1923 :: Death of William A. Pultz

Dallas Morning News. Rockdale, Texas, March 29. -- William A. Pultz, 65 years old, died at his home in Waco Tuesday and the body was brought to Rockdale Wednesday for burial in the old City Cemetery. Mr. Pultz had been in the employ of the S.A.&A.P. Railroad for twenty-seven years. He was a native of Cairo, Ill., born in 1859. He had been twice married and is survived by a son, Mike Pultz of New York City, and five daughters, Mrs. Minnie Hamil of Waco, Mrs. Daisy Robbins of Flatonia, Mrs. Demar Demish of Yoakum, Mrs. Hattie Johnston of Houston and Mrs. Jessie Simmons of Rogers. Dallas Morning News. March 30, 1923.

1877 :: Undoubtedly the work of an incendiary

Galveston Daily News. ROCKDALE (March 22) -- A fire broke out here about 1:30 a.m. this morning which destroyed two of the principal business blocks of the city.


It commenced on the corner of the alley, on the outside of Hubert's saddlery house, and was undoubtedly the work of an incendiary.

He threw kerosene on the outside wall of the wooden building and then set a match to it. The fire enveloped the building in an instant and, before the alarm could be spread, it was evident the whole side of the block must go.


Next to the house in which the fire originated was the warehouse of W. Max & Co., stocked with goods, none of which were saved.


Adjoining this was the Rockdale Messenger office which was entirely destroyed. Enock Breeding's (Messenger publisher) loss was $3,000, no insurance.

The fire then went through Bland's bookstore and Branch's establishment and crossed the street.


It is a sad blow to the place but everybody is in good heart and is going ahead immediately to resuscitate. Rockdale is all right. Mr. Breeding will revive the Messenger immediately.


Losses:

• Hubert & Bros., saddlers
  $3000, no insurance
• W. Max & Co., groceries
  $2000, no insurance
• Bland, bookstore
  no insurance
• Branch & Co., groceries
  $3000
• H.P. Hale & Co.
• Masonic Lodge
  $3500
• Henry Montgomery building
  $2000, no insurance
• Baum & Crohn Bros. building
  $1000, no insurance
• John Scott, photographer
  $400, no insurance
• Lumpkin & Redding, saddlers
  $1500, no insurance
• John Isaacs building
  $400, no insurance
• Robinson, building
  $500
• Sojourner building
  $500
• Sigurdson's building
  $500
• Winder building
  $500
• Durham Hotel
  $750
• William Trigg building
  $1500
• Henry Shoap building
  $300
• J.H. Tracy building
  $700
• James Wicks, groceries
  $7000, partly insured
• George Ginder, barber
  $50
• Henry Cone building
  $700
• J.S. Perry building
  $700
• Fitzgerald Saloon
  $500
• H. Block, dry goods
  $3000, partly insured
• B. Loewenstein & Bro., groceries
  $4000, partly insured
• J.O. Litman, groceries
  $1500
• Baxter building
  $500
• J.B. Moore building
  $600
• John Brown Saloon
  $400
• Marx & Kempner, building
  $500
• A. Strelsky, butcher shop
  $400
• A. Holley & Co., groceries
  $250
• Harkretser building
  $700
• L. Box & Co., butcher shop & confectionery
  $400
• Bole's office & City of Rockdale Jail
  $500
• J. Jegedde, shoe shop & building
  $500
• J.H. Tracy building
  $400
• W.H. Cronin building
  $400

The Rockdale Reporter, August 1, 2002

1899 :: Loewstein Travels

Joe Loewenstein, Jr., one of the most popular and worthy young men of Rockdale, left Monday for a pleasure and business trip to Houston, Galveston and New Orleans. Rockdale Messenger, March 16, 1899

1930 :: Rockdale War Veteran Dies from Shell Shock

Rockdale War Veteran Dies From Shell Shock. Special to The News. Rockdale, Texas, March 13. -- A telegraphic message was received by Mrs. J.A. Phillips of this city that her eldest son, James Kolb Phillips, had died in a hospital at Chattahooche, Fla. The immediate cause of his death was a recurrence of shell shock, resulting from his service with the American Expeditionary Force in France.


Young Phillips was brought home from France in 1919, and remained in Government hospitals at Newport News, Va., and California, for some months before being discharged as cured. After two years in New Mexico, he returned to Texas and resumed his studies at Texas A.&M. College, where he graduated in the class of 1924 with his younger brother, Charles. For the last few years he had been engaged in the citrus fruit and nursery business at St. Petersburg, Fla., with his uncle, C.L. Kolb.


He was the son of the late Dr. J.A. Phillips, and is survived by his mother, Mrs. J.A. Phillips of Rockdale; a sister, Mrs. Clyde Franklin, Rockdale; a brother, Charles C. Phillips of Vicksburg, Miss.; an aunt, Mrs. Maie Vanderventer, and an uncle, O.K. Phillips of Rockdale. The body will be brought to Rockdale for burial. Dallas Morning News, March 14, 1930

1912 :: Graveyard Ghoul Evidences

Graveyard Ghoul Evidences.. Mexican Cemetery Visited and Two Graves Opened, Bodies Disturbed Dead Four or Five Years. 

Special to The News. Rockdale, Tex., March 10. -- A grewsome discovery was made at the Mexican graveyard at the Vogel mine, three miles east of this city, when parties having occasion to pass through the grounds found that ghouls had been at work, two graves having been opened. The evidences of the ghastly work were plainly visible at one grave, there being portions of the old coffin and parts of the skeleton of the corpse left lying about on the ground. The graves had both been partially filled again, and a couple of buckets which had evidently been used in hoisting dirt from the holes were left on the scene. The affair is a mystery, and there seems to be no excuse for the desecration of the graves. The bodies disturbed had been buried for four or five years, and were those of poor people -- workers in the mines near by. There is, as yet, no clew to the perpetrators. Dallas Morning News, March 11, 1912