In former years, when people reached the age of three score and 10, the popular belief was that they were supposed to fold their arms and silently fade away. But not so with Mrs. Mary Mobley Christian of Elgin, who now is 91.

    She not only has been a member of the Baptist Church for 74 years, but she has gone through the most turbulent period in the history of this section.

    Born in Georgia, she moved into Bastrop County in the days when the frontier was being moved rapidly westward and when one lived longest by talking the least.

    She was married in 1879 to Micaja Jesse Christian. Four years later, they, and the Mobley family, came to Texas and settled near Oak Hill, south of McDade.

    McDade at that time was a thriving little town on the newly-built Houston and Texas Central Railroad. As the M.-K.-T. was not built through Elgin (10 miles to the west), Bastrop, Smithville, La Grange and on into Houston until 1886, McDade was the shipping point for the territory south of Elgin.

    It had many stores, saloons, gambling houses and eventually developed a lawless element that ruled the community.

    At about the time "Aunt Mary" and her husband had settled in their new home, a dance was given at the home of one Pat Erhard in the Blue Branch community.

    During the dance a member of the "committee", as the lawless called themselves, proceeded to go in and call outside each of the men wanted until four men were in their hands. In a short time a man walked onto the dance floor and announced that four men were hanging to a tree a few hundred yards from the house.

    On the eve of the second Christmas after Aunt Mary arrived, the "committee" called three more men out of a saloon, took them about a mile from town and hanged them to a tree.

    The next morning three brothers of one of the victims came into McDade, seeking the killer of their brother. Two of them were shot down in the streets. Six men lay dead by Christmas morning.

    The year 1887 stands out most vividly in Aunt Mary's mind as the year that the greatest tragedy that could befall any human came into her life.

    Her husband was invited to attend a meeting of "neighbors", held in the woods. It turned out to be a meeting of the lawless element, which had decided that a certain Negro in the community was to be disposed of. Two of those present were designated as executioners. Word of this meeting was whispered around and Christian was accused of telling what had happened.

    Not long afterward Mr. Christian was riding a horse with his wife up behind him when he was overtaken by several men. He stepped to the ground and before he was given a chance to explain his side of the argument he was shot dead in the presence of his wife.

    After the death of her husband, Aunt Mary made her home with her brother, Joe Mobley, for 62 years and the two of them reared 13 children of the Mobley lineage. Uncle Joe Mobley died a few years ago.

    After the death of Joe she was moved to a local nursing home, where she sits in her wheelchair dispensing cheer to those less fortunate.

    In her 68 years in Bastrop County she has seen this area changed from cabins to castles and its roads from cow trails to high speed highways.

    After the death of Joe she was moved to a local nursing home, where she sits in her wheelchair dispensing cheer to those less fortunate.

    In her 68 years in Bastrop County she has seen this area changed from cabins to castles and its roads from cow trails to high speed highways.