DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the source here, and I'll tell it to you straight as Duane can manage. William Lewis Ellis. Born January 25, 1861.
Gone August 6, 1916. And in between those two dates, if you were a rustler or a bandit working Baylor County, Texas — that man's name was something you did not want to hear. Ellis served as Sheriff of Baylor County from 1912 to 1916.
Four years. And the marker doesn't mince words about what those four years looked like: he was feared. Feared by the many rustlers and bandits in the area.
Not a few. Not some. Many.
Which tells you something about the kind of country Baylor County was, and something else entirely about the kind of man it took to hold the law together out there. A champion of the law, they call him. That's the phrase on the marker, and I'd wager it wasn't handed out lightly.
Now, William Lewis Ellis had two wives in his life. His first was Barnetta, born Ashton. His second, Sarah E., born Scott.
He was Presbyterian, a man with faith to go alongside that badge. And then 1916. The same year his tenure ends is the same year his life ends — because William Lewis Ellis gave his life in the line of duty.
The marker doesn't elaborate. It doesn't need to. Some sentences carry all the weight they need to carry.
He put on the badge, he stood between the law and the lawless in a county crawling with rustlers and bandits, and one day he didn't come home. Baylor County remembers him. And now, out here on the road, so do you.
What the marker says
(January 25, 1861 - August 6, 1916) Sheriff of Baylor County 1912-1916. A champion of the law, he was feared by the many rustlers and bandits in the area. He gave his life in the line of duty. First wife was Barnetta (Ashton); second, Sarah E. (Scott). He was Presbyterian. Recorded--1969.