Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1896-04-16
A TEXAS LAND QUEEN.
Mrs. Richard King Owns Two
Thousand Square Miles.
She VIII Have Representative In the
Next Congress and Controls the Poll
tics of an Entire County In
Southern Texas.

Next Congress and Controls the Poll
tics of Entire County in
Southern Texas.
One representative in the next con-
gress will be nominated and elected
by woman. She is the widow of
Capt Richard King, and she owns
a principality in southern Texas.
Her landed estate consists of about
1850, 900 acres-that is to say, near
ly 1000 square miles For taking
care of this vast domain a small
army of men is required. Their
votes are controlled by the mistress,
who is to all intents aud 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 a 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 a
generous and liberal-minded woman,
about sixty years of age. She does
much good and takes care of her
people. To each laborer on her
estate she gives COW. Her ranch
of Santa Gertrudis is the largest in
the world 1t 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 IS miles in
q straight line without going off her
own premises. Her house looks like
castle on the Rhine-a typical
baronial mansion. It Is situated on
slight eminencez>Surrounded by
the modest dwelling 1ier deps
ents and by fields of~saving 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 necessarles
to the ranch. Mrs. King lives for
several months of each year in a
palace at Corpus Christi. Her SON.
in-law, Robert ]. Kleberg, is gener-
al manager of the ranch, on which
are 100000 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
500, 900 year. For every 20 miles
of barbed wire fence there is man
to make repairs and see that nc
break occurs. In the old days to
, cut fence was an offense likely te
result in the death of the perpetra
tors Of the act. Three hundred COW
boys are regularly employed, 1,20(
ponies being set aside for their use
! Every spring all the calves are
/ rounded up for branding. They art
driven into pen through wooder
! chute, and, as they leave the chute
i each one is caught by the leg anG
. thrown upon its side.
Then one of dozen irons that ar,
i kept red-hot in an open fire i:
! pressed upon the animals nose. Al
! brands are registered, and some
5 times each member of the family ha
9 one. Mr.. Davis speaks of CIR
Q who came out in society thre'
0 winters ago, and who is known il
. . Texas only as ''the owner of tn,
= triangle brand" Nobody can ge
o water in that country save by goot
g will of the owners of the grea
Q estates, and no one can travel with
Q out their permission, inasmuch a
9 there are no public roads. Thus i
comes about that the region is en-
4 tirely shut up and unused to any ex
= tent for agriculture, though it is ex
:. traordinarily fertile. = Washington
Star.