In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

15 True to Texas In 1855 Jasper Maltby came close to being killed or seriously injured from the accidental discharge of a weapon at his Galena gun shop. Thirteen years later, Brother Bill also narrowly missed being accidentally killed or maimed. In May of 1868 news reached Corpus Christi that President Andrew Johnson , who had been impeached by a Congress dominated by radical Republicans , had been acquitted by the US Senate by only one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict. William Maltby and other “conservative Union men,” jubilant at the outcome, prepared to celebrate by firing an old honeycombed four-pounder cannon that had been retrieved from Corpus Christi Bay after having been jettisoned by Mexican soldiers almost thirty years earlier. The gun was ordinarily used during Fourth of July celebrations , and there had been no previous problems firing it. Since both William Maltby and William Powers were experienced artillerymen—Powers had been a sergeant in Maltby’s battery—they volunteered to load and fire the gun. The tall Irishman and his former captain fired three rounds without any mishap before something went terribly wrong, “either from carelessness or defect in the piece.” While ramming home a fourth cartridge, it exploded prematurely. According to a newspaper account, “both being skilled gunners , their lives were saved by their proper positions assumed at the guns.” Had they been positioned differently, “their arms would have been torn off, as the hammer was thrown nearly one hundred yards.” Still, both men were badly bruised and William temporarily blinded. It was initially feared he would not regain his sight. Three weeks following the accident, Henry was able to report with satisfaction that Brother Bill had fully recovered from the “singing” [sic] he had received.1 Three years after the death of his beloved Grace, William found a new love—twenty-eight-year-old Irish-born Anna Marie, the daughter of wealthy Corpus Christi dry goods merchant and wool dealer William Headen. A devout Methodist, Headen served as lay delegate to the church’s quarterly conference held in Corpus Christi in 1870. According to the 1900 federal census, Anna had immigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1867, which is surprising, since her parents had first arrived in New Orleans with- chapter 1 1 out her in 1844, when she would have been two. They moved to Corpus Christi in 1855. Prior to their marriage, Anna had been living at home helping her mother care for a mentally disturbed older sister. William and Anna exchanged vows on July 22, 1870, with the marriage officiated by Justice of the Peace Richard Schubert. The couple’s uniquely romantic honeymoon was spent ten miles outside the city “in the middle of a prairie, surrounded with fragrant flowers and a thousand mocking birds.” Not long before the Maltby-Headen marriage, a federal census taker came by Susan Swift’s Water Street boardinghouse to record the necessary information. Along with William, his two children by Mary Grace, mother-in-law, and a seventeenyear -old printer’s devil, Susan had acquired two new boarders from Ohio: David and Prussia Valeria Maltby. While visiting his father and stepmother in Cleveland, there had been reconciliation, and William had persuaded the two to return with him to Corpus Christi. A letter published in the Ranchero written by “Charles” (most likely William himself) informed Henry, “Your brother Bill with your father and mother has just arrived from the north. The old folks are at home, hale and hearty, and are already talking about paying you a flying visit.”2 In Henry’s case, father and son shared a common bond as brother Masons . David’s membership in the Masonic Order dated from 1849, when he was a member of the Marion, Ohio, lodge, while Henry had resumed membership in Brownsville’s Rio Grande Lodge No. 81 in December of 1868. As a respected member of the Brownsville community, and despite having been demitted in 1870, Henry would become Master of the Rio Grande Lodge in 1884. Jasper Maltby had been a member of the Masonic Order in Illinois and had received Masonic observances at his funeral.3 In November 1870 the district court granted David a license to practice law in Texas. At about the same time, he became one of the original stockholders of the Rio Grande Railroad, which had been granted a charter by the Texas legislature. Surprisingly, his son Henry, in writing about the project, admitted complete ignorance...

Share