Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1886-11-18
A TEXAS SHERIFF.


| village, In Southwestern Texas, OF
some 400 or 500 inhabitants. 1t is
the county-seat of one of the border
counties, and probably derives its
name from some fine mineral springs
in the vicinity. The country round
1t Is exclusively grazing country, all
the land being taken up in large
ranches. The population is sparse,
and Is now peaoeable and law abid-
ing people, but at the time of which I
write q very lawless element pre-
vailed. Cattle thieves and horse
thieves abounded, and desperadoes
were not scarce. The close proximity
OF the Mexican line offered an
irresistible temptation to the light
fingered gentry, and asuperabundance
OF cheap whisky to the wild young
bloods OF the community. 1t was no
uncommon thing to see party of
these racing their horses through the
streets, shooting off pistols and yell
ing. CLOSE up" while the terrified in
habitans ran to do their bidding. Con.
spicuous among these were the Bur
Lesson boys. Their father was the
wealthiest stockman in the county,
and they could have had every advan-
tage of education and society had
they so chosen, but they preferred the
wild, free life of the rancho and the
prairie, and grew up neither better
nor worse than other cowboys; crack
shots, desperate riders and by no
means as temperate as Father
Matthew.
Such was the state OF things in Gas.
ITALIA when Joe Thomas was elected
sheriff OF the county. A small, spare
man, taciturn and quiet to fault.
with pale gray eyes that rarely looked
you 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 des.
perate daring current about HIM, and
numerous the desperadoes who recelv-
ed their quietus fiom his unerring
eye and hand. A notable contrast he
was to his wife. a tall, big boned virago,
who, if she had been put IN breeches,
would have looked twice the man her
husband did. But, though celebrated
through the village for her tongue and
temper, when ever Joe looked at herin
his placid way, or spoke in hfs languid
monotone, she weakened immediate
ly. She was asked once how many
men her husband had killed, and her
answer was, "Thar's six yonder in the
burying-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, was far from beng a
bed of roses. as the following incidents
will show:
At one time Joe had made large col
leetions, and while waiting the oppor-
tunity to transmit the amount to the
state treasury was forced to keep it in
his house. Castalia not being blessed
with bank note 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 a notable house
wife, especially addicted to turning up
| and beating mattresses, of course it
was soon discovered. And equally, of
! course, she blabbed it in q full con-
clave of all the old women in the viii
lage. Needless to say it spread like
wild fire, and night or two afterward
Joe reaped the consequences.
The sheriff's mansion was ofthe usu-
| al style of architecture in that coun-
| try, j. e., Mexican hacal, built of up
right sticks, chinked between with
mud, and with blanket for door
shutter. You see thief would not
find much difficulty in effecting an en-
trance; but, in the case of a man like
Joe Thomas, his difficulties would be
! apt to begin as soon as he had enter
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 Mexicans softly Gid
ed in, intent on appropriating to their
own use the funds destined for the
state and county treasury. Luck
lily for Joe, he slept like a cat, and
however stealthily the midnight
marauders moved, he heard, OF
fancied he heard. a sound that
reused him. Broad awake on the in
slant, he reached up his hand and
noiselessly took down q 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
blacker shadow-a shadow that seem
ed creeping very slowly towards his
bed. Crack went the unerring pistol,
and with a fierce yell one of the Next
cans sprang into the air, and fell prone
on the dirt floor with bullet through
his brain. Both 6he others rushed
forward but Joe had sprung out at
the foot of the bed before they reach
ed and stabbed with their long knives
the place where he lay but an instant
before.
Then commenced 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 che was, was shaking from head to
foot in the sudden terror of this night
attack, had kindled light the three
Mexicans were stretched dead upon
/ the floor, while Joe had escaped
with knlfethrust through his arm
/ and deep cash in his right hand.
Next day threene graves were added
to the six already mentioned, and the
fame of Joe Thomas, the fighting sher-
i'll OF - county, spread far and wide.
/ He had held the Office for several
years, having been twice re elected,
and had made a notable change in
the moral status of the community.
Horse thieves and cattle thieves were
RAPIDLY thinned out. and desperadoes
no longer painted the town red at their
/ own sweet will.
1t was in the fifth year of Sheriff
/ Thomas lncumbency that an af-
fair occurred long remembered IN the
county. There were many Mexicans
scattered about among the different
ranches, and among them was one
| Manuel Garcia, who was well liked by
| los gringos as a polite. quiet fellow,
more Industrious and reliable than his
countrymen generally, temperate in
his habits, and never IN fuss. One
night, early in the spring OF 1870, this
harmless creature, who was not sup
posed to have an enemy in the world,
was shot down by some unknown as
sassin as he was returning home from
dance. At first suspicion pointed to
his countrymen as the murderers, but
it soon leaked out that there was a
woman in the case, and the evidence
now seemed to point in another direc-
ton entirely. But whoever the guilty
/ PARTY might be. it was known that