Miracle of the Lady in Blue

One of the most fascinating stories of early Texas is of the missionary efforts of a Spanish nun who worked in Texas from 1620 to 1631. She instructed various Indian tribes in the Catholic Faith and told them how to find the Franciscan Mission in New Mexico to ask for priests to come to baptize their people. Her name was Mother Mary of Jesus of Agreda, a nun who never left her Convent in Spain.  

For six years, beginning in 1623, small delegations of Jumanos Indians had come at the same time each year to Isleta, a Pueblo mission near present day Albuquerque, to speak to Fr. Juan de Salas, a much respected missionary who had established the church there in 1613. Each year, the Indians requested a mission be established in their lands and spoke about a woman who had sent them. They were the first to report the visits of the “Lady in Blue.” But the story was disregarded as impossible. Also, to travel from Isleta into the middle of Texas was a long and very dangerous trek – over 300 miles through the hostile lands of the Apache. At that time, the missionaries lacked both the priests and the necessary soldiers to make the trip and establish a new outpost, so the mission was delayed.

Then, in the summer of 1629, a larger delegation of 50 Indians arrived at Isleta requesting priests to return with them and baptize their people.  That year, a messenger was sent to Superior Friar Alonso de Benavides about the strange story of a lady who was supposedly teaching the Catholic faith to the Indians. 

Friar Benavides, who had recently arrived to be in charge of all mission work and who had heard the story of the miracle back in Spain, was very interested to know more. He decided to question the Indian party and ask how they had come to have knowledge of the Faith. In his Memorial to Pope Urban VIII, he reported the results of his inquiry: “We called the Jumanos to the monastery and asked them their reason for coming every year to ask for baptism with such insistence. Seeing a portrait of Mother Luisa (another Spanish Franciscan sister in Spain) in the monastery, they said, ‘A woman in similar clothing wanders among us there, always preaching, but her face is not old like this, but young and beautiful.’

“Asked why they had not told us this before, they answered, ‘Because you did not ask and we thought she was here also.’” The Indians called the woman the “Lady in Blue” because of the blue mantle she wore. She would appear among them, the Jumanos representatives said, and instruct them about the true God and His holy law. The party, which included 12 chiefs, included representatives of other tribes, allies of the Jumanos. In Fr. Benavides’s 1630 Memorial, he notes that they told him “a woman used to preach to each one of them in his own tongue.” It was this woman who had insisted they should ask the missionaries to be baptized and told them how to find them. At times, they said, the 'Lady in Blue' was hidden from them, and they did not know where she went or how to find her. 

Fr. Benavides quickly put together the needed men and materials for a visit to the area requested by the Indians. After traveling several hundred miles east through the dangerous Apache territory, the weary expedition was met by twelve Indians from the Jumanos tribe. They had been sent to greet them and protect them on the last few days journey, they said, by the 'Lady in Blue' who had told them of their location. As the friars drew near the tribe, they saw in amazement a procession of men, women and children coming to meet them. At its head were Indians carrying two crosses decorated with garlands of flowers. With great respect the Indians kissed the crucifixes the Franciscans wore around their necks. 

Fr. Benavides wrote in his report that they learned from the Indians the same nun had instructed them as to how they should come out in procession to receive them, and she had helped them to decorate the crosses. Many of the Indians immediately began to demand to be baptized. The missionaries found the Indians were already instructed in the Faith and eager to learn more. Their astonishment increased as messengers arrived from neighboring Indian tribes who pleaded for the priests to come to them also. They said the same lady in blue had catechized them and told them to seek out the missionaries for baptism. 

The next year, in his Memorial of 1630, a report on the state of the missions and colony, Frier Benavides made a precise account of the Indians who had been instructed by the “Lady in Blue.” His Memorial of 1634, written after he had returned to Spain and personally met and visited with Mother Mary of Agreda in late 1631, also describes that meeting and his favorable impression of the nun. She informed him that beginning at the age of 25, she could, in a trance-like state, travel over the oceans to the New World and while there, instruct the native peoples in the Catholic faith. She said that even though she spoke Spanish, the Indians understood her, and she understood them when they replied in their native dialect. On her first two visits, she reported, the natives were afraid of her and shot her with arrows. She felt the pain of the arrows entering her body, but when she awoke from her trance, she was fine and her body had no wounds. On her next visit, she said she admonished them to stop shooting arrows into her and to listen to her words of salvation. They did and she went on to visit and preach to them hundreds of times over nearly eleven years. She reported she then lost the ability to be in two places at once and her visits to the New World stopped.

Over 50 years later in 1687, Franciscan Damian Massanet had established Mission San Francisco de los Tejas, the first mission in East Texas. In his report, he tells of an incident that took place on his expedition while they were distributing clothing to a group of Indians. Their chief asked for a piece of "blue baize" for a shroud to bury his mother in when she died. Fr. Massanet wrote, “I told him that cloth would be better, and he said that he did not want any other color than blue. I asked then what mystery was attached to the color blue, and the governor said that they were very fond of blue, particularly for burial clothes, because in times past a very beautiful woman visited them there, who descended from the heights, and that this woman was dressed in blue and that they wished to be like her."  Massanet asked how long ago this happened and the chief said it was before his time, but that his mother, who was very old, had seen her, as had the other very old people. 

In 1689, Spanish explorer Alonso de Leon made his fourth expedition into Texas, arriving in the area between the current day towns of Paint Rock and Concho. In his hand-written report giving a detailed record of the expedition, he said some of the Indians encountered were already partly instructed in the Catholic Faith because of the visits to their forefathers of a "Lady in Blue." He wrote, “They perform many Christian rites, and the Indian chief asked for missionaries to instruct them, saying that many years ago a woman went inland to instruct them, but that she had not been there for a long time.” 

Finally, in 1699, Captain Mateo Mange traveled with Jesuit priests Eusebio Francisco Kino and Adamo Gil on another expedition into the same area. Captain Mateo reported that while talking with some very old Indians, the explorers asked them if they had ever heard their elders speak about a Spanish captain passing through their region with horses and soldiers. They were trying to find information about earlier expeditions.  The Indians told them that they could remember hearing of such a group from the old people who were already dead. Without prompting, they said that when they were children a beautiful white woman, dressed in white, brown and blue, with a cloth covering her head, had come to their land. They reported, “She had spoken, shouted and harangued them … and showed them a cross." They said some of the Indian warriors were afraid and shot her with arrows, leaving her for dead on two occasions. Reviving, she disappeared into the air. They did not know where her house and dwelling was. After a few days, she returned again and then many times after to preach to them.

Mother Mary of Agreda, "The Lady in Blue," continued her Godly ways, assuming the role of Abbess, the highest ranking nun in her convent, a position she held for the rest of her life. She never left Spain and there were no more reports of her bi-locating to teach the Indians in America. She passed peacefully from this life in 1665. 

Inspired by their love and respect for the Lady in Blue, a story has been passed down by the Jumanos Indians. According to the tale, after the Franciscans came to baptize the people, the Lady in Blue told the Indians that her visits were at an end. When she left them that last time, the hillside where she had appeared was blanketed with beautiful blue flowers, a memory of her presence among them. That flower came to be known as the Bluebonnet. Today, it is the state flower of Texas. 

The Mighty Wedding Oak

The day I visited, it was very overcast and raining

Down in the heart of Texas, near the state's geographical center, stands a huge and very old live oak tree known as the “Matrimonial Oak” or the “Wedding Oak.” Legend says that even before the Spanish came here, Indian braves and maidens met and were united in wedlock beneath this oak's sheltering boughs. Later, from pioneer days into the 1900's, the tree was a popular spot for residents of the area to visit and exchange pledges and marriage vows.

Historical records tell of the tree also being a place for Indian council meetings, but that's about it. No ghosts, hangings, or treasure tales are connected to it, Bonnie and Clyde didn't temporarily stop fleeing from the law to have a picnic beside it and Elvis never slept under it. It's just a beautiful, very large and very old tree that has seen a lot of history and survived many cold winters and hot summers since it was just a stick.

The Matrimonial Oak lives in the quiet countryside just outside the city limits of San Saba, on the east side of China Creek Road, about half a mile south of the San Saba River. From US Hwy. 190 in San Saba. turn right on 9th Street, then left on China Creek Road (CR 200) and go one mile to the Matrimonial Oak.

Texas Historical Marker next to the Wedding Oak

Son of an Alamo Hero

The Alamo, a revered historic shrine for Texans and where

hundreds of men died for the cause of freedom, is today

a major tourist attraction.

A lot of people, especially Texans, know of William Barrett Travis, commander and hero of the Alamo who, along with Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and about 185 other men, valiantly gave his life in the cause of freedom. Few know he had a son who fell from grace.

When William was only 18 years old, he had already finished his schooling and was working as an assistant teacher. When he was 19, he married 16-year-old Rosanna Cato, one of his former students. In 1829, less than a year later, they had a son, Charles Edward. Leaving for Texas in early 1831, William left his pregnant wife and young son behind. Although neither publicly commented as to the cause of the breakup and no proof ever came forth, rumors swirled for years that it was due to Rosanna's unfaithfulness and that the daughter she birthed after he left, Susan Isabella, was not William's. Whether the rumors were true or not are still disputed, but in his will, William named Susan as his daughter. What is undisputed was his devotion to his son.

Rosanna went on to marry twice more before dying of Yellow Fever in 1848. She raised her daughter until Susan's wedding shortly before Rosanna's illness. In 1834, William brought his 3-year-old son Charles back to Texas to be near him. By this time, William was in the Texas Army so he arranged for Charles to live with his good friend, David Ayres, who, along with his wife, ran one of the first Anglo-American schools in Texas out of their home in Montville, Washington County.

Historical picture of William Barrett Travis

On February 12, 1836, William became the official commander of the enlisted forces in the Alamo alongside Jim Bowie, commander of the volunteers. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and his 6,000 Mexican Army forces laid siege to the former mission on February 23 and declared their intention to kill every defender. Over the next week, William sent out couriers with his letters asking for more men to come to their aid. In his last letter, sent March 3rd to his friend David Ayres, he wrote, "Take care of my little boy. If the country should be saved, I may make him a splendid fortune; but if the country should be lost and I should perish, he will have nothing but the proud recollection that he is the son of a man who died for his country." On March 6, before the sun rose, Charles Travis lost his father when the Mexican Army overran the Alamo and killed every defender.

After his father's death, young Charles was sent to live in New Orleans with his mother and her 3rd husband, Dr. Samuel Cloud. When they both died of Yellow Fever in 1848, he moved in with his sister Susan and her husband back in Texas.

Historical photo of Charles Travis

After becoming a member of the Texas bar, he was elected to the legislature to represent Caldwell and Hays counties in 1853-54. He then briefly served as captain of Company E of the Texas Rangers until his appointment to the command of Company H, Second United States Cavalry.

Things began to go wrong for Charles soon afterwards. While stationed at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, Second Lt. Robert Wood, Jr. brought charges against him for slander. Travis was quickly assigned to lead a company of soldiers to be stationed in Texas, but during the march south, additional charges of cheating at cards and unauthorized absence from camp were brought against him. In a telling entry in her diary, Eliza Johnston, wife of Col. Albert Sidney Johnston (Charles' commander), said of him, "Travis is a mean fellow. No one respects him or believes a word he says."

On December 10, 1855, Johnson relieved him of command and placed him under arrest in quarters. He was charged with "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman." Travis pleaded not guilty.

Courthouse in Mason, Texas where over 40 battles were

fought in the area by Fort Mason soldiers against the Indians.

The court-martial was convened on March 15, 1856 (almost exactly 20 years after the fall of the Alamo and his father's death) at Fort Mason in Mason, Texas. With his father being regarded as a hero, it proved to be one of the most sensational trials in Texas history. After almost a month of testimony and deliberation, with Colonel Johnston and nearly every one of Travis's fellow officers testifying against him, he was found guilty of all charges and summarily dismissed from service on May 1, 1856.

Town square, Mason, Texas. Fort Mason was the last

command of Robert E. Lee before being called to Washington

and asked to command all Union forces during the Civil War.

Charles refused to accept the findings and publicly claimed the graduates of West Point had discriminated against him as an appointee to the regiment from civilian life. He tried to enlist the help of the Texas legislature in clearing his name, but even with their political assistance, President Franklin Pierce declined to reopen the case. Travis then took the misguided effort of trying to force several of the officers who testified against him to reverse their testimony. The tactic led to a severe backlash of public sentiment against him.

Giving up the fight, Charles Edward Travis went back to live with his sister on the land grant given to them by the state of Texas for their father's sacrifice. He never married and had no children. William Barrett Travis' "little boy" died of consumption in 1860.

Who Invented The Hamburger?

Who gave the world the hamburger, arguably the most time-honored backyard cook-out and fast food chain tradition? Who should be credited as the creator and where was it introduced? One would think everything would be known and well-accepted for such a culinary icon. One would be wrong.

For many years, there have been numerous claims for the honor. Folks in New Haven, Connecticut are certain the first hamburger was served at Louis Lassen's cafe in 1900. Historians in Seymour, Wisconsin say the Connecticut claim is bogus because their man Charlie Hagreen was selling burgers to his cafe's customers in 1885. Akron, Ohio folks claim that was two years later than Frank and Charles Menches selling burgers at the Summit County Fair in in their town. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, they claim a local rancher named Oscar Weber Bilby cooked and served the first hamburgers for neighbors attending a Fourth of July shindig on his farm in 1882.

To settle the argument, one thing needs to be clarified - the definition of the All-American hamburger. All right-thinking people understand and agree it is a ground beef patty, mustard and/or mayonnaise, tomato, lettuce, pickles and onions served between two slices of a warm bun accompanied usually by an ample side of french fries and ketchup. Some may prefer onion rings as a side, but the main item in this discussion is the hamburger itself. History tells us that all of the claimants listed above simply served steak sandwiches - a piece of cooked meat held between a couple of slices of plain bread. That is most definitely NOT a hamburger.

Athens, Texas courthouse

So who actually was the first person to concoct the traditional All-American burger with the combination of ingredients we have all come to love? Fletcher Davis, a resident of little Athens, Texas (population 12,700 in 2010) about 75 miles southeast of Dallas, has the most credible claim. Not only did he use the above recipe, but his is the most well documented.

Fletcher was a potter by trade. Born in Webster Groves, Missouri, he got a job at the famous Miller Pottery Works in Athens and moved there in the mid-1880's. He was a natural and imaginative cook and it wasn't long before he was tasked with cooking at company picnics. At one of these picnics, he served the first authentic hamburger and the folks loved his new creation!  

Around 1890, the pottery business began to slow and folks in Athens turned to raising black-eyed peas. So much black-eyed pea business was conducted that today, Athens is known as the black-eyed pea capital of the world. To make ends meet, Fletcher opened a little cafe on the town square across from the county courthouse. Remembering how much the picnickers liked his sandwich, he made the hamburger, accompanied by a side of fried potato slices, the main offering in his new establishment. It wasn't long before people were coming from all around to "Old Dave's" little cafe on the town square.

In 1904, the World's Fair was to be held in St. Louis, Missouri. Fletcher decided he could make a nice profit by taking his hamburger there. The town's residents were so sure his food would be a hit they chipped in to pay his expenses. Fletcher got a vendor license, rented a house in St. Louis and traveled there with some family members. Descendants of those family members still have photo's taken during the two weeks they spent there and letters telling the folks back home about eating hamburgers at Uncle Fletch's (as he was called by his family) concession booth almost every day.

Along with the family documents, and maybe even more convincing, is the existing historical documentation. One of these documents is an official St. Louis World's Fair photo of the midway and in that photo, in the background across from an exhibit featuring Geronimo and other famous Indian warriors, is Fletcher Davis' booth where he sold his hamburgers and fried potato slices. There is also the news story filed by a reporter from the New York Tribune of the "newest gourmet discovery" at the fair, a sandwich called the hamburger. The reporter either didn't ask Fletcher for his name or forgot to write it down when he interviewed him because in the report he stated the meal was "the innovation of a food vendor on the pike" ("pike" was a term then referring to the midway at a fair or carnival). The reporter went on to describe the ingredients of the hamburger. When he interviewed Fletcher, he asked for details about the accompanying fried potato slices. Fletcher explained the hamburger was his invention, but he had borrowed the fried potato recipe from an old friend who lived in Paris. Of course, he meant Paris, Texas, but the reporter, being from New York and unfamiliar with Texas geography, assumed he meant Paris, France and so described them as "French fried potatoes."

Athens, Texas courthouse square where
Old Dave's Cafe was located

When Fletcher returned home to Athens, he found that several cafe's in town were now selling his creation. Although he kept up his little eatery for a while, he eventually closed it and returned to a pottery job with Miller Pottery and faded into happy obscurity. 

The scales are weighing heavily in favor of Athens, Texas as the place and Fletcher Davis as the right person. Adding even more weight is the company that "takes the hamburger business more seriously than anyone else," McDonald's. Their Hamburger University has declared "a food vendor at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair was the first to introduce the sandwich to the public." As we know, that vendor was Fletcher Davis.

If that's not official enough for you, know that in 2006, the Texas Legislature passed a resolution recognizing Davis as the originator of the hamburger. Case closed!

Thank you Fletcher Davis, Athens, Texas resident and former potter-turned-cook. To millions of people, and I'm one of them, your history-making-contribution to food has made the world a better place.

2nd Most Decorated Soldier of WWII

Audie Murphy is famous for being the most decorated soldier in World War II. Along with the Medal of Honor, Murphy won 18 other medals for a total of 19. Onclo Airheart was born in Trinidad, Texas and raised on a rural farm. As a young man, he, like Audie, grew up providing meat for his family by hunting deer, squirrel and rabbits. Onclo (pronounced “Onslow”) enlisted in the Army in 1940 at age 23. When he was discharged after the war in 1945, he had received 18 medals, one less than Murphy.  In one of those incredible coincidences of war, almost beyond belief, he was Murphy's "foxhole buddy.” This pair of Texans went through the war, fighting next to each other for days and weeks without break, many times in desperate life-and-death hand-to-hand combat, on the front lines of World War II's most ferocious battles - and they both survived what thousands of other men didn't.

Alongside Audie in B Company of the Third Division while fighting across Europe, Onclo destroyed truckloads of the enemy with a single shot of an anti-tank grenade, rescued a full division of French soldiers and wiped out an impenetrable pillbox full of German machine gunners. 

Once, while scouting ahead of the rest of their company, Airheart and Murphy ran smack into a large force of enemy soldiers. While under fire, they confused the Germans by dashing back and forth from tree to tree, making the enemy think there was a large force confronting them. Eventually, the German forces ceased fire and raised a white flag. It was quite a shock to the 180 enemy soldiers who surrendered to be taken prisoner by only two American soldiers!

Another time, Murphy had been wounded and was out of action so Airheart was left to continue fighting alone.  At a place called Christmas Hill, for three days and nights without food or water, he remained in position fighting until French soldiers informed him the hill had been seized. He had killed dozens of the enemy and was so exhausted he had to be helped to an aid station.

Toward the end of the war, Onclo received the last of his 18 medals, the Bronze Star. He earned it when he and Murphy (who had recovered from his wounds and returned) faced intense enemy sniper fire in Germany. Murphy began shooting at the crew of an ammo truck while Onclo used a rifle grenade to destroy the truck and then with a single shot, killed a German messenger who was running to alert reinforcements.

He was interviewed by a reporter in 1975 for the 30th anniversary of the end of the war. When asked what made him fight so hard, he said, “We had to fight to live, and we wanted to keep the fighting from reaching America’s shores. Those big, old guns the Germans had – they would have tore New York up. And I wanted to get the mess over and get back home. That’s the only way we were going to end it.”

For the rest of his life after the war, Onclor lived with many harsh memories. He was interviewed once more in 1995 by a reporter for the Athens Review who succinctly said, “Airheart tells of times when men lived stark, desperate lives that could end the next moment. Students of history read of names like Christmas Hill and the Battle of the Bulge, but Airheart sees them in living color.” He remembered the losses among the Americans at the Battle of the Bulge, “There were only six of us from our whole unit left when it was all over.” The interviewer reported that “amazement that he survived still clings to his voice, along with the sadness in his heart for his lost comrades.”

As most people know, once the war was over, Murphy headed to stardom in Hollywood. Onclo returned home to little Trinidad, Texas to work on the family farm. A few years later, Hollywood was making “To Hell and Back” a biographical movie about Murphy. Onclo was contacted by his old friend who asked him to play himself in the film. Onclo declined because it was planting time and he needed to work on his farm. As Onclo himself described it to that 1995 interviewer: “He said he wanted me to go into show business. They was gonna put me in it. But I told him I’ve got my mules and plow, and I’m fixin’ to go to the field.” 

And so Onclor Airheart remained obscure. Even after his death LIFE magazine declined to mention his name. In an issue that summarized the 20th century, the magazine ran a few lines about Audie Murphy as the most-decorated soldier ever. Then they added, “We understand one other soldier from Texas is still living and has only one medal less than Murphy.” No name, no recognition.  Even after the editors were informed of Onclo’s name and address, they replied they had “no interest in information of this kind now.”

Onclo went unrecognized for his war service, but maybe that lack of acknowledgment meant nothing to Airheart.  Like most military service members then and now, he’d done his duty and simply returned home to live out the rest of his life.

Audie Murphy died in a plane crash in 1971. Onclo Airheart, the second most decorated soldier in history, quietly passed away in Trinidad, Texas in 2001.

Crazy Water

Famous Mineral Water Company

City Engineers in Marlin, Texas were trying to find good drinking water for the growing town in 1892. They found a site where they were sure they would find water and began drilling into the black dirt. They hit water alright, but it was not the good drinking water they sought. What came gushing up was a hot, ugly yellow colored water that smelled bad and tasted worse. The disappointed engineers went looking for another site and the people of Marlin were still thirsty.

A couple of weeks later, a young man came into the office of the Marlin Democrat, the local newspaper. Looking "sick and despairing" and obviously suffering from "a loathsome disease," he called upon the sympathy of the paper and the people of the town for help as he had not a penny to his name. Several of the townspeople, not having the amount of sympathy the young man was hoping for, brought him a barrel of the foul smelling, hot water so he could take a bath. A few other townspeople, a bit more charitable, provided him with food so he decided to stay for a while, sleeping at night under a tree in a park and bathing in the barrel of water.

Much to everyone's surprise, five weeks later, he was proclaimed healed! The nasty water everyone hated turned out to be the town's ticket to fame and riches. Within a few weeks of word getting out about the miraculous healing waters, Marlin became one of the country's hottest health destinations. People came from all over the United States and even other countries to "take the waters" and the town benefited handsomely.

The town that benefited the most from discovering "healing waters" though was Mineral Wells, about 150 miles northwest of Marlin. A farmer named J. A. Lynch had drilled a well in 1880 which had come in with the same hot, foul-smelling water found later in Marlin. Mr. Lynch's wife didn't want the water to go to waste so she decided to bath in the hot water and drink what she could stand. In a few weeks, her rheumatism was healed! However, these waters were nothing more than a locally known phenomena until Billy Wiggins drilled on land he owned next to Lynch's.

Wiggins hit the same kind of water and began testing it. He discovered it contained significant amounts of lithium, the same chemical widely used today to treat bipolar disorders. Wiggins saw business opportunity in the water and began to advertise the healing properties of what he called "Crazy Water." He claimed his Crazy Water cured "constipation, high blood pressure, rheumatism, arthritis, kidney problems, liver problems, autointoxication, bad complexion, excess acidity and any other ailments of a more serious nature." With claims like that, people began flocking to Mineral Wells and Crazy Water became the most famous water since fire water. Often there were more than 3,000 people paying to camp on the Wiggins and Lynch property around the wells and paying 10 cents a glass for the water. Soon, Wiggins opened the Crazy Water hotel and quickly became rich. By the mid-1890's, Mineral Wells had 400 commercial wells all selling their own healing waters. By 1910, over 150,000 visitors a year came to Mineral Wells. The town's 46 hotels and boarding houses were constantly fully booked.

Site of the original Crazy Water Well

In 1904, one of the afflicted who came to take the waters was Ed Dismuke. He had been told there was no cure for his stomach ailments, but after a few weeks of drinking Crazy Water daily, his ailments vanished. Ed then established the Famous Mineral Water Company and purchased the Crazy Water wells from Wiggins. Ed built a pavilion next to the original Crazy Water and then built a luxury hotel which housed the thousands of people who came for the Crazy Water treatment.

At its height, the Famous Mineral Water Company was earning over $3,000,000 a year (more than $4,100,000 in 2017 dollars), but by the mid-1930's, the mineral water craze began to fade as the Depression severely reduced the number of visitors who had money to make the trip. To make up for the lost revenue, the company began to sell Crazy Water Crystals, the dehydrated minerals found in the water. The packaged crystals were sold in drugstores around the country - "With a teaspoon of crystals in a glass of tap water, you can enjoy the health benefits of Crazy Water in your own home!" The advertising was done on the "Crazy Water Crystals Radio Show" broadcast across the nation on the Mutual Network. Trouble was brewing though. Using the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, the government began cracking down on the claims made by producers of mineral water. Fearing the Crazy Water Crystals Radio Show would be shut down, the company quickly moved to broadcast over an extremely powerful station in Mexico just south of the border.

World War II came along and with severe gas rationing and the government's attention to mineral water claims, over 90% of all mineral water companies went out of business by 1943. One company that managed to hold on though was Famous Mineral Water. Almost 60 years after being told he would soon die from his stomach problems, Ed Dismuke passed away on November 6, 1957 at age 97 after falling and breaking his hip. He continued to promote the mineral water's healing properties until the end, claiming he had never needed to see a doctor after beginning his daily routine of drinking the water.

Ed's widow sold The Famous Mineral Water Company shortly after his death. Over the years, the company went through a succession of owners until the current owners, Scott and Carol Elder purchased it in 2012. The only surviving mineral water company in Texas, it is now celebrating over 100 years in operation and bottles of Crazy Water are being sold in a number of select locations around the country. If you want to "take the waters" at the source in person, simply travel to the company's headquarters at 209 N.W. 6th Street in Mineral Wells and they'll be happy to sell you as much as you want.

Postcard from Lonely Fort Lancaster

In far west Texas just off State Highway 290 a few miles from the small town of Sheffield, which puts the site just about in the middle of nowhere, are the remains of Fort Lancaster, one of the forts that provided protection for westbound settlers in the mid-1850's. Constructed from 1855 - 1860 using stone and adobe bricks, it was garrisoned by 150 enlisted men and 3 officers from the 1st U.S. Infantry. It was very harsh duty, so harsh and distasteful that it was one of only 3 stations where the men were paid double salary for their service. There was basically nothing there in the way of resources and there were only two seasons of weather - unbearably hot and bone-chilling cold. For the most part, even the Indians avoided the area so skirmishes and military engagements were extremely rare. To fight the boredom, the men either worked on maintaining the buildings or spent tedious hour after hour in mindless drilling and marching.

In 1857, there came a welcome break in the routine when the Army's experimental Camel Corps came to the fort on their way west. The arrival of Captain Beale and his 40 men with 25 camels, 100 sheep and a large herd of horses and mules was certainly cause for excitement. The men of the fort and the caravan broke out what provisions they had and shared a better meal than any of them had enjoyed in a long time. Unfortunately, a pall was cast during the feast when word came that the infant son of Captain Arthur Lee, one of the caravan's married officers, had just died of an illness contracted while on the trail a few days before. Arthur Lee, Jr. was buried on the post the next day. The day after the burial, Captain Lee, his wife and the rest of the caravan had to leave to maintain their schedule. The infant's grave is still there, marked by a small headstone put in place by soldiers of the fort after his parents left.

When Texas seceded from the Union in February, 1881 and joined the Confederacy, a very civil change took place. The Federal troops peacefully left the fort and traveled back to their homes. After they left, a small contingent of Rebel forces came in to take charge.

Nine months later, the Confederate troops manning the fort had found Fort Lancaster duty to be the same as the Federal forces had, unspeakably boring, and they, again like the Federal troops, spent their time performing a little bit of maintenance on the buildings and a great deal of marching and drilling. In late November, General Henry Sibley and his 2,500 men came to the fort while on their way west to capture New Mexico for the Confederacy. To show proper respect for a visiting general (who, it was known, also happened to be good friends with Confederate President Jefferson Davis), the 100 men at Fort Lancaster presented themselves in precise rows outfitted in their never-before-worn dress uniforms. General Sibley felt obliged to respond to this welcome by personally taking charge of a marching drill routine. If there was anything the Fort Lancaster troops were good at by now, it was marching.

With Sibley sitting on his horse barking out orders, the men marched, wheeled and counter marched perfectly to each of the general's commands. Sibley called out an order to "File left" and that's when things took a nasty turn. Perhaps Sibley didn't call out loudly enough or the strong  wind blowing that day prevented the men from hearing his command, but they didn't turn left and kept marching to the right as they had been. Sibley watched in dismay as the men marched away from the parade grounds and, in perfect order,  smartly stepped through the fort's gate straight up and all the way over a nearby hill. The general didn't command them to halt or march to the rear and just sat there watching in bemusement. As the last of the men disappeared, he turned to his aid, muttered "Gone to hell they have" and rode out to continue leading his troops west. History does not record how far the poor Fort Lancaster soldiers had marched before someone rode out to stop them.

By April of 1862, the Confederate government decided the Fort Lancaster troops could be better used fighting the Yankees rather than continue marching in the isolation of west Texas. The fort was abandoned until a few months later when a small contingent of Texas Rangers occupied and used the fort's buildings as their headquarters. With the war going on, bandits, outlaws and even the Indians were not causing much trouble so it wasn't long before the Rangers also abandoned the fort. For the next five years, the fort was raided by nearby ranchers and homesteaders for building materials. A fire struck in early 1867 and destroyed several of the buildings that were still standing.

By the middle of 1867, with the war over, some of the battle-hardened veterans who had returned home to find no jobs and no prospects, had taken to a lawless life on the frontier. White settlement on formerly Indian land was pushing the Indians into desperation. To protect the settlers and travelers, the fort was once again occupied by Federal troops. Buffalo soldiers of Company K, 9th Cavalry were sent to rebuild and secure the fort. While this was proceeding, the fort came under a rare full-on attack by about 1,000 Apache and Kickapoo warriors led by a few renegade Mexican soldiers. On December 26, 1867, the fort was surrounded and the Indians attacked all sides at once. The battle lasted for 3 hours before the Indians retreated. The soldiers claimed that at least 20 of the attackers were killed while they had 3 causalities, unfortunate men who were captured and carried off.  The mutilated remains were found 3 months later and were brought back to the fort for burial. 

The next year the army abandoned the fort and once again, the buildings were raided for materials by the local ranchers. By 1912, only a few stones from building's walls remained in place when the state began preservation efforts for this historic facility. Today, the few visitors to Fort Lancaster can still feel the isolation and sense of desolation the fort's occupants experienced in the 1800's. Located a mile or so off of little traveled Highway 290 on what was known back then as Lower Road, no modern buildings can be seen in the area except for the well-equipped visitor center. The site gets few tourists. Nobody gets there unless they are intentionally going there.

On the day we stopped, we were the only visitors. Walking into the very clean visitor center, the single park ranger greeted us with a big smile on his face and a very warm greeting. He seemed overjoyed at having someone to talk to. He gave us the history of the fort, the sites to see on the property and the history of individual ruins. It was late afternoon on an overcast Saturday and when I asked him how many visitors he had that day, he replied we were the first. We left our car parked in front of the visitor center and walked around the site reading the tour brochure. It was interesting, mostly because it was so quiet I could hear the wings of a hawk as it flew high over us and I wondered if some lonely soldier all those years ago stood still like me for a few seconds to watch a bird flying in the sky. About half-way through the walking tour, the gray skies began to leak so we unfolded our little portable umbrella's and headed back to the car. We had just got in the car when there was a loud clap of thunder and it began to pour. Turning on the engine, I clicked on the windshield wipers and began to back out. As we pulled away, the park ranger came to the door and waved goodbye, the newest lonely occupant in this place of desolation.

Waxahachie Courthouse: Beauty & The Beast

Like a lot of other small towns in America, a beautiful county courthouse dominates the town square of Waxahachie, Texas. The town is often called "The Gingerbread City" for the elaborate wooden lacework found on many of the area's vintage homes. It is also known as "The Movie Capital of Texas" for the many movies such as Places In The Heart, Bonnie & Clyde, 1918, The Trip to Bountiful and Tender Mercies which have all been filmed in and around the town. The many well-maintained stately homes on tree-shaded streets, the restored town square and the imposing 9-story tall courthouse make Waxahachie a perfect setting for turn-of-the-century-period movies.

The elaborate Richardsonian Romanesque courthouse, built in 1895 to replace an old wooden one that only cost $59 to build, is widely considered to be among the most beautiful in all of Texas. Look closely at the ornate sandstone carvings along the top of the granite columns however and you will find a disturbing story, a story of unrequited love.

In 1895, a young stone mason named Harry Herley who had recently immigrated from Italy was hired to sculpt and decorate the outer walls of the courthouse which was under construction. Harry rented a room at a nearby boarding house owned and operated by a Miss Frame. Her teenage daughter, Mabel, lived with her mother in the boarding house and, along with her cleaning duties, often helped serve food to the boarders in the communal dining room. Young Harry quickly became enchanted with the very lovely and vivacious Mabel and wasted no time before he began courting her. His good looks and charming accent attracted Mabel and she returned his amorous attention.

With the rush of young love driving him, he began carving angels into the sandstone that was to adorn the courthouse as an expression of his feelings toward Mabel. With great care and devotion, he then carved her face and added his own next to her's over one of the doorways. So enthused was he that he often worked into the wee hours of the night on the carvings.

It wasn't long however before Mabel's ardor began to cool. Plus, her mother had different plans for her daughter and they didn't include getting pregnant and marrying a poor, uneducated stonemason fresh off the boat from Italy. The short-term thrill of being involved with a handsome foreigner began to fade and it wasn't hard for Mabel's mother to convince her to turn her attention to someone who could offer her a better future. Embittered and brokenhearted, Harry's carvings began to drastically change. He took out his anger and sorrow on the stone beneath his chisel and the courthouse started becoming adorned with twisted demons, monsters and gargoyles.

If you visit the courthouse in Waxahachie, find the angels and happy faces and then with a simple walk around the outside of the building, you can follow the history of Harry's romance with Mable. It's easy to see the progression from enchantment to the excitement and thrill of first love and on to the misery and anger of rejection. Fascinating and sad.

And one more thing - according to word-of-mouth history handed down to the grandchildren by grandparents who were there, the last carving Harry made in the courthouse sandstone is not an angel, not a smiling face or even a monster or gargoyle. It is of something much more intimate - a stylistic rendition of a female's private parts. They say he placed it on display for all to see as a final insulting thumb-of-the-nose farewell.

As soon as his work was complete, Harry left the town where his heart was broken and moved to Dallas. History shows he married a girl there the next year, but sadly, he passed away of unknown causes in 1899. Mabel married a local boy and settled for a quiet, but happy life as a mother and wife in Waxahachie. As for that insulting last panel Harry left, it, like all the rest of the carvings, are still there, visible to anyone who takes the time to look for it.