Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1895-11-14
A TEXAS LAND QUEEN.
Mrs. Richard King Owns Two
Thousand Square Miles
She WIN HzvS Representative in the
Next Congress and Controls the Poll
sIcs OF an Entire County In
Southern Texas.

One representative IN Inc next con-
gress will be nominated and elected
by a woman. She is the widow of
Capt. Richard King, and she owns
principality in southern Texas.
Her landed estate consists of about
l. 250, 600 acres-that is to say, near
ly 1000 square miles. For taking
care of this vast domain small
army of men is required. Their
votes are controlled by the mistress,
who is to all intents and purposes a
queen.
The records of the land Office at
Washington reveal some extraordi-
nary facts with relation to that part
of southern Texas which seems on
the map to intrude into Mexico,
terminating in point at the mouth
of the Rio Grande This region,
nearly as big as. New England, COM
prises four great counties and is
owned by four families-the Kings,
the Kennedys, the Collinses and the
Armstrong;.
The ancient road from San Antonio
to Brownsville had been closed by
Mrs Kings fences, and there are no
gates. There is no road law in that
country. The only way to get from
Brownsville to Alice is by stage
route of forty hours. The stage
carries mail for a large party of
Mexico. In the entire distance
there is not single settlement, be
cause the territory traversed be-
longs to Mrs. King. The region is
wholly wild, being used only for cat
tie grazing. Mrs. King is referred
to by Richard Harding Davis in one
of his articles, VINO remarks that it
is difficult to imagine a solitary
family occupying an area larger
than some of the eastern states-an
area that would in the east support
state capital, with governor and
legislature and numerous small
towns, with competing railway sys-
TENS and rival baseball mines.
The owner of this principality is
generous and liberal-minded woman,
about sixty years of age. She does
much good and takes care of her
-cople. To each laborer on her
cs .ate she gives COW. Her ranch
of Santa Gertrudis is the largest in
the world. It is bounded by Corpus
Christi bay for distance of 40 miles
and by barbed wire fences for 300
miles more. From her front door to
her front gate is 13 miles, and she
can drive in her carriage 65 miles in
a straight line without going off her
own premises. Her house looks like
castle on the Rhine-a typical
baronial mansion 1t is situated on
slight eminenca, surrounded by
the modest dwellings of her depend
ents and by fields of waving corn.
The chateau is as completely
furnished and as handsomely
equipped as any mansion on Fifth
avenue in New York. No luxury
that money can buy anywhere is
lacking to the widow, who, by the
way, is the daughter of the first
Presbyterian missionary to the Rio
Grande. Corpus Christi is the
terminus of a railway, and from that
point continuous stream of wagons
carry Ice and other necessar1es
to the ranch. Mrs. King lives for
several months of each year in q
palace at Corpus Christi. Her SON
in-law, Robert J. Kleberg, is gener-
al manager of the ranch, on which
are 200, 900 cattle of improved
breeds. Long trains of freight cars
are made up at Corpus Christi to
carry Mrs. Kings cattle to the east.
To run the vast estate costs about
800, 600 year. For every 20 miles
of barbed wire fence there is man
to make repairs and see that no
break occurs. In the old days to
cut fence was an offense likely to
result in the death of the perpetra-
tors of the act. Three hundred cow
boys are regularly employed, 1000
ponies being set aside for their use.
Every spring all the calves are
rounded up for branding. They are
driven into pen through a wooden
chute, and, as they leave the chute,
each one is caught by the leg aud
thrown upon its side
Then one of dozen irons that are
kept red-hot in an open fire is
pressed upon the animals nose. All
brands are registered, and some
times each member of the family has
one. Mr.. Davis speaks of girl
who came out in society three
winters ago, and who is known in
Texas only as 1.-The owner of the
triangle brand. Nobody can get
water in that couh try save by good
viii of the owners of the great
estates, and no one can travel with
out their permission, inasmuch as
there are no public roads. Thus it