True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young. Page: 96
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96 ' TRUE STORIES OF OLD
considered to be wealthy then and was prosperous. He was not
destined to have a peaceful life,-however. His early days in
Houston, as already noted, were marked by a tragedy and
another blighted his latter days here. For no known reason one
night Charlotte ended her life with poison. Her death was as
great a mystery as the murder of the brother had been. There
was apparently no reason for her action. She had beauty, riches,
a kind father, for the old man'almost worshiped her, and everything
to make her happy. The old man could not stand it. IHe
sold his store and business for what he could get for them,
closed up all his affairs and left Houston forever. Some said he
went back to France; bthers that he went to California.
FRANK BATES.
HAD the pleasure of meeting my old friend, Frank Bates,
on Main Street a few days ago. Of all the young men I
knew when I left Houston, Frank has changed least and
looks today exactly as he looked thirty years ago. It is marvelous
what little change has taken place in his personal appearance,
though of course, Frank is by no means an old man, being
scarcely more than a well grown lad when I last saw him. There
are wonderful changes that have taken place in him otherwise.
for he is now a sedate, dignified country gentleman, married and
settled, while then he was the wildest, hairbrained, fun-loving
fellow that ever lived. If he ever had a serious thought no one
found it out.
Frank lived just about twenty years too late. Had he been
older and more matured at the time when real bad men flourished
he would have been one of them. There was never anything
vicious or harmful about him. He was always the soul of honor
and loyal to his friends, but his tastes ran towards fights and
skirmishes, and having a Southerh gentleman's distaste for a
fist fight or anything so low as that, his inclinations were towards
sixshooters and knives.
Frank loved to talk of private battles and told marvelous
stories of his fights with Indians and frontier desperadoes. He
was and, is still a great favorite with everybody, for I defy anybody
to be with Frank for half a day without falling in love
with him.
Frank was a member of the famous "world-beating" Light
Guard, and when we went to Philadelphia he went along as one
of the substitutes. Being a substitute, he did not have to drill,
so had abundant leisure to go where he pleased. The second
day after our arrival Dr. Carrycross, a large wholesale druggist
of Philadelphia, came out to Fairmont Park, where we were
camped, and asked for the Texas company. He introduced himself
and invited every member of the company to call on him
when they went into town and asked them to make his place
their headquarters. Some of the boys called on him the next
morning and that evening he came out to ee us again. After
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Young, Samuel Oliver. True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young., book, 1913; Galveston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth24646/m1/96/?rotate=90: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .