El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-09-26

There is much unwritten history
treasured In the memories OF the old
Texans who have survived the good
and the bad, since the early days OF
Texas, and one OF these old Texans
lives In Ell Paso.
The character In question is Mrs.
w. w. Briogers, mother o. represen-
tasive W. w. Bridgers Of this county
She is ore OF the Oldest native Texans
living ss we'll as one Of the few surviv-
ing children OF g. Revolutionary SOL
der.
Mrs. Bridger was the daughter Of
James Tinsley, one of the most dar-
ing and successful officers OF the
Revolutionary war. This seems IT,
credible when we think that the wo-
man bearing this proud distinction was
born in Texas in 1893 and that the
Revolutionary war closed In l1S3.
However It is fact and is explained
in the following:
Her father, James Tinsley, was born
In Virginia in 1857. Soon siterwsrd
his father moved to North Carolina
where James enlisted in the army
with his brother Golding, in lIt5. A
magazine, published In 1854. the title
pages of which have been destroyed,
states that he was iu the surrender of
G rnwallis. in the battle OF Sicne
Mountain In June 1873, in the fatal
seige of Savannah, and barely escaped
the calsmitous surrender OF Charleston
In Nay 17S0. He was the probably
promoted TO the rank OF captain and
followed Colonel James Williams until
the end of the war.
After the close OF the war he
returned to North Carolina and resum-
ed his former occupation, filling the
soil. In 1923, in his sixty-sixth year,
he married a young woman only
,ixteen years of age, and started on the
onR journey to Texas. he reached
,hs state in 1888 and settled three
niles from the village Of Huntsville, |
q Waller county, now the site OF the |
tate penitentiary. Thirteen children |
we're born to him aud his young vile, |
II whom only one is now living, Mrs. |
W. W. Bridgers, OF this city. At the
lime of Mrs. Bridgers' birth Captain |
rinsley WAS 76 years old and died |
While she was yet small child.
After the death of Captain T!nsley |
lis widow moved to Washington, on |
river. She and all her |
,hildren cave one died in Washiugto ton
The sole survivor was married TO w. w. |
3ridgers and moved west with the tide |
II immigration and reached Ell Paso in |
1884. Three children were born TO her |
md are now living in this section. w. !
w. Bridgers, now representing THE |
,ounty in the state Legislature, and |
Sam Bridgers, county jailor, live in
FL Paso and Lee Bridgers is Pullman
conductor on the Sonora railroad out
,f Gusymas, Mexico.
Mrs. Bridgers remembers well when
The fret jail, which wac afterwards
converted into a state penitent iary, was
but 1t in Huntsville, and saw the fret
state convict put in prison there. This
Was in 1s45. The unfortunate first Of
many thousand convicts to dwell in the
amp wallis of that miserable bastile
was q man named Davis.
The circumstances connected with
the Davis case and the sensational
muir der in which he was one of the
prin cipals, makes a splendid story and
Mrs. BridGers tells 1t as though 1t \ sp-
pened but yesterday.
In the early days society was very
different from what 1t Is in this fast
age, but human nature has been the
same since the beginning OF time.
Every settlement has always had its
"rsiRning bellies" and Its Ward Nc