The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1874-06-20
LAS.

Colonel j. NJ. Morphis, mentioned II
the HERALD of Sunday last:
No city In Texas or the south ha
grown 50 fast In the last year as Dallas
which Is beautifully situated on thc'Irin
ity river, Mt the junction of the TeXa
Pacific railroad with the Houston an,
Texas Central.
This city was settled In 1872, ly Col
onel John Nicely Bryan, and nauic'
in honor of Commodore Dallas of Ia,
United States navy, while the county
was named after George NJ. Dallas,
In 1916 the legislature made IL tho
temporary county site, and in 1900 II
became permanently so by the vote oi
the people.
In 1916 when the writer passed round
it, there were but about thirty or forty
Inhabitants, but in n few years after
wards, when it became the permanent
county site, many houses and much
Improvement were added to IL.
In 1860, all the business portion OF
the city was burned, and the war COM
ing on after, there was n stand still,
while the fierce and bloody strife be-
tween Americans called many of its
citizens to the tented field and the SOL
diers grave.
Not until 1868 and 1869 did Dallas
again commence to improve, but in
July, 1872, the Houston and Texas
Central reached it, followed in August,
1873, by the Texas Pacific, and then
came the era of improvement and
progress.
Many large, fine brick stores and
residences have sprung up like magic,
while second bridge, for the Texas
and Pacific railroad, will soon span the
river. A court house has been built of
stone at cost of about one hundred
thousand dollars, and the population
to-day, seems to be not less than ten
thousand souls, and is rapidly increas-
ing, while Dallas county, with its
springs of pure, clear water, rich and
productive lands, is gaining population
and wealth daily.
AS the city of Dallas is about the
center of one of the finest wheat, cot
ton and corn growing counties of Tex
as, of which about one-third is timber
and two-thirds prairie land, capable of
producing bale of cotton or from
twenty-five to thirty bushels of wheat,
or from thirty-five to fifty bushels of
corn, OF from forty to sixty bushels of
oats to the acre; as it is soon to have
two more railroads, one to intersect
the Great Northern at Palestine, and
the other the Trans-continental in Tar
raEt county, and the Denver city rail-
road in Clay county, it bids fair to be
one of the largest inland cities in the
state of Texas.
The old streets of Dallas are broad
and at right angles; their names, such
as I.atimer, Burford, Record, Cochran,
Ochiltree, Bryan, Mccoy, ETC., call up
in the minds of old Texans many pleas
ing "reminiscences of past and by-gone
days.
Latimer street was named in honor
of the late J. w. Latimer, who, in 1919,
THE DALLAS HERALD, and
edited it with distinguished ability,
until the day of his death in 1859. Mr..
was a fine writer, and through
the columns of THE HERALD, like
vigilant sentinel, from the watchtower
of liberty, sounded the alarm at the
approach Of the enemies of
freedom and progress. In the prime of
his life and u. efulness, at the early age
of about thirty-three, regretted by all
who knew him, he passed away, leav-
ing to his partner, Mr.. ]. w. Swim
dells, the control of THE HERALD, un-
der whose management it has from q
weekly become one of the leading and
most useful daily journals in the state.
Record street was named after the
late J. X. P. Record, and Burtord
street after the Hon, Nat. NJ, Burfard.
who still deties the destroying effects
OF time, and makes glad the hearts of
his friends by his genial smile and
great magnanimity.
Judge Burford has heon called "Mag-
unanimous Nat" from the following
incident:
Several years ago Mr.. George Lava.
himself and Jim Record las the late
Senator J. K. p. Record was Familiarity
called by his ffiends) went fishing,
carrying with them n few bottles
to enliven their days sport
and rs al antidote for snake bites.
Now it so happened from rise in
the river, not catching any fish, drink
ing too much whiskey, or some other
cause, that these gentlemen found
themselves in their fiathoat Wlthont
poles or oars, gliding down the turbid
waters of the Utility river, when
Record appealed to his friend, and
said;
"Cireat God, Nat, what will. become
of us? We will be carried away, and
lost in the gulf of Mexicow
Whereupon magpanimOus Nat arose,
and assuring his friends of his ability
to save them, took up the log chain at
tached to the end of the flatbOat, and
putting it around his neck, fastened
the hook into one Of the links Of the
heavy chain, aud plunging into the
swollen stream essayed to swim ashore
and carry the boat and his friends to
safety.
After one lusty stroke as a swimmer
he went under, when Record and Laws
seized the chain, and pulling him up
from un der the water thus saved his
life, and soon after, by catching the
limbs of overhanging trees, got the
boat to bank, and returned to Dallas,
wetter and more fatigued, ii not as
sober as when they sailed forth in the
morning ON their famous excursion.
Another true story of Judge Burford
is as follows,
One night, at Lancaster, George
town or some other place, i'm conse-
uuenoe of the crowded condition of the
hotel where he had stopped, he was
placed in the same bed with an Irish
man, whereupon he pleasantly re-
marked:
"Well, Pat, / reckon you'd have
lived a long time in old Ireland before
you'd have slept with a Judge"
"Yis, yer honor" rejoined Pat, "but
the likes of We might have lived longer
in ould Ireland before yes become a
Nightoaps followed this rejoinder,
and Judge Burford tucked the drapery
of his couch on one side of him, and
with Pat Maloney on the other, laid
down to pleasant dreams, which the
great, wise and most merciful God al,
ways sends to the pure hearted and
maguanimous.
In Dallas I heard the following