Cameron, Tex., Jan. 22. -- Mr. Sam Ford, a respectable citizen of this county, was in Rockdale Wednesday afternoon trading. Returning home late in the evening, he took in his wagon a negro man named [Sidney] Brown*. During the journey the fiend, watching his opportunity, made an attack on Ford, shooting him through the head and beating him over the head with a pistol, knocking out his eye. Believing his victim to be dead, the negro robbed him and left him. Ford was not dead but lived long enough to get home and tell his family of the attack made on him by Brown. The negro was arrested and jailed at Rockdale yesterday morning. Last night a mob of indignant citizens quietly went to the lock-up, and securing the prisoner took him to the edge of town and hung him. This act of Judge Lynch relieves the courts of the time of dealing with this inhuman being. The Standard, Clarksville, Texas, January 29, 1886
*Keven McQueen wrote that . . . The press reported that Brown was "supposed to have been implicated in the Austin murders." We will never know to what extent Brown was involved in the Servant Girl killings, if at all . . .
At the election for postmaster held at Rockdale Saturday H.C. Travers, the president incumbent, received 356 votes without opposition. Dallas Morning News, March 30, 1886
Herndon C. Travers becomes Postmaster as of the 14th of April. He was a special speaker, whose services were sought on all public occasions. He was president of the leading clubs while serving as Postmaster, and was one of the principals in a notable double wedding to Miss Shelby Raby of Gatesville; the two other principals were J. Sid Hudson and Miss Emma York.
New York Times. April 29, 1886. Houses Damaged, Orchards Destroyed, and Cattle Killed. Rockdale, Texas, April 28. -- The most destructive rain and hail storm ever known in this section of Milam County visited Rockdale and vicinity yesterday afternoon. About half an hour before the storm burst upon the town the sky became almost black. The deluge of water led many to suppose a waterspout had burst. The roofs of many houses offered only partial protection against the downpour, as the water pounded through nearly every flat roof in the town. Following the deluge came a phenomenal hailstorm, which destroyed every sign of vegetation for miles around. The orchards were literally stripped of all small twigs and limbs, and many trees were barked and killed.
Thousands of the hailstones were an inch in diameter. They tore through roofs, puncturing even the tin roofs and breaking the window shutters. Scarcely a single window pane on the west side escaped destruction. Following the rain and hail came a severe gale. The damage to dwelling houses and orchards within the immediate vicinity of Rockdale will exceed $15,000. The storm moved eastward, devastating fields and orchards in its path. No loss of human life is reported, but a large number of cattle was killed.
