A true Texas fact

woodman6415

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The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day:

The lovely town of Fredericksburg, in the Texas HIll Country, has a friendly greeting built-in for folks who visit. The first letters of the street names going east along Main Street/290 from the Vereins Kirche spell "All Welcome." Those going west spell "Come Back." It's true. Going east we see Adams, Llano, Lincoln, Washington, Elk, Lee, Columbus, Olive, Mesquite, Eagle streets ("all welcome") and going west we see Crockett, Orange, Milam, Edison, Bowie, Acorn, Cherry, Kay ("come back"). I have met many folks who are from Fredericksburg who don't realize this, but it appears the city founding fathers were thinking ahead about hospitality!
 

woodman6415

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The Texas Quote of the Day:

"The aroma of good chili should generate rapture akin to a lover's kiss."

----- Motto of the Chili Appreciation Society International, headquartered (of course) in Texas.
 

woodman6415

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The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day:

Before becoming the infamous judge and self-proclaimed "Law West of the Pecos," Roy Bean lived on the south side of San Antonio for almost 20 years. There he made a living by selling liquor, stealing wood, watering down milk that he then sold and poaching horses and cattle. The are where he lived on South Flores street became known as "Beanville." He was so disliked that he was paid $900 to leave the city.
 

woodman6415

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The Texas Quote of the Day:

"The first part of the performance went fairly well, but in the middle of the show the audience suddenly got up en masse and disappeared through the front exit. Investigations disclosed that the customers had gone outside to view a runaway mule.

My father and his brothers, though accustomed to insults, were enraged by this one. When the customers filed back into the theater, 30 minutes later, the Marx brothers were no longer interested in giving a good performance. All they wanted to do was get even with the audience, and the only way they knew how was to burlesque the kind of singing they had been doing so seriously.

This quickly evolved into a roughhouse commedy bit, with the Marxes, led by my father, flinging insults about Texas and its inhabitants to the audience as rapidly as they could think of them.

My father is not very clear about the exact phraseology of some of these insults, but he does recall calling the Texans in the audience "damned Yankees" and throwing in couple of lines that went something like this:

"Nacogdoches
Is full of roaches."

And:

"The Jackass
Is the finest
flower of
Tex-ass"

They were not looking for laughs; they fully expected to be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail. But instead the audience loved their clowning and greeted their insults and most tired jokes with uproarious laughter."

----- The metamorphosis of an unknown wandering vaudeville troupe called "The Four Nightingales" into the immortal Marx brothers, which was triggered by a rude Nacogdoches crowd in 1920, as told by Groucho's son Arthur in "My Life with Groucho Marx," 1954. That's right, folks: the Marx Brothers became "THE Marx Brothers" accidentally, and in Texas.
 

woodman6415

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The Texas Quote of the Day:

"I told you yesterday that I would not take sides in the war but, Sir, I now tender you my services as the Mexicans acted rascally with me."

---- Deaf Smith, hero of the Texas revolution, in a letter to Stephen F. Austin, 1835. Austin had previously appealed to Deaf Smith for his services in the upcoming siege of Bexar (San Antonio), but Smith refused. Deaf was comfortable in both the Anglo and Mexican cultures, having lived in Texas for 15 years and having married a Tejana, and he wanted to remain neutral in the battle for Texas independence. But his attitude changed when Mexican soldiers, on high alert for Texians, refused to let him and Arnold, a free black and later a member of Smith's spy company, back in town to see their families.
 

woodman6415

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The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day:

During the blizzard of 1899, the temperature tumbled to 10 degrees below zero in Waco and people ice-skated on the Brazos River.
 

woodman6415

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The Texas Quote of the Day is a good one:

"In the late 1950s, Clint Murchison realized that the NFL was about to blossom into something really big and he wanted an expansion team for Dallas. There was only one problem: George Preston Marshall, owner of the Redskins, disliked Murchison and opposed a franchise in Dallas. But Clint was not to be denied. Details of the story vary, but Murchison learned that the rights to the song, "Hail to the Redskins" were for sale by the composer. Murchison, in a move that would warm the heart of J.R. Ewing, purchased the rights to it and informed Marshall that he couldn't play the beloved song at Redskins games ----- unless Marshall was willing to vote "yes" when the subject of a franchise for Dallas came up for a vote at the league meeting. The ploy worked: Murchison was awarded the franchise and the Redskins got their song back."

----- Wallace O. Chariton, "Texas Wit and Wisdom"
 

woodman6415

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The Texas Quote of the Day:

"Saloons will be closed tomorrow. Very likely, as usual, open at the back door. As a general rule, there are more drunks on election day than any other."

----- San Antonio Express newspaper, 1883
 

woodman6415

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The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day:

The story of Wink, Texas began in 1926, when oil was discovered in the Hendrick oilfield in Winkler County. By mid-1927 the Wink Townsite Company was selling lots in the Horse Wells pasture on the T. G. Hendrick Ranch. The oil boom brought new people to Wink, causing a shortage of housing. Newcomers set up tents and built makeshift houses. Wink was originally named Winkler, Texas, for the county. But, when a post office was requested, postal authorities notified the applicant that there was a post office bearing that name already in operation, so the locals shortened the name to Wink and received a post office in 1927. In that year, the first public school was organized, and a temporary building was constructed. A Sunday school was started by November 1927, and the population of the town was reported to be 3,500. By 1929 that number climbed to 6,000. It is possible that the actual number of Winkites (hmmm ... Winkonians? Winksters?) may have reached more than 10,000 people at one point. Today the population is officially a little less than 1,000 but given the number of small trailers and man-camps I saw in the town last week, my guess is that a considerably larger number of people live there currently.
 

woodman6415

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The Texas Quote of the Day:

"Music was my only ticket out of town [Lubbock]. I was a failure at crime, and that was about my only other option if I’d stayed in Lubbock. There were several of the policemen on duty there at that time who just did not like musicians at all, especially young ones hanging out late. And it was suggested by several cops that it’d be a good idea if I went someplace else. They suggested that to several other people too. So, thank you, Lubbock Police Department!"

----- Bobby Keys, legendary saxophonist who went on to play with the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Elvis Presley, and many others. Bobby passed away a couple of years ago.
 

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For all you Texans, I just received a notice about this book today. For nearly 1500 pages, $2.99 is dirt cheap for a Michener book.

Can't seem to get the link to work so just go to Amazon and search on James Michener Texas.
 
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Tony

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For all you Texans, I just received a notice about this book today. For nearly 1500 pages, $2.99 is dirt cheap for a Michener book.

Can't seem to get the link to work so just go to Amazon and search on James Michener Texas.

I own it, great book! Tony
 

woodman6415

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The Texas Quote of the Day:

"No day can be counted entirely lost which begins with the smell of a mesquite fire at dawn and the taste of coffee boiled over it."

---- J. Frank Dobie, Texas historian and folklorist
 

woodman6415

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The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day:

The city of Nolanville, Texas was named for Philip Nolan, who is one of the really interesting characters in Texas history, though few people know about him because he was killed in 1801, long before Texas won independence. As a completely random historical aside, after Nolan was killed his ears were cut off, presented to the governor in San Antonio, then forwarded to the commanding general in Chihuahua as proof that he really was dead. So, without further ado, I present Philip Nolan, per the Texas State Historical Association:

Philip Nolan, mustanger and filibuster, son of Peter and Elizabeth (Cassidy) Nolan, was, according to his own statement recorded in the 1794 Nacogdoches census, born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1771. He apparently received a good education. He became associated with Gen. James Wilkinson in Kentucky, moved into Wilkinson's home in 1788, and served as his bookkeeper and shipping clerk until 1791. During these years Nolan represented Wilkinson's business interests at New Orleans and learned of the opportunities for trade in the adjoining province of Texas. Through the influence of Wilkinson in 1791 he secured from Governor Esteban Rodríguez Miró a passport to visit Texas on a trading expedition. His goods were confiscated, however, and after living with Indians for two years Nolan returned to New Orleans with fifty mustangs. The new governor of Louisiana, Louis Héctor, Baron de Carondelet, greeted him as a person "risen from the dead." By June 6, 1794, Nolan was back in Nacogdoches with a passport from Carondelet authorizing him to obtain horses for the Louisiana militia. He visited the provincial capital, San Antonio de Béxar, made the acquaintance of Governor Manuel Muñoz, and through him obtained permission of the commandant general of the Provincias Internas, Pedro de Nava, to export horses to Louisiana. Taking with him 250 head, Nolan returned to Natchez by the end of 1795.

On these two trips he gained much information about the "unknown land" but not without making Spanish officials suspicious about his loyalties. Their suspicions were further aroused when Nolan, returning from a mapping expedition up the Missouri River, arrived at Natchez with the party of Andrew Ellicott, boundary commissioner for the United States. Nolan attempted to mollify Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, governor of Natchez, and went on to New Orleans, where he obtained another passport, dated June 17, 1797, from Carondelet. According to his will, which he executed on June 20, he was the son of "Pedro" Nolan and "Ysabela Cassedy." His mother was deceased, and being still single he made his father his heir. Merchant Daniel Clark was given charge of his affairs. Nolan left for Texas in July, authorized to obtain more horses for the Louisiana regiment. This time he took a considerable load of trade goods, even though trade between Louisiana and Texas was strictly prohibited. He arrived at Bexar in October, presented his credentials, and claimed to have Carondelet's permission to go to Nuevo Santander in search of horses. Nava ordered Muñoz to assist Nolan in fulfilling his Louisiana contract and gave approval for the introduction of 2,000 pesos' worth of goods to defray expenses. Meanwhile, Gayoso had written to the viceroy of Mexico, warning against foreigners (like Nolan) who were stirring up the Texas Indians against Spanish rule. Advised of this development, Nava tried to justify his allowing Nolan to enter Texas but revoked the permission for him to introduce trade goods. Thinking that Nolan had left the province in the summer of 1798, Nava was alarmed to find him still there almost a year later. Governor Muñoz, in bad health, defended Nolan vigorously and claimed that his delays were unavoidable. With Muñoz's support Nolan left Texas safely. He arrived in Natchez in the latter part of 1799 with more than 1,200 horses and soon became aware of Gayoso's hostility toward him.

On December 19, 1799, Nolan married Frances Lintot, daughter of a prominent Natchez planter. He intended to meet with Thomas Jefferson, who had written him concerning Texas and its herds of wild horses, but the meeting apparently never took place. Instead, Nolan was soon making plans for another trip to Texas, even though he could not obtain a passport and knew that it would be a dangerous undertaking. It is unknown if he revised his will on this occasion. He left Natchez at the head of a body of well-armed men in October 1800 and made his way to the area north of Nacogdoches. He then proceeded to a McLennan or Hill County tributary of the Brazos River (the exact location is disputed), where he erected a small fortification, including some corrals, and began catching mustangs. He was killed there by troops from Nacogdoches sent out to intercept him. Historical sources conflict regarding the exact date of the attack and Nolan's death. Spanish commander Miguel Francisco Músquiz recorded the event on March 21, 1801, in his diary. In his memoir, Peter Ellis Bean, a member of Nolan's expedition, gave the date as March 22, 1801. His men were captured and tried, and spent years in prison for their part in Nolan's final expedition, the precise nature of which has not yet been satisfactorily explained.

Because of the decade Nolan spent in Texas on his mustanging expeditions he has become recognized as the first of a long line of filibusters that eventually helped to free Texas from Spanish and Mexican rule. He is often credited with being the first Anglo-American to map Texas, but his map has never been found. His observations were passed on to Wilkinson, however, who used them to produce a map of the Texas-Louisiana frontier around 1804. Nolan was survived only six months by his wife, who gave birth to a son shortly before she died. This son, Philip, did not live to adulthood. Nolan was named as the father of a girl, María Josefa, born out of wedlock at Bexar to Gertrudis Quiñones in 1798. According to the census of 1815 both mother and daughter were living at San José y San Miguel de Aguayo Mission at that time, but their fate is unknown.
 

woodman6415

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The Texas Quote of the Day:

"Just keep living. Don't die."

----- Richard Overton, resident of Austin, Texas and America's oldest living man and the world's oldest living World War II veteran, gives his longevity advice. Mr. Overton, who was born in 1906, celebrated his 112th birthday yesterday. Richard smokes 12 cigars per day (!), drinks whiskey, and loves his coffee. Here's a photo of him, courtesy the Austin American Statesman. Born in 1906 .... can you imagine? He is a treasure and I hope he lives for 112 more years!

E210719C-6BD2-4C75-AF2C-F4920A377BA4.jpeg
 
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