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 Santa scheduled to visit McDade,

but the Devil came instead!

     

It was not the regular Christmas celebration of Christ’s birth that the residents of McDade anticipated in 1883.  Trading and last minute shopping filled the day in down town McDade on Christmas Eve and later on neighbors gathered from all around to see the famous Christmas tree at the Yegua Knobbs.   After the festive celebration at the Knobbs, the men folk would ride into the Rock Front Saloon and fill themselves with “Christmas Cheer.” Santa Claus left Mrs. Claus with McDade on his list of places to visit, a visit supposed to bring candies and gifts to the excited who anticipated joy and good things.  But, something happened to those plans and the Devil came instead. He crushed the Christmas spirit with hot tempers, blood and six stilled bodies.   Christmas was never the same again.   

It was the custom we’re told in 1883, to saddle up the horse, ride into town on Christmas morning, have eggnog at the Rock Saloon and greet friends.  You’d make new ones, and spread more “Christmas cheer” before returning home for the Christmas feast with family.  This Christmas was already destined to be different because criminal activity, feuds, and vigilantes were very active and heated by 1883.  The citizens had reached their tolerance level and something had to be done.  The killing of a sheriff led to the Christmas Eve Hanging and Christmas Day killings.  That’s when things were supposed to die down, but quite the contrary, criminal activity flourished.  Up until 1887, when a jury issued a not guilty verdict to the person accused of shooting the sheriff but that’s a whole different story. 

There are so many different and some inaccurate accounts written about what took place that famous Christmas Season and many updates that need to be written about; but, it still does not take away from the big collection already in print.     

Almost 120 years later, stories and history blend together and change everything.  After you read all the stories you can decide which side of the law you are on

 

More Coming Soon!

 

112 Years Ago, The Killing and Hanging in McDade
Bastrop Advertiser July 17, 1986

1883 Christmas Day Memories show McDade's less quiet days
Elgin Courier December 27, 1990
A Bloody Time, Judge Lynch Holds A Matinee At McDade
A Different Sort of Necktie for Christmas
Date and paper unknown
An Interview with One of the McLemores-The Regulators and Their Victims
date unknown
Bastrop Advertiser Jan 26 1884
Beatty Brothers and Friends vs George Milton and Tom Bishop Dec 25 1883 
(True West December 1993)
Christmas and Peace at McDade
Christmas in Texas
Texas Cooking

Do You Remember When-McDade Lynchings
Elgin Courier Oct 2 1957
Early Day McDade History Reveals Colorful Happenings
Felix McLemore Interviewed
Bastrop Advertiser Jan 5, 1884
Four On A Limb
CL Sonninsion
Horrible Affray at McDade
Austin Statesman, Dec 25 1883
In And Around Old McDade
T.U. Taylor Collection
Judge Lynch Holds A Matinee at McDade.
Houston Daily Post December 26th, 1883.
It was Christmas Day 1883 and the Streets ran red with blood
TEXAS TALKING Sept 13 1990
Land of the Yegua
G.K. Martin (Old West 1969)
Little Known Lawmen still ride after 115 years
Internet, Dec 12 1999
McDade, Bastrop Co Texas
Taken from Roadside History of Texas by Leon C Metz pg 310
McDade, Bastrop Co Texas “Taken from Roadside History of Texas
Leon C. Metz (pg 310)

McDade Lynchings Create Excitement in Early Days
In the Shadow of Lost Pines: History of Bastrop County and Its’ People
McDade Then and Now
Earnestine Sholtz
McDade’s Christmas Murders
The Cattle Man (1967)
Old Settler Recalls McDade Lynching
Jeptha Billingsley Elgin Courier, May 21, 1936
OUTLAWS GONE, BUT MCDADE STILL JUMPING
Austin American Statesman  Friday July 10, 1981

Peaceful Area Once Scene of Yule Shootout.         

Dallas Morning News—Sunday, December 20, 1998
Shoot Out On Christmas Day
Luckett P Bishop (Frontier Times July 1965)
The 'Gamest'  Man in Texas: Haywood Batey
Lisa Lach
The Late Tragedies at McDade
Bastrop Advertiser, Jan 26 1884
The McDade Mob
The Galveston News, Dec 27 1883 
The McDade Slaughter
T.U. Taylor Collection
The McDade Tragedy: The full particulars of the affair on Christmas Day
Austin Statesman, Dec 26 1883 
The Soul Of a Small Town
David Warton (pg 129-191)
The Story of a Sheriff
Lisa Lach

Town of McDade was Wild and Turbulent back in 1883 when Shootings were Frequent and Robbers were Hanged. 
Austin Tribune—Sunday March 22, 1942
What Led to Tragedy Recently Enacted at McDade
Date unknown
When Eleven Were Lynched
Frontier Times July 1930
Wild Times McDade Texas
Murray Montgomery
Willie Griffin Dies - Arrest of several persons
Austin Statesman, Dec 28 1883