Dac Crossley's Western Blog

Clara Driscoll, Texas Powerhouse

Among the strong women of Texas, Clara Driscoll takes a prize. Philanthropist, political mover and shaker, she’s remembered fondly by Texans as the “Savior of the Alamo.”

Born on Copano Bay, she was the only daughter of Robert Driscoll, an immigrant who developed a multimillion dollar ranching empire. Educated in Europe, then a resident of Long Island, Clara eventually returned to Austin. She never lost her Texas roots.

For her obituary, Time magazine reported:

“Money player. Politicians soon learned to respect her. She could drink, battle, cuss and connive with the best of them, practically outspending all of them.”

It was Adina de Zavala (more later) who recruited Clara Driscoll into the second “Battle of the Alamo.” The grocery firm Hugo & Schmeltzer owned the site and planned to sell it to a Hotel developer. Adina recruited Clara Driscoll into the fight to save the Alamo. Clara practically bought the Alamo herself and gave it to the State of Texas. Eventually, Texas reimbursed her.

Clara’s brother Robert Driscoll, Jr., operated a large cattle ranch on Petronila creek. We who grew up in south Texas remember the whistle stop Driscoll (1904) on the StB&M railroad and Robstown (1906) on the Tex-Mex line, both named for Robert. He became an important financier in Corpus Christi. For several years, Driscoll town was a notable speed trap.

But it’s the Driscoll Hotel in Corpus Christi that lives in my memory. Clara built it to commemorate her brother Robert, and she resided in its twentieth-story penthouse. The Driscoll and the Nueces hotels stood out in the skyline. In the 1930’s, driving to Corpus, my brother and I would watch for those two landmarks visible far down the highway.

The rumor was that Clara was denied lodging in the Nueces hotel one evening. She vowed to build her own hotel next door so she could spit onto the Nueces hotel. Except – she didn’t say “spit.”

Dac Crossley
1/25/2011

“Politeness was invented by wise men to keep fools at a distance. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Strong Women of Texas

There were many – still are – but my number one candidate for Strong Woman would have to be Miriam “Ma” Ferguson.

When her husband Governor Jim Ferguson was impeached, his bank failed and they were penniless. Miriam held things together with butter and egg money.

In 1924 Jim tried to run again but the counts barred him. So Miriam entered the race as “Ma” Ferguson and was elected governor, defeating Republican George Butte. She was Texas’ first woman governor and nearly the first woman governor in the US – Nellie Ross of Wyoming was inaugurated 2 weeks before Ma was.

Her first term didn’t go well – she issued many pardons and was accused of taking bribes. She was elected again in 1932, nosing out Governor Ross Sterling who was blamed for the depression (sound familiar?).

Ma Ferguson fought the KKK and opposed prohibition. She continued to issue pardons, acceptable because she was reducing State expenses. Likely she did not say, “If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for the children of Texas.”

Ma hated the Texas Rangers. When she deposed Governor Sterling, most Rangers resigned in protest. Two who did not – Tom Hickman and Manual Gonzuallas – had the onerous task of escorting her to her inauguration. She promptly fired them, along with all remaining Rangers. She then appointed her own Rangers.

Subsequently, under the next Governor (James Allred), the Department of Public Safety was created and the Texas Rangers safely ensconced there. Walter Prescott Webb, in his classic history The Texas Rangers, thought that the move effectively abolished the Rangers.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Can we thank “Ma” Ferguson for de-politicizing the Rangers?

Dac Crossley
1/13/2011

“Maybe the Old West wasn’t so uncivilized after all. A Colt six-shooter required great skill to us; a 9 mm Glock with a 33-round clip allows a deranged weakling to become an efficient killer.” – Jim Barnes, Awards Director, Independent Publisher.

Where have you gone?

The West changes, and with it our habits drift silent and unmarked. Was it really a simpler time? Do we age almost unknowingly, our losses slipping by, unnumbered?

Kodachrome. What have you done, Kodak? No more Kodachrome? There’s still some color film to be out there, ever more rare, now almost exotic. Remember Kodachrome with ASA 10? Photographs of Christmas lights, 20 seconds at f8? The cartridge into a mailer to Decatur, Georgia, and your slides back before Christmas Eve. Projected against a white wall, oohs and ahhs. My word processor doesn’t recognize “kodachrome.”

Western Union. Telegrams slipped away quietly when long-distance telephone service became self-dialed. In my youth telegrams were quicker, more reliable than telephones. Remember those calls home, patched from city to city, operator to operator? And then, nobody home? For years, Western Union remained useful for sending money to stranded relatives. How would you quickly send money to someone today? I don’t know.

Radio Antennas. Or aerials, sometimes. In south Texas, you couldn’t get WOAI in San Antonio without a good antenna (120 on the dial of your Atwater Kent). The antenna in your automobile ran under the upholstery above your head. Later, a whip sticking out of your fender. Driving through west Kansas at night we heard KVOO in Tulsa; further west, only static. Now that whip antenna is gone, too. How do they do it? (Where is KVOO?).

I stand on the sidelines. Join me, and watch our past drift away. Typewriters? VCRs? Little Orphan Annie? Printed books? What next?

Please tell me it’s getting better!

Dac Crossley.
1/8/2010

“A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow.” - Charlotte Brontë

The Usual Suspects

We suspects of a certain age have learned, at last, to be cautious about New Years Resolutions. We’ve learned to focus our eyes on the moment – the unexpected ray of sunshine, the flit of a mockingbird – and to anticipate little more than the certainty of the vernal equinox.

The temptation is still there. The note pad awaits a short list of desiderata for the coming year. Resist!

I can cheerfully review the victories of 2010 while observing that they weren’t foreseen last January. Among them:

- Twenty pounds lighter (thanks to a bout with shingles)
- Publication of Escape from the Alamo
- New comfortable teeth
- Gardening in containers on the deck
- Avoiding the cruise ship disaster

And Christmas back in Texas, family, good food and good friends. Well - that was foreseeable, at least.

Back when I was professoring I urged my students to put together a 90-day plan, a quarter’s worth of goals. Choose carefully, I warned, choose only two or three. They can signal a successful quarter.

In that spirit I hereby offer my 90-day objectives for winter 2011.

- Lose ten more pounds (it’s doable!)
- Write 20,000 words, about a page a day.

If I’ve accomplished those small objectives by April first, I’ll call it a victorious winter.

Wish me luck.

Dac Crossley
1/1/2011

"Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every New Year find you a better man." - Benjamin Franklin