First Court in Kimble County

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice. Half a mile northwest of here, on the main Llano River, there's a place that used to go by the name Old Kimbleville, a spot that had been put forward as the county seat of Kimble County. And in the spring of 1876, something happened there that was either the finest display of frontier jurisprudence Texas has ever seen, or the most gloriously improvised court of law in the history of the republic.

Maybe both. In the spring of 1876, Kimble County held its very first court session. Now, there was no courthouse.

There were no benches in the polished-wood sense of the word. What there was, was a live oak tree; and that live oak had a hive of wild bees living right there in its trunk. Whether those bees were sworn in, the marker does not say.

District Judge W. A. Blackburn rode in from Burnet on horseback.

The district attorney was a man named Frank Wilks. The jury took their seats (and I use that word loosely) on two logs. The judge's bench was another log.

And the gavel? A piece of gnarled live oak limb. The cases before the court were mostly horse thefts, which in that time and place were not taken lightly.

The prisoners who were waiting on their day before that log-bench judge were chained to nearby trees. The Texas Rangers were present; to testify, and to keep the whole proceeding from coming apart at the seams, because this was, as the marker puts it plainly, a lawless era. So picture it: bees humming overhead, Rangers standing watch, a judge who rode in on horseback wielding a crooked stick for a gavel, and the law of Kimble County being hammered out, one log at a time, under the shade of a live oak on the Llano River.

Justice, Texas style.

What the marker says

(Site: 1/2 mi. NW, on main Llano River) Held in spring of 1876, under a live oak tree that had a hive of wild bees in its trunk. The site, "Old Kimbleville," had been suggested as the county seat. District Judge W. A. Blackburn, of Burnet, arrived by horseback. District attorney was Frank Wilks. The jury was seated on two logs. Another log was the judge's bench, and a piece of gnarled live oak limb the gavel. Prisoners awaiting trial were chained to nearby trees. Major trials were for horse thefts. Texas Rangers were on hand to testify and to guard court, as this was during lawless era. (1967)