You never know what you are going to find walking around in a cemetery!
The marker for R. H. Lyles caught my eye for two reasons: (1) it reflected his membership in so many fraternal organizations and (2) I recognized the Lyles name from Lyles Middle school in the Garland school district.
I got online to do a little research on R. H. Lyles, to see if he was the namesake for Lyles Middle school. Turns out, R. H. Lyles was NOT the namesake of the school. That honor goes to Charles Lyles (b. 1876). Charles Lyles served on the Garland school board from 1918-1926, and stayed involved in the school district after he stepped down from the board.
Charles Lyles may still be connected to R. H. Lyles, but what I found online sent me digging in a completely different direction:
From the obituary of Mr. and Mrs. Lyles published in the Hereford Brand on 23 Jun 1905: (
visit link)
Mr. and Mrs. Lyles Dead
News was received here this week of the death of Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Lyles of Garland, which brought sorrow to their friends in Hereford. On Friday of last week, Jas. Jones of Farmer's Branch near Garland, is said to have shot and killed Mr. Lyles, the same discharge also striking Mrs. Lyles, who died later. The cause of the shooting is unknown here.
Mr. and Mrs. Lyles were only recently married, and spent their honeymoon with friends in this city, many of which have known them for years, and who surely regret to learn of their untimely deaths. [end]
w--o--w!!
So I dug deeper and more locally (Hereford is over 400 miles from Garland), which led me to Dallas' Only Daily, the Dallas Morning News. We have to remember that we love TDMN -- we have to remember that a lot. The links to these stories are behind the DMN pay wall. Most DMN content is behind the pay wall -- even the pop-up ads follow you there. (I am remembering that I love the DMN.)
I will reproduce the archived stories I paid for (remember! Love 'em!) here:
01 Jun 1905
Lyles-Dennis Wedding.
In the office of the County Attorney yesterday afternoon, with County Judge Hiram F. Lively officiating, R. H. Lyles of Garland and Mrs. Millie Dennis of Farmers Branch were married. [end]
A little more than 2 weeks later:
16 Jun 1905
SHOOTING AT LETOT
James P. Jones Surrenders to Authorities in Dallas at Early Hour -- One Dead, One Wounded
A man giving his name as James P. Jones of Letot, a place a few miles from Dallas, came into the city shortly after 12 O'clock this morning and surrendered to the officers, stating that he had shot a man named Bob Lyles, who boarded with him at Letot, and feared that he had killed him.
He stated that there was some family trouble between them and that he was justified in the shooting. He said that he used a shotgun and saw Lyles fall immediately. Without waiting to see or inquire how badly the wounded man was hurt, he got into his buggy and drive into Dallas.
Meeting Officers Reddick and Williams near the Katy Depot, he surrendered to them. He was taken to the police station and as nothing had been heard from Letot at that time regarding the affair, a charge of assault to murder was entered against him on the police station docket. He was then taken to the jail and tuirned over to the Sheriff.
At an early hour this morning a message was received at the jail from a Deputy Sheriff at Letot saying that Bob Lyles was dead and his wife was wounded. [end]
The next day, the Dallas Morning News carried this article:
17 Jun 1905
Funeral of R. H. Lyles
Special to the News
Garland, Tex, June 16 -- R. H. Lyles, who wa shot near Farmer's Branch about 9 o'clock last nigt, was buried here this afternoon. Mr. Lyles was about 60 years old and had lived in this community between forty and fifty years. He was married only last month to Mrs. Dennis of farmer's Branch, who was with him at the time of his death, and received several of the shot to the face and head. At last report, she was not thought to be seriously hurt.
Three sons, all residents of this place, and a daughter, living at Plano, survive him. Mr. Lyles was a memeber of the Masonic, Odd Fellows, Knoghts of Pythias, and W. O. W. lodges of this place, and was buried by the Odd Fellows. [end]
Mr. Lyles was buried in the Knights of Pythias section of what is now known as Garland Memorial Park Cemetery, along South Garland Ave just north of Miler Road.
Despite the optimism of the reporter who wrote about the prognosis foir the recovery of Mrs. Lyles, three days later the DMN published this article:
20 Jun 1905
MRS. LYLES DIES
Succumbs to Wounds Inflicted with a Shotgun
Special to the News. Richardson Tex., June 19 -- Judge C. H. Blewett received a telephone message early this morning calling him to the scene of the Lyles tragedy, which occurrrd near Farmer's Branch last Friday. He found that Mrs. R. H. Lyles, who was hot with about fifty No. 4 birdshot from tjhe same discharge that killed her husband, had died, and after holding an inquest, rendered a verdict in accordance with the testimony formerly produced, that she came to her death at the hands of James Jones. [end]
I did not see Mrs. Lyle's grave near her new husband's.
The next DMN article I found focused on the murderer, James Jones:
6 Aug 1905
TRIAL OF JAMES JONES
Jury Being Selected, Witnesses Are Now on the Stand
The trial of James Jones, who stands charged by indictment with killing Bob Lyles at a point in the northern part of the county on June 15, is now in progress in the Criminal District Court before Judge E. B. Muse. The Jury was completed yesterday morning, its personnel being as follows: E. B. Kilgore, G. W. Dickson, T. E. Harry, J. K. Moore, E. B. Harper, G. T. Hare, Wesley Deboys, W. A. Newman, O. A. Hanson, H. L. Kinmon, and B. S. Hagedon.
It is not expected that the trial will be concluded before late Monday afternoon or sometime Tuesday. A large number of witnesses are in attendance. [end]
I could find no other articles on the trial, but I did find out how it went for Mr. Jones, again in the DMN:
28 Dec 1905
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
Several Important Cases From This County Are Down on the First Assignment
Several new cases each day have been filed for consideration by the Court of Criminal Appeals, which will begi its sessions in Dallas on Monday Jan. 1 and J. M. Gaston, clerk of the court, has been kept busy arranging for the opening. Yesterday there arrived nine great trunks and several large boxes containing papers, records, books, and other things which the Judges will need when court opens. Assistant Attorney General Howard Martin of Weatherford will attend the court. Only Judge M. M. Brooks of the Judges of the Court is in Dallas.
From the Criminal District Court of Dallas County there are six murder cases to be heard on the first assignment. Three of these have already been before the court and have since had a second trial. Three burglary ansd two theft cases will also appear early in the court proceedings. Of the murder cases, Burrell Oates, Fred Manning and Charles Scott have already been tried twice and are under sentence of death. Essex McKenzie is also under death penalty, but this is the first appeal. James Jones is under sentence of ninety-nine years for murder. [end]
Mr. Jones appealed his sentence of 99 years to the Court of Appeals at Dallas. That court adjouned at the end of its 90-day 1906 term and transferred the case to the Courty of Appeals in Austin. The Austin court reversed Jones' conviction and remanded the case for a new trial.
Jones's retrial for the murder of R. H. Lyles and his wife convened on 13 Nov 1907. On 19 Nov 1907 the case went to the jury. It didn't take long for them to convict him again of the two Lyles murders, but this time the jury sentenced him to imprisonment for life.
Jones appealed the case again. Almost a year later, on 29 Nov 1908 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction. James Jones, twice convicted of double-homicide, disappeared into the Texas prison system, and the mists of history closed over him.
That's the end of this trail. Whatever happened to convicted murderer James Jones after his last appeal is lost to history. I can't imagine it ended well for him. Modern Texas prisons are bad on their best days -- TX prisons at the turn of the century were unfathomably brutal and miserable places.
But what of the original (pretty benign) question: Is R. H. Lyles (b. 1846) connected to Charles Lyles (b. 1876), the Garland school board member for whom Lyles Elementary was named?
From the Dallas Morning News
14 Sep 1940
Lyles Reunion Held
Garland Texas, Sept. 13 -- The descendants of the late Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Lyles met at Tenison Park today for a reunion and dinner. Those attending were Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Lyles, Mr. and Mrs. H. L. Lyles, Mr. and Mrs. V. E. Lyles and sons, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Lyles and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lyles and sons, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lyles and Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Ogle, all of Garland; Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Brown, Mr. and Mrs. J. W. McNillis and family, Mr. and Mrs. L. M. George and son and Miss Edith Coffee, all of Dallas, and Mr. and Mrs. R. N. Coffee and daughter of Fort Worth. [end]
So yes -- the namesake of Lyles Elementary was the son of the murdered R. H. Lyles and his first wife, Nancy (called Nellie).
R. H. Lyles is buried beside his first wife Nellie (1850-1903) in the Garland Memorial Park Cemetery, not far from the graves of his son Charles R. Lyles and wife Kate, and their son Clay (who was killed in a freak powder explosion aboard his Navy ship in 1917).
There is no sign in this cemetery of R. H. Lyles's second wife, who died as a result of the same shooting incident that claimed her new husband's life.
It is not hard to imagine that both families would have preferred to bury their murdered parent with the first spouse. This is not to cast an ugly aspersion, it is simply an acknowledgement of the very difficult way their lives ended, and recognizes the short duration of this 2nd marriage.
The second Mrs. Lyles, Millie Dennis Lyles, could be anywhere. I was not able to find a record of her grave in Garland, Farmers Branch, in any other part of Dallas County, or in Texas. May she rest in peace, wherever she lies.