The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-02-21
A TEXAS ROMANCE.

A few years ago there lived IN the west
ern part of MatagoFda county a dark eyed
spr1ghtly young woman named Collins.
She was bright of mind and pretty to
look upon She went to Colorado to visit
some friends, and there met q hustl1ng
young newspaper man. The newspaper
man fell in love with the pretty Texas
girl, but before his cOurtship had pro-
gressed very far Miss Collins returned to
Texas. The young newspaper man meant
TO have that girl for his wife, no matter
how far he had to travel, so he left Colo
RADIO and followed her to Texas.
In those days the county seat of Mata-
gorda was at the town of Matagorda, in
the southern part of the county. There
was no railroad then and there is no rail
road now in the county. Matagorda was
the only town Of any consequence in the
county. Once it was the metropolis of
Texas, the wealth and fashion of the state
robbed it of its laurels. New cities had
grown along the coast and in the interior
and little was left for Matagorda but the
memories of the past
1t was necessary for Miss Collins when
she wished to do any shopping or when
she accompanied one of her relatives to the
county seat, to drive to the Colorado river
and there embark in a small boat and be
rowed down the river to the once great
town. It was a long, tedious trip. The
return journey was even more trying, for
then the boatmen had to scull against the
current of the big stream. The people
who lived in the distant parts of the coun-
ty had long been muttering about the in
convenience of having the county seat in
such an out of the way place. 1t wouldn't
signify, they said, if Matagorda was bus
Ting and attractive, but it was moribund.
The great schools that had been there had
closed their doors The big empOriums
were moved away, and nothing remained
but the courthouse to attract the outside
public But although they muttered and
grum bled they could make no suggestion
for relief. No town of any consequence
offered better site.
The young newspaper man who loved
the bright eyed Texas girl lost no oppor-
tunity to press his suit. 1t was but nat
ural that he should hear of the burning
injustice of having the county seat way
down in Matagorda town. One day when
the newspaper man was counting the pref
ty Texas girl she abruptly said:
why dom you move the county seat?'
whats that?'' he exclaimed in aston
ishment.
IT say why don't you move the county
seat away from that pesky old town of
Matagordas' the girl repeated.
Miss Collins" replied the newspaper
writer laughingly, "a man will move
heaven and earth for the woman he loves
just tell me where you wish that county
seat moved to.
"Move it anywhere you wish-out OF
the prairie or any place-so persons can
get to it without spending a lifetime in
journeying to and from it, Z" was her an
swer.
"And if I move the county seat will
your
Eyes, will, " was the reply.
The young man was of buoyant DISPOSE
ton, and, stimulated with the promise of
reward, he set to work. In the north he
had known another hustling, bustling
young man named Magin. To Magill he
explained the project. Magiu knew a man
with enterprise and money. These three
men determined to build city. On the
bald prairie between the Caney and the
Colorado rivers they chose a site. It was
near the geographical center of the county.
From Mensing Bros. of Galveston they
purchased 800 acres Of the land they want
ed. From a stookman named Moore they
got another 500 acres. They paid sc an
acre for the Mensing land and 81 an acre
for the Moore tract. They could have
bought $40 acres from Moore for 81 per
acre, but a creek marked the boundary be-
tween the Moore and Mensing strips, and
they wanted this creek for drainage pur-
poses. They had the town site staked out,
and they designated which should be bust
property. While the surveyors we're at
work laying out the town and while there
was little to mark the site of the proposed
city but the stakes in the ground they can
vassed the county from end to end on the
proposition to move the county seat 20 the
town that was to be out there on the
prairie.
They were strangers in the country, and
their scheme was we'll known, but they
cared nothing for that. The proposed town
was christened Bay City, and the young
newspaper man started a paper, which he
called the Bay City Breeze. An election
was approaching, and they made the ques-
ton of moving the county seat the issue of
the campaign. The young man wrote
punqent paragraphs on the great question;
his friends and ieutenants traversed the
county to stir up the voters and point out
all the advantages of moving the county
seat to Bay City. There was a hot time
in old Matagorda in that campaign. Moth
ing so stirring had been seen in political
way since the war. When the votes were
counted, it was found that Bay City had
triumphed by handsome majority. Much
bad blood was shown over the result, and
for a time there were fears that there
would be trouble over the election. But
that was three years ago.
was in Bay City few days since 10
is more like a small Kansas town than
6OuEn 4e1aS county seat mere IS nb6le
evidence now of the Fancor of that queer
election. Matagorda town mOurns, but
that is all. Bay City is stirred by new
excitement A railroad, the first to enter
the county, is building in that direction.
The route is almost direct from Galveston
to Bay City. The residents expect great
things to happen when the railroad comes.
Now they are almost cut off from the rest
of the world, the nearest railroad station
beiDc nearly 80 miles aEaV.
The man who moved the county seat
lives in the handsomest house in Bay City.
He is still the editor of The Breeze. He
is the big man of the town The pretty
black eyed Texas girl is no longer Miss
Collins. Now she is the wife of the man