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Vol 8, No 202

July 21, 1878

Sunday Evening

Sam Bass dies of Gunshot wounds in Round Rock

Born This Date
Notorious Outlaw, Sam Bass born in Indiana
MITCHELL IN   (1851)    On this date in 1851, Sam Bass was born in Mitchell, Indiana.   
Rancher Henrietta C King born in Missouri
BOONVILLE, MO  (1832)   On this date in 1832, Henrietta Maria Morse Chamberlain was born in Boonville, Missouri, the child of a Presbyterian minister. Her mother died when she was very young, and Henrietta soon learned to be self reliant.
   In 1849, she moved to Brownsville where her father soon established a Presbyterian mission. She briefly taught at a female institute in Brownsville when she met Richard King, a riverboater along the Rio Grande. King at the time was using his wealth to acquire land in the area. In 1854, the two were married, and within a few years had built one of the largest ranches in Texas.
   Following the death of Richard in 1885, Henrietta continued to manage the 500,000 acre range, eventually turning the operation over to her son-in-law, Robert J Kleberg. The ranch continued to grow, reacher a million acres by the time of her death in 1925.
   In addition to her ranching empire, Henrietta King was a philanthropist, donating large sums of moneys for the founding of churches and hospitals in the area. She was also involved in encouraging settlement in the area, establishing lumber, publishing, power, and ginning companies. The towns of Kingsville and Raymondville were build on land donated by Henrietta King.   

Sam Bass dies
ROUND ROCK (1878)   On this date in 1878, notorious bank robber Sam Bass died of injuries received two days ago in a gunfight with Texas Rangers in Round Rock. This was to have been Bass's twenty-seventh birthday.
   Bass was orphaned at 13, worked for a time in Mississippi, and later in Denton where he took up horse racing. When that played out, he and a partner drove cattle from San Antonio north, but instead of returning the $8,000 to the owners in Texas, they took off, gambling and squandering the money. By 1878 he was robbing stage coaches and trains, which resulted in a pursuit by citizens and eventually the Texas Rangers, who caught up to him in Round Rock, fatally wounding him. He is buried in the cemetary just west of downtown Round Rock.

Capitol Desk
Spanish Rule Ends - Mexico Free!
SAN ANTONIO   (1821)    After three centuries of Spanish rule, the flag of Castile and León was lowered in San Antonio as Spanish rule over Mexico came to an end on this date in 1821.
   The impact of Spain in Texas continues today, in the names of towns and waterways. It was the Spanish that introduction European livestock and crops, civil and domestic law, land ownership, and early roads. The many missions scattered around Texas are all a result of Spanish rule and the first European language spoken in Texas was Spanish.
   From 1821, Mexico would govern Texas as a combined state with Coahuila. Anglos in Texas wanted independence, not from Mexico, but from Coahuila, becoming their own state. Mexico's heavy handed response to the independence movement led to an uprising in 1835, the Texas Revolution.