DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. On December 29, 1876, a Bandera County Deputy Sheriff by the name of Captain Jack Phillips rode out alone on an official visit to Sabinal Canyon. Now, riding alone through that country in 1876 was not exactly a leisurely Sunday excursion, but Phillips had a job to do, and he set out to do it.
He never made it. At Seco Canyon Pass, twenty-two miles southwest of Bandera, Indians attacked him. Phillips turned his horse and raced for the nearest settlement — because that was the only play he had.
Then his horse was shot from under him. And here is where the story takes on a weight that's hard to shake: Captain Jack Phillips got up and ran. On foot, through that canyon country, he ran for half a mile before he was killed.
Half a mile. You think about that for a moment. His body was found later that same day — found by a mail carrier, and by a couple who were on their way to the county seat to be married.
Of all the people who might have come down that road. Now, the marker uses the word ironically, and it earns it. Because those Indians had been trailed for many miles by Texas Rangers.
Miles and miles of pursuit — and the Rangers turned back in exhaustion just before Phillips was waylaid. Just before. The Rangers stopped, and somewhere ahead of them on that road, Captain Jack Phillips was running.
That's the story the marker leaves you with, and there's really nothing left to add.
What the marker says
A Bandera County Deputy Sheriff, Capt. Jack Phillips, set out alone on Dec. 29, 1876, on an official visit to Sabinal Canyon. Indians attacked him at Seco Canyon Pass, 22 miles southwest of Bandera. Phillips raced for the nearest settlement. When his horse was shot from under him, he ran for half a mile before being killed. A mail carrier and a couple on their way to the county seat to be married found his body later that day. Ironically, the Indians had been trailed for many miles by Texas Rangers who had turned back in exhaustion just before Phillips was waylaid. (1970, 1975)