This Week in Duval County History, June 24-30

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POSTED BY: CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM JUNE 24, 2019

June 24

The Brownsville Daily Herald reported in its June 24, 1895 edition that John Corkill and “the Mexican” killed by lightning several days before had taken refuge in a barn. Apparently, the name of the “the Mexican” was of no consequence to the newspaper. But Corkill’s brothers certainly earned a mention; they were Edward and William Corkill. Funeral services for John Corkill, who left a wife and “several” children (who also did not earn the newspaper’s requirements for being named) were held in Realitos. 

Brownsville Daily Heral, June 24, 1895

June 25

The Weekly Telegram of Houston referenced a story in the Coprus Christi Advertiser that “an affray” in San Diego between Richard Miller and William Ashton had “resulted in the death” of Ashton. One is left to assume from this that Miller murdered Ashton but the newspaper could not see its way put it that way. In the same story, the Weekly Advertiser reported that Joun Dunn “was murdered” near his home by unknown persons. Ah, but the newspaper could not leave it that way, adding the murder was “supposedly” the act of “Mexicans for the purpose of robbery.” 

Weekly Telegram, June 25, 1868

June 26

V.M. Brown came down from McMullen County to identify horses caught by a Ranger and a deputy sheriff near Benavides. Brown said the horses belonged to his father, R.H. Brown. Horses were stolen on June 15. Jailed suspect. It developed that Jose Melendez, a man that was killed and one that escaped, made regular trips stealing horses on the Rio Grande and taking them to Texas interior to sell, and then stole bunch in interior and brought them back to sell. He supposedly had been doing this for years.

Corpus Christi Weekly Caller, June 28, 1901

June 27

Well mounted and heavily armed horsebackers who traveled in bunches of from five to twenty would not hesitate to kill anyone who happened to cross their path. Sometimes the victims were the ranchers on whose land they were trespassing. On June 27, 1923, Gregg Gibson of the Barronena Ranch in Duval County was shot and killed while he rode in his own pasture, supposedly by horsebackers passing through the ranch. “These tequila-laden pack trains convoyed by rifle escorts constitute an armed invasion of the United States,” opined the authors of Horsebackers of the brush country: a story of the Texas Rangers and Mexican liquor smugglers.

Horsebackers of the brush country: a story of the Texas Rangers and Mexican liquor smugglers, Page 17

June 28

Post Office is opened in Mazatlan for the third time on June 28, 1928. Mazatlan was also known as Ella and was located on the Jaboncillos Creek eighteen miles south of San Diego and ten miles southeast of Benavides in east-central Duval County.

Texas Post Office/Texas History handbook Online

June 29

Realitos was reported to be “infested with a large band of Mexicans” celebrating Fiesta de San Juan. The Corpus Christi Caller reported that Realitos was “infested with an army of gamblers, smugglers, illicit liquor dealers, and soiled doves.” Open-air gaming, brass bands, and “hoodlums” with all calibers of pistols from 45 Colts to 22 Winchesters made night dangerous. Proprietors of “chuck-luck” lotteries tolerated all type of lawbreakers.
A. Puig of San Diego was appointed an agent for the railroad. He replaced D.M. Morris who was promoted to Monterey. L. Fernandez replaced Santos Ramirez as assistant postmaster and bookkeeper at E. C. Cadena’s mercantile house and Amado Garcia Hinojosa, a prominent politician, was in Mexico visiting.

Corpus Christi Caller, June 30, 1899

June 30

From 1892 through 1897, for six years, Duval County reported the first bale of cotton in Texas. The 1897 bale was ginned in San Diego. 

The Houston Daily Post, June 30, 1897


4 COMMENTSON "THIS WEEK IN DUVAL COUNTY HISTORY, JUNE 24-30"

  1. Alonzo Byington | June 25, 2019 at 12:02 pm | Reply
    Alfredo, John Corkill in the first article was my uncle’s grandfather. Did not know he was killed by a lightning strike. The Corkill family came from The Isle of Man, a British Crown in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. Enjoy your weekly history of Duval County.

  2. O B Garcia | June 25, 2019 at 8:47 am | Reply
    Thanks, enjoyed the historical information.

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