Chapter Selection: 1, 2, 3, 4

4.

What about some of the men that took part in that fight?

Frank Jackson, the only survivor was one of six children born to Robert and Phoebe Jackson on 10th of June 1856. Both his parent died when he was still young, his Father Robert who was a blacksmith died in 1863, and his mother died a year later, leaving him and his three brothers and two sisters to be brought up by a maternal uncle, Joseph Barker . After living in Arkansas for a time he arrived in Denton along with the other members of his family and they were taken in by various families, Frank being taken in by A Dr. R.S. Ross. He later moved in with Ben F. Key,( his brother -in-law), and led a fairly honest life, but his restlessness got him into trouble in the autumn of 1876 when he shot a coloured man called Henry Goodall, with whom he had a dispute over a horse. He was never indicted or prosecuted for this, and the fact that he got away with this crime soon led him to join up with Sam Bass. His cousin who had betrayed Sam and the Gang to the Rangers, James Murphy, must have had contact with him after the Round Rock incident because in the Archives in Austin is a letter from him to Major Jones dated August 27th 1878 in which he says…"Well, Major Jones, I received a message from frank Jackson this morning, he wants to no of me if thare is any thing he can do to get his self reprevd he ses that he will lay the plan to catch Underwoodand all the rest of the crowd if I will have him turned loose I told hin I would write to you to see what could be done he ses he was persuaded into it and is tired of that kind of life and will do anything in the world to get repreved and I am sadisfied that him and his brother can work up a job on the hole crowd let me hear from you soon." This letter was written on paper with the letterhead T.W. Daugherty Banker and Exchange dealer. His grammar wasn't the best , and we don't know Jones response. It was rumoured that Jackson lived out his natural lifetime on a ranch in new Mexico according to the writings of Walter Prescott Webb.

The Ranger credited with shooting Seabourne Barnes and mortally wounding Bass was Dick Ware. His full name was Richard Clayton Ware, and he was born in Rome Georgia on November 11th 1851, came to Texas in 1870, and joined the Rangers on April 1st1876. On that fateful day on Round Rock he had been in the barbers shop when the shooting started, and still had foam on his face when he rushed out and shot Barnes. There was some question as to who shot Barnes for a while but Bass is supposed to have verified that it was the man with shaving foam on his face that did it. Some say it was Ranger Connors, but Connors himself gives the credit to Ware. He also says that Ware gave Bass the fatal shot in the kidneys aswell .
He took up the post of Sheriff in the newly named County of Mitchell after leaving the Rangers for this job around 1881. he held the job for eleven years when he was beaten in the polls in 1892. he was appointed U.S. Marshall of the western district of Texas on May11th 1893, and held that post until January 26th 1898. He died in Fort Worth on June 25th 1902.

Jim Murphy lived in constant fear of reprisals after Round Rock and would often ask to sleep in Jail in order to have some security while he slept. In the end it was too much for him and he committed suicide on June 9th 1879.

A further mention of the Round Rock incident appears in the March 1924 issue of the Frontier Times, when a Dr. A.B. Reeves claimed to be a State Ranger and was at Round Rock when Sam Bass came to rob the bank. He says he knew Bass personally and was involved in the fight that took place there. But let him tell his own story.

"I was detailed to go into the Post office and to signal by firing if the outlaw came into the building Sure enough, Bass did go in shortly and asked for mail, getting several letters. As he turned to leave I fired into the floor, Bass ran out and the fight began, both side firing rapidly. When I had only one shot left Bass spied me and with an oath tuned on me and we fired at the same time, my shot missing, but bass`s shot hit me on the side of the nose, passed through my mouth and downward and came out under my arm knocking me over. Bass then sprang on his horse and was making good his retreat when sergeant Dick Ware, resting his gun on my horse fired at long range and I saw the dust fly up from the back of the coat of the fleeing outlaw, who rode on three more miles further, keeping his seat by holding on with both hands to the horn of the saddle. Finally unable to stay in the saddle, he dismounted and lay under a tree where he was found and taken to a nearby house, where he expired after several hours suffering which he bore with the stoicism of an Indian. Bass was a very brave man and would have made an ideal \Ranger and a good citizen if his energies had been properly directed. I knew Bass well having often seen him in DallasCounty, where he was employed as a teamster and I had talked with him many times. When bass saw me fighting his gang at Round Rock he became enraged and said" So you know me do you? Well I`ll get you anyway" Badly wounded as I was, and weak from loss of blood, I was detailed to guard Bass in his last hours, a pallet being made for me on the floor in front of the door of the room where the outlaw chief was dying, and where I lay gun by my side watching to see that Bass did not escape even then"

This report is full of faults and the man must have been a "Blowhard", because not only did he get the date wrong, but Bass would not have gotten mail at the Post Office because it was not known that he was in the area until Murphy had informed the Rangers. And who would have fired as shot to warn others that a bandit was in the room.?

How could he have seen the parting shot of Wares if he was as wounded as he says, and anyway Ware wasn't a sergeant until later in his career.. The faults in this report were corrected in the April Issue of the same Magazine, by none other than Sergeant Gillett,( who was at the time an honorary Captain.), and took part in the hunt for Sam Bass on the Saturday following the shooting. In the April 1924 Frontier Times, (Vol. 1 No. 7) is the following:-..

We are in receipt of Letter from Captain J.B. Gillett, whose version of the killing of Bass appeared in Frontier Times a short time ago , and inasmuch as it is our desire to "Keep the record strait" we take the liberty of publishing Captain Gillett`s letter, the truthfulness of which cannot be questioned , as he was right there and certainly knows what he is talking about. Furthermore, if Dr. Reeves was wounded in this fight, this is the first printed account of it we have ever seen. Captain Gillett`s letter follows: "Dear Mr. Hunter:- I notice in Frontier Times of March as article on page 23 copied from the Williamson County Sun, in which is stated that Dr. A.B.Reeves was shot by Sam Bass. There is not one word of truth in that statement Dr. A.B. Reeves may have been a Ranger at some time, but he was not one of Reynolds Rangers, and they are the only men that participated in the Bass fight at Round Rock in July, 1878, and not in 1879 as Dr. Reeves states. I am the only man now living who was at the capture of Sam Bass the next day after he was shot. Lt. Reynolds has died since my book was published and now I am the only one left of that scout of Rangers that captured Bass"

There were songs written about Bass, there were two books written about his life, and as we see from Dr. Reeves story, there were plenty of people willing to try and make a name for themselves on the strength of Bass`s notoriety, but it was the Rangers that brought an end to the list of crimes committed by Bass, and if we are to believe Ira Atens autobiography he was even instumental in encouraging one person to join the Rangers, in fact two brothers of Ira, Cal and Eddie joined in later years aswell.(Cal in 1888 and Eddie in 1892) Eddie joined at the behest of Ira Aten. This was because his behaviour and his wild ways were causing concern to his brothers.