Two Fer

[Craig Tx]

From the Texas State Historical Association

Texans oust Mexicans in battle of Nacogdoches

On this day in 1832, Texas settlers refused an order to surrender their arms to José de las Piedras, commander of the Mexican battalion at Nacogdoches.

The ensuing battle of Nacogdoches is sometimes called the opening gun of the Texas Revolution. Piedras had issued his inflammatory order in the wake of the Anahuac Disturbances. The ayuntamiento of Nacogdoches resisted the order, organized a "National Militia," and sent messengers to outlying settlements requesting military aid.

Those who responded elected James W. Bullock their commander. On the morning of August 2 Bullock demanded that Piedras rescind his order and declare for Antonio López de Santa Anna and against the Centralist Mexican government, but Piedras refused. Bullock's men entered the town that afternoon and eventually captured the Old Stone Fort and other key locations.

That night Piedras evacuated his soldiers and headed for San Antonio. A detachment of mounted Texans, including James Bowie, caught them the next day; after a running fight along the Angelina River, Piedras's men turned against him and surrendered him to the Texans. In the battle of Nacogdoches, Piedras lost forty-seven men killed and forty or more wounded. Three Texans were killed (a fourth died later) and four were wounded.


Law arrives west of the Pecos

On this day in 1882, the commissioners of Pecos County officially appointed Roy Bean justice of the peace. He retained the post, with short interruptions, until he retired voluntarily in 1902. As he gained fame for being an eccentric and original interpreter of the law, the Kentucky native became known as the "Law West of the Pecos."

For example, when a man carrying forty dollars and a pistol fell off a bridge, Bean fined the corpse forty dollars for carrying a concealed weapon. The forty dollars covered the man's funeral expenses.

Bean died in his saloon on March 16, 1903, of lung and heart ailments and was buried in the Del Rio cemetery. His shrewdness, audacity, unscrupulousness, and humor, aided by his knack for self-dramatization, made him an enduring part of American folklore.


Craig

[Ironwood]

Craig, I always enjoy your articles on Texas.  Especially the ones about East Texas.  Nacogdoches is not far from me.  Just a little ways north of the Angelina river from Lufkin.

 There are still a few folks with the Bullock name here in Lufkin and Nacogdoches.

[Uncle Russ]

Same here, Craig
In fact, I have enjoyed this little "historical moments" section of yours since you've been posting, actually for several years now....you deserve a great big "Atta-Boy" for your diligence!
Quite often I just read and go on by, but every now and then you have some really interesting "stuff".

As a side note and certainly not related....other than possibly the "folklore" part of Judge Roy Bean, but I have noticed over the years that the name Judge Roy Bean has been a favorite name for Saloons and Taverns across the entire country, as well as in Texas.

I remember, quite well, the closing of the Judge Roy Bean Saloon in El Paso...furniture from that Saloon sold for absolutely ridiculous prices, as did the 120' Bar....yep, 120 foot long Bar and Brass Railings, much of which still resides in the Holiday Inn of El Paso, and the VFW on Hondo Pass.
Also, here in Washington in the little town of Roy, not far from the back gate of Ft. Lewis, was another Tavern named Judge Roy Bean...back in the late 1960's early 1970's that little watering hole was quite possibly the wildest place in all of Washington state for returning Vietnam Vets.
I also know of a Judge Roy Bean Tavern just outside Missoula Montana that mostly comes to life during the hunting season, but it is also a truly "wild & woolly" place...something about that name still seems to bring out the best, or maybe the worst, in people... all depending on how you look at it.  

Uncle Russ...

[Craig Tx]

I don't think there's a town in Texas that hasn't had somthing, at one time or another named after Hizzhonor.

Thanks ya'll!  I just peruse what the TSHA sends me everyday, and pass on the interestin' tidbits that fit the forum.

There's scads more that falls too late for the forum.

Craig