Soy de Duval

Refugio Gomez, convicted of the murder of Estefan Dimas, was hung to death on the grounds of the Duval County jail on June 6, 1884. Gomez had nothing to say after the sheriff read the sentence in English and someone translated it to Spanish. The murder occurred the year before, the appeals court upheld the conviction in January 1884, and the district judge passed the formal sentence in May. San Diego, said the Corpus Christi newspaper, would have a “legal” hanging. As opposed to the illegal hangings that occurred from time to time. Not actual hanging in the blog just a typical hanging of the times. The hanging was quite an event. Shortly after midnight, the San Diego Gun Club marched into the jail yard and took position around the scaffold. Father Pedro Bard escorted Gomez out of the jailhouse and stayed with him throughout the ordeal. Jailers removed his irons and Gomez climbed the gallows. At 12:20, the drop fell six feet to the ground. Gomez made a few convulsive motions with his l...

Father Pedro Bard While San Diego was a thriving community with a vibrant livestock trade, including horses, cattle and sheep and with plenty of crop farming, it was still a frontier in 1883 and was wild and wooly. Early in the year, the Corpus Christi newspaper reported that a band of thieves headed by well-known “cut-throat” Faustino Vela was depredating the neighborhood around Los Olmos. Nueces County Sheriff’s Deputy Paulino Coy headed a posse in pursuit of the alleged bandits. Vela sent word that he would kill Coy on sight. Coy would play an active role in the development of the area and would kill a number of men reportedly trying to escape. A San Diego jury, meanwhile, found Juan Saens not guilty of cattle theft. In May, the grand jury was looking into the shooting death of Francisco Rivo(?) at the sheep ranch of Cayetano Rivo(?). Amador Cantu reported the shooting, saying that Francisco had shot himself. The grand jury considered Cantu a suspect. Benito Flores allegedly inf...

Life in San Diego in 1883 was anything but boring. Many activities and people always made things interesting. In April 1883, Mexican Secretary of War Gen. Francisco Naranjo and his family came to San Diego in a special train to visit relatives and stayed at the home Encarnacion Perez, a family friend. The general then traveled with Perez and Don Calixto Tovar by special train to Corpus Christi and were guests at the St. James Hotel. If the general spent any time in San Diego, an amateur thespian troupe could have entertained him. The thespians converted the county courthouse into a theatre where they performed for benefit of the church. The cast performed at the courthouse the play “The Poor of México.” Señor Salvador de la Vega and his daughter starred in the production. They also gave an encore performance to a smaller crowd. The courthouse had also undergone some improvements with the addition of a “handsome railing” in the courtroom, the addition of “fine desks and swivel chairs...

The Duval County Commissioners Court met in special session in July 1878 and posted a $250 reward for the capture of Lorenzo Garza, also known as Gonzales or De Leon. Authorities suspected the man, by whatever name, in the murder of L. B. Sleaness (spelling is unclear in court minutes) and his nephew. The court also paid Tiburcio de los Santos $2 for digging the grave and Victoriano Gomez $4 for making the coffin. While not directly reported in the minutes, it appears this were for the murder victims. The only other item the court acted upon at the special meeting was to authorize County Judge James Luby to sign any contracts with Heldenfells to build and complete the county jail for $1,600. The Commissioners Court spent most of their remaining 1878 meetings discussing and reconciling tax rolls for the years before the county’s organization. Other items came before them from time to time. In August, commissioners accepted the resignation of Constable Lino Cuellar. In September, a ...