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| bill o'neal texas state historian: War in East Texas Bill O'Neal, 2018-07-15 From 1840 through 1844 East Texas was wracked by murderous violence between Regulator and Moderator factions. More than thirty men were killed in assassinations, lynchings, ambushes, street fights, and pitched battles. The sheriff of Harrison County was murdered, and so was the founder of Marshall, as well as a former district judge. Senator Robert Potter, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, was slain by Regulators near his Caddo Lake home. Courts ceased to operate and anarchy reigned in Shelby County, Panola District, and Harrison County. Only the personal intervention of President Sam Houston and an invasion of the militia of the Republic of Texas halted the bloodletting. The Regulator-Moderator War was the first and largest—in numbers of participants and fatalities—of the many blood feuds of Texas, and Bill O'Neal's book is the first detailed account of this feud. He has included numerous photographs, maps to help the reader to identify various locations of specific events, and rosters of names of the Regulator and Moderator factions arranged by the counties in which the individuals were associated—along with a roster of the victims of the war. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Sam Houston Bill O'Neal, 2020-09 |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Frontier Forts of Texas Bill O'Neal, 2018 With its vast size and long frontier period, Texas was the scene of more combat events between Native American warriors and Anglo soldiers and settlers than any other state or territory. The US Army, therefore, erected more military outposts in Texas, a tradition begun by Spanish soldados and their presidios. Settlers built blockhouses and even stockades, the most famous of which was Parker's Fort, the site of an infamous massacre in 1836. Successive north to south lines of Army forts attempted to screen westward-moving settlers from war parties, while border posts stretched along the Rio Grande from Fort Brown on the Gulf of Mexico to Fort Bliss at El Paso del Norte. Texas was the site of the first US Cavalry regiment employed against horseback warriors, as well as the experimental US Camel Corps. From Robert E. Lee to Albert Sidney Johnston to Ranald Mackenzie, the Army's finest officers served out of Texas forts, and 61 Medals of Honor were earned by soldiers campaigning in the Lone Star State. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: West Texas Cattle Kingdom Bill O'Neal, 2013 Images of America: West Texas Cattle Kingdom relates the frontier saga of cowboys and longhorn cattle, of trail drives and great ranches. Cattle and horses were introduced to the Western Hemisphere by Spanish conquistadores and colonizers while Mexican vaqueros handled cattle from horseback, developing special techniques, equipment, and attire. Half-wild longhorns multiplied into the millions in the unpopulated brush country above the Rio Grande. After the Civil War, a hungry market for beef developed in the north. Texas cow boys learned the vaquero skills of roping and branding and adapted heavy-duty Mexican saddles, wide-brimmed hats, high-heeled boots, jingling spurs, leather chaparejos, and colorful bandanas. The adventure of driving large herds of cattle up the Chisholm Trail and other famous trails captivated America. Vast Texas ranches included the fabled King Ranch, the three-million-acre XIT, Charles Goodnight's JA Ranch, and El Rancho Grande of legendary Shanghai Pierce, who described himself as Webster on cattle, by God. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: The Bloody Legacy of Pink Higgins Bill O'Neal, 1999 Pink Higgins was a rugged Texan who lived a life of classic Western adventure. He was a cowboy, Indian fighter, trail driver, stock detective, rancher, and deadly shootist who killed more adversaries than did such noted gunfighters as Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Bat Masterson. Pink battled Comanches and rustlers, and led a faction in the murderous Horrell-Higgins feud of Lampasas County (Texas). Yet he was a hard-working family man, devoted to his nine children. His son, Cullen Higgins, as a lawyer and judge, would become entangled in a series of bloody events involving a powerful cattle baron and the legendary Texas Ranger Frank Hamer. In this, the first book-length biography of Pink Higgins, the author reveals never before published details about the violence that followed the Higgins family to West Texas. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: The Johnson-Sims Feud Bill O'Neal, 2010 The Johnson & Sims families were pioneer ranchers, settling in the same region--Lampasas & Burnet counties--in the dangerous years before the Civil War. After the War, Billy & Nannie Johnson & Dave & Laura Sims establish large ranches in adjoining counties in West Texas. At the turn of the century the two families united in a marriage of 14-year-old Gladys Johnson & 21-year-old Ed Sims. Several years later a nasty divorce ensued due in part to Gladys willfulness & Ed's drinking. More trouble followed over custody of their two children & Gladys took matters into her own hands..... |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: No Hope for Heaven, No Fear of Hell James C. Kearney, Bill Stein, James Smallwood, 2016-09-15 Two family names have come to be associated with the violence that plagued Colorado County, Texas, for decades after the end of the Civil War: the Townsends and the Staffords. Both prominent families amassed wealth and achieved status, but it was their resolve to hold on to both, by whatever means necessary, including extra-legal means, that sparked the feud. Elected office was one of the paths to success, but more important was control of the sheriff’s office, which gave one a decided advantage should the threat of gun violence arise. No Hope for Heaven, No Fear of Hell concentrates on those individual acts of private justice associated with the Stafford and Townsend families. It began with an 1871 shootout in Columbus, followed by the deaths of the Stafford brothers in 1890. The second phase blossomed after 1898 with the assassination of Larkin Hope, and concluded in 1911 with the violent deaths of Marion Hope, Jim Townsend, and Will Clements, all in the space of one month. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: The Arizona Rangers Bill O'Neal, 1987 The Arizona Rangers is the first documented history of the Rangers ever published, and fills a sizeable void in the annals of Arizona Territory. Bill O'Neal's enthusiasm for his subject and his respect for those remarkable men who wore the five-pointed star are apparent in every word of his thoroughly researched, well written manuscript. He has accurately portrayed the story of the Arizona Rangers against an authentic background of turn-of-the-century Arizona. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Austin College Light Townsend Cummins, Justin Banks, 2009 Austin College has a heritage that is unsurpassed in the history of Texas higher education. Named in memory of Stephen F. Austin, it received a charter from the State of Texas in 1849, making the school the oldest college or university in the state operating under its original name and charter. Sam Houston, Anson Jones, and Henderson Yoakum served on its original board of trustees. The college first held classes in Huntsville during the fall of 1850 and moved to Sherman in 1876. Today the school is a nationally ranked private liberal arts college committed to leadership, learning, and lasting values that brings a global perspective to its student body and programs. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Links to the Past Dan K. Utley, Stanley O. Graves, 2018-08-15 As they tee up, make their approach shots, or line up their putts, few Texan golfers likely realize that the familiar landscapes of tee boxes, fairways, and greens can obscure stories from the past that played out on those same grounds. Such little-known links to the past include prehistoric campsites, a Spanish presidio, and a prairie where the Rough Riders trained, as well as courses constructed by New Deal agencies in the Great Depression or military personnel in times of war. Links to the Past: The Hidden History on Texas Golf Courses takes readers on a tour of eighteen Texas golf courses with surprising connections to history. On the “front nine,” points of interest include encounters with dinosaur fossils near Austin, a Comanche raid on a Spanish frontier presidio near Menard, and a battle between Anglo buffalo hunters and Native Americans near Lubbock. The “back nine” explores reminders of the East Texas lumber industry near Diboll, a training ground for the Rough Riders outside downtown San Antonio, and a race riot near Houston in 1917, to name a few. In addition, Dan K. Utley with Stanley O' Graves provide full histories of the courses themselves, detailing their design and evolution and explaining how they came to be constructed at these historically significant sites. Fun, compelling, and enlightening, this book is a reminder that history has occurred all around us, not just in historic districts, state parks, or even where official state markers might be found. Featuring “scorecards” for each course that include location, historical facts, and a “signature hole of history,” as well as historical and contemporary photographs and informative sidebars, Links to the Past is sure to entertain. Golfers, history buffs, and heritage tourists will want to toss this handy and engaging book in the front seat of the car—or zip it into the side pocket of their golf bags. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Tracking the Texas Rangers Bruce A. Glasrud, 2012 Tracking the Texas Rangers: The Twentieth Century is an anthology of fifteen previously published articles and chapter excerpts covering key topics of the Texas Rangers during the twentieth century. The task of determining the role of the Rangers as the state evolved and what they actually accomplished for the benefit of the state is a difficult challenge. The actions of the Rangers fit no easy description. There is a dark side to the story of the Rangers; during the Mexican Revolution, for example, some murdered with impunity. Others sought to restore order in the border communities as well as in the remainder of Texas. It is not lack of interest that complicates the unveiling of the mythical force. With the possible exception of the Alamo, probably more has been written about the Texas Rangers than any other aspect of Texas history. Tracking the Texas Rangers covers leaders such as Captains Bill McDonald, Lone Wolf Gonzaullas, and Barry Caver, accomplished Rangers like Joaquin Jackson and Arthur Hill, and the use of Rangers in the Mexican Revolution. Chapters discuss their role in the oil fields, in riots, and in capturing outlaws. Most important, the Rangers of the twentieth century experienced changes in investigative techniques, strategy, and intelligence gathering. Tracking looks at the use of Rangers in labor disputes, in race issues, and in the Tejano civil rights movement. The selections cover critical aspects of those experiences--organization, leadership, cultural implications, rural and urban life, and violence. In their introduction, editors Bruce A. Glasrud and Harold J. Weiss, Jr., discuss various themes and controversies surrounding the twentieth-century Rangers and their treatment by historians over the years. They also have added annotations to the essays to explain where new research has shed additional light on an event to update or correct the original article text. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Doris Miller, Pearl Harbor, and the Birth of the Civil Rights Movement Thomas W. Cutrer, T. Michael Parrish, 2018-03-05 On the morning of December 7, 1941, after serving breakfast and turning his attention to laundry services aboard the USS West Virginia, Ship’s Cook Third Class Doris “Dorie” Miller heard the alarm calling sailors to battle stations. The first of several torpedoes dropped from Japanese aircraft had struck the American battleship. Miller hastily made his way to a central point and was soon called to the bridge by Lt. Com. Doir C. Johnson to assist the mortally wounded ship’s captain, Mervyn Bennion. Miller then joined two others in loading and firing an unmanned anti-aircraft machine gun—a weapon that, as an African American in a segregated military, Miller had not been trained to operate. But he did, firing the weapon on attacking Japanese aircraft until the .50-caliber gun ran out of ammunition. For these actions, Miller was later awarded the Navy Cross, the third-highest naval award for combat gallantry. Historians Thomas W. Cutrer and T. Michael Parrish have not only painstakingly reconstructed Miller’s inspiring actions on December 7. They also offer for the first time a full biography of Miller placed in the larger context of African American service in the United States military and the beginnings of the civil rights movement. Like so many sailors and soldiers in World War II, Doris Miller’s life was cut short. Just two years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Miller was aboard the USS Liscome Bay when it was sunk by a Japanese submarine. But the name—and symbolic image—of Dorie Miller lived on. As Cutrer and Parrish conclude, “Dorie Miller’s actions at Pearl Harbor, and the legend that they engendered, were directly responsible for helping to roll back the navy’s then-to-fore unrelenting policy of racial segregation and prejudice, and, in the chain of events, helped to launch the civil rights movement of the 1960s that brought an end to the worst of America’s racial intolerance.” |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Life and History of William O'Neal; Or, the Man Who Sold His Wife (Dodo Press) William O'Neal, 2009-04 William O'Neal (1827-1907) was born in Woodville, Mississippi. He was hired out to nearby planters and manufacturers. In 1850, O'Neal married an enslaved woman named Ellen. When Ellen's mistress died, O'Neal purchased her freedom. Then O'Neal's master offered him the chance to buy his freedom, and O'Neal-after ensuring that the purchaser would resell his wife to him for the same sum-sold his wife back into slavery to raise the funds for his own purchase. Ellen's purchaser, Mrs. Johnson, kept her word and she was eventually freed at the end of the Civil War. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Ten Texas Feuds C. L. Sonnichsen, 2000 Based on painstaking research and interviews, Sonnichsen's tales bring to life the bloody feuds of the young state of Texas, where personal vengeance righted intolerable wrongs and settled unbearable grievances. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Texas Rangers Bob Alexander, Donaly E. Brice, 2017-07-15 Authors Bob Alexander and Donaly E. Brice grappled with several issues when deciding how to relate a general history of the Texas Rangers. Should emphasis be placed on their frontier defense against Indians, or focus more on their role as guardians of the peace and statewide law enforcers? What about the tumultuous Mexican Revolution period, 1910-1920? And how to deal with myths and legends such as One Riot, One Ranger? Texas Rangers: Lives, Legend, and Legacy is the authors’ answer to these questions, a one-volume history of the Texas Rangers. The authors begin with the earliest Rangers in the pre-Republic years in 1823 and take the story up through the Republic, Mexican War, and Civil War. Then, with the advent of the Frontier Battalion, the authors focus in detail on each company A through F, relating what was happening within each company concurrently. Thereafter, Alexander and Brice tell the famous episodes of the Rangers that forged their legend, and bring the story up through the twentieth century to the present day in the final chapters. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: John Chisum Bill O'Neal, 2018-03-09 John Chisum was a legendary figure of the Old West. During the 1850s Chisum recognized opportunity in the fledgling range cattle industry, and within a few years his herds numbered in the tens of thousands. His empire stretched across New Mexico and he was a central figure in the Lincoln County War. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: A Single Star and Bloody Knuckles Bill Minutaglio, 2021-05-04 Finalist, 2021 Writers’ League of Texas Book Award For John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner, there was one simple rule in politics: “You’ve got to bloody your knuckles.” It’s a maxim that applies in so many ways to the state of Texas, where the struggle for power has often unfolded through underhanded politicking, backroom dealings, and, quite literally, bloodshed. The contentious history of Texas politics has been shaped by dangerous and often violent events, and been formed not just in the halls of power but by marginalized voices omitted from the official narratives. A Single Star and Bloody Knuckles traces the state’s conflicted and dramatic evolution over the past 150 years through its pivotal political players, including oft-neglected women and people of color. Beginning in 1870 with the birth of Texas’s modern political framework, Bill Minutaglio chronicles Texas political life against the backdrop of industry, the economy, and race relations, recasting the narrative of influential Texans. With journalistic verve and candor, Minutaglio delivers a contemporary history of the determined men and women who fought for their particular visions of Texas and helped define the state as a potent force in national affairs. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Captain Jack Helm Chuck Parsons, 2018-03-15 In Captain Jack Helm, Chuck Parsons explores the life of John Jackson “Jack” Helm, whose main claim to fame has been that he was a victim of man-killer John Wesley Hardin. That he was, but he was much more in his violence-filled lifetime during Reconstruction Texas. First as a deputy sheriff, then county sheriff, and finally captain of the notorious Texas State Police, he developed a reputation as a violent and ruthless man-hunter. He arrested many suspected lawbreakers, but often his prisoner was killed before reaching a jail for “attempting to escape.” This horrific tendency ultimately brought about his downfall. Helm’s aggressive enforcement of his version of “law and order” resulted in a deadly confrontation with two of his enemies in the midst of the Sutton-Taylor Feud. “Captain Jack Helm is more than a fine gunfighter biography: it is a vivid statement about the murderous violence of Reconstruction in Texas.”—Bill O’Neal, State Historian of Texas |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters Bill O'Neal, 1979 Sifting factual information from among the lies, legends, and tall tales, the lives and battles of gunfighters on both sides of the law are presented in a who's who of the violent West |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Ranches of the Old West Bill O'Neal, 2020-09 A unique volume of information and colorful anecdotes about historic ranches, located throughout the American West. In all, almost sixty ranches are profiled, covering twelve states. From the King Ranch in Texas, to the Hash Knife in Arizona, Bill O'Neal tells the history, color and lore of these legendary ranches. O'Neal is a noted Western historian who has written seventeen books and more than 400 articles and book reviews. He has always been captivated by the mystique of the vanished ranching frontier and now he has brought that mystique and lore to life. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Gangster Tour of Texas T. Lindsay Baker, 2011-08-31 Bonnie and Clyde, Machine Gun Kelly, the Newton Boys, the Santa Claus Bank Robbers. . . . During the era of gangsters and organized crime, Texas hosted its fair share of guns and gambling, moonshine and morphine, ransom and robbery. The state’s crime wave hit such a level that in 1927 the Texas Bankers Association offered a reward of $5,000 for a dead bank robber; no reward was given for one captured alive. Veteran historian T. Lindsay Baker brings his considerable sleuthing skills to the dark side, leading readers on a fascinating tour of the most interesting and best preserved crime scenes in the Lone Star State. Gangster Tour of Texas traces a trail of crime that had its beginnings in 1918, when the Texas legislature outlawed alcohol, and persisted until 1957, when Texas Rangers closed down the infamous casinos of Galveston. Baker presents detailed maps, photographs of criminals, victims, and law officers, and pictures of the crime scenes as they appear today. Steeped in solid historical research, including personal visits by the author to every site described in the book, this volume offers entertaining and informative insights into a particularly lawless period in our nation’s history. Readers interested in true crime, regional history, or this unique aspect of heritage tourism will derive hours of enjoyment as they follow--on the road or from their armchairs--the trail of both cops and robbers in Gangster Tour of Texas. “Baker knows how to spin a yarn that keeps his readers engrossed; knows that it does history no harm to write it so folks will enjoy many illustrations, maps, and pictures of outlaws, lawmen, victims, witnesses, and crime scenes that accompany each story. Plus, his picture captions are as informative as his story narratives.--Bill Neal, author, Getting Away with Murder on the Texas Frontier |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Bad Company and Burnt Powder Bob Alexander, 2014-07-15 Bad Company and Burnt Powder is a collection of twelve stories of when things turned Western in the nineteenth-century Southwest. Each chapter deals with a different character or episode in the Wild West involving various lawmen, Texas Rangers, outlaws, feudists, vigilantes, lawyers, and judges. Covered herein are the stories of Cal Aten, John Hittson, the Millican boys, Gid Taylor and Jim and Tom Murphy, Alf Rushing, Bob Meldrum and Noah Wilkerson, P. C. Baird, Gus Chenowth, Jim Dunaway, John Kinney, Elbert Hanks and Boyd White, and Eddie Aten. Within these pages the reader will meet a nineteen-year-old Texas Ranger figuratively dying to shoot his gun. He does get to shoot at people, but soon realizes what he thought was a bargain exacted a steep price. Another tale is of an old-school cowman who shut down illicit traffic in stolen livestock that had existed for years on the Llano Estacado. He was tough, salty, and had no quarter for cow-thieves or sympathy for any mealy-mouthed politicians. He cleaned house, maybe not too nicely, but unarguably successful he was. Then there is the tale of an accomplished and unbeaten fugitive, well known and identified for murder of a Texas peace officer. But the Texas Rangers couldn't find him. County sheriffs wouldn't hold him. Slipping away from bounty hunters, he hit Owlhoot Trail. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Sam Houston and the American Southwest Randolph B. Campbell, 2002 In this biography, Randolph B. Campbell explores the life of Sam Houston and his important role in the development of the Southwest. Paperback, brief, and inexpensive, each of the titles in the Library of American Biography Series focus on a figure whose actions and ideas significantly influenced the course of American history and national life. In addition, each biography relates the life of its subject to the broader themes and developments of the times. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: East Texas Troubles Jody Edward Ginn, 2019-07-18 When the gun smoke cleared, four men were found dead at the hardware store in a rural East Texas town. But this December 1934 shootout was no anomaly. San Augustine County had seen at least three others in the previous three years, and these murders in broad daylight were only the latest development in the decade-long rule of the criminal McClanahan-Burleson gang. Armed with handguns, Jim Crow regulations, and corrupt special Ranger commissions from infamous governors “Ma” and “Pa” Ferguson, the gang racketeered and bootlegged its way into power in San Augustine County, where it took up robbing and extorting local black sharecroppers as its main activity. After the hardware store shootings, white community leaders, formerly silenced by fear of the gang’s retribution, finally sought state intervention. In 1935, fresh-faced, newly elected governor James V. Allred made good on his promise to reform state law enforcement agencies by sending a team of qualified Texas Rangers to San Augustine County to investigate reports of organized crime. In East Texas Troubles, historian Jody Edward Ginn tells of their year-and-a-half-long cleanup of the county, the inaugural effort in Governor Allred’s transformation of the Texas Rangers into a professional law enforcement agency. Besides foreshadowing the wholesale reform of state law enforcement, the Allred Rangers’ investigative work in San Augustine marked a rare close collaboration between white law enforcement officers and black residents. Drawing on firsthand accounts and the sworn testimony of black and white residents in the resulting trials, Ginn examines the consequences of such cooperation in a region historically entrenched in racial segregation. In this story of a rural Texas community’s resurrection, Ginn reveals a multifaceted history of the reform of the Texas Rangers and of an unexpected alliance between the legendary frontier lawmen and black residents of the Jim Crow South. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Eavesdropping on Texas History Mary L. Scheer, 2017-02-15 Most writers and readers of history have at one time or another wished that they could have been at some particular defining event in history. Whether it was a moment of a great decision, a major turning point that changed everything, or simply an intriguing occurrence, many scholars and others have on occasion wished that they “could have been there.” Texas history provides infinite Lone Star episodes to consider, rooted in the widespread assumption that Texas is a colorful, unique, and exceptional place with larger-than-life heroes and narratives. Mary L. Scheer has assembled fifteen contributors to explore special moments in Texas history. The contributors assembled for this anthology represent many of the “all stars” among Texas historians: two State Historians of Texas, two past presidents of TSHA, four current or past presidents of ETHA, two past presidents of WTHA, nine fellows of historical associations, two Fulbright Scholars, and seven award-winning authors. Each is an expert in his or her field and provided in some fashion an answer to the question: At what moment in Texas history would you have liked to have been a “fly on the wall” and why? The choice of an event and the answers were both personal and individual, ranging from familiar topics to less well-known subjects. One wanted to be at the Alamo. Another chose to explore when Sam Houston refused to take a loyalty oath to the Confederacy. One chapter follows the first twenty-four hours of Lyndon Baines Johnson’s presidency after Kennedy’s assassination. Others write about the Dust Bowl coming to Texas, or when Texas Southern University was created. Their respective essays are not written as isolated occurrences or “moments,” but as causal developments presented within the larger social and political context of the period. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Hidden History of East Texas Tex Midkiff, 2020 The heritage of East Texas partakes in the same degree of unexpected turns and hidden depths as its backroads and bayous. One line of inquiry meanders into another. Start out searching for La Salle's grave and end up chasing Spanish gold in Upshur County. From Sam Houston's Bible to the Longview nightclub that hosted both Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, one tale follows another and introduces a cast of characters that includes Candace and Peter Ellis Bean, Old Rip, Jack Lummus and Vernon Wayne Howell. Part the Pine Curtain with Tex Midkiff for a history as heated as the La Grange Chicken Ranch's parlor and irresistible as a batch of Golden sweet potatoes. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Whiskey River Ranger Bob Alexander, 2016-04-15 Captain Frank Jones, a famed nineteenth-century Texas Ranger, said of his company-s top sergeant, Baz Outlaw (1854-1894), A man of unusual courage and coolness and in a close place is worth two or three ordinary men. Another old-time Texas Ranger declared that Baz Outlaw was one of the worst and most dangerous because he never knew what fear was. But not all thought so highly of him. In Whiskey River Ranger, Bob Alexander tells for the first time the full story of this troubled Texas Ranger and his losing battle with alcoholism. In his career Baz Outlaw wore a badge as a Texas Ranger and also as a Deputy U.S. Marshal. He could be a fearless and crackerjack lawman, as well as an unmanageable manic. Although Baz Outlaw's badge-wearing career was sometimes heroically creditable, at other times his self-induced nightmarish imbroglios teased and tested Texas Ranger management's resoluteness. Baz Outlaw's true-life story is jam-packed with fellows owning well-known names, including Texas Rangers, city marshals, sheriffs, and steely-eyed mean-spirited miscreants. Baz Outlaw's tale is complete with horseback chases, explosive train robberies, vigilante justice (or injustice), nighttime ambushes and bushwhacking, and episodes of scorching six-shooter finality. Baz met his end in a brothel brawl at the hands of John Selman, the same gunfighter who killed John Wesley Hardin. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Now You Are Told Bill Neal, 2020-09-24 In Now You Are Told: A Collection of True Tales from My Yesteryears, Bill Neal tells both serious and often funny and memorable true stories from his life. He begins with a history of the area, including the Comanche Indians, and how they influenced the naming of his hometown of Medicine Mound, Texas. These stories give us a glimpse of frontier life during the thirties and forties while growing up on a large West Texas ranch. One vivid childhood memory includes December 7, 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and forever changed life in America. After becoming friends with A. C. Greene, his college journalism teacher, Bill started an interesting career as a news reporter in several West Texas towns. Later, a desire to be his own boss led him to a new career. After graduating number one from his University of Texas Law School class in 1964, Bill returned to his home turf to practice law. He tells us of the unbelievable cases he handled-some funny and some sad-during his forty-year law career, as well as other unbelievable incidences that happened along the way. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Six-Shooters and Shifting Sands Bob Alexander, 2015-03-15 Many well-read students, historians, and loyal aficionados of Texas Ranger lore know the name of Texas Ranger Captain Frank Jones (1856-1893), who died on the Texas-Mexico border in a shootout with Mexican rustlers. In Six-Shooters and Shifting Sands, Bob Alexander has now penned the first full-length biography of this important nineteenth-century Texas Ranger. At an early age Frank Jones, a native Texan, would become a Frontier Battalion era Ranger. His enlistment with the Rangers coincided with their transition from Indian fighters to lawmen. While serving in the Frontier Battalion officers' corps of Company D, Frank Jones supervised three of the four great captains of that era: J.A. Brooks, John H. Rogers, and John R. Hughes. Besides Austin Ira Aten and his younger brothers Calvin Grant Aten and Edwin Dunlap Aten, Captain Jones also managed law enforcement activities of numerous other noteworthy Rangers, such as Philip Cuney P.C. Baird, Benjamin Dennis Lindsey, Bazzell Lamar Baz Outlaw, J. Walter Durbin, Jim King, Frank Schmid, and Charley Fusselman, to name just a few. Frank Jones' law enforcing life was anything but boring. Not only would he find himself dodging bullets and returning fire, but those Rangers under his supervision would also experience gunplay. Of all the Texas Ranger companies, Company D contributed the highest number of on-duty deaths within Texas Ranger ranks. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Pidge, Texas Ranger Chuck Parsons, 2013-03-05 Thomas C. (Pidge) Robinson came to Texas from Virginia at the age of 27, fleeing a feud with a neighbor who opposed Robinson’s amorous intentions toward the neighbor’s sister. He joined the Texas Rangers in 1874, serving with legendary Capt. Leander H. McNelly’s Washington County Volunteer Militia Company A. He earned the rank of first lieutenant in this Texas Ranger company. Two years later he returned to Virginia to avenge his honor and claim the woman he loved. A learned and witty writer who sent back letters, poems, and reports for publication in Austin newspapers, Pidge also wrote most of Captain McNelly’s reports. From the newspaper submissions, backed by extensive research to document details and explain allusions, western writer Chuck Parsons has fashioned an annotated compendium of primary materials that give insight into not only the life and actions of the famous Texas Rangers but also the popular culture of post–Civil War Texas. Robinson rode with McNelly as the Rangers subdued the clashes between the Suttons and the Taylors in DeWitt County. He served on the Rio Grande frontier in actions against Juan Cortina, including the famous battle on Palo Alto Prairie. He was with a party of Rangers who invaded Mexico to recover cattle stolen from Texas ranchers. Pidge’s lively, literate, and often humorous letters give first-person accounts of these and other actions that provide a unique picture of Ranger service in the field. This Texas A&M University Press edition, incorporating newly discovered materials, also features rare period photographs, illustrations, and other helpful maps and images. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: The Cornett-Whitley Gang David D. Johnson, 2019 This Book describes the activities of the Cornett-Whitley gang in Texas. They were active in 1887-88. The leaders were Bill Whitley and Brack Cornett, both killed by posses. They were best known for a train robbery at Flatonia, Texas in the summer of 1887. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Austin’s Flower Hill Legacy: A Remarkable Family & a Sixth Street Wildscape Rosa Walston Latimer, 2021-10-18 For nearly a century and a half, the Smoot family cooperated with nature to create the vibrant Texas wildscape of the Flower Hill Estate on West Sixth Street. But the generosity of spirit that cultivated that sanctuary extends beyond the iron fence surrounding the property. Institutions like the Central Presbyterian Church, the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, the Austin American-Statesman, the Texas state capitol, The University of Texas and Travis and Austin High Schools all owe an incalculable debt to Flower Hill residents. Author Rosa Latimer traces the positive legacy of Flower Hill and the influential Austin family who lived there. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Man-Hunters of the Old West Robert K. DeArment, 2017-04-06 Settlers in the frontier West were often easy prey for criminals. Policing efforts were scattered at best and often amounted to vigilante retaliation. To create a semblance of order, freelance enforcers of the law known as man-hunters undertook the search for fugitives. These pursuers have often been portrayed as ruthless bounty hunters, no better than the felons they pursued. Robert K. DeArment’s detailed account of their careers redeems their reputations and reveals the truth behind their fascinating legends. As DeArment shows, man-hunters were far more likely to capture felons alive than their popular image suggests. Although “Wanted: Dead or Alive” reward notices were posted during this period, they were reserved for the most murderous desperadoes. Man-hunters also came from a variety of backgrounds in the East and the West: of the eight men whose stories DeArment tells, one began as an officer for an express company, and another was the head of an organization of local lawmen. Others included a railroad detective, a Texas Ranger, a Pinkerton operative, and a shotgun messenger for a stagecoach line. All were tough survivors, living through gunshot wounds, snakebites, disease, buffalo stampedes, and every other hazard of life in the Wild West. They also crossed paths with famous criminals and sheriffs, from John Wesley Hardin and Sam Bass to Wyatt Earp, Butch Cassidy, and the Sundance Kid. Telling the true stories of famous men who risked their lives to bring western outlaws to justice, Man-Hunters of the Old West dispels long-held myths of their cold-blooded vigilantism and brings fresh nuance to the lives and legends that made the West wild. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Death on the Lonely Llano Estacado Bill Neal, 2017-07-15 In the winter of 1901, James W. Jarrott led a band of twenty-five homesteader families toward the Llano Estacado in far West Texas, newly opened for settlement by a populist Texas legislature. But frontier cattlemen who had been pasturing their herds on the unfenced prairie land were enraged by the encroachment of these “nesters.” In August 1902 a famous hired assassin, Jim Miller, ambushed and murdered J. W. Jarrott. Who hired Miller? This crime has never been solved, until now. Award-winning author Bill Neal investigates this cold case and successfully pieces together all the threads of circumstantial evidence to fit the noose snugly around the neck of Jim Miller’s employer. What emerges from these pages is the strength of intriguing characters in an engrossing narrative: Jim Jarrott, the diminutive advocate who fearlessly champions the cause of the little guy. The ruthless and slippery assassin, Deacon Jim Miller. And finally Jarrott’s young widow Mollie, who perseveres and prospers against great odds and tells the settlers to “Stay put!” |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Harvey Houses of New Mexico Rosa Walston Latimer, 2015 The Santa Fe Line and the famous Fred Harvey restaurants forever changed New Mexico and the Southwest, bringing commerce, culture and opportunity to a desolate frontier. The first Harvey Girls ever hired staffed the Raton location. In a departure from the ubiquitous black and white uniform immortalized by Judy Garland in 1946's Harvey Girls, many of New Mexico's Harvey Girls wore colorful dresses reflective of local culture. In Albuquerque, the Harvey-managed Alvarado Hotel doubled as a museum for carefully curated native art. Join author Rosa Walston Latimer and discover New Mexico's unique history of hospitality the Fred Harvey way. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Vengeance is Mine Bill Neal, 2011 The 1912 Boyce-Sneed feud in West Texas began with Lena Snyder Sneed, the headstrong wife; Al Boyce, Jr., Lena's reckless lover; and John Beal Sneed, Lena's vindictive husband, who responded to Lena's plea for a divorce by locking her in an insane asylum. The lovers escaped to Canada, but Sneed assassinated Al's unarmed father, and eventually killed Al Boyce, Jr., who had returned to Texas. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Tall Walls and High Fences Bob Alexander, Richard K. Alvord, 2020-10-15 Texas has one of the world’s largest prison systems, in operation for more than 170 years and currently employing more than 28,000 people. Hundreds of thousands of people have been involved in the prison business in Texas: inmates, correctional officers, public officials, private industry representatives, and volunteers have all entered the secure facilities and experienced a different world. Previous books on Texas prisons have focused either on records and data of the prisons, personal memoirs by both inmates and correctional officers, or accounts of prison breaks. Tall Walls and High Fences is the first comprehensive history of Texas prisons, written by a former law enforcement officer and an officer of the Texas prisons. Bob Alexander and Richard K. Alford chronicle the significant events and transformation of the Texas prison system from its earliest times to the present day, paying special attention to the human side of the story. Incarceration policy evolved from isolation to hard labor to rodeo and educational opportunities, with reform measures becoming an ever-evolving quest. The complex job of the correctional officer has evolved as well—they must ensure custody and control over the inmate population at all times, in order to provide a proper environment conducive to safety and positive change. Alexander and Alford focus especially on the men and women who work with diligence and dedication at their jobs “inside the walls,” risking their lives and—in too many instances—giving their lives in a peculiar line of duty most would find unpalatable. Within these pages are stories of prison breaks, bloodhounds chasing escapees, and gunfights. Inside the walls are deadly confrontations, human trafficking, rape, clandestine consensual trysts, and tricks turned against correctional officers. Famous people and episodes in Texas prison history receive their due, from Texas Rangers apprehending and placing outlaws in prison to the famed gunfighter John Wesley Hardin’s time in and out of prison. Tall Walls and High Fences covers numerous convict escape attempts and successes, including the 1974 prison siege at Huntsville and the 2007 prisoner gunfight and escape at the Wynne Unit. Throughout this long history Alexander and Alford pay special tribute to the more than 75 correctional officers, lawmen, and civilians who lost their lives in the line of duty. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: The Colonial and State Political History of Hertford County, N.C. Benjamin Brodie Winborne, 1906 |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: Old Riot, New Ranger Bob Alexander, 2018-07-15 Award-winning author Bob Alexander presents a biography of 20th-century Ranger Captain Jack Dean, who holds the distinction of being one of only five men to serve in both the Officer’s Corps of the Rangers and also as a President-appointed United States Marshal. Jack Dean’s service in Texas Ranger history occurred at a time when the institution was undergoing a philosophical revamping and restructuring, all hastened by America’s Civil Rights Movement, landmark decisions handed down by the United States Supreme Court, zooming advances in forensic technology, and focused efforts designed to diversify and professionalize the Rangers. His job choice caused him to circulate in the duplicitous underworld of dishonesty and criminality where twisted self-interest overrode compliance with societal norms. His biography is packed with true-crime calamities: double murders, single murders, negligent homicides, suicides, jailbreaks, manhunts, armed robberies and home invasions, kidnappings, public corruption, sexual assaults, illicit gambling, car-theft rings, dope smuggling, and arms trafficking. |
| bill o'neal texas state historian: The Raven’s Honor Johnny D. Boggs, 2018-01-01 Sam Houston is a living legend in 1861. The hero of the Battle of San Jacinto, he had defeated Santa Anna to win independence for Texas back in 1836. He had twice served as president of the Republic of Texas, helped Texas join the Union, and served as senator and governor of Texas. Before settling in Texas, he had been a hero of the Creek War and governor of Tennessee. He had been friends with Andrew Jackson and Davy Crockett, and had been adopted into the Cherokee tribe, whose rights he had often defended and who had named him the Raven. Yet now, approaching seventy years of hard living, he finds everything he has fought for being torn asunder. Texas is joining the Confederacy, and Houston, a Unionist who has been cast out as governor, quickly loses power, prestige, and friends. He could hide in retirement, but such is not the way of a warrior. The Raven prepares for his most important fight yet. He knows this battle will test his endurance and faith. He knows he will need his wife, Margaret, to save him from his own worst enemy—himself. And he knows this war, which will pit brother against brother, will also try to divide Houston’s family. What he doesn’t know yet is that he will find help from long-dead friends and enemies to help him sort out his life and restore his honor. Johnny D. Boggs, among the most honored Western writers of the twenty-first century, brings one of Texas’ greatest heroes to life, warts and all, in a character study and love story of a man fighting for his country and legacy—but mostly for his family. |
State Historian of Texas Pens New Book About Legendary …
Bill O’Neal, Texas State Historian, tells the story of this legendary cattleman and his exciting life that spanned Texas and New Mexico, in his newest book, John Chisum: Frontier Cattle King.
PRESS RELEASE - uttyler.edu
Feb 20, 2017 · The University of Texas at Tyler Longview University Center will host a lecture featuring Texas State Historian and award-winning author, Dr. Bill O’Neal at 6:30 p.m. …
LIBRARY, MIDLAND, TEXAS COURTESY HALEY MEMORIAL …
By Bill O’Neal, State Historian of Texas frontier cattle king. Chisum relished the role of cattle baron, serving as a gracious and generous host to one and all. During three decades on a …
Texas Ranger Day & History Symposium - Former Texas …
Bill O'Neal, state historian of Texas, spoke on the evolution of the revolving pistol. Dr. Richard B. McCaslin, Lone Star professor of history at UNT spoke in regards to John S. "RIP" Ford as a …
L.Q. Jones: A Talented Texas Treasure
It has been accepted for inclusion in East Texas Historical Journal by an authorized administrator of SFA ScholarWorks. For more information, please contactcdsscholarworks@sfasu.edu. …
THE TEXIAN - srttexas.org
Our Texas, accompanied by the Deer Park High School band. Ron Stone Jr. was the emcee and did a great job. The main speaker was the Texas State Historian, Dr. Bill O’Neal. He gave a …
The next Annual Meeting of the Texas State Historical …
Bill O’Neal’s War in East Texas: Regulators vs. Moderators, originally published by the University of North Texas Press in 2006, is back in print. In War in East Texas, O’Neal, now the State …
91st Annual Meeting in Odessa
the Commemorative Air Force Museum with Bill O’Neal, Texas State Historian as the featured speaker. Queries about the conference should be forwarded to the Conference Coordinator …
WEST TEXAS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION - wtha.swco.ttu.edu
Chair: Bill O’Neal, Texas State Historian, Emeritus • Chuck Hornung, Wild West History Association, Gunfight at Montruela Plaza Ranch, 12 December 1885 • Jim Matthews, West …
PRESS RELEASE - uttyler.edu
Mar 16, 2015 · featuring Texas State Historian, Dr. Bill O’Neal at 6:30 pm Thursday, March 26. “Texas During World War II” will examine the remarkable contributions made by Texans to the …
1920–1929: The Texas League during the Golden Age of Sports
ill O’Neal taught history for many years at Panola College in Carthage. In 2012, Governor Rick Perry appointed him Texas State Historian. Professor O’Neal’s numerous books include …
April Events Commemorate the Battle of at Annual Dinner San …
Apr 21, 2015 · speaker will be Bill O’Neal, Texas State Historian and author of the upcoming book Sam Houston: A Study in Leadership. Ticket availability is limited; contact Mequet Werlin at …
PRESS RELEASE - University of Texas at Tyler
Jan 21, 2014 · O’Neal was appointed the State Historian of Texas by Gov. Rick Perry in 2012. He has been affiliated with Panola College since 1970, where a new dormitory was named in his …
WEST TEXAS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION - wtha.swco.ttu.edu
Bill O’Neal, Texas State Historian, Sam Houston, Texas Icon” 7:15 P.M. Early Bird Dinner Baja Room
Southwestern - JSTOR
Bill O'Neal, the state historian of Texas, was recently awarded an hon orary doctorate in letters by his alma mater, Texas A&M University-Com merce, where he earned B.A. and M.A. degrees. …
O’Neal
O’Neal Family History notebook! THIS Collection Interest in Family History just hits you one day, if you’re lucky. For me, it began with my brother Bill’s handwritten Family Tree Chart, then stories …
WWHA Saddlebag Newsletter 01/25/22 - Wild West History …
Jan 25, 2022 · death of Bill Neal, age 85, in Abilene, Texas. Bill was a rancher, retired country lawyer, historian, journalist, award winning author, and past president of the West Texas …
Saddlebag Newsletter - Wild West History Association
Feb 27, 2022 · Then, Bill O'Neal, former State Historian of Texas, and author of many books, will provide a biographical sketch of Albertus Sweet. The actual unveiling of the repaired …
WEST TEXAS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
Bill O’Neal, past Texas State Historian, “Billy and Olive Dixon, The Plainsman and His Lady” Room 203 – Analog History: Using the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum and the WTAMU …
530 Southwestern Historical Quarterly April
State Historian of Texas Bill O'Neal Rounded Up in Glory: Frank Reaugh , Texas Renaissance Man. By Michael Grauer. (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2016. Pp. 480. Illus …
State Historian of Texas Pens New Book About Legendary …
Bill O’Neal, Texas State Historian, tells the story of this legendary cattleman and his exciting life that spanned Texas and New Mexico, in his newest book, John Chisum: Frontier Cattle King.
PRESS RELEASE - uttyler.edu
Feb 20, 2017 · The University of Texas at Tyler Longview University Center will host a lecture featuring Texas State Historian and award-winning author, Dr. Bill O’Neal at 6:30 p.m. …
LIBRARY, MIDLAND, TEXAS COURTESY HALEY MEMORIAL …
By Bill O’Neal, State Historian of Texas frontier cattle king. Chisum relished the role of cattle baron, serving as a gracious and generous host to one and all. During three decades on a …
Texas Ranger Day & History Symposium - Former Texas …
Bill O'Neal, state historian of Texas, spoke on the evolution of the revolving pistol. Dr. Richard B. McCaslin, Lone Star professor of history at UNT spoke in regards to John S. "RIP" Ford as a …
L.Q. Jones: A Talented Texas Treasure
It has been accepted for inclusion in East Texas Historical Journal by an authorized administrator of SFA ScholarWorks. For more information, please contactcdsscholarworks@sfasu.edu. …
THE TEXIAN - srttexas.org
Our Texas, accompanied by the Deer Park High School band. Ron Stone Jr. was the emcee and did a great job. The main speaker was the Texas State Historian, Dr. Bill O’Neal. He gave a …
The next Annual Meeting of the Texas State Historical …
Bill O’Neal’s War in East Texas: Regulators vs. Moderators, originally published by the University of North Texas Press in 2006, is back in print. In War in East Texas, O’Neal, now the State …
91st Annual Meeting in Odessa
the Commemorative Air Force Museum with Bill O’Neal, Texas State Historian as the featured speaker. Queries about the conference should be forwarded to the Conference Coordinator …
WEST TEXAS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION - wtha.swco.ttu.edu
Chair: Bill O’Neal, Texas State Historian, Emeritus • Chuck Hornung, Wild West History Association, Gunfight at Montruela Plaza Ranch, 12 December 1885 • Jim Matthews, West …
PRESS RELEASE - uttyler.edu
Mar 16, 2015 · featuring Texas State Historian, Dr. Bill O’Neal at 6:30 pm Thursday, March 26. “Texas During World War II” will examine the remarkable contributions made by Texans to the …
1920–1929: The Texas League during the Golden Age of Sports
ill O’Neal taught history for many years at Panola College in Carthage. In 2012, Governor Rick Perry appointed him Texas State Historian. Professor O’Neal’s numerous books include …
April Events Commemorate the Battle of at Annual Dinner San …
Apr 21, 2015 · speaker will be Bill O’Neal, Texas State Historian and author of the upcoming book Sam Houston: A Study in Leadership. Ticket availability is limited; contact Mequet Werlin at …
PRESS RELEASE - University of Texas at Tyler
Jan 21, 2014 · O’Neal was appointed the State Historian of Texas by Gov. Rick Perry in 2012. He has been affiliated with Panola College since 1970, where a new dormitory was named in his …
WEST TEXAS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION - wtha.swco.ttu.edu
Bill O’Neal, Texas State Historian, Sam Houston, Texas Icon” 7:15 P.M. Early Bird Dinner Baja Room
Southwestern - JSTOR
Bill O'Neal, the state historian of Texas, was recently awarded an hon orary doctorate in letters by his alma mater, Texas A&M University-Com merce, where he earned B.A. and M.A. degrees. …
O’Neal
O’Neal Family History notebook! THIS Collection Interest in Family History just hits you one day, if you’re lucky. For me, it began with my brother Bill’s handwritten Family Tree Chart, then …
WWHA Saddlebag Newsletter 01/25/22 - Wild West History …
Jan 25, 2022 · death of Bill Neal, age 85, in Abilene, Texas. Bill was a rancher, retired country lawyer, historian, journalist, award winning author, and past president of the West Texas …
Saddlebag Newsletter - Wild West History Association
Feb 27, 2022 · Then, Bill O'Neal, former State Historian of Texas, and author of many books, will provide a biographical sketch of Albertus Sweet. The actual unveiling of the repaired …
WEST TEXAS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
Bill O’Neal, past Texas State Historian, “Billy and Olive Dixon, The Plainsman and His Lady” Room 203 – Analog History: Using the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum and the WTAMU …
530 Southwestern Historical Quarterly April
State Historian of Texas Bill O'Neal Rounded Up in Glory: Frank Reaugh , Texas Renaissance Man. By Michael Grauer. (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2016. Pp. 480. Illus …
