DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some men leave a mark on the land, and some men leave something a little harder to explain. James Briton Bailey — folks called him Brit — he managed to do both.
It started in 1818, when Brit Bailey staked an individual claim out here on this stretch of Texas prairie. He established the plantation himself, on his own terms, before he later joined Austin's colony. That detail matters, because everything about Brit Bailey was on his own terms.
He was born in 1779. Tall, fearless, of Irish stock — that's how the record describes him, and you get the sense those three things go together pretty naturally. A tall, fearless man with a little Irish fire in him, planting himself on the edge of a frontier that most people were still trying to figure out from a safe distance.
Now, here's where the story takes a turn that'll stick with you. When Brit Bailey died in 1833, he had already made his wishes known. He was not to be laid down in the ground like ordinary men.
He was to be buried standing up, facing west, with his gun at his side. And by all accounts, that is exactly what they did. Facing west.
Gun in hand. Like a man who wasn't entirely convinced he was finished. And maybe he wasn't.
Because to this day, his restless ghost is said to walk this prairie. You can make of that what you will. But I'll tell you this — a man who negotiates the terms of his own burial probably isn't the type to let a little thing like death have the last word.
What the marker says
Established in 1818 as an individual claim by James Briton Bailey, a member later of Austin's colony. Born 1779, Bailey was tall, fearless, of Irish stock. At his request, he was buried (1833) standing up, facing west, gun at side. His restless ghost is said to walk this prairie. (1968)