1934 :: Theodore Crohn, Old Time Rockdalian, is Dead at Long Island

. . . Theodore Crohn is remembered by local old timers as an outstanding citizen and merchant here when Rockdale was in its infancy. He was born in Germany and located in Rockdale in the late 70's or early 80's, being the junior member of the mercantile firm of Baum & Crohn. . . . lived in Rockdale at the old Mundine Hotel, which was burned about 1888, and in which fire Crohn's younger brother, Isaac Crohn, lost his life, together with ten other persons. . . . The Rockdale Reporter and Messenger (Rockdale, Tex.), Vol. 62, No. 37, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 25, 1934 Page: 5 of 10

1889 :: A Mother Badly Burned.

Rockwall [sic], Tex., May 16. -- Information was received here this morning of a terrible calamity in the German settlement five miles west of town, which happened a little after dark last night. While the wife of Louis Palmer was cooking supper she dropped a lighted lamp, which broke and ignited the oil and enveloped the poor woman in flames. Mrs. Palmer ran from the kitchen through the bed room in which her two little boys aged three and four years lay asleep into the yard where her husband was, who at once set to work to extinguish the flames. In this attempt he was unsuccessful until his wife was so badly burned that she cannot recover. Suddenly looking back he saw the house was in flames and burning within it the two little boys whom it was impossible to rescue. Mr. Gustor, a neighbor who arrived on the ground too late to render much assistance found Mrs. Palmer in a terribly burned condition, and her husband's hands also badly burned in trying to save her. A remarkable instance of the fire transpired in the escape without an injury of Mrs. Palmer's infant found in the yard, but how gotten there is unknown. Drs. Wallis & Wallis, accompanied by Messrs. Breeding and H. Lockwood, visited the scene last night and rendered such aid as was possible, but the occurrence was not generally known here until the issue of a supplement to the Rockdale Messenger this morning. The Sun (Weatherford, Tex.), Vol. 7, No. 8, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 30, 1889

1893 :: Matches in a Gin

Rockdale, Tex., Oct. 17. -- In attempting to gin seed cotton suspected of having matches in it a fire was started in Rexford Wells' gin house here. As every preparation had been made for an emergency the fire was promptly extinguished by the gin house hands without material loss. This demonstrates the oft mooted question that matches in cotton going through a gin will start a fire. Galveston Daily News, October 18, 1893

1878 :: Death of Abner Kolb

Rockdale Brevities. . . . Four cotton gins have been burned here and near here within the past two weeks, only one of which was partially insured. A large amount of cotton was consumed and a son of Capt. P.M. Kolb was so badly burned that he died in a few hours. Weekly Democratic Statesman, October 3, 1878

1880 :: Temperance Societies and Fires

The Rockdale Messenger seems to think that temperance societies and fires do not work in concert. It relates that John Redding of that town joined the temperance society at 9 P.M., at 2 A.M. a fire broke out and John fell from grace. He again joined and on the occasion of the next fire again succumbed. A third time he buckled on the temperance armor, again a fire occurred and again John became a backslider. He was cured, he still has confidence in temperance societies, but can't be induced to join another -- he is afraid of fires. Brenham Weekly Banner, May 14, 1880

1933 :: Death of Ester Roberts

Rockdale, Texas, Feb. 25 (AP). -- Mrs. E.T. Roberts, 53, was burned to death Tuesday when fire destroyed her home five miles south of Rockdale. Her husband had just gone to a nearby building to work when he heard the crackling of flames. He turned to see the whole house on fire and it was destroyed before he could enter it to rescue either his wife or any of their belongings. A five-gallon can which contained coal oil was found nearby. Dallas Morning News, March 1, 1933



Roberts. -- Rockdale, Texas. March 3. -- Funeral services for Mrs. E.T. Roberts, who was burned to death at her home here Tuesday, were held Thursday from the home of her brother, E.J. Flake. Surviving are her husband, a small adopted daughter and four brothers. Dallas Morning News, March 4, 1933

1920 :: Death of Retta Daniel

Houston, Tex., Nov. 13. -- Mrs. Retta Daniel, wife of G.W. Daniel, civilian employee at Ellington Field, died early this morning at the post hospital from burns received Thursday when, mistaking gasoline for coal oil, she attempted to start a fire and an explosion resulted. Her body will be sent to Rockdale for burial. Hutchinson News, Kansas, November 13, 1920

1903 :: Burial of Inez Heslep

Dallas Morning News. Rockdale, Texas, Oct. 24. -- On Wednesday of this week the little 5-year-old daughter of Mr. George Haslip, living in the north suburb of town, while playing with another child with matches, in some manner ignited her clothing and was so badly burned that she died Thursday afternoon. Her mother, in endeavoring to extinguish the flames, had her hands badly burned. Mr. Haslip is the salesman in the grocery store of S.J. Taylor, and formerly lived in Lee county. Shiner Gazette, October 28, 1903

---

Little Inez Heslep, who was burned to death last week at Rockdale, was brought to Caldwell last Friday morning for interment, the funeral occurring from the residence of W.I. Heslep, at 9:30 o'clock, interment at the Masonic cemetery. Many friends tendered sympathy to the bereaved family in their sad affliction. Caldwell News-Chronicle, October 30, 1903

1904 :: Death of Emma Seelke

Rockdale, Tex., Jan. 19. -- Emma Seelke, a German girl, aged 16, was quite seriously burned while engaged in burning off grass in a field in Holtzclaws Bottom, four miles northwest of here. Several persons were at work in the same field with the girl, but before they could reach her and render assistance the greater portion of her clothes were burned from her body. Dallas Morning News, January 20, 1904

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Rockdale, Tex., Feb. 4. -- Emma Seelke, the German girl who was recently burned while engaged in burning off the grass in the Holtzclaw bottom, mention of which was made in The News at the time, died this morning in intense agony. Dallas Morning News, February 6, 1904 

1891 :: Grocery Store at Rockdale

Dallas Morning News, May 19, 1891. Rockdale, Tex., May 18. -- Fire was discovered at 2:30 this morning in the brick building on Main street occupied by J.C. Douglass for groceries and restaurant. By hard and prompt work the building was saved, considerably damaged, and the effects of Douglass rendered worthless. The building belongs to the Lasker real estate association; not known to be insured. Douglass carried $600 in stock and $400 on furniture and fixtures.

1888 :: Rockdale Enshrouded with a Mantel of Gloom

Galveston Daily News, June 6, 1888. Rockdale -- The work of desolation and death closes over one of the most peaceful and prosperous little towns in Texas, enshrouding it with a mantel of gloom too impenetrable for a stranger living beyond its borders to be able, however sympathetic, to even faintly appreciate. 

The loss of property, the earnings of years of hard work and close application falls heavy upon poor men, reduced late in life to begin the struggle new. But such considerations pale into absolute insignificance when contrasted with the appalling loss of life, wrought in a few brief moments in so awful a manner.

As has been stated, the Mundine hotel was a three-story brick structure about 60 x 80 feet in size, fronting on the south the International and Great Northern railroad, and on the east Main street, which is 100 feet wide.

The hotel was a perfect mass of windows with a veranda running its entire length on the south and east sides of the second story and a veranda in the third story, connected with halls running to the south and east sides. In addition to these there was another gallery at the extreme west side of the second story of the building, with steps leading to the ground. 

In the extreme southwest corner of the second story, opening on galleries both south and west, were the rooms occupied by Dr. W.A. Brooks, wife and four children. 

Next east of them on the same floor, opening on the south gallery, was the room occupied by J.F. Briscoe, wife and two children, next to which ran a cross hall, also leading to the south gallery. 

Still east, across the hall mentioned, was the room occupied by Pemberton Pierce and next, in the extreme southeast corner of the same floor was the room of Mr. Oldham, while directly above the latter, in the third story, was the room of Isaac Crown.

It almost surpasses human conception that in a building with such numerous avenues of egress that of thirteen people only two should have escaped. The only rational theory advanced is that the fire originated about the staircase in the first story, and a comparatively small space being open to the top of the house operated as a flue, filling the house with a volume of smoke so dense that the inmates were only awakened to suffer almost instant suffocation.

Little air was stirring during the course of the fire, in consequence of which there was no cause to prevent the entire house rapidly filling with smoke. Still it would seem that more than two should have escaped.

Before anyone was aroused or an alarm given the entire first story must have been a seething mass of flames, for in three minutes after Mr. Oldham, who gave the first alarm and descended by one of the upright supports of the south gallery had reached the ground flames burst forth from his room.

It is, alas! Too late to consider what might have been done had certain precautions been taken, but this town having enjoyed immunity from fires for many years perhaps engendered a feeling of security leading to some carelessness, not in the hotel management alone, but the citizens at large, which sooner or later was likely to lead to disaster. And how terrible has it fallen!

Messrs. Scarborough & Hicks have received the following telegram -- Philadelphia, Pa., June 4 – See best undertaker and express body of Mr. Pierce in best shape possible to David Schuyler & Son, undertakers, Philadelphia. Express his effects to 904 Cherry street. George H. Ziegler.

Dr. W. A. Brooks, who was rescued while struggling to regain his family, is not seriously burned or injured, but is of course, terribly prostrated by the loss of his wife and four children. He says that when he was awakened the room was full of smoke, that he rose quickly and reached a window, which he raised, by means of which he obtained a little fresh air and then went back for his family, groping in dense smoke. While doing this he heard the window fall, returned to it and smashed it with his fist and arm, was grabbed by someone and forcibly removed; after which his mind is clouded until he found himself in safety, just beginning to realize his awful loss.

To undertake to mention the names of any who signalized themselves by daring flames and smoke in their efforts to save life would be wrong, as the writer could not name them all. Suffice it to say that no means were left untried and, He who notes the humblest sparrow’s fall will bless the manly bravery and humane efforts of those who in these feeble lines are nameless.

Disposition of Bodies. With every tender care possible the remains of the Brooks and Briscoe families, as near as they could be identified, charred and broken as they were, were placed in two separate coffins and interred in the Odd Fellows cemetery after funeral services at the Baptist church, under the auspices of the Odd Fellows and Knights and Ladies of Honor. The services were attended by almost the entire population of Rockdale.

The remains of Isaac Crown were also buried last yesterday afternoon in the Jewish cemetery, under the auspices of the Masonic fraternity.

1888 :: Eleven Persons Perish in Fire

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 Victims . . .
• Mundine Hotel Fire at the Milam County Genealogy Website . . .
• McVoy's Fades into History . . .
• Worst Fire in Rockdale History . . .
• Reporter Looks Back at 1888 . . .

1888 :: Gloom at Taylor

Gloom at Taylor. Taylor, Tex., June 4. -- The news of the burning of the Mundine Hotel this morning at 4 a.m. cast a gloom over this city, as all parties are well-known, three of them being here Sunday and left for Rockdale at 10 p.m. Frank Briscoe, who is in business here, left at 10 p.m. for Rockdale to move his family here. He and wife and two children are among the victims. P. Pierce, a drummer and noted as a composer of music, attended church twice here yesterday. He represented Ziegler & Co. of Philadelphia, and got several large orders for goods. A number of Taylor citizens have gone to Rockdale and several leave to-night to render all assistance possible. Dallas Morning News, June 5, 1888

1943 :: Funeral Home Burns

Dallas Morning News. November 26, 1943. Funeral Home Burns. Rockdale, Texas, Nov. 25 (AP). -- A fire of undetermined origin Thursday gutted Phillips & Luckey funeral home, causing damages estimated at $25,000. The house was filled with people, gathering for a funeral service when the fire broke out. No one was injured. Several bodies were carried to safety.

1925 :: Reporter looks back at 1888

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.

1874 :: Courthouse Burns

Galveston Daily News
April 14, 1874

Fire at Cameron
Public Records Destroyed

[Special to the Galveston News.]

Cameron, April 13, 1874.

Last Thursday, about 1 o’clock, this quiet little village was roused by a terrible roaring of fire and cracking of burning timbers. It was soon discovered that the courthouse was wrapped in flames. The discovery was made too late to effect any good, no fire engine being in the place. When discovered, the clerks' and sheriff’s offices were almost entirely gone.

All records, books and papers of the court, tax rolls for last year and assessment rolls for this year, were entirely destroyed. Nothing was saved except the indictments found at the January term, 1874. The deputy clerk, Mr. Homan, had carried these home with him to issue capiases at night.

The work is supposed to be the doings of some one who was indicted, and desired to destroy the papers of his case. A small jug, with a little kerosene oil in it, was found under the steps to the courthouse fence.

A negro has since been arrested on suspicion. It is supposed he was instigated to the act by some white man. The loss is inestimable. Messrs. Ackerman and Smith’s store caught fire several times, but was extinguished rapidly. No other house burned.

• History of Milam County Courthouse
• Photos of Current Milam County Courthouse