DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Thomas M. Stell.
Born in Florida, came to Texas while he was still just a boy — and Texas, well, Texas had plans for him. He spent his youth as a cowboy, which back then wasn't a romantic notion, it was hard miles under a hard sun. He drove cattle all the way to Kansas.
All the way to Wyoming. You want to talk about a man who'd seen the country from the back of a horse, Thomas Stell had seen it. Then he traded the trail for the classroom, attending Covey College over in Concrete.
And somewhere between those cattle drives and those college halls, he became the kind of man a county trusts with a badge. In 1892, Thomas M. Stell was appointed sheriff of DeWitt County.
He would hold that job for fifteen years. Now, the marker makes a point of saying he handled his duties with persuasiveness and tact — and friend, in DeWitt County, in that era, that is not a small thing to say. Because among the prisoners Thomas Stell held in that jail was one John Wesley Hardin.
Notorious gunman. The marker uses the word notorious, and it earns every syllable. Stell kept him.
Persuasion and tact, remember. When the badge years were behind him, the associations claimed him — member of the Old Trail Drivers Association, which makes perfect sense for a man who'd pushed cattle to Kansas and Wyoming, and president of the Texas Sheriffs Association, which tells you what his fellow lawmen thought of him. He married twice, raised five children.
A life that ran from the open range to the schoolhouse to the sheriff's office to the highest seat among Texas sheriffs. Florida born. Texas made.
Fifteen years holding the line — and one of those prisoners had a name that still echoes.
What the marker says
Born in Florida; came to Texas in childhood. A cowboy in youth -- drove cattle to Kansas, Wyoming. Attended Covey College, Concrete. Appointed sheriff of De Witt County, 1892; he served 15 years. Used persuasiveness and tact in handling duties. One of the prisoners he held was notorious gunman John Wesley Hardin. Married twice; father of five children. Member of Old Trail Drivers Association; president, Texas Sheriffs Association. Recorded - 1967