Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-11-27
A TEXAS SHERIFF.

Castalia is a small town, or rather q vi
lage, in southwestern Texas, of some 400 o.
500 inhabitants. 1t is the county seat Of on
Of the border counties, and probably derives
its name from some fine mineral springs II
the vicinity. The country around it is ex
clusively q grazing country, all the land be
ing taken up in large ranches. The popula
ton is sparse and is now q peaceable an6
~law-abiding people, but at the time of which
I write q very lawless element prevailed
Cattle thieves and horse thieves abounded
and desperadoes were not scarce. The close
proximity Of the Mexican line offered ar
irresistible temptation to the light fingered
gentry, and q superabundance of cheaI
whisky to the wild young bloods of the com
munity. It was no uncommon thing to see g
party of these racing their horses through
the streets, shooting off pistols and yelling
"Close up, close up, " while the terrified inhab
itants ran to do their bidding. Conspicuous
among these were the Burleson boys. Theil
father was the wealthiest stockman in the
county, and they could have had every ad
vantage of education and society had they
so chosen, but they preferred the wild, free
life of the ranch and the prairie, and grew
up neither better or worse than other cow
boys; crack shots, desperate riders and by
no means as temperate as Father Matthew.
Such was the state of things in Castalla
when Joe Thomas was elected sheriff of the
county. A small, spare man, taciturn, and
quiet to a fault, with pale gray eyes that
rarely looked you square in the face, but
modestly sought the ground whenever their
owner was interviewed, either by strangers
or friends Yet small and quiet as he was,
and though he looked as meek as Moses,
many were the tales of desperate daring cur
rent about him, and numerous the des-
peradoes who received their quietus from
his unerring eye and hand. A notable con-
trast he was to his wife, a tall, big boned
virago, who, if she had been put in brooches,
would have looked twice the man her hus-
band did. But though celebrated through
the village for her tongue Inc temper, when
ever Joe looked at her in his placid way, or
spoke in his languid monotone, she weak
ened Immediately. She was asked once how
many men her husband had killed, and her
answer was: "Thar's six yonder in the bury
ing ground, an Lord only knows how many
in the brush" In truth, the life of a Texas
sheriff in that particular locality and at
that particular time, vas far from being a
bed Of roses, as the following incidents will
show:
At one time Joe had made large collec-
lions, and while waiting an opportunity to
transmit the amount to the state treasury
was forced to keep it in bis house. Castalia
not being blessed with a bank nor even an
iron safe, he tried to keep the money secret
even from the wife of his bosom, but having
no safer place to deposit it than under the
head of the bed, and Mrs. Thomas being q
notable housewife, especially addicted to
turning up and beating mattresses, of course
it was soon discovered. And equally, of
course, she blabbed it in a full c~onclave of all
the old women in the village. Needless to
say it spread like wildfire, and a night Or two
afterward Joe reaped the consequences.
The sheriff's mansion was of the usual style
Of architecture in that country, i. e., a Next
can hacal, built of upright sticks, chinked
between with mud, and with a blanket for a
door shutter. You see a thief would not find
much difficulty in effecting an entrance; but,
in the case of a man like Joe Thomas, his diff
f1culties would he apt to begin as soon as he
had entered.
It was the dead Of night, and Joe and his
family were sleeping the sleep of the just,
when the blanket was raised and three Mexi-
ans softly glided in, intent on appropriate
ing to their own use the funds destined for
the state and county treasury. Luckily FOR
Joe, he slept like a cat, and however stealth
lily the midnight m%arauders moved, he
heard, or fancied he heard, a sound that
reused him.. Broad wake On tho instant,
he reached up his hand and noiselessly took
down a revolver, that hung, ready loaded,
over his head. Casting his keen eyes round
the room, he noticed one spot where the
general darkness seemed intensified into q
blacker shadow-a shadow that seemed
creeping very slowly toward his bed. Crack!
went the unerring pistol, and with a fierce
yell one Of the Mexicans sprang into the air,
and fell prone On the dirt floor with a
bullet through his brain. Both the others
rushed forward, but Joe had sprung out at
the foot of the bed before they reached and
stabbed with their long knives the place
where he lay but an instant before.
Then commenced q hand-to-hand struggle,
all the more terrible that it was carried on in
the dark. BY the time Mrs. Thomas. who,
bold woman as she was, was shaking from
head to foot in the sudden terror of this
night attack, had kindled a light, the three
Mexicans were stretched dead upon the floor,
while Joe had escaped with a knife thrust
through his arm and a deep cash in his right
hand. Next day three new graves were
added to the six already mentioned, and the
fame Of Joe Thomas, the fighting sheriff of
- county, spread far and wide.
He had held the Office for several years.
having been twice reelected, and had made
q notable change in the moral status of the
community. Horse thieves and cattle thieves
were rapidly thinned out, and des~peradoes
no longer painted the town red at their own
sweet will.
It was the fifth year of Sheriff Thomas
incumbency that an affair occurred long re-
membered in the county. There were manv
Mcxicans scattered about among the differ
ent ranches, and among them was one Man.
uel Garcia, who was well liked by los gringos
as q polite, quiet fellow, more industrious
and reliable than his c%ountrymen generally.
temperate in his habits, and never in a fuss.
One night, carly in the spring of 1870, this
harmless creature, who was not supposed to
have an enemy in the world, was shot down
by some unknown assassin as be was return
ing home from a dance. At first suspicion
pointed to his countrymen as the murderers.
1t soon leaked out that there was a wo-
man in the case, and the evidence seemed to
point in another direction entirely. But
whoever the guilty party might be it was
that Joe Thomas had sworn to bring
him to justice. and none doubted that he
would, sooner or later, keep his word.
1t was Christmas eve, and. as usual at that
season, there was plenty of liquor going.
The sheriff was absent on some county bust
ness and the Burleson boys and others of
that ilk had taken advantage of the fact to
make things lively in the little town. More |
Or less disturbance had been carried on all |
day, pistol shooting, yelling end quarreling, |
but nobody hurt" as yet. In the afternoon
all the boys collected round a store on the