| |
DeWitt
County Courthouse
Cuero,
Texas DeWitt
County has had three courthouses: 1847, 1858, 1897 |
DeWitt
County Courthouse as it appeared in July 2008
TE Photo |
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
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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.
July 2001, Copyright
Lou
Ann Herda, Ed. D
References:
*Hallettsville Herald, April 12, 1894, page unknown.
*The History of DeWitt
County, Texas, 1991, p. 29.
See Cuero
- DeWitt County Seat
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