Part 3

In 1882 there was a spurt in street railway construction that is probably without a parallel. Every one that had any money, and some who had none, undertook to build a street railway. The two most important lines were the Queen City Street Railway and the Rosedale Street Railway with the road to Mistletoe Heights as a good third. The latter was constructed from Jennings avenue out Thirteenth street to Ballinger, thence south across the railway to Terrell Avenue, or in that neighborhood and thence west under the Fort Worth & Rio Grande to the Heights. These were where Westmoreland Place is now located. Then there was the Polytechnic Heights Street Railway and another across the river and way out towards Decatur somewhere. The present Traction Company runs over these two latter, and it owns all that was found of value of the Rosedale and Queen City lines. Then there was the "nine-mile belt" that ran all around over the South Side, crossed the Katy and Santa Fe tracks on Magnolia Avenue and wandered around through the Seventh ward somewhere.

Fort Worth was the first city in the United States to have all of its street railways equipped with electric appliances.

GAS WORKS.

On August 31st, 1876, the first gas company was organized with J. P. Smith as President; John Nichols, Treasurer and J. Q. St. Clair, Secretary. A franchise was granted the company. On November 26th. a contract was entered into with John Lockwood, of New Jersey, to construct the works and lay the mains. Some idea of the extent of the plant can be gathered from the fact that it was to cost $20,000. The plant was added to from time to time, as the demand for light increased, until the entire business section was supplied with gas. The works were finally sold to a new company of which Mr. H. C. Scott, of St. Louis, was the principal owner, and it remained under his control until sold to the Fort Worth Light & Power Co., and it in turn transferred the property to the present company.

PACKING HOUSES.

It would be a harrowing tale to relate all the efforts made to provide a packing plant for this city. The Fort Worth Democrat, which had earned a reputation for "seeing things," first made the prediction on April 25th, 1875, that some day Fort Worth would be a large producer of refrigerated meats for export. It harped on this in season and out of season and watched for every opportunity to advance the project. The editor, learning that a man was in Dallas negotiating to establish a plant there, went to that city and formed his acquaintance. It was learned that the Dallas people did not regard the project with much favor. The man, whose name was Richardson only asked that the city make a donation of six acres of ground for the plant. He was told that if he would come to Fort Worth that he could select the ground and that a deed would be delivered to him in an hour. He came and looked over the situation and selected the lands where the Medlin Mill now stands. Fortunately the land belonged to John Peter Smith and it was only necessary to tell Smith what was in the wind and the deed was forthcoming. He erected a small packing plant on the land now occupied by the Medlin Flouring Mills. As he only essayed to kill and refrigerate hogs, and as there were very few hogs in Texas, the plant was shortlived. He soon sold it and went out about Cisco and put in a plant to make plaster from gypsum.

Shortly after this a man by the name of Higgs came to the city and in a few days secured capital to erect a refrigerating plant in the southeast part of the city. He killed a cargo of cattle and sent them to Saint Louis, but that proved like sending coals to Newcastle and his venture was doomed to failure. He sold his plant to Mr. Isaac Dahlman of the firm of Dahlman Bros., the first clothing merchants in the city. He killed cattle and sent them to Liverpool by way of Galveston, but they were so long on the way that they did not arrive in good condition. This ended the third attempt but did not dismay the people of Fort Worth. They believed that this was to become a packing house center and in 1890 thirty men got together and each agreed to put in one thousand dollars and purchase some lands and put up more money, share and share alike, as it was needed. Mr. H. C. Holloway was selected to manage the affairs of the company and he bought lands where the present plants are situated and proceeded to build fences and lots and later on a small packing house. It had a capacity of 250 cattle and 1000 hogs per day. About this time John R. Hoxie came to Fort Worth from Chicago and as it was thought he knew all about the industry, he was induced to put in more money, buy more land and increase the capacity of the yards.

He too made a failure and the plant after a precarious existence was sold to Messrs. Simpson and Niles of Boston, neither of whom were practical packers. Mr. Niles was a business man and under his management with the assistance of Mr. H. A. Judd, still a citizen of Fort Worth, the plant earned money. The owners recognized the fact that the plant did not meet the requirements of the times and with the assistance of some of the public spirited people of the city they enlisted the interest of Armour and Swift and secured the present establishments. Most of the thirty men who put the first money into the plant surrendered their holdings as gifts to make the deal go through.

The corner stone of the new buildings was laid on the 13th day of March, 1902, in the presence of a large concourse of the citizens of the city. Just a year thereafter the first cattle were killed in the new houses. At that time Mr. Armour made the prediction that in ten years Fort Worth would be the second market for cattle in the United States. His prediction was verified.

FIRE DEPARTMENT.

The first attempt to organize a fire company in the city occurred in April, 1873. A meeting for that purpose was called at the court house by the Democrat. When the night arrived it brought with it a "blue norther." There was not sufficient interest in the matter to justify the people in facing the storm and the only person present was the editor of the paper. The following is his report of the meeting:

"Pursuant to notice given in the last number of the Democrat, we proceeded to the court house last Tuesday evening at precisely half past seven, to meet the citizens in mass meeting, for the purpose of becoming a member of the Fort Worth Hook and Ladder Company No. 1. We took our position on the steps of that edifice, and although the stone was a little cool, we heroically held our position until patience ceased to be a virtue. Not a soul put in an appearance. Several who had promised faithfully to be present forgot to keep the appointment.

Determined to carry to a successful completion every project we take in hand, we went to work to organize the meeting. A chairman is essential to any meeting. They are necessary to keep the meeting in order, and give the assemblage proper dignity. We were unanimously chosen chairman and took our seat amid the most profound silence. But a difficulty, wholly unexpected now presented itself. A secretary to keep the record of the proceedings is equally indispensable. There was no one to make secretary. Not to be thwarted by minor obstacles, we finally with much reluctance, consented to assume this arduous position also. Some one was needed to manage the finances and take care of the funds. That being our forte, we assumed the responsible position of treasurer. We then appointed ourself a committee of five to draft resolutions. The resolutions agreeably to an ancient custom at meetings of this kind had been prepared by a friend. We immediately proceeded to adopt them as a whole without debate.

We have procured all the machinery necessary for a first class Hook and Ladder company, viz: a five foot step ladder, a walking stick with a hook on the end, a pint cup and a wet blanket and are now ready to extinguish fire in any part of the city on short notice. All orders promptly executed, day or night.

Dallas can no longer claim to be ahead of Fort Worth. The Herald and News are complaining because they have no fire brigade. Send your orders to Fort Worth, neighbor. If you will let us know a day or two before you intend to have a fire, we will be on hand with our machine.

We are going to give a ba(w)ll pretty soon for the relief of the sufferers by the first fire. Of course we are going to have a fire or there would be no necessity for our Hook and Ladder company, and when there is a fire, of course some one will suffer. Then you will know how it is yourself, dear people."

A second attempt made about a month later was more successful. A goodly number answered the call and a company was organized with Capt. S. P. Greene as President, B. B. Paddock, Secretary and William T. Field as Foreman. There were about sixty members, mostly clerks and mechanics, on the roll and they made up a purse and ordered a hook and ladder truck with all the necessary accoutrements. A series of entertainments were given to raise the funds at one of which a vote was taken at so much per vote for the most popular young lady in the city, who should have the privilege of naming the company. The leading contestants were Miss Sallie Johnson, daughter of Col. M. T. Johnson and Miss Anna T. Harper, a sister of Mrs. B. B. Paddock. Miss Johnson was the successful candidate and the company was named in honor of her father the M. T. Johnson Hook and Ladder Company. It remained as No. 1 until 1893, when the paid fire department was organized, when it passed off the stage. There was never a more enthusiastic and successful band of fire-fighters.

On October 17th, 1876, when city airs were assumed, an engine company was organized, of which Capt. M. B. Loyd was president. He was also the first president of the Fort Worth Fire Department, which was organized after the second company came into existence, and was the accredited delegate to the meeting of the State Fire Department. Other companies followed as the necessity arose and Fort Worth long enjoyed the reputation of having the finest department in the State. When the city took over the management of the fire department and put the men on the payroll, the volunteers were given preference over all applicants and some of them are in service at this writing. When it became a paid fire department, Mr. N. H. Lassiter was the President, and the last meeting was a most affecting occasion. Many of the old "fire-fighters" were opposed to disbanding the volunteer service and laid down the responsibility with great reluctance.

NEWSPAPERS.

"'Twere long to tell what steeds gave o'er, As swept the hunt through Campus-more."

It would be an almost endless task and one the writer will not essay to tell the history of the newspapers of this city. It has been the graveyard of the hopes and aspirations of ambitious men, who without capital, and oft times without experience, have undertaken the work of furnishing an unappreciative public with a newspaper in Fort Worth.

It was on March 7th, 1860, that Fort Worth had its first paper. It was started by a man by the name of Cleveland and was called the Enterprise. How long it continued, and what became of it the writer has been unable the ascertain.

The second attempt was made in October, 1871, when Maj. K. M. VanZandt, John Hanna, W. H. Overton, Capt. Sam Evans and Junius W. Smith bought from Maj. J. J. Jarvis the press and material of a paper at Quitman in Wood county and moved here and started the Fort Worth Democrat. In October, 1872, they sold it to Capt. B. B. Paddock, who assumed management and direction of the paper on the 1st day of January, 1873. He continued the publication until June 30th, 1882, when it was merged with the Live Stock Journal, owned by George B. Loving, and changed to the Fort Worth Gazette, which during its continuance was confessedly the best paper ever printed in this State.

On July 4th, 1876, the Democrat started the first daily paper, coming out as a morning paper on the morning of the Centennial year, unannounced and unheralded, without a single subscriber or a line of advertising. The audacity of the enterprise made a favorable impression on the public-spirited and generous people of the city and they rallied to its support with enthusiasm. But there was neither room nor patronage for a daily morning paper in a city of three thousand people and the patronage, however liberal, would not furnish it with the necessary nourishment and it was a failure financially from start to finish. It was a wide awake and enterprising little sheet, advocating with zeal and enthusiasm every measure that its owner considered for the upbuilding of the city.

In 1873 the Fort Worth Standard made its bow to the public. It was owned and managed by Mr. J. K. Millican who is still a resident of the city. It was followed during the same summer by the Epitomist, established by Will H. Lawrence, who came from Kansas. The panic of 1873 sent it to the happy hunting grounds. On its demise the associate editor, L. R. Brown, better known at that time as "High-toned Brown" leased the material and started The Post, which lasted about three weeks. The public realized that there was not room for two papers, much less three, and failed to accord it any patronage.

The Standard lasted for several years. Soon after the Democrat started its daily, the Standard essayed the same, publishing an evening paper. But it could not find the necessary support and finally succumbed to the inevitable.

The Journal, Mirror, Star, Mail, Tribune, News and many other papers came and went down in the years that followed with rapid succession. The experience of one seemed to have no effect on the ambitions of the men who knew how to run a paper.

In the Spring of 1884 Capt. Paddock sold his interest in the Gazette to Mr. Loving and retired from active newspaper work, although he was interested several times in the property in a financial way.

In 1885 the Gazette was purchased by a stock company organized for that purpose by Maj. VanZandt, Walter Huffman, Morgan Jones, W. G. Turner, W. L. Malone, B. B. Paddock and others who wanted to have a good morning paper in the city. The ownership finally passed into the hands of Mr. W. A. Huffman, who during his lifetime kept it up at great financial sacrifice and loss. But its high standard never faltered. It was a good paper published every day in the week. After the lamentable death of Mr. Huffman, his widow essayed to continue the publication of the paper. It was still conducted at great financial loss. After the panic of 1893, Mrs. Huffman realized that she could no longer stand the strain incident to its publication and she sold the paper to Capt. B. B. Paddock. He had neither desire nor ambition to continue in the business and was only actuated by a wish that the paper should not suspend. He proceeded to organize a stock company to take over the property. He associated Mr. W. L. Malone, then out of business, Mr. E. G. Senter, who was publishing an afternoon paper called the Mail, Hon. Barnett Gibbs, Mr. Sawnee Robinson, Mr. O. B. Colquitt and some others and turned the plant over to them. It proved not to be a very happy family. With the most harmonious effort its success was not a certainty; with discord in the management, it was doomed to disaster. Mr. Paddock transferred his interest to Mr. Malone in order to give him control, hoping thereby to bring about a solution of the trouble. Soon thereafter Mr. Malone died and with his death the paper was doomed. Mr. Senter had associated with him his cousin Selden Williams, who came from Tennessee, to engage in the business. They could not make it a success. In the late summer of 1897 they sold the Associated Press franchise and the subscription list to the Dallas News and suspended publication without a word of warning to the people of the city. It was the most dastardly piece of disloyalty to a town ever perpetrated.

For a long time thereafter Fort Worth was without an organ or an advocate in the way of a daily newspaper. It felt the loss keenly, but there was no one to step into the breach and assume the responsibility of the publication of a paper. There had been such a fatality attending every effort that men hesitated to put their money into another venture. A man by the name of King finally came along and proposed on certain conditions to start a morning paper. The people wanted a paper so much that the conditions were eagerly accepted and Mr. King started the Herald. It lasted about a month. The promoter pocketed the money that had been advanced him and hied himself to new and fresher pastures. Thus the second time the public were betrayed.

When the Gazette was sold to the News it left a large number of men out of employment. They proceeded to organize a co-operative company and publish the Register. They got what business they could at whatever price they could obtain and on Saturday night divided the proceeds among the working force. Among these interested were A. J. Sandegard, J. A. McAllister and Clarence Lee who are still among the honored citizens of the city. The Register grew rapidly in business and favor. The public applauded the nerve of the promoters and gave it such liberal patronage that it had money in the bank--the first time such a thing had happened to a Fort Worth paper. It was finally merged into the Fort Worth Record, which has also been a paying enterprise.

The history of the Star-Telegram, another successful newspaper venture is too recent and too well known to require extended notice in this paper.

HOTELS.

The advent of the railroad created a demand for increased hotel facilities and the public-spirited citizens proceeded to supply the demand. On December 1st, 1876, a company was organized with a capital of $30,000 of which Capt. J. C. Terrell was elected President; W. J. Boaz, Vice-President; J. Q. Sandidge, Treasurer and C. K. Fairfax, Secretary. K. M. VanZandt, W. A. Huffman, W. W. Dunn, J. C. Terrell, J. Q. Sandidge, B. C. Evans, J. E. Streeper, C. K. Fairfax and W. J. Boaz constituted the Board of Directors. It was christened the El Paso Hotel and was opened for business on the 22d day of September, 1877, with seventy-six rooms. It was leased to C. K. Fairfax & Co., who furnished it at a cost of approximately $15,000. It was located where the present Westbrook now stands. Major VanZandt and his family may not like to have it told that he was subjected to no little criticism at the time by some of the people for his action in this connection, but the truth of history requires that personal feelings must not stand in the way of telling the truth about such matters. Major VanZandt owned the land on which it was desired to erect the building and it was asserted that knowing this to be the logical place for the hotel, that he held the company up for an exorbitant price. He put the half block at the fabulous sum of three thousand dollars, payable in stock of the company. It would be interesting to know what the "kickers" if any of them are alive now think of the objections. The Major finally got forty cents on the dollar for his stock which made the price of the half block $1200. The property was finally sold to M. C. Hurley, but the price paid is not available at this writing.

Other hostelries at that time were the Mansion, Clark House, Commercial Hotel and other less pretentious houses, every one of which was "the best in the city."

STAGE LINES.

Prior to 1880, all the passenger business and transportation of the mails for the entire country west of Fort Worth was conducted by stage lines, which radiated from the city as the railroads do now.

The first line of importance and one that attracted the attention of the entire country was the Fort Worth and Fort Concho stage line which ran a daily line from this city to Fort Concho which stood where San Angelo is now located. This was what was known in postoffice parlance as "star route" service.

In 1877 a contract was let by the Post Office Department for a daily line from Fort Worth to Fort Yuma, Arizona, a distance of 1560 miles, the longest stage line in the world. Fort Worth shouted itself hoarse when the announcement was made and a banquet was given the manager of the line, Mr. J. T. Chidester. Bob McCart who had but recently come to the city from Bloomington, Illinois, was the principal speaker on the occasion and one who heard his speech must have been impressed with the fact that this was the greatest commercial enterprise in all history, up to that time. The stages were run through to Yuma in seventeen days. But this was found to be too long. The coyotes and horned frogs that inhabited most of the country beyond the Concho could not afford to wait that long for their mail and so the Second Assistant Postmaster General, at the earnest solicitation of the inhabitants, and the contractors, agreed to increase the compensation one hundred per cent. if the trip could be made in thirteen days--which was easy. It was one of the matters for Congressional investigation of the "Star Route Steal" but they never found Chidester. The mail left Fort Worth in a concord coach pulled by six horses and ran to Tharp Springs, where it was transferred to a surrey with two horses. These went as far as Brownwood, where a buckboard and two bronchos took it the remainder of the way, if they were not interrupted.

THE COURTS.

At that time the Judicial District in which Tarrant county was a part included the counties of Denton, Parker, Wise and Dallas. Hon. Hardin Hart was District Judge. He was an appointee of Edward J. Davis and was not very popular with the bar or the people. He was about as rough a specimen of the genus homo as ever graced the bench. His habits were said not to be very exemplary and this contributed to his unpopularity. He was accustomed to use the vernacular of the bar-room and the poker game. At one time J. C. Terrell proposed to amend his pleadings and the Judge responded, "Now, Joe, you know you can't raise at this stage of the game. Gause stands pat on his general denial and you will have to call or lay down your hand."

He did not hold in very high regard the rules of the Higher Courts or their decisions. On one occasion when James H. Field was arguing a case, the Judge interrupted him and proceeded to render an adverse decision. Field, opening a law book said, "If your Honor please, the Supreme Court says"; Field was not permitted to tell the bench what the Supreme Court said. Interrupting him, the Judge announced, "Well, let the Supreme Court say it agin, if it wants to." It was stated that his rulings were usually correct, notwithstanding his manner of delivering them.

At the March term, 1873, of the District Court, C. C. Cummings, B. B. Paddock and Mr. Albritton were admitted to the bar. The latter was easily the brightest and best of these, but he could not stand the pressure of the hard times that soon set in and left the city, going to San Diego. Cummings and Paddock are the only surviving members of the bar at that time. Major J. J. Jarvis is a close second, he having come to this city in April and formed a partnership with John Peter Smith.

POSTAL MATTERS.