The Clarksville News. (Clarksville, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 1, 1899 Page: 1 of 6
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THE CLARKSVILLE NEWS.
VOLUME 1.
CLARKSVILLE, TEXAS, THURSDAY. JUNE 1, 1899.
NUMBER 19.
BACK TO ’38.
Soma Interesting Scraps of
History.
later* taw with J. B. Don oho.
My father's family came here
in 1838 from New Mexico. It
came in this way: My father
had bought three ladies from the
Indians that they had captured
near San Antonio. He brought
them to Austin and delivered
them to their friends. While in
the Republic he was greatly im-
pressed with tUeajMEfcts and
fertility of when he
returned hom^ftWa<Mjlly made
np his mind to u>cate at Austin
in this State. ' * ,
We were then living in Santa
Fe, Nei^ Mexico, where I was
born. My father’s name was
William Donoho, afad he went
from Missouri to New Mexico.
I vyas in my infancy When this
trip across the plains front^New
Mexico wa&^nade, and s wlrxt I
knew of itgntd incidents that
happened Sew years Iqter, is
from what I was told by my-fa.-
ther or some other member of the
family. We came inox and mi^le
wagons by way of Fort Smith
and Fort Towson. There was
little or no town here -Wthen, only
a few .scattering house*. My
father first rented a double-log
house from Mrs. Gordon, which
stood where the Trilling opera
house now stands. It was two
stories high—^he upf>er ofce only
having a plank or puncheogjloor,
the lower floor tiring native earth
—in fact, in v ffose days the
"ground floors” were literally
and’truly “ground” floors. We
lited there some three years,
when my father bought a log
house from Rob Figures, on the
site of where the New Donoho
hotel now stands. This house
was then the only house on what
- is now the public square. The
nucleus -from v^ich the, town
appear^toJiaVe been about thing beTore
W spring, wj^fcti waS just acquitted. . ..
across the street froln the present ever ma
Christian Church building. There
wen^ien several houses about
thiskpring, and also a store, con-
taining a few goods of the com
monest sort. Later Phil Duty
and Willis t)ean had stores, with
small stocks.
This County was then claimed
* GfF *1
FACTS and FIGURES.
That’s what a man wants when he is on a business deal. How our firm is the pioneer
WHOLESALE GROCERY HOUSE
,1 j-—-1.
East of Paris, and while we do also an immense retan business, yet
we desire to impress it upon country merchants and fai\$ie£§ who buy
in large lots that we can save them money. We have built up our re-
tail and wholesale trade here by giving honest values at honest prices,
and our trade is constantly reaching out. Remember we buy our goods
from first hands, andean save retail dealers and large individual buyers
that cost which naturally entails from frequent handling of goods.
OUR NOTED BRANDS OF FLOUR
BIG
=an&
BIG J\
Have won the hearts of the housewives of this section of Texas. ’ We carry,
all lines of Gi*pceriesl Meat, Flour, Lard, can goods of every description, and pos-
handling, we can give our ^customers the
sessing supenoi^jne^sdo
advantage of^
At our h<%»ntjg
We also J
UALITY YOKED
[as always Jjcen to sell goods that please.
tomers. Come and see us.
greafsr-.tpeecb
In a Red River
county court house. ' v ,
The Donoho hotel that’ was
torn down to be replaced by the
present splendid brick, was par-
tially erected in 1853, and was
added to later on. My father
died in 1846. , -
Col. B. H. Eppersoh figured
by Arkansas, and it was called jconspicuously in the earlJ%i*forjr
Miller county, but 1 think the
the Republic of Texas exercised
chief jurisdiction over it. Dick
Hopbidi was then collector of
taxes for. the Republic. Very
little faming was done then.
My father first opened up a farm
somewhere about where Mrs.
Pinkie Washington now lives,
and Mrs. Gordon had a farm north
of the railroad.
I remember to have seen three
men hung in the vicinity of the
Baptist Cemetery. My recollec-
tion is that they were hung by a
vigilance committee. My father
rode np there on horseback and I
was on behind him. It was a
stout rope and a short shrift to
wrong-doers in those days.
My" father enlarged the house
. he bought from Figures and en-
gaged in the hotel business, also
opening np a farm. Clarksville
was the chief point for holding
court in «North Texas outside of
Dallas in those times. Noted
lawyers from all .over the state
practiced in this court, and the.
Donoho House was often overbur-
dened with^legal talent. Judge
Mills is about the first district
judge that I remember. Bennett
H. Martin was a prominent law-
yer of that day. Sam Houston,
Rusk, Ochiltree, Pink Henderson
and other great legal lights often
aired their eloquence in the little
unpretentious frame court house
on the square. Among these
lawfers I recall a unique and
eccentric character by the name
of Craig. He wore enormous
baggy pants, and each pant leg
had pockets like a miniature cav-
ern. He carried all his court pa-
pers in those capacious pockets,
and they reached' nearly te his
knees. It was amusing to see
Craig fish down in the bottoms of
these pockets after papers when
one of bis cases was called.
Ochiltree, the father of the
now famous Tom, was a brilliant
orator, and his words had almost
• magnetic effect upon a jury. I
remember the great sensation his
speech in the Bonfoy murder case
produced. It was a very cele-
brated case, and perhaps had its
hard features, but Ochiltree’s
magnificent oratory earned every-
of this section of the state. .He
was born in Bowie county, and
was a student at McKenzie Col-
lege, studied law here and also
practiced for a number of years.
He was the first president of the
Texas and Pacific railroad, then
called the. Memphis and El Paso
road. Travis Wright was after-
wards president of this road, and
at one time before the tear our
people were in high hope that it
would be built right away. A
good many people here took stock
in the road, my mother among
the number. Some portion of it
about Swanson was put in run-
ning order, and a good part of
the road bed in this county was
graded. These old grades'can
now be seen to the northwest of
town. The company made a
proposition to stockholders
through Epperson that if they
would turn in their stock to the
company that they would be re-
lieved of any further, responsibil-
ity along that line. To this
proposition the stockholders gen-
erally acceded. The road had a
rich land endowment from the
state—16 sections to the mile.
I remember very distinctly the
heated gubernatorial campaign
when Dick Runnels of Bowie and
old Sam Houston were rival can-
didates for governor, just prior
to the civil war. Runnels was a
farmer, had been a member of
the legislature, but had no tal-
ent for debate. The briliant and
firey Wigfall, who was then or at
least after, a United States sena- jn town and vote; if they had any
tor from this state, took up the
gunge of battle for Runnels and'
followed Houston all over the
State. Gen. Houston refused to
offered to canvass the state with
Runnels.' I recall the day Hous-
ton and Wigfall spoke here. Col.
Epperson had met Houston at
Mt. Pleasant and brought him to
Clarksville in his buggy. The
place of speaking was under the
elm tree in front of the old Dono-
ho Hotel. Houston was a man
of the most commanding presence,
some six feet, two inches and of
leonine frame. His speech was
brilliant and scathing, denounc-
ing both Runnels and Wigfall jn
Wigfall was pffcsent and rose
tp /eply "#hen / Houston ceased
speaking. The latter got- in a
buggy and drove off/not deign-
ing1 to listen toWigfall. The latter
was an ' impassioned and fiery
speaker, mad [held his. audience
weH in hand. During the pro-
gress of WigfalFs speech, he was
interrupted by a suggestion of old
Ckfct. Sutton. Quick as light-
ning, Wigfall turned and said,
.“1 thank thee, Roderick,' for the
word!” The stfouts that followed
fixed old man Sutton for good,
and he was known to the day of
his death as “Roderick” Sutton.
I was here through the troublous
times of reconstruction, and it
was a dark and bitter time for the
southern people. As it was, some
of our citizens accepted office un-
der the federal rule, and Judge
A. H. Latimer as district judge
and John L. Carroll as sheriff
rendered signal service toour peo-
ple. After Carroll’s appointment
a company of 50. men was organ-
ized to assisit hjm in enforcing
the law and preserving order.
Davidson, the federal comman-
der at this place, in whom appear-
ed to center all power, both civil
and military, ■ was a despicable
character. He had every attribute
of the petty tyrant. He was giv-
en up to pettty persecutions and
a wanton display of arbitrary
power. Placed here ostensibly to
preserve the peace and protect
person and property, bis every
aim appeared directed lb the way
of harassing the ex-Confederates.
When an election was held,
every man who voted had to first
register, for which he paid 25
cents, and then he had to vote at
the codnty seat. There was no
other voting place in the county.
Davidson’s imperial orders, issued
forthe conduct of these elections,
read strange at this day. He
directed that voters should come
“ti^SeF 11 e<I-4«t»*fae ■‘Wtmty-cIefkV
. -r A,* _
It was during The&e days, that
Frank Whrte, justice of the peace
at Manchester, tried Coalts Sutton
business to transact to do it, and
then go “straight home and go to
work.” That was about the iden-
tical language used, Jake Gaff-
meet Wigfall in joint debate, buGney was one of the instruments
employed to keep the men in line
at the polling place and he doubt-
less felt as big then if not a great
deal bigger 'than he did last fall
here when he would open and
close the ^‘Clarksville Cotton
Exchange.”
I remember on one occasion,
Davidson himself attempted to
disarm John Henderson, who was
the quickest and best pistol shot
ever seen in this county. Hen-
derson drew his pistol and would
have killed Davjdsoq bad qot the
«f Bagwell is the
of, .several rather
ancient documents, and he is
on a ridiculous charge of hotye person in the
stealing, . Arumped up against v*w° tas ^ g^nutoe
him. awftentonced Sutton to tire autographs ot George hashing:
him, and sentenced Sutton to the
penitentiary fora term of yeafsf
He started an officer off with
Sutton, but was headed off by W
B Wright at Boston armed with
a writ of harbe^s corpus for Sut-
ton, who was taken before District
Judge A. H. Latimer at Boston,
Bowie county, where court was
in session, and Sutton was re-
leased. * ^
Davidson afterwards held a
state office under E. J.- Davis,
proved a defaulter and fled the
country.
Well, there are other things I
could tell you of, but I guess this
is enough.
By Dan F. Latimer: It was in
the dark days of 1864. Billy
Dickson and I were out foraging
one day, and at night stopped at
the house of a nice old gentle-
man. It was- near Tuscaloosa,
Ala. He put us in a room by
ourselves to sleep. After we had
got in bed, I £ays to^Billy: “I be-
lieve I smell applek.” “Ah, so
do I,” responded my fellow reb.
We got out of bed, and followed
our noses. The nose df a hungry
Confederate of those days was
pretty keen on a grub scent. Di-
rectly we located the apples under
the bed. . Well, we had a feasL
In order to safely coverjour retreat
and leave no sign, we ate peel-
ings, cores and all. We -put as
many in our haversacks a9 we
dared for fear of detection. As
we got ready to leave, we asked
our host, who had been very
courteous and kind what we owed
him for our lodging and meals.
“Not a cent, gentlemen, not a
cent; I never charge for the
entertainment of a Confederate
soldier. By the way, boys, I
have some nice eating apples:
won’t you take sopie along with
you!” We thanked him and
declined. To say that Billy and
.1 felt mean don’t describe it.
Had the old man ..“dropped
on us”?, i__
Prof. S. P. Langley, 'secretary
of the Smithsonian institution,'
the inventor of the aerdrome, who
was given $25,000 by the board
ordnance to experiment with his
flying machine for war purposes,
made his first test at Quantico,
Va. The machine^ soared aloft
to the height of 500 feet, but de-
scended after a horizontal flight
of 800 feet.
Old Documents.
b£U and Thomas Jefferson. Mr
Gt£into’ possession is by right of
his wife, who is a sister of A. M.
Stone,'and the grat&daingfcter
of Mrs. Julies Rogers, a very old’
lady .who came -here from Ten-
nessee some forty or fifty years
ago, apd lived in what is now
known as the Stone’s Chapel
neighborhood, where she died
some fifteen or twenty years
since. The documents were the
property of her husband, Judge
James Rogers, of McMinmille
Tenn., a lineal descendent of the
Van Dyke, to whom the papers
were originally issued.
The oldest document is a
commission of lieuenant of artil-
lery and engineers, issued to
Thomas J. Van Dyke, on Febru-
ary 22,1799, and is signed by
Geo. Washington, president^ and
countersigned by J ames McHenry,
secretary of war. The commis-
sion is on heavy parchment, and
the writing is only partially faded.
The signature of Washington is
very distinct. The next doc-
uments in age is a commis-
sion issu^ April 21, 1802, to
Thomas J. Vaji Dyke, as a Sur-
geon’s Mate in the United States
Army, audit is signed by Thomas
Jefferson, president, and by W.
Dearborn secretary of war. It is
on parchment similar to the first
commission. The signature of
Jefferson is not as distinct as the
signature of Gen. Washington.
Mr. Gaines also has several
letters, written, to James Rogers,
the oldest bearing date in I8i7,
while others are dated eight or
ten years later. There are no
envelopes on the letters but they
were sealed by a wafer.
Rev. A. M. Stone, Sr.,who was
the son-in-law of Mrs. Rogers,
was the father of A. M. Stone
and Mrs. Gaines, both of Bag-
well. „ He.was also a minister of
the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church, and is said to have been
the founder of the church in
Clarksville.
Rev. W. M. Allen, oue of the
most widely known Cumberland
Presbyterian divines in Texas
died at his residence at Marshall
last week. The deceased w^s 8Q
years and 4 mentis of age, He
was a minister for 45 years and,
had been* married 54 years. A
wife and a large number of chil-
dren survi j him.
BENCH AND BAR.
AS IT WAS IN CLARKSVILLE BE-
FORE AND AFTER THE WAR.
The writer of this sketch, loca-
ted in Clarksville to practice law
in the month of August, 1858.
At that time the Clarksville bar
was constituted as follows: Har-
vey Dellahunty, J. A. N. Murray,
Simpson H. Morgan, B. H. Ep-
person, John C. Burks, John A.
Corley, John A. Bagby, John T.
Mosely, F. M. Sims, General
Gaines, N. T. Morris, Jas. M.
Cameron. John T. Mills, Amos
Morrill and Joseph Dickson had
been practicing law here imme-
diately preceding the date named
but had moved away. Mills went
to Paris, Morrill to Austin and
Dickson to McKinney. At a still
earlier date, Stockton P. Donley,
W. C. Young, Wm. Scurry and
others, whose names ate not now
recalled, practiced law here. All
of these men are dead.
Morgan was elected to the Con-
federate congress and died in Ar-
kansas on his way to Richmond,
in 1862. Murray died in Clarks-
ville in 1866. Dellahunty, moved
to Mount Pleasant and Epperson
moved to Jefferson. Both died
since the civil war. Burks was
killed at the battle of Mprfreaboro,
gallantly leading his regiment in
battle. Mosely moved to Jeffer-
son and died recently. Bagby,
Corley and F. M. Sims died in
Red River County after the war.
Morris went east of the Mississip-
pi river during t|te war, and is re-
ported to have joined a federal
band of guerillas, and was killed
at some unknown time and place.
He was known as “Web-Foot-Mor-
ris.” Mills moved fr.om Paris to
Marshal, and Morrill from Aus-
tin to Galveston, and both died
after the way. Dickson was kill-
ed at the battle of Shiloh. Cam-
eron moved to Little Rock and
died during the war. *
In 1859, 'Jas. H. .Clark, Wm.
E-Wooten 'and Geo. F. Conley
located* in Clarksville. Clark and
Wootten died here. Conley now
lives here.
A number of lawyers have come
and gone since 1866, among them:
R. R. Gaines, John O. Sims, John
J. Goodloe, Chas. S. Todd, S. A.
8ims, W. M. Campbell, W. J.
Sw^in, W. J. McDonald, M. S.
Swain, W. S. Mitchell, Fred Dud-
ley, G, A. Worley* N. C. Gould,
A. M. Taylor, C. A. Taylor, A.
L. Beaty, D. H. Taylor, Albert
Taylor, M. George, M. L. Ritter,
J. N. Garner jr., R. L. Daniels,
W. B. Wright, H. B. Wright
The present bar is constituted
as follows: Geo. F. Conley, Geo.
F. Burdett, S, W. Harmon, E S.
Chambers, H. H. Lenox, C. D.
Lenox, N. A. Shaw, W. W. Walk-
er, W. M. Johnson, W. S. Thom-
as, J. R. Kennedy, C- M. Chambers,
R. H. Wells, N. P. Doak, David
Watson, A. L. Robbins, J.D.Var-
nell, H. I. Jones, W. O. Diffie.
The following named parties
have license but are not now en-
gaged in the practice: D. W.
Cheatham, D. A. Chambers, E.
P. Rutherford, R. B. Epperson,
Douglas Reeves, and probably
others. ~ Chas. DeMorse and Li. C.
DeMorse both had license toj>rac-
tice but never practiced in this
county. The District Judges
since the date named (1858) were
as follows: W. S. Todd, B. W.
Gray, H. P. Mabry, C. T. Gar-
land, N. P. Banks, A. H. Latimer,
R. H. Taylor, John C. Easton,
J. Q. Chenowith, R. R. Gaines,
p. H. Scott, E. D. McClellan.
In all of the counties of Red
River, Bowie, Cass, Marion, Har-
rison, Smith, Dallas, Collin, Gray-
son, Fannin, Lamar, Hunt, Hop-
kins, Titus, Upshur and Wood,
James Turner of Marshall is the
only lawyer now in practice who
was so engaged in 1858, and he
has virtually retired, and Ben Es-
tes of Bowie, James Turner of
Harrison and N. W. Townes of
Lamar are the only lawyers now
living wjho were practicing in the
above counties at the date named.
Of this long list of professional
men it may be said some of them
were among the very ablest men,
some of them the most ignorant,
some of them among the very best
and some of them among the very
worst men in the state, Sc that
the legal profession like all other
aYocationain life ha* the good,
the bad and the indifferent.
Passing from the legal to the
medical profession there is not a
and Surreys
Yjs, or almost any otheir kind of a vehicle. You remember
«^the expression by the Irishman,— j
"When we are rich we ride In chaaee-
But when we ere poor, we walk, be Jaeee."
Now you don’t have to be rich to buy one of my elegant bug*
gies, phaetons or surreys of the celebrated J. B. McFarlin make, the
best in the United States, finished up like a piano. Come and let
me make you a price that will make your head swim. I am going
to quit this branch of the business, and want to get rid of my stock.
Come quick.
SEWING MACHINES.
I am overstocked with ’these goods, and
must sell them. I havq the White and the
Househo d, and can interest ti^e ladies. Will
sell for cash, on credit or installment plan. If
you want a machine, just come and see me, no
use of going further, I can sell you :f you want
one, sure. \
TJress Soota CAoWuwq.
Full line Clothing and Dress Goods.
Come in, examine and price.
Yours For Trade.
A.
N. D. Trilling.
M. MIESCH, Jr. -^8^
^Dealer
*4*
ADaXcYies, CVocVs, -
t * •
t DI AMONDS J
SvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvS
Keeps a fine line of Spectacles, which will be fitted by a coihpeten
Optician. Watch and Jewelry Repairing a specialty.
EAST SIDE OF SQUARE.
engaged in his profession in 1858,
except Dr. J. R. Lyons, who now
lives near Bagwell and has re-
tired from his profession. Drs.
Lane, Maitland, MintunU and
King came to Clarksville afircr
1858. Of ihese last named Lane
alone is living. Maitland died in
Little Rock during the war. Min-
turn died in Mexico and King in
South Carolina shortly after the
wat.
H. C. Hooks, A. P. Corley, J.
B. Donoho, Jim Clark and W. H.
are not very encouraging nor very
pleasant, but they are unfortu-
nately true, or substantially so,
and if any are reported dead
who in'fact are not dead, I pre-
sume he or she will correct the
error themselves, without calling
on me br the editor.
• M. L. Sims.
John H. Englis, former presi-
dent of the Wallabout bank of
Brooklyn, was stabbed in the neck
by Christoher Daly a beggar. The
wound is a severe one and is dan-
Dickson are the only men nowliv- gerously close to the juglar vein
ing in Clarksville who lived, here
is 1858. Slone of them are in active
business. Charles Dale, J. L Ja-
mison, John T. Montgomery, Sam
Moore, lived in Clarksville at that
date and are now living, Dale at
Eureka Springs, Jamison on his
farm near Clarksville, Montgom-
ery at Navasota, Sam Moore at
Dallasr
Mrs. John Dale, Mrs. Dick Or-
rill, Mrs; Belle Morrison, nee Gor-
don, Mrs. Ann Dickson, nee Dar-
nell, Mrs. Gertrude Grant, nee
Latimer, Mrs. Sue Sims, nee West,
and Miss Eliza Gordon are the on-
ly ladies now living in Clarksville
who lived here in 1858. Mrs. Sal-
>lie Dick nee McCulloch and Mrs.
Ann McCulloch nee Gordon, lived
on Brewster Prairie. Mrs. Mar-
tha Underwood, nee Bagby, now
lives in Honey Grove. The pres-
ent residence of Mrs. Sallie White
nee Gordon, is unknown. Mrs. Sal-
lie Cox nee Dale, now lives on
Shawnee Prairie.
The old county jail now occu-
pied as a residence, and the Stan-
dard office, now occupied for the
Juatioo court of this precinct are
the only business housesm Clarks-
ville that were here in 1858.
Daly had benn to Englis’ house
to ask for alms and was dissatis-
fied with the food given him. He
laid in wait and abused Englis
for this ending by stabbing
him. The wounded man is 64
years old. Daly was arrested.
“I am thoroughly of the opin-
ion that unless state legislation
throttles and stamps out these
monstrous evils the very basic
principles upon which our* gov-
ernment is founded will be shaken
and destroyed,” says the attorney
general of Arkansas. If there is
any things we do not want shaken
they are our “basic principles.”
They are the corn and fodder of
our political, existence.—Dallas
News. ___
The wife ot the late land com-
missioner, George W. Finger, has
accepted a clerkship in the land
office. The place was tendered
her by the newly appointed com-
missioner, Chas. H. Rogan. It
was a handsome act on his part.
A special to the Constitution
from Rockmart, Ga., says: Mrs.
James Wood of Eson Hill district
sent a ball into a negro’s brain
. shortly after midnight last night,
Town it all up: There is not cscaping the clutches of a negro
a lawyer, doctor, minister, teach- assaiiant, who was seeking to
er, merchant, mechanic, (except, enter her bedroom.
H C Hooks) hotel keeper, saloon ] Wood is the wife of a
w •• barber, w blacksmith now prominent planter, who is away
physician defw living in Clarksville living who lived here in 1858. j |-rora home quite o*ftcn. He has
or in Red River county who was The above mortuary statistics his wife to use a pistol.
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Rutherford, E. P. The Clarksville News. (Clarksville, Tex.), Vol. 1, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 1, 1899, newspaper, June 1, 1899; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth850910/m1/1/: accessed May 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Red River County Public Library.