Soy de Duval

In June 1886 Duval Democrats had a falling out with some of them bolting the county convention and holding their own confab at the schoolhouse. The “regulars” remained at the County Courthouse for their convention. County Chairman John Dix explained that the reason for the get-together was to name delegates to the Democratic state convention in Galveston, the 7th Congressional District Convention in Victoria, the 27th Senatorial District Convention in Cotulla and the 83rd Representative Convention that had not yet been scheduled. When E. N. Gray and the rest of the protesters walked out, those who stayed at the Courthouse cheered their departure with shouts of “get out you mugwumps” and “bolter, Republicans and traitors.” Ironically, mugwumps were Republicans who supported Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland for president two years before. Dix named John D. Cleary temporary secretary and appointed E. A. Gallagher, F. C. Gravis, W. H. Simmons to the committee of permanent organization...

At the end of May and beginning of June 1886, four prisoners escaped from the Duval County jail in San Diego after the jailer forgot to lock door and over in Realitos the Texas Mexican Railroad was completing a small railway station built. But even back then, politics still dominated conversations in the county. Democratic Party Chairman John J. Dix called a county convention for July 15 at the county courthouse but later changed the date to June 30 to allow delegates time to attend the congressional convention. On the appointed date, the party regulars convened and as they say, “all Hell broke loose.” A group bolted the convention and called a meeting at the schoolhouse in San Diego. The disagreement erupted after Dix ruled out of order motion a motion calling for him to name a temporary chairman and secretary. Dix appointed E. N. Gray, C. K. Gravis, and J. W. Shaw to the credentials committee but Gray rejected the appointment, saying the committee was stacked 2-1. M. C. Spann moved t...

Map of San Diego in 1885, After the harsh winter of 1884-85, landowners around Concepcion started planting using American plows and cultivators. They planted twice the acreage they had the previous planting season, mostly corn. One of the largest planters of corn was E. N. Gray of Concepcion, who planted 400 acres. While farmers in the southern part of the county were busy planting, a hailstorm lasting 15 minutes hit near San Diego causing heavy damage. The storm caused waters in the San Diego, Agua Dulce and Pernitas Creeks to overflow. The rising waters washed away the railroad bridge at San Diego. The Texas Mexican train from Laredo found the bridge impassable and turned around and returned to Benavides. The hailstorm also knocked down several miles of telephone wire and poles down between San Diego and Benavides. The storms blew away the railroad’s depots at San Diego and Collins. Another hailstorm in May caused extensive damage at the rancho of John Fitch, killing 3,000 head of sh...

Headstone of Paulino Coy. (From findagrave.com) The notorious Nueces County deputy sheriff Paulino Coy kept himself busy bringing in alleged bad guys throughout 1885. Fortunately for the bad guys, none tried to escape and the deputy saved the county money on ammo and pauper burials. Early in the year, Coy went to Cameron County to bring back Guadalupe Longoria who Sheriff Brito of Cameron County had arrested. Longoria had several indictments pending against him in Nueces County and law enforcement officials believed him to be a member of the Abrigo gang who had escaped after a recent shootout in which authorities shot and killed Abrigo. Longoria supposedly admitted taking horses he stole from Cameron County ranchers to Nueces and Duval Counties where he sold them. Shortly after his return from Cameron County, Coy was off to San Antonio with Ereneo Carrero, also accused of horse theft. Upon his return from the Alamo city, Coy again made treks for Cameron County to bring back another sus...