"Rockdale's 1st Law Officer" by Jeanne Williams.Temple Daily Telegram:

Rockdale’s 1st Law Officer

by Jeanne Williams - Temple Daily Telegram

May 14, 2012

ROCKDALE - Hugh L. Witcher’s life in Rockdale was never the kind that would have placed

him in historic oblivion.

He moved to the new railroad town in the early 1870s, became the town’s first marshal,

was a county deputy sheriff, opened a money-making mercantile, established a coal eggette

company, was a postmaster, an elector in the 1896 presidential election, opened a new

bank, was a Freemason and is among documented lists of Rockdale’s leading residents.

He arrived in Texas during a time when “Yankees built the railways and the railways have

built Texas,” according to the 1893 book titled “History of Texas: Together with a

Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties.”

Witcher, a former Union soldier, had no problem blending into the new town. Witcher

settled in Rockdale when the town was first being built to work as a carpenter.

Witcher was born Nov. 19, 1839, in Macon County, Tenn., and moved with his parents to

Illinois. He grew up as a farmer and learned the carpentry trade. During the Civil War,

Witcher enlisted in the Union Army, serving in Company I, 6th Illinois Cavalry, with

which he served until the close of the hostilities. He took part in daring and

destructive raids during the war. He received his discharge at Selma, Ala., in April

1865.

Following his military service, Witcher returned to Illinois and later moved to

Mississippi, working as a farmer until moving to Texas in 1873.

Shortly after taking up residence in the new railroad terminus, Witcher was elected city

marshal of Rockdale at the first municipal election held in June 1874. He was credited in

accounts with “discharging its delicate and difficult duties acceptably to the people

these four years covering the turbulent period of Rockdale when the office was by no

means sinecure (without care),” according to the “History of Texas.” Witcher’s standing

in the community was not affected by an Aug. 10, 1874, incident in which he accidentally

shot the town’s first mayor, A.A. Burck.

The incident began with the arrest of “a stockman by the name of Olive” that led to a

“little misunderstanding” between the marshal and his prisoner. In his official capacity

as marshal, Witcher “struck the prisoner over the head with a loaded six-shooter, which

went off, the ball striking the city mayor, Mr. A.A. Burck, in the neck, inflicting a

slight flesh wound,” according to the “History of Texas.” The lawman’s career as city

marshal temporarily ended about the same time he was indicted on a charge of assault with

intent to murder in an incident likely related to his job. He was eventually fined $1 on

the conviction for a lesser charge.

After leaving the Rockdale police force, Witcher served for a time as a deputy sheriff of

Milam County.

He also operated a saloon in Rockdale. A minor incident at his establishment became state

news in 1877. A Galveston newspaper and The Rockdale Messenger reported that Witcher

“killed a large centipede which he found crawling leisurely across the floor of his

saloon one night last week. These are the kinds of insects a fellow who patronizes bar

rooms too freely gets into his boots.”

In 1878, Witcher was elected to a third term as Rockdale city marshal, but resigned a few

months later to embark in the mercantile business in partnership with J.R. Rowland.

His partner later sold his interest to J.F. Coffield when the firm became Witcher &

Coffield.

The “History of Texas: Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson,

Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties” included an article on Witcher, describing

him as a senior member of the firm Witcher & Coffield, merchants of Rockale.

“Witcher’s career, though unpretentious, has thus been diversified and has not been

lacking in that kind of experience which qualifies one in the highest degree for

appreciating the struggles of others, as well as fitting him for the successful discharge

of every duty as a citizen,” according to the “History of Texas.”

He was praised for the large measure of success he achieved starting with “comparatively

little or nothing” through “topsoil, hardships and uncertainties.”

“The splendid mercantile establishment of which he is the head may be said to be in a

large measure the concrete embodiment of his principles and methods, the visible

expression of the mental and moral motives of his life,” according to the biographical

sketch. “Upon the career which has culminated with the aid of his associates in the

building up of this interest, he did not enter with the impulsive or capricious flight of

genius, but under the steady and firm propulsion of sound, practical sense and his

conduct has at all times been accentuated by the same steadfastness of purpose, the same

persevering industry and the same practical sagacity with which he began his career.”

The firm of Witcher and Coffield, dealers in hardware, implements, furniture, saddles and

harness, was the largest of its kind in Milam County, carrying a full stock in all these

lines and doing a business varying from $80,000 to $90,000 a year, according to the

“History of Texas.”

Besides this interest, Witcher held stock in a number of local enterprises either

individually or as a member of the firm, the principal of these being the First National

Bank, the oil mills, the waterworks, the electrical light plant and the coal mines.

In 1884, Witcher and Ruth Stribling were married and honeymooned in Galveston.

Witcher’s political stance varied from being a Democrat to a “dyed-in-the wool”

Republican. In 1896 Witcher was an elector in the controversial presidential election

that saw Republican William McKinley defeat Democrat William Jennings Bryan.

Hugh Witcher died May 19, 1906, in Rockdale at age 67, leaving an estate with an

estimated value of $50,000. He was buried in the Old City Cemetery.

jwilliams@tdtnews.com

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Jeanne Williams and the Temple Daily Telegram