In 1889, the bodies of four people of the Williamson family who had been killed with a blunt instrument then bound up and weighted with rocks washed up on the US side of the Rio Grande. The bodies belonged to four members of a family who had hired Dick Duncan to take them in their wagon to Piedras Negras Mexico. Duncan was seen driving the family in their wagon. Later, he was seen driving the same wagon. After the Williamson family's bodies were discovered, Duncan was arrested and tried for murder.
After deliberating for 90 minutes, Duncan was convicted and sentenced to death. (Source: Rawhide Ranger, Ira Aten: Enforcing Law on the Texas Frontier, By Bob Alexander pp 172 et seq.))
Dick Duncan's appeal and request for a writ of habeus corpus went all the way to the US Supreme Court, where the writ was denied. (
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Duncan was hanged in the Maverick County Courthouse jail in 1891, the first, last and only execution carried out in Maverick County.
A state historic marker affixed to the front of the Maverick County Courthouse mentions the Duncan trial. The marker reads as follows:
"Maverick County Courthouse
A landmark of the Texas-Mexico border area. Built 1884-85, during term of county Judge Thomas Lamb, on site chosen by citizens' committee, who donated $800 toward purchase of land from R.E. Moffit. Architects: Wahrenberger and Beckman, San Antonio. Contractor: A local builder, William Hausser (1847-1919). Courthouse and a jail were erected at total cost of $20,489.
This was site of celebrated Dick Duncan murder trial, 1889. Duncan, accused of killing four members of a San Saba family he was escorting to Mexico, was convicted on evidence gathered by Sheriff W.N. Cooke and Texas Rangers Ira Aten and John R. Hughes. He was sentenced to death by district Judge Winchester Kelso. Duncan appealed to state and federal courts and gained national notoriety, but was hanged in the county jail on September 18, 1891, in the only capital execution ever carried out by Maverick county.
Early jail was replaced in 1949. A fine example of Victorian design, with crenelation that suggests a fortress, the courthouse is a border structure with great architectural significance. The clock tower still holds its original E. Howard works and bell.
Marker dedicated in September 1971 to commemorate centennial of the organization of Maverick county.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1971"
More on the Dick Duncan case can be found in the Texas Rangers Dispatch Magazine: (
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"The Border Boss:
John R. Hughes
by Chuck Parsons
Virtually anyone with any interest in Texas history or the history of law enforcement has some awareness of John Reynolds Hughes, a man who started as a Texas Ranger private in the "horseback days" and continued in law enforcement well into the twentieth century. From forking a horse to pursuing a fugitive to revving up an automobile, Hughes was the man who could be depended on to "get his man."
. . .
Ira Aten (later Maverick County TX Sheriff - -BMB) was so impressed with Hughes that he asked him to join up with the
Texas Rangers. By enlisting in the Frontier Battalion, Hughes could track down fugitives and get paid for it at the same time. It didn't take long to make the decision. On August 10, 1887, Hughes signed on, mustered in by Adjutant General W. H. King at Georgetown, Williamson County. He intended to serve for only a few months.
Now in the Frontier Battalion, John Reynolds Hughes would hunt down murderers, smugglers, and sheep, cattle and horse thieves along the Rio Grande, recovering thousands of dollars of property. He would also have to kill in the line of duty on more than one occasion. It was dangerous work, but Hughes rose in the ranks from private to captain—partly due to his superior officers being killed in the line of duty!
During his many years as an officer, Hughes met up with some of the most noted and notorious men of the Southwest. Among these were Pat Garrett, John Selman, James B. "Killing Jim" Miller, Jefferson D. Milton, Catarina Garza, Captain Frank Jones, and Deputy U. S. Marshal George A. Scarborough.
The counties bordering on the Rio Grande represented perhaps the most dangerous sections of the country. Hughes worked in every one of them from El Paso to Brownsville. Remarkably, he was never wounded, never lost a prisoner to a mob, and never allowed one to escape. . .
. . .
Although Hughes had developed an enviable reputation as a man hunter by now, he proved to have considerable detective skills as well. The opportunity to demonstrate those talents came in early 1889 when the bodies of four people were discovered in the waters of the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Maverick County. The skulls of the deceased had been crushed with a blunt instrument, and each had been tied with rocks weighing between forty and fifty pounds.
The bodies had washed ashore on the American side of the Rio
Grande. Ultimately, they were identified as members of one family, formerly of San Saba County: the mother, Mrs. Williamson; her widowed daughter, Mrs. Levonia Homes; her teenaged daughter, Beulah; and her son, Ben Williamson.
Dick Duncan was ultimately arrested for the crime. At the trial, Hughes was called as a witness for the state. He testified that while at Camp Wood in Edwards County, on February 6, 1889, Duncan had come to the Ranger camp saying he was acquainted with one of the Company D Rangers, Bass L. Outlaw. Duncan claimed that he was going to Piedras Negras, Mexico, after his sister. He said that he and a family by the name of Jones were going to Eagle Pass. The next day, Duncan was seen riding in a new-looking, two horse wagon containing three women and a man.
On March 1, Hughes and Ira Aten, now a sergeant, arrested Duncan, his companions, and Duncan's brother Tap on suspicion of smuggling. When the Rangers caught up with the group, they were traveling north and still had the same wagon with them that they had when first visiting Hughes in the Edwards County camp. Now, however, the three women and the young man were not with them. The Rangers suspected that Duncan and his men had murdered them. Aten advised the outlaws that they were being arrested on suspicion of smuggling, and that anything they said would be used in evidence against them.
The details of how Hughes determined that Duncan was responsible for the murders have not been preserved, but at his trial, R. H. "Dick" Duncan was found guilty of that crime. When the verdict of death by hanging was announced, the defendant appealed. The 1891 Court of Appeal was "not disposed to interfere with the judgment, and therefore in all things affirmed."
Duncan ultimately went to the gallows on September 4, 1891, thanks to the detective work of Rangers Hughes and Aten."