A Day in March Part 2

"Frank you have scandalized my family enough" as he said this he jerked his gun from his wagon and raised his Winchester gun and fired at Frank. The first shot hit Frank in the stomach.  Frank began to stagger away and Pettis fired again. This time Frank fell to the ground. One of the witnesses asked why Pettis had done that and Pettis said "He has scandalized my family and keeps at it." Pettis then turned and walked home. Both witnesses say Frank did not do anything with his hands, he left them on the grubbing hoe he had been using.  A third witness said differently, that Frank had moved his hands behind his back as if grabbing a gun.  Frank seemed to of died on the scene.  Stay tuned to read more of this story.

A Fine Day in March of 1902

Hey all!

So I thought it was time to give you a little more background on the people in the pictures.  Martha Ellen Duncan Baccus is the older lady second from the left.  She was born on 13 November 1876, probably in Kentucky.  Her parents names were William Francis Marion and Sarah Christman.  She was married to Frank "B.J" Baccus on the 31 of January 1893.  During the next 9 years they will have 4 children together.  Lillie Lou, Pearl Francis, Roy, and Carl Benjamin. They owned some farmland in Merkle, Taylor, Texas that Frank farmed.  Martha and Frank seemed to of lived happily together those nine years, until the 31st of March of 1902.  The following story is found in The Texas criminal reports: cases argued and adjudged in The Court of Criminal Appeals of the State of Texas vol 47, reported by Rudolph Kleberg, published by T. H Flood and Company: Chicago, Illinios, 190, pages 69-78.  Frank was out building a fence with Buck Moore.  Frank and Buck were working their way down the line towards a wagon and three men were also building a fence around different property.  One of the men named G.R. Pettis began watching Frank and Buck once they were about 100 yards away.  He stood and watched until Frank was about 30 yards away and then said to him...      

So someone asked how I got the picture in the previous post.  It is really a simple explanation but I need to delve into my family history a little to explain fully.  My father was adopted right after his birth, due to health complications he was able to locate his birth mother just after I was born.  She lives near my dad's legal family, so there have been times we will go visit her.  A few years ago my dad asked her for family history information.  She gave him names, pictures, and old possessions of different people.  So this picture is one that she gave us.  

I know this picture is on the side but I wanted to put it here so it would be bigger and introduce you to the family a little.  This is a picture of Martha Ellen Duncan Baccus and her family.  From left to right Ray Baccus, Martha, and Pearl and Carl Brabbin.  Ray and Pearl are her children, and Carl is Pearl's husband.