|
DeWitt County
Courthouse
TE Photo, 2008 |
The courtroom
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, November, 2007 |
The courtroom
Photo courtesy Terry Jeanson, November, 2007 |
DeWitt County
Courthouse
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, November, 2007 |
Another view
of the courthouse
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, November, 2007 |
Photographer's
Note:
Even though the rededication ceremony was on October 27th (2007),
the building is far from done. The exterior is mostly finished and
the scaffolding is gone. The original slate roof, the doors and the
clock mechanism have been restored. The two story district courtroom
is mostly finished but the rest of the interior is pretty much a mess.
- Terry
Jeanson, November, 2007 |
How four faces
keep the same time
TE
photo, 2003 |
DeWitt County
and
DeWitt County Courthouse
by Lou
Ann Herda, Ed. D |
What
does a turkey drive, a thirty-year feud, a lady in a clock, and a
headless horseman have in common? The answer is DeWitt
County.
The present county of DeWitt, named for colonizer Green DeWitt, was
created from parts of Gonzales,
Victoria, and Goliad counties in 1846. Since that time, there have
been three courthouses in three different cities, including its present
county seat, Cuero.
Somebody or somebodies didn't care for the second courthouse because
on Sunday night, April 8, 1894, it was torched. The Hallettsville
Herald said it had been an eyesore to that beautiful city for
many years*.
The replacement building was definitely not an eyesore. But getting
there was a challenge.
Acclaimed Austin architect A.
O. Watson both designed and built the courthouse. He had quite
a time funding it, however. Finally in December 1896, the unpaid workers
walked away, leaving the courthouse without a roof. Citizens complained.
I guess it would be hard to hold court with rain beating down on your
heads.
Watson went broke on his "labor of love." Winter was looming, when
in steps Eugene Heiner,
who saw its completion. DeWitt
County got not one, but two Golden Age architects constructing
their courthouse. |
 |
The Courthouse
as it appeared in 1939
Photo courtesy TXDoT |
DeWitt County
Courthouse clock tower
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, November, 2007 |
The 1897 Courthouse
&
Lady in the Courthouse Clock
This 1897 Romanesque
revival style structure is built of brown sandstone and pink granite
quarried from near Marble
Falls. Initially, the tower and the corner roofs were topped with
fluted finials. Soon, at night on the lighted face of the clock on
the north appeared the shadow of a full-skirted woman moving back
and forth. No one knew who she was or why she was pacing. Some figured
she was the ghost of a lady who had died waiting for her boyfriend
to return. Her spirit then flew up to the courthouse clock. Maybe
that way her boyfriend could find her more easily. (More Texas
Ghosts)
Thirty years later, one of the four lower finials fell. Officials
feared someone might be killed if others fell, so all the ornaments
were removed. Legend has it that the lady in the clock had something
to do with it, for right after that, she was gone forever. One of
the original finials is kept in storage in the courthouse. I got a
look at it, and it's taller than three watermelons stacked up on top
of each other and fairly hefty. I wouldn't want that thing falling
on me either.
Another oddity is that one of the balusters on the second floor balcony
above the Gonzales Street entrance is upside down. The workers noticed
it, but they thought that no one else would. |
|
|
One
of the finials that was removed shortly before the Lady in the Courthouse
Clock disappeared.
Photo by Lou Ann Herda |
The
Sutton-Taylor Feud
El Muerto, the headless horseman
Now, the county has had its share of trouble makers.
The most infamous ones are those who were involved in the Sutton-Taylor
Feud. No one knows why this thirty-year fight started, but eventually
over one thousand people were involved, including gunslinger John
Wesley Hardin. Records of this court case are on display in the
foyer of the courthouse.
The patriarch of the Taylor clan, Creed Taylor, was a former Texas
Ranger, a Texas Revolution fighter, and cattleman. At one point, he
and his Texas Ranger friend, Bigfoot
Wallace, tracked down and killed a Mexican bandit who had been
stealing horses and cattle for many years, including Creed's horses.
Wallace
made an example of this bandit, resulting in El Muerto, the headless
horseman. Legend has it that this horseman, with its head dangling,
can still be seen riding across DeWitt
County during the darkest nights. You'll know when you see them
because lightning flashes from the ghostly wild mustang's hooves and
flames burst from the eyes of the severed head. Sounds like a wild
ride. |
Chisholm
Trail
The cattle industry was big in DeWitt
County from the late 1860's to the 1880's. Trail boss Thorton
Chisholm from Clinton helped blaze a trail that has gone down in cow
history as the Chisholm Trail. Before the end of the trail drives,
over 5,000,000 Texas cattle walked to the railroad in Missouri or
Kansas or to the ranges of Wyoming and Montana*. |
Cuero
Turkey Trot
Once the cattle drives stopped, people started driving something else.
As many as 20,000 turkeys have been driven down the streets of Cuero.
Since 1908, these gobblers, which could have been our national bird,
would trot from their roosts along main street down to the packing
house. People soon started flocking to see them. In 1912, the
first Cuero
Turkey Trot was held. |
Now, I'm not
prejudiced against any birds, but you won't see any eagles trotting
along together to their deaths.
© Lou
Ann Herda, Ed. D
July 2001
References:
*Hallettsville Herald, April 12, 1894, page unknown.
*The History of DeWitt County, Texas, 1991, p. 29. |
|
|
HOME
