Death claimed one of Milam county's leading citizens Monday evening of this week when Mr. R.L. Hale of Rockdale died at his home in that city. Mr. Hale was manager of the Scarbrough & Hicks General Merchandise store, one of the largest mercantile institutions in Milam county. He was a man of fine business ability and had friends through this section of the state by the thousands. His death, which occurred at 6:30 was unexpected, as he had spent the entire day at his place of business, only leaving at 6 o'clock. After leaving the store he visited his aged mother for a few moments and then went home. A short while after reaching his residence he was seized with acute indigestion and died immediately.
R.L. Hale started life on his own hook and is a self made man. Thirty-seven years ago he took a place with Scarbrough & Hicks store and grew from delivery boy to manager of the store.
The funeral of Mr. Hale was held Wednesday afternoon at the First Baptist Church at Rockdale, of which he has been a life long member. The services were conducted by his pastor, Rev. Stewart, assisted by Rev. B.B. Blaylock of Cameron, formerly his pastor, and Rev. Hamlett of Austin. Interment was made in the I.O.O.F. cemetery.
Those attending from Cameron were: Jeff T. Kemp, W.G. Gillis, Will T. Yates, Newton McDonald, Jack Lewis, Dick Clark, Clyde Franklin, Miss Minnie Wolf, Mrs. M.C. Sapp, Mr. and Mrs. T.S. Henderson, Mrs. Wm. Henderson and Miss Mary Lake Henderson. Cameron Herald, July 15, 1920
Rockdale and Milam county mourns the loss of a popular citizen and a good officer. Mr. B. Howard died Tuesday and was buried Wednesday at 10 a.m. by the K. of P. assisted by the Woodmen and the ministers of Rockdale. Mr. Howard was very much attached to his horse, which was tied to the hearse, saddled ready as if to mount. He leaves a wife and four children. The following people went over from Cameron to attend his funeral: W.C. Ross, A.W. Taber, J.T. Kemp, Jim Pate, Sheriff and Elmer Holtzclaw, Allen Hooks and Graham Gillis. All business was suspended in Rockdale to attend the funeral. Cameron Herald, March 21, 1907
Rockdale, Tex., March 19. -- B. Howard, who has been constable of this precinct for about six years, died this afternoon about 5 o'clock, the immediate cause being measles. His wife was called from Austin yesterday, where she had undergone an operation. Bartlett Tribune, March 22, 1907
Dallas Morning News, June 5, 1888. Most Horrible Holocaust. Eleven Persons Burned to Death. The Leading Hotel in Rockdale Consumed by Fire -- Men, Women and Little Children Devoured by the Flames.
Rockdale, Tex., June 4 – Rockdale was stricken this morning [the 4th] at a little after 3 o’clock with fire and holocaust so appalling and heartrending that language is inadequate to describe the scene.
At the time stated the town was aroused by cries of fire and the rapid discharge of firearms. The fire was discovered about the staircase in the office of the three story brick building known as the Mundine hotel. So terrible and rapid was the work of the flames that out of thirteen persons known to have been in the hotel eleven perished. Those known to have been lost are:
- Mrs. W.A. Brooks, wife of the proprietor of the hotel, and her four sons, aged about 4, 6, 9 and 15 years respectively.
- J.F. Briscoe, wife and two little children.
- Isaac Crown.
- A traveling salesman, supposed from papers found to be named Pemberton Pierce. He was representing Geo. Zeigler, of Philadelphia, but the hotel register being lost there is nothing more to identify by.
Mr. D.M. Oldham, representing F. Cannon & Co. of Galveston, escaped without injury, and Dr. W.A. Brooks, proprietor, was pulled by main force out of the room occupied by his family, he having reached the door but resisting every effort to be saved before his wife and children. He was carried down the rear staircase.
Mr. D.M. Oldham, who occupied an extreme southeast room in the second story, says he was awakened by a roaring, cracking sound, thinking that a storm had arisen and was blowing the doors and window blinds about, but he soon detected smoke in his room, arose, went to the door and opened it only wide enough to see the flames in the hall.
Hastily closing the door, he went to the window, threw his clothing out on the wide veranda which surrounds the south and east side of the second story, and from there to the ground, he then followed by sliding down one of the supports of the veranda.
Almost immediately after reaching the ground he saw the party supposed to be Pemberton Pierce rush out on the veranda all aflame and leap to the ground, striking on his head and killing himself instantly.
Thus have perished two most estimable families, one of Rockdale’s promising young businessmen, Isaac Crown, and a stranger whose sad fate will startle and grieve those to whom he was dear.
J.F. Briscoe was for many years a barber at this place, thoroughly respected by everyone, and who by thrift and industry had risen to independence. He recently sold out his business here and opened one in the same line at Taylor, married to a young and beautiful woman who with her two little children had stopped over here, being en route to her girlhood’s home in Indiana. She was joined by her husband, who came in on the 11:30 train last night, only to share with his loved ones a horrible death.
Mrs. Brooks, who has been identified with all that is good of Rockdale since its construction, was well and widely known by the traveling public, her husband and she always having kept the principal hotel.
Dr. Brooks is entirely dazed, crushed at heart and badly injured, but whether fatally or not cannot be determined, but it is thought he may recover.
Isaac Crown, the junior partner of the firm of I. Baum & Co., was about 30 years of age and unmarried. No citizen held a higher place in the esteem and confidence of all than did this young man.
The origin of the fire is yet conjectural. The hotel building was occupied on the first floor by the United States postoffice and the firm of T.B. Kemp & Co., general merchants, and from neither could anything be saved except such valuables as were contained in fire-proof safes.
Adjoining the hotel on the north was a one-story brick building, owned by J.S. Perry and occupied by J.R. Rowland for the storage of general merchandise, whose main stock was kept in the building adjoining still on the north. The first-named building was entirely consumed with its contents, and the last named is nearly destroyed, with the goods badly damaged.
Here the course of the fire was checked by the heroic efforts of the citizens, who worked with unceasing and fearless energy, unaided by organization of any kind and no conveniences for obtaining water. All business here is entirely suspended, and a gloom has been cast over Rockdale which cannot be removed for many a day.
See also . . .
The Rockdale Reporter. 1925. Old Paper Gives Account of Epochal Event in History of Rockdale. 37 Years Ago Mundine Hotel Burned in Rockdale. Through the kindness of Y.A. Gjedde the Reporter editor has been privileged to peruse a copy of the old Rockdale Messenger, published by Enoch Breeding, of date June 7, 1888, in which is printed an account of the burning of the Mundine Hotel in Rockdale. The fire occurred at 4:00 a.m. on Monday, June 4, 1888, and eleven people lost their lives in the flames, as follows:
- Isaac Crown, Rockdale business man
- Pemberton Pierce, a traveling man
- J.F. Brisco, wife and two children. Brisco was a barber and with his family was to have moved to Taylor the next day.
- Mrs. W.A. Brooks and four children. Mrs. Brooks is described in the story as being "a lady who had been a kind mother to all of us for lo, these many years, until we had all learned to love her."
Of the thirteen people sleeping in the hotel that night only two escaped, one being D.M. Oldham, a traveling man, who got out through an upstairs window, and Dr. Brooks, who was rescued by D. Sanford. The account of the fire is written in a somewhat flamboyant style, and the writer was evidently much agitated, the story being rather incoherent. It is not made plain just who Dr. Brooks was. His rescue and the account of the death of Mrs. Brooks and children are treated in separate paragraphs and no connection established between them.
The style of the writer is entirely different from present-day newspaper style. The story gives little details of property loss, merely stating that the post office and store of T.B. Kemp were destroyed, and that an adjoining building owned by J.R. Rowland was damaged by the falling walls of the hotel. V.B. Orr, a jeweler, is mentioned as having sustained a heavy loss. The story closes with the following paragraph:
"If we have not told all this terrible story, let the conditions and circumstances under which we write suffice. There was only one of those who perished, but was an intimate and a friend of ours. The pen fails to transcribe the words we would write."
Other items contained in this copy of the Messenger, printed 37 years ago, included:
- an account of the marriage of Mr. C.A. Duffy to Miss Dedie Wilson. Mr. Duffy was described as the representative of the Missouri Glass Works, and Miss Wilson as one of Rockdale's most esteemed young ladies
- the death of a child of N.P. Crump
- the birth of boy babies in the homes of Luther Davis and T.J. Woody
- the removal of the post office to the Messenger building, "around the corner"
- the return from Wooten Wells of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Isaacs [findagrave]
- the visit of R.H. Hicks and G.B. Randle to Galveston
- the receipt by the editor of a 29-inch turnip and six Irish potatoes weighing near four pounds
A perusal of the advertisements showed that:
- bottle beer was for sale at the Rockdale Saloon at 5¢ a glass
- Hawkes' spectacles could be purchased at Douthit's drug store
- board and lodging could be had at J.H. Simmons, six miles south of town, at the rate of $10 per month or $3 per week by those who desired to stop there and drink the mineral water from the well on that place
- Wallace & Company handled lumber
- John G. Brown sold all kinds of good whiskey
- Isaacs & Lockett were dealers in general merchandise
- J.P. Heywood sold millinery and fancy goods
- T.B. Kemp dealt in dry goods and groceries
- Geo. W. Williams sold farm implements
- Wolf & Winterberg were house and sign painters
Another display ad on the front page announced the democratic ticket of Cleveland and Thurman, giving woodcut engravings of each. Among the professional cards were those of:
- Dr. E.W. Allen, dentist
- Dr. J.H. Wilson, physician
- Thos. A. Pope, physician
- Henderson, Henderson & Mcalla, attorneys
- A.G. Wilcox, attorney
- A.C. Walker, G.A. Trott, B.F. Lee, P.A. Horton and J.B. Stone, physicians
Advertising rates were quoted at one dollar per single column inch. (Present-day advertisers take notice.) T.B. Kemp's produce quotations were as follows:
- Butter 12½¢ per pound
- eggs 7¢ per dozen
- chickens, each 10¢ to 16¢
- turkeys, per dozen, $3 to $7
- hides, 3¢ to 5¢ per pound
- corn 60¢ per bushel
- sweet potatoes 40¢ per bushel
- pecans 5¢ pound
- J.H. Hill was mayor
- J.R. Arthur, city marshal
- Solon Joynes, R.H. Ames, J.G. Brown and Joe Lowenstein were aldermen
- H.C. Travers was postmaster
- Rev. J.H. Stribling pastor of Baptist church
- Rev. N.F. Law, pastor Methodist church
- Rev. T.C. Brittle, pastor Episcopal church
- Rev. W.E. Copeland, pastor Cumberland Presbyterian church
No less than nine separate and distinct lodge directories were given. The paper consisted of four pages of six columns each, and much of the inside space was devoted to politics, including a two-column interview with Harry Tracy on the subject of the Farmers Alliance.
The brittle and yellowed original of the above 1925 newspaper clipping belongs to Iola Avrett nee Christian of Rockdale.
