Legends and tales of people and events abound in every region. Before any territory is settled, it is wild and unknown, full of mystery, intrigue, and of course the proper setting for the creation of heroes and fools.
This is a True Texas Tale written by Jeanine Plumer.
In the early days, it truly was a brave soul who ventured into the unknown and potentially perilous terrain known as Texas. Three individuals stand out old Newt Harrell, Strap Buckner and Moses Evans.
The Harrell family was one of the few families who actually lived in Austin before it was Austin, when it was known as Waterloo. Their cabin and stockade were located where Shoal Creek flows into the Colorado River. The family eventually became important members of the community.
Old Newt was a distant relative who preferred the absolute isolation provided by the unfriendly lands and West of the family settlement in downtown Austin. Old Newt Harrell was a practical joker. He once played a joke on a politician. The unnamed politician had at some point made a remark questioning Newt’s intelligence, and Newt never forgot the insult. So, when the time came for the politician to run for office, he rode around the countryside campaigning. Eventually, he made it to Newt’s place. Newt was ready.
In a friendly, neighborly kind of way, Newt invited the candidate to see his hogs. He had some shelled corn in a barrel, and Newt asked the candidate to reach in and give him a handful to throw to the hogs. When the candidate reached into the barrel, Newt upended him in the barrel and yelled for his son to bring a rope. They tied the candidate up and Newt laid him out in the middle of the lot, scattering corn all around, and then called the hogs. Newt picked up two piglets and ran over the candidate, encouraging the hogs to follow. Squealing and chomping their jaws all the way. The pigs followed him. The candidate was scared out of his wits. He cursed old Newt and swore that when he would kill him.
Old Newt, thoroughly enjoying himself, he said he wouldn’t let him up until the candidate stated that he was not mad anymore and promised not to hurt Newt.
Many of Old Newt’s jokes were thought up on the spur of the moment.
Once, he went into Austin to order some lightning rods. On the day they were to be delivered, Newt happened to be on his way to town and met the delivery wagon not far from his home. He thought it would be funny to have the rods delivered to his neighbor, a widow.
“The house is just over the hill, he told the men. You go on over and put the rods up. I’ve got to go to town, but I’d better tell you about my wife” he said, he added. “She’s dead set against getting any lighten rods and might try to keep you from putting them up. But don’t pay no attention to her. She’s not quite right. I’ve bought the rods and paid for them and I want you to put them up. Now whatever she says, you just go right ahead and put them up”. And he drove on.
The men found the designated place and began setting up the lightning rods. With the first sound of their Hammers, the widow came out and asked what they were doing. They told her they were just going to put up some lightning rods. She said that she didn’t want any lightning rods and had not bought any. The men went on with their work, telling her soothingly that it was all right.
“Now, I told you, I don’t want these rods and I don’t won’t pay for them. And I mean it. You take them down and away from here”, she told them. The men assured her that it was all right, that the rods were paid for and kept on working. This was too much. She went back into the house and brought out her old shotgun and leveled it on them.
“I don’t know what’s got into all”, she said evenly. “But I told you, I don’t want those things and I won’t have them. And if you don’t take them down right now and leave, I’ll blow your brains out”.
This was more than the men had bargained for, but they made one last effort. “Lady, your husband bought these rods and paid for them and told us to put them up, regardless of what you might say”.
“Why, I’ve been a widow for over 20 years”, she exclaimed. But we met a man who said he was your husband back on the road.
“What did he look like?”
“Well, he’s a great big man with red hair and a brushy red beard all over his face”. “Old Newt”, the widow exclaimed. She lowered her gun and directed the men to Newt’s place, taking the joke good naturedly, since Newt was a fine neighbor in every other way.
Strap Buckner was a character worth remembering as well.
Many years ago, Strap, a trapper, built a cabin West of Austin.
He was a bully who took particular delight in driving off other trappers. Whenever there was another fur buyer or trader in the neighborhood, Strap appeared on the scene to boss him around and pick a fight. Usually he was the victor of any scrap that ensued. On one occasion, when several buyers, traders and settlers were gathered together, one of them told of a swarm of bees which he had seen in the split between the branches of a large tree on the banks of the river. Hearing this Strap, the well known Honey lover, immediately Led, a party of several men to the tree, which he announced he would climb and collect the honey. While climbing, Strap made so much noise that he aroused the bees. Infuriated, they swarmed about him. Straps easily inflamed, temper flared into action. Locking his legs around the trunk and holding onto a limb of the tree with his left hand, he struck out furiously with his right hand and hit the fork of the tree so hard that it crashed to the ground. Strap continued to battle with the bees until his eyes were swollen shut. Then he dropped 50 feet to the ground and was given first aid by the men who had accompanied him. Strap soon recovered, but he vowed vengeance on any bees that should thereafter be found in his region.
Bees did get the best of him once again.
On a spring day, Strap was riding along on his famous pitching horse en route to a small trading post near Pflugerville, next to Brushy Creek. As he came over the Crest of a Limestone Ridge, he rode right into a swarm of bees, looking for a new home. At once, the bees began to attack Strap and his horse. The bees and Strap battled it out all the way to the Trading Post, where the horse finally became so maddened that he threw Strap from his back. Hours later, Strap was able to drive off the bees. Blinded from the Stings, he made his way to a Creek, where he spent three days soaking his eyes to relieve the pain and restore his sight.
Strap had previously announced that he would allow no one to settle in his self imposed territory. One day, he inevitably heard that a family had located a homestead in what he considered his vicinity. At once, strap went off to oust the offending family. When he arrived at the enclosure around the house, he dismounted, kicked down the gate, and stalked around the house to the back. There he found the settler, a man taller and stronger than himself, busily engaged in removing honey from a hollow log. The bees were not pleased with the proceedings, but the settler knew his bees and refused to allow them to get the upper hand. Straps stopped, watching in amazement, having only been bested by bees. When the stranger completed his job, Strap approached and held out his hand and said howdy stranger. Shake. If you can handle those bugs, you’re a better man than Strap Buckner.
And then there was Moses Evans, A man, who never called one place home.
He was a wanderer, and the vistas and valleys surrounding this area held a special place in his wild heart. Moses, known to his peers as the Wild Man, had a large sunburned face, fiery red hair, deep set black eyes, and a beard that went past his waist. He always wore a snakeskin vest, which he had made himself, and rode around the countryside on a mule. Nobody commanded the respect of every tracker and surveyor like Moe’s. He loved the wilderness, and he enjoyed the attention his appearance drew. At one point, a man from New York, caught sight of him and was so impressed by Moses’s that he offered to pay his passage and expenses to New York, if he would agree to be as a display World Fair. Flattered and excited to see the big city, Moses designed and sewed an outfit made out of animal skin to wear at the fair. Unfortunately, Moses was never to meet greater fame. Just before he was to embark on his journey to the North, he became sick and died.
Among the many tales and legends found in Texas, there are many which originate from the African American community. One such story has been carried through time by word of mouth. Ike’s dream.
Slave owner Jim Turner was a good natured man. He had a fondness for telling long stories woven out of what he claimed to be his dreams, and especially liked to share his dreams with Ike, his slave, who was a house servant. Every morning, he would ask Ike to tell him about what he had dreamt the night before. It always seemed to Ike that Turner’s dreams were wild, exaggerated tales. One morning, when Ike entered Jim’s bedroom, he found Jim just getting out of bed. “Ike”, he said. “I certainly had a strange dream last night”. “So you did”, answered Ike. “Let me hear it”.
“All right”, replied Jim. “It was like this, I dreamt I went to a slave heaven and there were old wooden houses, broken fences. Dirt streets and slaves walking all over the place”.
Said Ike. “You must have dreamt the same thing I did last night. I dreamt I went up to the white man’s heaven and the streets were made of gold and silver, with pearly gates and lots of milk and honey, but there wasn’t a soul in the whole place”.