Limestone boulder with shackles and chain -- Comanche TX
N 31° 53.855 W 098° 36.281
14R E 537381 N 3529151
A relic of the cruel brand of justice on the rough-and-tumble Texas frontier is preserved in Bicentennial park on the courthouse square in downtown Comanche.
Waymark Code: WMJM96
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 12/03/2013
Views: 9
A boulder with limestone shackles is on display but not otherwise explained or commemorated in Comanche's historic Bicentennial Park. Blasterz suspect it goes with the tiny 2-room log cabin courthouse which served this county for several years when the county was first organized,m and was still fought over by Indian tribes and settlers.
Maybe these shackles were used in a jail, or instead of a jail. Perhaps they were used for public punishment of lawbreakers. Either way, they are a reminder of cruel frontier justice in Texas.
A possible clue from Rootsweb, a free genealogy site: (
visit link)
"Transcribed by Judy Michaels in co-operation with Tami Ramsey
The Comanche Chief, Comanche, TX. Thursday, July 3, 1879
Marshall BREEDLOVE arrested a drunken man Saturday afternoon for indecency, and carried him to the calaboose, chained him to the floor, locked the door and left him to sober off. BREEDLOVE then returned up town, and had been there only a few minutes when he met his man walking around as drunk and free as ever, having slipped his shackles and escaped."