Mr. Williams and he at once began saving his
wages and share of the profits to that end. Soon he had enough
money to make a very attractive offer to buy the business and rent the
building and equipment from its original owner. The deal was made
and Mr. Stoker retired from the pottery business and young Mr. Williams
became the sole owner. One Negro helper was
employed. Mrs. Williams turned all the ware by hand on an old fashioned
wheel; together they burned it; and then the burned ware was loaded on a
wagon and peddled. A small ground hog kiln was used and the output
was not large compared to the present output. Money was
scarce in those days and often it was necessary to trade ware for bacon. The
bacon was then exchanged in other towns for money, groceries, or whatever the
occasion or conditions demanded. The business was conducted in the above manner until 1896 and at
the original Stoker shop. In the interval, Mr. Williams had
married and built a small house in the edge of town, some distance from the
shop. In the year 1896, Mr. Williams purchased more land near his
home and cleared away some of the dense woods that surrounded the town and
built a small shop and kiln of his own. The first article of ware
made in the new shop, with the date and a note of the event scratched on the
bottom, is still in possession of Mr. Williams
family. This new business grew rapidly and was given the name of
The McDade Pottery. More men were employed and more buildings and kilns were
added. Eventually all labor was employed and Mr. Williams gave his
entire time to management and to the selling of the output. In those days, the ware was salt glazed. The clay was
hauled to town by an ox team and ground in an old round type mud
mill. The power for this mill was furnished by an old blind
horse. There were several reasons for having a blind
house. In the first place, the initial cost was lower than for a
perfectly good horse. In the second place it was necessary to economize
on labor and a driver was expensive; but with a blind horse no driver was
necessary because a man could start him off with a whip and go about his
other work, and the old horse would never know that there was not someone
behind him ever ready to apply the whip again if he slackened his
pace. It is said, too, that another reason for a blind horse was
the fact that he had to travel in a circle all day, and a horse that could
see would soon become dizzy. Many men in and around McDade, as well as other towns of the
state, have at one time worked at the McDade Pottery. As everything
was made by hand and thus finished also in those days, the force of workmen
was necessarily much larger than at present. A pride of the owner
is the number of workmen with a record for long service that has been
mutually profitable and pleasant. One man, Mr. J. W. Mobley, has
been in almost constant employment for more than thirty
years. Others have been employed for periods of from one to
twenty-five years; and almost without exception, regardless of conditions
under which services were severed, there exists a bond of friendship between
owner and former employees, as well as present employees, that almost
approaches family ties. There has never been a place, for any length
of time, for anyone who could not fit pleasantly and agreeably into the
spirit of the business. The McDade Pottery is not now a large industry as industries are
considered today, but it is perhaps the oldest, successful, individually
owned pottery in Texas. One reason for the success of the
institution is a patent that Mr. Williams secured on a charcoal furnace press
and die. With this press he eliminated all competition and now
McDade is the only place in Texas where Charcoal Furnaces are manufactured. These
furnaces are distributed by carload through the leading hardware jobbers of
Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. The operations of the business are devoted exclusively to the
manufacture of furnaces and flower pots. Stoneware is handled, but
not featured. It is shipped from the State of Ohio and
distribution is limited to surrounding territory, deliveries being made by
truck. A new flower pot press with a capacity often thousand pots
per day has recently been installed and flower pots are sold in four or five
states to florists and nurserymen. In addition to this trade,
flower pots are being manufactured for two other potteries in
Texas. All business except local business is secured by mail, thus
eliminating the cost to the consumer of traveling men's
expenses. Mr. R. L. Williams died in 1923 and since that time the
business has been owned by Mrs. Williams and managed by her son, Paine
Williams. THE ELGIN-BUTLER BRICK PLANT The Elgin-Butler Brick Company is one of Bastrop county's
leading industries. The plant located six miles east of Elgin at
the town of Butler on the T & N. O. Railroad, where they produce a large
variety of highest grade facing brick, in a wide range of colors and shades
in rough, semi-rough and smooth textures, fire brick and fire clay
products. The products are widely known through the Southwest and
even beyond that area where they hae been used in many of the largest and
finest buildings of various types and character. All of the
products are made of a very fine fire clay and they own a very large deposit
of this material. The products are converted into the finished articles with
the highest type and the mot modern machinery that can be obtained, this
supplemented by all modern facilities in plant construction, together with
the experience of many years in the clay working business by the highly
educated and trained executives which assures products of the highest quality. The company employees a large number of men and own all of the
dwelling houses adjacent to the plant where their employees reside. Electric power is used throughout the plant for driving the
machinery and affording light for the entire premises. The employees are white, Mexican and Negro, and the degree of
satisfaction and contentment among them is quite well indicated in the many
years a large percentage of their numbers have remained continuously with the
company. The benefit to our county in having an industry such as this in
continuous operation should be thoroughly appreciated as it is this character
of enterprise that means much to the up building and prosperity of our county
and state. Mr. John F. Butler is the president, Mr. T. J. Butler, the
vice-president, secretary-treasurer, both of whom have their homes at Austin. OLD SETTLER RECALLS MCDADE LYNCHING By Jeptha Billingsley (Mr. Billingsley was assisted by Mrs. Emma S. Webb of Elgin, who
helped him gather, as nearly firsthand as possible, and arrange the material
used here. The facts were carefully and finally checked by H. N.
(Mann) Bell, former sheriff of Bastrop County). There have been so many tales told about the McDade Christmas
Killings, as for instance "Eleven lynched men seen lying on McDade Depot
platform Christmas morning," which appeared in an Austin paper some time
ago, that I'd like to have the truth of the matter given, if
possible. Of course, those of us who were living in McDade that
Christmas of 1883 perhaps don't remember all the details, but we do have a
pretty fair recollection of the main points connected with same. At that time McDade was a thriving little city-it was the
loading and unloading point for all the cotton and freight that went to and
from Smithville and Bastrop, as the Katy Track through Elgin did not operate
until 1886. For many years, too, McDade was a terminus of the
Central Railroad while that line was being completed to
Austin. Great freight wagons drown by as many as six or seven yokes
of oxen often made the overland trips to adjoining cities, and a stage-coach
was run regularly between McDade and surrounding points. As the
town was such a commercial center, much money was spent in McDade. Some five
or six stores, two drug stores and a blacksmith shop or two, one meat market,
two or three saloons, two hotels and several other business houses did a
thriving business. Flour could be bought a dollar a barrel cheaper
in McDade than in Basatrop, where the freight charges had to be added. Saloons
did a big business and gambling was wide open. Many tricksters and
desperadoes naturally drifted in and made this vicinity their
headquarters. The dense post-oak sections and big Yegua bottoms in
this neighborhood were further inductive to secretive
conduct. Theiving, stealing, and shooting were almost weekly
occurances, and the better element in the community seemed powerless at times
to remedy the situation. The anti-climax to all this developed about a year or so before
the so-called Christmas Hanging. It was in this wise: Allen Wynn,
a well known and highly respected citizen living near the Knobbs, had brought
some cotton to town and did not return home until that evening. After he had
gone about four or five miles out and had crossed the Yegua and had come to the
far edge of the dense wooded bottom, he heard two men climbing up into the
back end of his wagon. In a moment they had caught hold of his
shoulders, pulled him backward from his seat, beat him in the face and taken
his money away. Allen recognized the men, and gave the information
to a Vigilence Committee that had been formed. The men who had attacked and robbed him were occasional visitors
at the home of Pat Erhart who lived near the Blue community, so it was agreed
that Pat, who was a fiddler and frequently gave dances in his home, should
announce that he'd have a dance. The Committee were
confident that "their men" would be present. The dance
took place as planned and while Pat was swinging the bow to the favored
tunes, some member of the Committee quietly put in his appearance and called
out the desired men one at a time. Five of them were spotted, but one of them
managed to make his escape unseen and was not present when his final summons
came. It was not long before the dancers became conscious that
muffled proceedings were going on, and gradually some of the more curious men
excused themselves and went out doors to investigate, and it wasn't long then
before the news was received that four of the community undesirables had been
hung on a tree. That naturally put an early stop to the dancing,
and much excitement and a feeling of fear took place in practically every
one's heart - no one knew just when the confederates of these men would put
in their appearance and have their revenge - perhaps, even on innocent
persons. These four hangings at the Erhart dance in Blue, which is some
fifteen miles or more from McDade, was the beginning of the "McDade
Christmas Killing," and took place many months before the Christmas
hanging in the town of McDade proper. There were a good many folks
in town that Christmas Eve, doing their last minute trading, drinking, etc.
As I was going hime that night, a little past sun down, two men invited me to
go with them to the Christmas Tree at Oak Hill, but I declined, saying I
would have my Christmas at home. The men evidently didn't get off
as early as they planned because one of these men was amoung those hanged
that night. Next day when I got to town I was told that a
"Committee" of some 80 men or more had gone to Oscar Nash's Saloon
and had called out the three men they wanted as victims and had trooped out
of town with them to about a mile away; they stopped near a branch under a
big tree - I believe it was a blackjack - and in a short time the lives of
these three marked men were snuffed out. As seems to happen to all
trees on which men are hanged, it wasn't long before the tree died. It was
not until this Christmas Eve hanging that the Vigilence Committee finally
"got" one of the men who had participated in the previously
mentioned attack on Allen Wynn. McDade, that Christmas morning presented a group of people with
set faces. The action of the committee on the previous night began to be
broadcast, and those who would dare arrived and came in to get
particulars. The bodies were still hanging on the tree where they
had been strung - waiting for the Sheriff from Bastrop to come up and handle
the matter. About the middle of the morning Deputy Sheriff Sid
Jenkins, Will Bell, and H. N. Bell arrived, and a large croud of us went
along to witness the proceedings. Sheriff Bill Jenkins arrived
later in the day. I was in the crowd |
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