jack Harris, who are you? (Houston, San Antonio: home, theatre, live)

[gy2020]

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...kHarrisjpg.jpg

Jack Harris was born in a family of girls in Connecticut. His mother was a Putnam, of the famed Gen. Putnam. In later years, the family produced the Putnam publishing company and the Putnam responsible for the Publishing empire was involved with Emilia Earhart, famed female pilot, but those are other stories and came in later years. Jack Harris lived near the ocean and when he was 12 years old he ran away form home and went to sea.

His travels took him all over the world and he eventually wound up in San Francisco, where he ran into William Walker. Walker persuaded Harris to join him in the Nicaragua Expedition. On May 4, 1855 William Walker, with 57 men (including Jack Harris) were brought in as mercenaries. In Nicaragua they were joined by 120 other Americans and native soldiers and conquered the Country. Walker eventually set himself up as President.
Check wiki for more details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_(soldier)

Jack Harris had been captured and was about to be executed when William Walker was able to save him. After Harris was saved, he decided to leave Nicaragua and headed back to the states. William Walker stayed back and was later captured himself. Walker was turned over to local authorities who executed him by firing squad in 1860.

Harris got into Texas in 1860 and was hired as a trail guide for a few months and then went to San Antonio where he became a police officer. He worked in the department for a few months and the Civil War started.

[ChrisSA_wxatUIW]

....

that had nothing to do with Houston....

(it was interesting though...)

[gy2020]

ChrisSA:
This story really has nothing to do with Sam Houston. It has to do with the feud that goes on between San Antonio and Austin. I'll be getting to it soon. Taking a break from computer a minute.

[gy2020]

Ben Thompson and Jack Harris served together in the Confedercy and were served in Galveston. There was a Union ship that was blocking the harbor. Harris, Thompson and others boarded the ship at night and captured the sailors. Upon boarding the ship they found that it had a stockpile of whisky below deck. The locked up the sailors and spent the evening drinking up the stock before turning it over to authorities the next day.

I have a friend of mine, Crystal Brook, who will be assisting me on info on Jack. She and I were going to write a book some twenty years ago that we never finished. Maybe...

I'm sure she'll add some detail here. During the Civil War Jack suffered a leg injury in one of the skirmishes. He always walked with a cane thereafter.

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Ben Thompson and his brother Bill went on to terrorize the South and the West after the War. Jack returned to San Antonio and went back to the police department. He worked as an officer for a few years and got to be friends with Capt. Peneloza and together they established the Bull's Head Saloon. This was about 1868. And then by 1872 Harris bought out the Vaudeville Theatre on Main Plaza. The owner of the property, Sam Smith was an established rancher and a property owner. Smith became like a father figure to Harris. The Smith family went on to be one of the pioneering banking families in San Antonio.

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[gy2020]

During the 1870's, Jack Harris became very influencial in the city of San Antonio. He headed up the Democratic Party and you needed to be his friend to be nominated for a city or county position. He was a man who owned no land but wielded power over the community. He also never served any office other than being head of the Democratic Party. He ran his saloon, the Vaudeville Theatre (the first theatre named Vaudeville in the U.S.) and he also ran the 101 Club above the cigar store.

He made many trips to New York City to find entertainment for his theatre.

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In the meantime, Ben Thompson was always taking up for his younger brother Bill who would get into some kind of trouble.

[gy2020]

I found a pretty good article on Ben Thompson, check out this site. Ben Thompson

It looks like trouble was always searching for Ben Thompson.

When Ben Thompson owned the Iron Front Saloon in Austin a young man worked for known as Billy Simms. This was in the early 1870's. Simms later left Thompson and went to work for Jack Harris. At this time, Thompson and Harris were still friends.

Over the years, Harris kept making his trips to New York and assisted the Vaudeville with new acts. He also became more influencial as the years passed. And then one day, in 1880, Ben Thompson came to the 101 Club and began gambling with Joe Foster, Jack Harris' Faro player. Ben Thompson lost a lot of money and accused Joe Foster of cheating. Ben pulled out his watch and over priced it and tried to continue playing, eventually he lost it and a feud began. Jack Harris came in and tried to resolve everything. Ben Thompson switched his hatred from Joe Foster to Jack Harris, claiming their both crooks.

Ben had just recently been elected Marshall of Austin. He left San Antonio and returned to Austin but pledged it wasn't over and that he would come back and clean up San Antonio.

[gy2020]

Oh, I do need to mention right here, the articles written and the photographs included are copyrighted 2008, by Gary W. Yantis. Enjoy, who knows...

[ChrisSA_wxatUIW]

Originally Posted by gy2020

ChrisSA:
This story really has nothing to do with Sam Houston. It has to do with the feud that goes on between San Antonio and Austin. I'll be getting to it soon. Taking a break from computer a minute.

I ment the city- isn't this the guy Harris County is named after? or am I just getting this all mixed up?

[gy2020]

Harris County is the county seat of Houston, but two different people.
Here is quote from the Handbook of Texas:
"The pioneers, including Nathaniel Lynch, William Scott, and John R. Harris, chose sites along Buffalo Bayou, the San Jacinto River, and the San Jacinto estuary. Between 1828 and 1833, when Austin's colonization effort virtually ended, twenty-three more families secured titles elsewhere in the county, usually along watercourses. In 1826, John R. Harris laid out Harrisburg on his league where Brays Bayou joined Buffalo Bayou, the head of navigation. He opened a store and built a saw and grist mill, while his brothers captained vessels between there and New Orleans and even Tampico. By 1833 Harrisburg was an established port of entry for immigrants and freight destined for the upper Brazos River communities of San Felipe and Washington. Moreover, it was the hub for east-west roads. Eastward from Harrisburg in 1830, travelers crossed the San Jacinto River on Lynch's Ferry on their way to Anahuac, Liberty, or Nacogdoches."
Here is the entire article in the Handbook of Texas:
Handbook of Texas Online - HARRIS COUNTY

[TexanMutt]

gy2020- have you read Elton Cude's "The Wild and Free Dukedom of Bexar"?