By Michael L. Hogue Hi! Happy Holidays and welcome back to The Hogue Connection! Here is part 2 of the story I started at the beginning of the month about another criminal in the family. After laying down some background last time, I think we can jump right back in with the conclusion. If you would like a refresher, here is a link to Part One.
In 1899, Things Take a Turn for the Worse…
By this time, William Thomas Hix had developed quite a reputation for being violent and mean. Up until this point, William stayed away from criminal activity, or, at least he hadn’t been caught yet. He was a heavy drinker and many of his neighbors knew not to cross him. 1898 saw the arrival of his 14th child. Martha would give birth to 16 total. in November 1899, neighborhood tensions game to a head with a couple of his tenant farmers.
John Crum, and his brother-in-law, James Kirkpatrick had had enough of William’s land management practices. William did not appreciate the pair’s utilization of his property. They were behind on rent and kept pushing for William to let it slide. Finally, a disagreement over the movement and storage of some of rent corn with the mule team was the final straw. The men grabbed some firearms and headed over to the Hix house to retrieve their mules and teach “Old Man Hix” a lesson. They intended to kill him outright. In fact, they each fired off a shot on the way over to make sure their guns were in working order. This alerted the Hix household.
The Hix Family is Ready for a Fight…
William, hearing the gunshots, grabbed a pistol. His oldest son Alfred, apparently unarmed, joined him, along with Joseph Randolph Spivey, Alfred’s first cousin. Joe, son of Mary Ann’s brother, Isaac Templeton Spivey, had a shotgun. The men moved outside to confront Crum and Kirkpatrick. The group gathered at the crossing of Mill Creek, approximately 100 yards from the front of the Hix home.
At around 2:00PM on November 21, 1899, gunfire erupted. A bullet from William Hix’s pistol shot and killed John Crum, and a blast of buckshot from Joseph Spivey’s shotgun killed James Kirkpatrick. Justice of the Peace John Henry Mallory started an investigation. Authorities arrested three men on 23 Dec 1899 for the murders of the two tenant farmers. William posted his bail of $2500, and Alfred and Joseph posted their bail of $1500 each. Jail officials released the three men on 3 Jan 1900.
If You Were a Criminal, It’s Not What You Know…
…it’s who you know, at least in Bosque County at the turn of the last century. John Mallory was not only a neighbor, but a second cousin to William Hix. His son, George, was married to Hix’s oldest daughter. The trials started, with Joe Spivey’s going first on 24 Sep 1900. A jury found him not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter. He was sentenced to two years in the Texas State Penitentiary. He entered prison at Greenock, TX on Oct 3, 1900, with a scheduled release of 27 Sep 1902. Joe Spivey was pardoned and released on 31 May 1901.
William Thomas Hix, after hearing of the results of Spivey’s trial went to work on a plea deal. Prosecutors dropped the murder charge, and Hix pled guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. The court sentenced him on 14 Dec 1901 to five years in prison, and he went to Greenock as well. The governor eventually granted him a full pardon on 21 Jan 1903, and officials released him.
I can’t find any records about the trial of Alfred Boyd Hix. The charges against him may have been dropped, probably because he was well connected and wasn’t carrying a firearm.
Neighborhood Feuds Continue…
Spending time in the prison at Greenock, TX did nothing to change Hix’s attitude toward his fellow farmers. He still had a nasty temper and loved the brown liquor, keeping a jug of it under his bed. He often exhibited surly behavior, while riding his horse down the middle of the street. Sometimes he would shoot his pistol in the air just to frighten the local children. Hix was wounded in another shooting incident and was left permanently disabled from it. This did not improve his violent disposition. Later, he was involved in a dispute with some Mexican laborers and ended up killing two or three of them. That incident was never investigated.
Many local farmers owed Hix money via tenant farming on his various properties. He filed papers with his cousin, the Justice of the Peace, to collect on a $1000 debt. Hix called on his neighbors, the Bryan’s (James and his sons John, Fred, and Bill), to be witnesses on his behalf. They refused, infuriating him to end. He called them cowards in front of their wives and challenged them to a duel. This event started the Bryan-Hix Feud.
A Sunday Ride Goes Awry…
On the morning of Sunday, 7 Jun 1914, William T. Hix got dressed up and headed over to visit some of his tenants, the James Ford family. He had no criminal intent in his mind. It was nice, sunny peaceful day. He rode past the Bryan’s place, opened a gate near there, and rode along Mill Creek, reaching the Ford place around noon. James’ sons, Joe and Josh were out in the fields harvesting their oat crop. Hix had lunch there and left to return home about 2:00 PM. Joe and Josh Ford followed him in a horse-drawn buggy.
Completely unaware, Hix rode directly into an ambush by two of the Bryan boys, Bill and Fred. The gate he had passed through earlier was now locked; Hix was unarmed, and the Bryan’s confronted him in the middle of what is now Bosque County Road 3635. Bill, firing a pistol, and Fred brandishing a shotgun, brought an end to the life of William Thomas Hix. A shotgun blast blew off the top of Hix’s head and riddled his body with buckshot, killing him instantly.
Another Criminal Trial for Prairie Justice?
Law enforcement arrested Bill and Fred for the cold-blooded killing of William Thomas Hix. Authorities soon released them on bail, and they eventually pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of manslaughter. It seems that was standard procedure back in those days. Sounds like premeditated Murder One to me. After a lengthy delay, the court sentenced the brothers to two years in prison on 13 April 1917. Most neighbors around Temple Spivey’s old homestead agreed on one thing…William Hix finally got what he deserved. Family buried him in the Smith Bend-Coon Creek Cemetery.
I keep thinking this will be the last criminal in the family that I run across. It probably won’t be, though. I just learned from a new cousin connection that William M. Hogue’s oldest son from his first marriage, Jackson M. Hogue, was shot and killed during a land run near Courtney, I.T., in 1893. I had always heard he died of natural causes. Looks like more digging to do!
Thanks for visiting The Hogue Connection! Hope you can visit again soon. Look for a new post in January about my take on the importance of genealogy. If you would like to return to the Home Page, go here.