The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-08-10
HOUSTON IN ITS EARLY DAYS
MIR. A. J. BURKE, AN OLD RESIDENT,
GIVES SOME "REMINISCENCES.
People Had sturdy Virtues. worked
Hard, Enjoyed Life with Their
Friends and We're Happy.

Life in Houston was much simpler
when came here in 1888 than it is today"
observed Mr.. A. j. Burke, to reporter
Tor The Posi-. In the spring Of that year
my wife and | came by horseback from our
former home in North Texas, and set
tea here The trip took ten days,
thousf now the whole distance can be
covered by rail in less than one
Everybody was eager TO make money.
out only by honorable means. There were
four wholesale houses here then. all
oolng good business in general mer-
cnandise. Mine was one OF them. The
memDeis OF all these houses were tenn
perate and hard workers We began at
seven or eight O'Clock in the morning
ald were hard at II until ten or eleven at
hignt' But We were young and igor
Gus, and the work didn't hurt us. We did
considerable wholesale trade with the
other important towns of the State-San
Antonio, Austin, Dallas and Sherman.
AS that was before we had "ailro1ls, all
the freight had TO go by OK wagons. Al
result there were SO many OK wagons
coming and going from HpISton that l
have often seen the street so crowded
with them that for blocks a. time 1t was
impossible to cross over.
! mere WAS one very relndrKaOle LnlHS
about the carrying trade, which illus
trates how great business honesty was.
! Whenever any OF the different commercial
houses wanted to send goods to other
towns, they would employ any teamste
whom they happened 10 And. Often taey
knew nothing of the character OF the
man who undertook to carry their goods.
Sometimes he would be an utter stranger.
, \ ct SO honest was everyone n those days
tnat never lost anything that was 50
sent; aud ! never heard of any one else
who lost anything by such an arrange
ment, That speaks well for the integrity
OF the people in those early times. But
! | am afraid II we employed teamsters
these days, to carry light such dis
lance without knowing something about
them that we would not always come out
| so we'll,
People were honest, but they were
also rather rough and ready in the set
Element OF disputes. Shortly after ]
settled here, two men We're legally hanged
y and | attended the execution. / never
wanted to see another. One of the con
! demned men made speech on the scat
fold in which he said that he had been
induced to enter a gambling hell and
there got into row with another
player. AS he had always heard thai
the man who shot first usually came out
on top. he had shot tirst.
Indeed, murders were of very fire.
quent occurrence at that time on the
streets. even in broad daylight. And
there were continued quarrels | never
had trouble with anyone except once. and
then l bluffed the fellow. ] had beer
having carpenter at work on a house
and he was dilly-dallylng so that I dis
charged him. and gave the job TO an1thel
man. Shortly afterwards one OF my friends
came and told me that the fellow | hat
was hot h. ~
time he saw me he meant to give mt
a beating with a big stick. which he al
ways carried And sure enough a few
days later, when / was walking dowI
the street business part OF town, he
came at me with his stick. | was un-
armed but In those days it was quite
common for man to carry bowie knife
under his coat, or his left breast. s.
! simply thrust my hand inside nv Goa
as ii to draw 4 knife, ard told him I
keep off. He kept of. That was tn,
nearest approach to trouble that l eyel
. had,
mo we didn't have many amuse
ments. We stayed in Houston the year
round and worked. But it was quite
comfortable he-e, for there were no
buildings enough TO shut off the breeze
Our greatest social pleasure was takinJ
the family and spending the day a the
home of one of our friends, or else enter
tanning them at our own house. There
were not many ways of spending money
although l have noticed there is no spe
clal need Of having them In case a maj
wants to get rid of what he makes.
remember taking my wife onee TO tht
r theater to see a comic play called Pr
zarro. But my wife, who was stric
churchwoman, was disguised; declared II
was all foolishness and would never g
again,
There was a good deal of real reli
gious life In the community; men car
= ried it into their business 90 an unus
ual extent. My denomination had 6
church house for considerable tim,
= before we had pestor. We used TO NEE
for prayer meetings at one and another
, housoT, Nearly everyone went, and yo
know the prayer meeting is good rougl
measure OF the activity of religion in an!
p church.
1T was a very simple life We live,
} in those DAYS sir, but we worked haze
and were temperate-those OF us who
succeeded in the Wholesale business. W.
o enjoyed life with our friends and wer
= happy"