DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. February 10th, 1885. Pittsburg, Texas.
A cold day that was about to get a whole lot colder. What started as a domestic dispute — George 'Dallas' Smart, his wife Annie, and a U.S. Army Lieutenant named John W.
Heard — spilled out into the open, right here at the Pittsburg Depot. Heard was planning to leave town. That was the plan, anyway.
But a crowd had gathered, the way crowds do when trouble's brewing in the air, and whatever was simmering between those three people came to a boil fast. In the struggle that followed — fueled, the marker tells us, by that very crowd — Heard shot and killed Dallas Smart. Right there at the depot.
Now, the next day, February 11th, Heard appeared before County Judge M. N. Brooks.
The judge heard the case, ruled it self-defense, and ordered Heard released. Simple as that? Well, not quite.
A question of legal authority cropped up — the kind of question that sends things straight to the state attorney general. And the attorney general ruled the trial proper, on account of Judge Brooks's role as magistrate. So Heard walked out of that ruling with the law behind him.
But the law wasn't finished with him yet. He still had to defend himself in a court martial, and then a subsequent trial on top of that. Two more chances for the whole thing to come apart.
They didn't. Heard went on to a distinguished military career. As for Annie Smart — she remarried, and lived out her days in the New Mexico Territory, dying there in 1900.
Three lives tangled up at a Texas train depot on a February morning. One man dead, one man vindicated twice over, and one woman who just… kept going. That's the thing about history.
It doesn't end at the depot.
What the marker says
A domestic dispute involving George "Dallas" Smart, wife Annie and U.S. Army Lt. John W. Heard resulted in a public confrontation here on Feb. 10, 1885 as Heard planned to leave town. In the ensuing struggle, fueled by a crowd, Heard shot and killed Dallas Smart. The next day, Heard appeared before County Judge M. N. Brooks, who determined it was self-defense and ordered him released. A question of legal authority caused the state attorney general to rule the trial proper, given the judge's role as magistrate. Heard later defended himself in a court martial and a subsequent trial on the incident, and went on to a distinguished military career. Annie Smart rewed and died in the New Mexico Territory in 1900. (2005)