HELENA, TEXAS The Toughest Town on Earth

by Barry Harrin

  Inside the store Deputy Vivvy Barefield was brandishing a shotgun. The storekeeper Kit Dailey, ran out the door just as Barefield fired outside the door. Buckshot hit Dailey in the foot, and he quickly returned to the store.

  Some people claimed that when Dailey returned to the store, he leaped into a flour barrel for survival but Dailey testified at the murder trial that he crouched behind a sugar barrel.

  Deputy Bud Elder was overheard a number of times stating that in any confrontation with the Butler’s he would go for the “old man.” As bullets were flying around him Bud Elder saw 52 year old WGB coming through the gate next to the store.

  Bud opened fire at WGB shooting twice. As both men advanced toward each other, firing at virtually point blank range, the smoke enveloped them. One bullet severed Butler’s ear and the faces of both men received powder burns.229

  The injured Deputy Bud Elder dropped to his knees. He had fired all his rounds as did Butler. Than an unidentified man walked up and shot Elder in the head at close range. Elder was still trying to fire his pistol. He died with his pistol cocked and his finger in the trigger. Elder had been shot down to his knees by both the rifle and the pistol fire.

  He had fired all his rounds and his shooting became impaired as life drained from his body. It appears that someone waited until Elder’s weapon was empty before they dared shoot him in the head with a pistol at close range.

  It was discovered later that Elder had been shot with more bullets than WGB’s revolver would hold, clearly indicating that some of his many wounds were from multiple shooters. It doesn’t appear Elder ever had much of a fighting chance.

  The two brothers Henry and Hiram Pullin had been sitting on boxes next to the gate east of the store before the shooting erupted. Hiram’s son Tom was leaning against the fence nearby. When it was all over Henry was lying by the gate shot through the chest. Hiram tried to run for cover but was hit in the back by a stray bullet when he was just inside the gate. Tom had made it safely to the back of the Dailey store.

  The Mexican enforcers walked calmly to the fence looking down at the seriously wounded Deputy Jack Bailey on the ground. Then they returned to their horses again stopping to look at Sheriff Fate Elder’s bloody and lifeless body … as if to check the quality of their work.

  Andy Nichols the son-in-law of WGB walked out to one of the Mexicans, Epitacio Garza and shook hands with him. Coy and Garza replaced their rifles in their saddle scabbards, mounted up and rode out.

  It appears that the Pullin brothers were unintended victims in the barrage of bullets. Henry Pullin had died instantly while his brother Hiram lasted a few hours.

  A telegram sent to San Antonio brought Dr. Amos Graves on a special train to tend to Deputy Jack Bailey. Bailey’s left knee was shattered. Dr’s Graves and S. G. Bailey had to amputate his leg the next day.230

  Bailey would never speak about his assailant. When his wife asked who had shot him he whispered in her ear. Bailey died shortly after the amputation. His wife never revealed the words he had previously whispered to her.

  Many people felt that the key to the mystery was the “hack” driven to Daileyville by Andy Nichols, WGB’s son-in-law. Many people believed that under those conveniently placed feed sacks and blankets covering the seat and bed of the “hack” were the weapons used in the massacre.

  Tom Pullin claimed that he had been in the back earlier in the day and no guns were to be seen. Here is an interesting side note. Thomas Nolen Pullin, a son of the murdered Hiram Pullin, was in Daileyville that day. He is the great-grandfather of the famous baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan.

  As you can see below even sophisticated New Yorker’s were reading about Juan Coy in the New York Times in 1886 and his part in the Daileyville massacre.

  No one will ever know for sure the truth of the gun battle at Daileyville, Texas. Unbelievably WGB and Sykes Butler were acquitted of murder charges.

  As for the Mexican Juan Coy, it was said of him that when trouble was brewing down in Mexico he would go there “just to be in on the killing.” He finally met his end at a saloon in San Antonio. Coy was unarmed at the time. The story was that after being shot he advanced on his assailant shouting “Shoot me again you SOB.” A second shot rang out as Coy continued to advance and he shouted again. “Shoot me you SOB.” However the third shot was answered only by silence.231

  Today Daileyville, the site of one of the “Old West’s” most violent and premeditated massacres of lawmen, no longer exists. The author, after a two year search, believes the town has now returned to its original state … a desolate, windswept hill overgrown with prairie grass near the San Antonio River.232

  Chapter 23: Helena’s Painful Death

  “The old town of Helena looks like a tree without any leaves on it since the County Seat left. Scarcely a person from outside town is seen on the streets. The boys have taken possession of the old courthouse building and last night they held a kangaroo court.”233

  After the killing of W.G. Butler’s son in 1884 there was a general consensus about Helena that certainly impacted its future. This was reinforced with the news of the massacre at nearby Daileyville. Here are some quotes that will illustrate this point.

  The San Antonio Reporter in 1884 wrote “The County now has an opportunity to place itself on record as a law and order place, but unless a man of courage and judgment is elected to fill the office of Sheriff, county organization ought to be abandoned, and attachment to some adjoining county for judicial purposes ought to be its fate.”

  Also in 1884 the supervisor of the railroad said “If the new rail line could be run around Karnes County, it would be better for everybody.” Clearly, this coming from the railroad that held Helena’s future in their hands was not a positive sign.

  “The town in the late 70’s and 80’s grew to a city of considerable size, only to dwindle down and almost die after the County seat was removed to Karnes City following the building of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway through the County in 1889–1890.”234

  Not long after W. G. Butler yelled “This town killed my son, now I’m going to kill this town,” his revenge began. The first problem began when the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad started construction through Karnes County in 1885.

  The citizens of Helena had the arrogant belief that the railroad needed them as they were one of the larger towns in the area and the railroad had no choice but to give in to Helena’s terms. Therefore they refused to pay a $35,000 bonus or even donate the right-of-way for a rail connection.235

  Colonel Butler, never one to miss a good opportunity, contacted the railroad pioneer and traffic manager, Benjamin Franklin Yoakum. Butler quickly offered Yoakum a free right-of-way through his land subject to one condition: the rails had to be laid far to the west of the San Antonio River and Helena.

  Judge Ruckman got wind of Butler’s offer and frantically raised $32,000 but to no avail. Yoakum had accepted Colonel Butler’s offer. Within a year the line was built on the other side of the river, seven miles southwest of Helena.236

  After the railroad came through the county in 1886 the Ox-Cart Road was abandoned and two new towns, Kenedy and Karnes City, soon sprang up on the line. In 1887, Kenedy became a roundup station for cattle grazing on the open range. It was first located four miles from its present site and named for Mifflin Kenedy, a financier of the railroad. In 1892, Karnes City became a railway shipping point on the new line and within only one year it became the largest town in the county.237

  Colonel Butler’s so called curse of Helena became a reality. Soon stores, businesses, and homes began to move to Karnes City and its new rail connection. To add insult to injury, on December 21, 1893 a countywide election was held to choose a county seat.

  Karnes City received 862 votes, while only 120 people wanted the county seat to remain in Helena.238 On January 2, 1894 the Commissioners’ Court ordered the county records moved from Helena to Karnes City.

  Losing the election was a bitter pill to s
wallow for the furious residents of Helena who refused to turn over the records. A group of Karnes City men decided that the safest way to carry out the mandate of the court was to literally steal the county seat under cover of darkness.

  To accomplish this they stealthily brought twenty horse-drawn wagons into Helena one night, essentially appropriating all the County records and files. As a face-saving gesture, a single guard from the now-ghost town resigned himself to riding “shot-gun” on one of the wagons.239

  It must have been a depressing time for those who loved Helena and had expended so much time and energy to build the town. They had courageously fought against Helena’s detractors and enemies and finally had to admit defeat.

  As this official letter from the Tax Assessor demonstrates, by 1896 all the official parts of county government had moved to Karnes City, the new County seat. It had to be clear to everyone that Helena’s best years were behind her.

  The revenge of W.G. Butler was complete. He had plunged a knife in the heart of the town that killed his son … and then watched it fall and die!

  Chapter 24: The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez

  Gregorio Lira Cortez was a tenant farmer and vaquero in Karnes County Texas. After killing two South Texas lawmen in the early 1900’s, he became the greatest folk hero to Tejanos, and brought terror and fear to the Anglos of Texas. Over a ten day period he reawakened an anger and courage to fight against Anglo domination, absent since the time of Juan Cortina.

  During those 10 days Cortez was chased by the Texas Rangers and a posse of as many as 300 heavily armed men. Although this was one of the largest manhunts in history, he eluded them while traveling almost 400 miles on horseback and more than 100 miles on foot. To the Anglos he was a blood-thirsty murderer. To the Mexican-Americans of Texas he was a symbol in their fight against oppression and racism.240

  In 1889 at the age of fourteen Gregorio Cortez moved to Karnes County with his older brother Romaldo. Gregorio and Romaldo worked as vaqueros, farm workers and common laborers from then until 1901.241

  According to Texas State Prison records in Huntsville, Gregorio Cortez’s height was approximately five-feet nine-inches tall, his weight was 144 pounds, his hair black and wavy, his eyes as dark brown and his complexion as ”medium dark.”242

  On June 12, 1901 Karnes County Sheriff W. T. “Brack’ Morris while investigating a horse theft, went to the Thulemeyer ranch outside of Kenedy where Gregorio and Romaldo Cortez were tenant farmers.243

  Morris was 41 years old and had spent half his life in law enforcement. He was a former Texas Ranger and had been Karnes County Sheriff since 1896 and in 1901 was serving his third term. He was not a big man but had a reputation as being fast and accurate with his revolver.244

  After Sheriff Morris discovered that Gregorio had acquired a mare in a trade with Andres Villarreal from Kenedy, Morris came out to the Cortez place seeking a horse thief described only as “… a medium-sized Mexican with a big red broad-brimmed Mexican hat.245 He decided to question the Cortez brothers. During the questioning, there was a misunderstanding between Morris and the Cortez brothers resulting from poor translation by his Deputy Boone Choate.

  Apparently the Deputy did not speak Spanish as well as he thought. Allegedly, Gregorio’s brother Romaldo told Gregorio, “Te quieren” (“Somebody wants you”). Deputy Choate interpreted this to mean “You are wanted,” indicating that he was indeed the wanted man they were after.

  Choate apparently asked Cortez if he had traded a “caballo” (“horse”) to which he answered “no” because he had traded a “yegua” (“mare”). A third misinterpretation

  involved another response from Cortez, who told the sheriff and deputies, “No me puede arrestar por nada” (“You can’t arrest me for nothing”), which Morris understood as “A mi no me arresta nadie” and translated as “No white man can arrest me… After that, things went from bad to worse, as Morris shot and wounded Romaldo, prompting Gregorio to shoot and kill Morris.

  Cortez and his bleeding and feverish brother Romaldo waited in the brush until dark. They quietly made their way into Kenedy, about 9 miles away, where Gregorio left his wounded brother with the Cortez family on the outskirts of town.

  Cortez, escaped by walking almost 80 miles in about 40 hours, to the ranch of Martín and Refugia Robledo on the property of Mr. Schnabel near Belmont.

  Acting on a tip Gonzales County Sheriff Glover and his posse stormed the Roblado house and cornered Cortez. There was an exchange of gunfire Glover and Constable Schnabel were shot dead. Cortez was blamed for both deaths, although in the heat of battle Schnabel was called by a drunken Deputy. Cortez escaped again by walking almost a 100 miles to the home of Ceferino Flores. Flores, a friend, provided him with a pistol, horse and saddle. He then headed toward Laredo, Texas on the Mexican border.

  Meanwhile Cortez’s wife Leonor and the children, Cortez’s mother, and his sister-in-law María were illegally put in the Karnes City jail while posses mobilized to catch Cortez. On June 22, 1902 around noon on his twenty-sixth birthday Cortez walked into the sheep camp of Abrán de la Gárza. Jesús González, known as “El Teco.” spotted Cortez and knew who he was.246

  Gonzalez was either a good citizen or interested in the $1,000 reward contributed by the governor and the Karnes citizens. He quickly led Captain J. H. Rogers of the Texas Rangers and K. H. Merrem, a posse man, to the sheep camp. They got the drop on Cortez and arrested him before he could shoot his way out.

  After his jailing in San Antonio a long legal battle fight began. The Miguel Hidalgo Workers’ Society of San Antonio and other workers’ organizations collected funds in Texas and Mexico. The end results of this large fund raising effort united the Tejano communities throughout South Texas.

  Because of the hysteria over Morris’s death in Karnes County, officials feared the citizens would hang him at the Karnes City jail … so they wisely moved him to the jail in San Antonio.

  Cortez was charged and tried separately for murdering the three lawmen. His trials were rarities in an era when any Mexican American accused of killing a Texas law officer stood little chance of living long enough to appear in court.247

  When he was tried in Gonzales for killing Schnabel a deadlocked jury reduced the charge to second-degree murder before agreeing on a conviction. While he was in the Gonzales jail, a mob tried unsuccessfully to lynch him. He was transported to Karnes City where he was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering Morris. A third trial in Columbus, Texas ended with a life sentence for killing Glover.

  However, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned all the verdicts. His last trial was in Corpus Christi in 1904 after which he began serving a life sentence. Efforts to have him pardoned began with his incarceration and finally succeeded in 1913 when Governor Oscar Colquitt issued him a conditional pardon.248

  The story of Gregorio Cortez spread like wildfire from Karnes County to every Hispanic community in Texas and the Southwest in a very short time. What’s amazing is that this was a time before the advent of radio, TV or the internet. Through word of mouth and the ubiquitous corrido or ballad, a form of folk song, his story went viral.249

  These unique songs were highly stylized and in many cases romantic stories regarding the plight of Hispanic people along the Texas-Mexico border. One of the most famous corridos of the late nineteenth and twentieth century was the one from Karnes County. “El Corrido De Gregorio Cortez” was sung in ranch houses, homes and cantinas throughout South Texas.

  When the Mexican Revolution gripped the north, Gregorio joined the Huerta forces but was wounded so he had to return to Manor, Texas. After he recovered he moved to Anson, Texas in 1916 where he died at the home of a friend at the age of forty-one. Gregorio Cortez is buried in a small cemetery eight miles outside of Anson.250

  One thing we do know, Gregorio Cortez was a very resourceful man and until he was betrayed, he had outwitted and eluded hundreds of the best lawman in Texas.

  Chapter 25: Today the Ghosts R
oam Freely

  Today the town of Helena is but a whispering ghost of her former self. The population has dwindled to less than 75 people. The remaining buildings from the 1860s and 1870s are sadly in need of repairs and restoration.

  At night, under a black, star filled sky, sounds ricochet off old buildings like gunshots. The primary noises you hear are an occasional car stopping at one of the two rowdy saloons, mixed with the sound of barking dogs.

  Although Helena is now a whispering ghost of her past greatness, occasionally she will give up a historical bone or two from her past life. In doing original historical research for this book, my sons and I have found some fascinating clues relating to day to day life in Old Helena. Here are just a few of the relics that allowed us, in a small way, to view a slice of life in old Helena:251