Memories of Madisonville

Madisonville is best known as the home of the Madisonville Sidewalk Cattlemen's Association. One year I decided to put them to the test. Instead of riding a western horse with a ranch saddle and cowboy boots and a big hat I arrived riding a mule and wearing a derby and an English style coat and some high topped boots. Sure enough they threw me into the water, but not into the trough at the courthouse, because this all took place at the fairgrounds. Theythrew me into a tank that contained ice water for the ice tea drinkers. When I sloshed out of this tank I could see an unsavory clump of mud, hair and fecal matter floating on top of the ice water. People were still lining up to drink ice tea, using water from this tank. But I decided that I would have a beer instead. One of the cattlemen told me I was lucky. "Some of us wanted to throw you and the mule into the Trinity River," he said.

Early Texas Anglo History

And so, Texas north of the Rio Grande became part of the United States. Santa Anna returned to Mexico and was still in power. It took a while for the state to dev elop. The teritory west of the Colorado River still belonged to some of the Indian tribes, and the land south of San Antonio was still open. Later on, this land to the South became the King Ranch. The Northington Family in Wharton County not only raised cattle but they also raised some fine horses. Later on, George Northington III took over the operation of the Red Brick Ranch. Texas became to home of Longhorn cattle, which were driven to market by the thousands, and sold in the stockyards at Kansas City. It was the King Ranch which developed a new breed of cattle, known as Santa Gertrudis, which were peculiar to South Texas. All this wide open cattle business was supplanted in the 1920s by the oil companies. The discovery well of the Permian Basin was drilled a bout two miles west of Big Lake, Texas, in Reagan County. Since then the Permian Basin has reached to New Mexico and to the Big Bend and north to Big Spring, thousands of acres leased first to the ranchers and then to the oil companies. The royalties from the Permian Basin have made it possible to create a major university, the Universit of Texas at Austin, and to upgrade Texas A@M university at College Station.

Red Brick Ranch

One of the landmarks of early Texas is Red Brick Ranch at Egypt, Texas, in Wharton County. This ranch was established by the Northington family in 1842. George Northington Jr. set up a museum near the ranch house. The first mention of Red Brick Ranch involves something known as the Runaway Scrape. This happened when the Mexican Army invaded Texas. People fled in wagons, buggies, horseback and on foot. The Mexican Army, headed by General Lopez de Santa Anna, met little resistance as it marched through Texas. The history of the Battle of the Alamo is well documented. From there the Mexicans marched on to the LaPorte area, and set up a large camp at a place known as San Jacinto. At this point the Mexicans were relaxed. They had captured a mulatto woman, a freed slave, at a plantation near LaPorte. This woman was turned over to Santa Anna. It was then that Sam Houston and a ragged army of Texans invaded the Mexican camp during the siesta hour. Santa Anna was in bed with the mulatto woman. He made a soldier give him a uniform worn by peasants. This disguise did not save him and he was captured by the Texans. Many in Sam Houston's army wanted to hang Santa Anna, but Houston thought it was better to have him as a captive so he could be used as a bargaining tool. That was what happened, and Texas was declared free of Mexico. Santa Anna was released and sent back to Mexico.

Voodoo

We were all working hard at the Institute, getting ready for Hemisphere, and things were going well. The leader of the California hustlers had called on the governor who rejected him. Then we got word that Bulthius (yes, that is his name) was coming to Austin to check on us. He was the one who called George Washington an Uncle Tom. So I talked George into buying a doll at the variety store that looked like Bulthius. Then we went to the department store and bought a hat pin. We put this doll on a table in our lobby and stuck the pin in his leg. A few days later we heard that Bulthius had been speeding down the boulevard in Los Angeles in his sports car and had turned over and broken his leg. But he was still coming to Austin, although with his leg in a cast. It sort of shook us up, but in the press of business we forgot all that and went on with our program. Bulthius arrived and was transported to our offices. No one was there but the secretaries. He was wheeled into the lobby and when he saw our voodoo doll he went into hysterics. He called for a taxi and went to the airport to fly back to Los Angeles, never to return to Texas. Apparently he believed in voodoo stronger than we did.

More About George

So we came back to Hemisphere and George Washington regained his confidence. He bought a yellow Mustang and started being a man about town. He lined up some people for the black exhibit. One of them, of course, was Barbara Jordan, who was in the Texas Senate. He and I went to Prairie View University where we ran into some opposition from a faculty member. Finally we went on without him. Meanwhile I went to Red Brick Ranch in Wharton County and lined up some early Texas stuff. It was a busy time. Boss Shuffler was tied up with some of the higher ups so we had to improvise. Considering the time involved I think we did a good job.

Lightning Hopkins

Lightning Hopkins was born in Crockett, Texas. He could strum a guitar like no one else. He came down to Houston and began performing in the Third Ward. He was sucked into a deal to go to the West Coast. When he found out he had been screwed he became bitter and also suspicious of all white agents. I persuaded Lightning to play for a movie I was making at the Institute of Texan Cultures. This led to performances at Rice University and the University of Houston. His wife was only five feet tall. She had long hair. She became jealous when Lightning began getting calls from other women. In order to keep her happy, Lightning had the phone disconnected. To reach him you had to go down into the Fifth Ward in person. I remember watching Lightning perform at Rice University. He gave a noisy performance which was unique. There was no one quite like Lightning. His material was home grown, peculiar to him.

Mance Lipscomb

Mance was living on a plantation in Central Texas and not getting ahead. His wife suggested he ought to try the real world. Mance decided to do so and he began playing and singing everywhere, including the East Coast festival. Mance made enough money to buy a house in Navasota. I brought Mance to the Texas Pavilion in San Antonio during Hemisphere. He had a distinctive style and he played songs that went way back. We put Mance up at the Texas Pavilion because he did not want to rent a hotel room. Mance really enjoyed strumming his guitar and singing old songs. There was no musician in Texas quite like Mance. When he came to Hemisphere he was wearing an overcoat. Someone made fun of the coat and he replied: "You are just jealous because you don't have an overcoat. Actually, he was getting old and the coat kept him warm. Mance would play for hours. He lived for music.