From Good, To Bad, To Ugly : A Universal Story that starts locally !

‘San Saba Mob’ program topic

By Candace Cooksey Fulton — Brownwood Bulletin

This 1898 photo depicts local officials who worked with Rangers to break the notorious San Saba Mob. Standing, left to right, are Ranger Dudley Barker of Co. “C”; Ranger Edgar T. Neal of Co. “E”; Ranger John R. Bannister, famous Texas Ranger of the 1870s; Deputy Sheriff George Batton of Brown County; and an unidentified man. Those seated, left to right, include District Attorney for Brown County Walter Early, and Brown County Sheriff Charley Bell. Photo courtesy of 1959 November - December issue of “True West Magazine”

Ross J. Cox Sr. will share tales and details of the infamous — and notorious — “San Saba Mob” of the late 19th century this afternoon in a program for the Brown County Historical Society.

Cox, a Texas Department of Public Safety highway patrolman stationed in San Saba and a historian, has spent most of a decade researching the San Saba Mob and the Texas Rangers sent to quell their murderous and vigilante efforts. That research was compiled into a double-volume book titled “The Texas Rangers & The San Saba Mob.”

The program is scheduled for 4 p.m. today in Room 136 of Newman Hall on the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom campus of Howard Payne University. The event is hosted by the Brown County Historical Society and the Brownwood Genealogical Society.

Though known as the “San Saba Mob,” the story has a strong Brown County connection, Cox said.

“The story actually begins in Brown County (now Mills County) at Williams Ranch. In 1869, a wealthy group of cattlemen came together to create a force to deal with cattle rustling. Most of the members came from San Saba, Mills, Brown and McCulloch counties,” Cox said.

“Over time the organization changed leadership and evolved into a sinister force, which encompassed moonlight meetings, secret assassinations, a

ritual and strict rules of membership. By 1896, the Mob had assassinated so many people in the area that the Rangers were called in to put it down.”

Cox said politics of the day made it no easy task to quell the Mob, because, Mob membership reached deep into local courthouses involving elected officials including sheriffs and judges. Indictments were nonexistent, Cox said, because Mob members infested the grand juries. Governor Sul Ross even sent the district attorney at the time to the area to secretly investigate and his investigation led to the call for Texas Ranger enforcement Cox said.

“When the Rangers arrived, they were witness to a mass migration of people fleeing for their lives,” Cox said. “They had been ordered out, and left behind their property and livestock.”

Cox said it took the Rangers nearly two years to finally break the Mob, which they were able to do with the help of a brilliant district attorney and the courage of a few brave witnesses. Also, he said, key to the story is the recount of the three “Great San Saba Murder Trials,” held in Austin in 1897.

“These were bigger than O.J. Simpson,” Cox said. “More than 200 witnesses appeared in each case, with only about 40 testifying for the state. After the fireworks

cleared, only one man was ever convicted for any of the numerous assassinations.”

Books will be available for sale, $35 a copy, at the program today. Anyone, who would like a copy of the book but cannot attend today’s program, may contact Cox by phone at (325) 372-4190 and make arrangements to order a copy. No admission will be charged for the program.

source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2006/01/19/news/news04.txt
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Note from Steve: Knowing Texas political History, guess "The San Saba Mob" were Democrats then and would be Republicans now ?