1912 :: New Awnings

Another string of new drop awnings is this week being placed and Regal Rockdale will thereby be made to look still more "regaler." 

Mrs. J.R. Rowland is having the carpenters adorn all her block of business houses on Main street with the new style awning. The firms affected are H.M. Campbell, Berlin & Adler, City Panitorium, and the Elite Cafe, a total frontage of more than 100 feet on Main street, with about 75 feet running west on Milam street.

New style awnings, street lights, cement sidewalks and concrete crossings are the biggest aids to town growth and development, and Rockdale is getting them all.  

The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger (Rockdale, Tex.), Vol. 39, No. 38, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 28, 1912 Page: 5 of 8

1912 :: Bon Voyage

Mr. and Mrs. A. Wolf leave today for Galveston where they will take passage for Europe, their native states of Germany and Austria being their destination. They will remain abroad for several months. All of Milam wishes them bon voyage. Rockdale Reporter and Messenger, April 04, 1912

1912 :: Death of Mary M. Witcher

Mrs. M.M. Witcher, aged about eighty years, died at her home in Cameron Monday night, and was buried in the Old City Cemetery in Rockdale Tuesday morning, the funeral taking place at 10:45 o'clock from the home of Mr. and Mrs. H.D. Kone. Rev. A.S. Whitehurst was the officiating minister. Deceased was an old-time resident of Rockdale, and the mother of Mrs. John Joynes, and numbered her friends here by the score, especially among the older settlers. She had lived a long and useful christian life and has passed to her reward. Rockdale Reporter and Messenger, July 04, 1912

1912 :: Photo of Iceberg

Edmond Wolf is in receipt of a kodak picture made by his father. A. Wolf, from the deck of the steamship Frankfurt, and showing the iceberg which wrecked the Titanic on the 14th of April. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wolf were passengers on the Frankfurt which was the first ship to catch the Titanic's wireless call for help, but on account of the distance arrived too late to be of any service. The photo is clear and gives a splendid picture of the berg. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wolf have written several letters back home since their arrival in the old country, and report a most enjoyable trip in every respect. Rockdale Reporter and Messenger, May 16, 1912

1912 :: Witness sinking of Titanic

Mr. and Mrs. A. Wolf, of this city, were passengers on the steamship Frankfurt, which was the first ship to speak [to] the Titanic by wireless after the accident. The Frankfurt was too far away, however, to do any good, and arrived on the scene only to find wreckage and dead bodies where the monster ship had gone down. Rockdale Reporter and Messenger, April 25, 1912

1912 :: Found Frozen to Death

Special to The News. Rockdale, Tex., Jan. 17. -- Carl Walter, aged about 70, was found dead in the field of a neighbor seven miles west of Rockdale yesterday afternoon, having been frozen to death in the blizzard last Thursday night. Mr. Walter was a carpenter and had been to a neighbor's some two miles distant, where he had several days' work. He told his family not to expect him home for a week. Thursday night, after the blizzard blew up, seeing that he would be unable to do any carpenter work for several days, he decided to return home and told his employer he would be back Monday. He started home about dark and was seen no more until his lifeless body was found the following Tuesday. His family thought he was staying out the blizzard with his employer, who supposed that he had reached home in safety. Dallas Morning News, January 18, 1912

See also . . . The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger (Rockdale, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 18, 1912 Page: 1 of 8 

1912 :: Milam County Fair Begins

Dallas Morning News, July 12, 1912. Rockdale, Tex., July 11. -- The fifth annual fair of the Milam County Fair Association opened here today under the most auspicious circumstances. The attendance is not less than 12,000 people today. The fair was opened with a monster street parade, more than half a mile in length, with dozens of gorgeously decorated floats, headed by the Queen and her ten attendants. A feature of the parade was more than 100 members of the Milam County Boys' Corn Club in double line, each boy carrying a large green cornstalk. The opening address at the pavilion was delivered by Judge E.B. Muse of Dallas. All exhibits are full. The agricultural display is particularly good this year, notwithstanding the fact that the season is several weeks late and the fair being held about a week earlier than usual. The corn exhibit is one of the most interesting ever shown in Central Texas. The stock arena and poultry pens are also well filled, and altogether the fair is the best ever held. About 100 race horses are here, and the card is particularly strong, with nearly $2,000 hung up in purses.

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

1912 :: Death of Mrs. M. E. Wilson

Dallas Morning News. Jan. 9, 1912. Deaths. Special to The News. Rockdale, Tex., Jan. 8. -- Mrs. M. E. Wilson, one of the old citizens of Rockdale, was found dead in her bed, death having ensued some time in the night from natural causes. [her findagrave memorial page]

1912 :: Death of Sam D. Rudder

Dallas Morning News. Jan. 9, 1912. Deaths. Special to The News. Cameron, Tex., Jan. 8. -- Sam D. Rudder, an aged Confederate soldier, died here. He is survived by one daughter and five sons.

1912 :: Blood Poison Kills Woman

Dallas Morning News. August 10, 1912. Blood Poison Kills Woman. Chicken Bone in Throat Ends Life at Temple. Special to The News. Temple, Tex., Aug. 9. -- The death of Mrs. L.L. Rasbury of Rockdale occurred here last night from blood poisoning caused by a small chicken bone having lodged in her throat about ten days ago. An operation was performed, but too late to prevent infection. Deceased is survived by her husband and a boy of 12 years, both of whom were here when the end came. Those also here were Hon. Charles A. Rasbury of Dallas, Mr. and Mrs. C.M. Sessions of Rockdale and Miss Maggie Buntin and Mrs. Adams of Flatonia, the two latter being sisters of decedent. The remains were forwarded to Rockdale for burial.