Local History
Texas Outlaw History Markers: Gunfighters, Bandits, and the Law That Chased Them
Sam Bass in Round Rock. A Santa Claus bank robbery in Cisco. John Wesley Hardin on the Comanche square. Four real Texas outlaw markers, with addresses you can drive to.
Photo: Ashley Ross / Unsplash. Toyah, Texas.
Somewhere on a courthouse square in Central Texas, you'll pass a granite slab bolted to a brick wall. It marks the spot where a deputy sheriff bled out in 1874. Texas has more than 16,000 official state historical markers, and a lot of them tell crime stories. RoadHistorical is a Texas historical preservation platform built to catch those markers before you drive past them. Here are four real outlaw markers, with real addresses, that you can pull over for this weekend.
The Outlaw Everybody Sang About Is Buried in Round Rock
Sam Bass robbed trains and stagecoaches, and Texas balladeers turned him into a folk hero. He rode into Round Rock in July 1878 planning to rob the bank. One of his own men had already sold him out to the Texas Rangers.
The shooting started on July 19. Bass took a bullet and rode out of town. Searchers found him the next morning in a pasture north of Round Rock. He died on July 21, 1878. It was his 27th birthday.
The Texas Historical Commission put up the Round Rock Cemetery marker in 1983. It stands at the old burial ground where his grave still draws visitors. Read the marker, then walk the rows. Bass isn't the only story buried there.
1400 Sam Bass Rd, Round Rock, TX 78681
Find it in RoadHistorical before your visit.
Cisco: The Bank That Got Robbed by Santa Claus
Four men walked into the First National Bank in Cisco on December 23, 1927. One of them wore a Santa Claus suit. Marshall Ratliff picked the costume because half the town's kids would follow Santa down the street without thinking twice about it.
The robbery fell apart fast. The gang grabbed the money and ran straight into a town full of armed citizens. The marker records $12,200 in cash and $150,000 in securities taken, six people killed, and eight wounded. A mob later dragged Ratliff out of jail and lynched him.
The First National Bank marker went up in 1967 and still marks the building. It's a plain one-story brick storefront today. Stand across the street and picture the crowd.
Conrad Hilton Blvd at W 8th St, Cisco, TX 76437
Find it in RoadHistorical before your visit.
A 21st Birthday That Ended in Gunfire in Comanche
John Wesley Hardin came back to Comanche in May 1874 to see his parents, race his horse Rondo, and turn 21. He won big at the track. Then he spent the afternoon celebrating on the square.
Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb found him outside the Jack Wright Saloon. The two men traded a few words. Then they traded bullets. Webb fell dead in the doorway on May 26, 1874. Hardin was hit, but he got out of town.
That killing is the one that finally caught up with him. Hardin ran for three years. A Texas Ranger arrested him on a train in Pensacola, Florida, and he served roughly 17 years in Huntsville for Webb’s death.
The Site of John Wesley Hardin's Murder of Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb marker sits on the Comanche courthouse square. It's a few steps from where the saloon stood.
107 W Grand Ave, Comanche, TX 76442
Find it in RoadHistorical before your visit.
Fort Worth Sold Sin by the Block
The Texas and Pacific Railway reached Fort Worth in 1876 and the money followed. Saloons, gambling halls, dance halls, and brothels filled the blocks between the courthouse square and the depot. Locals called it Hell’s Half Acre. Cowboys coming off the trail, buffalo hunters, and railroad crews all spent their pay there.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid spent time there too. In November 1900, five members of the Wild Bunch put on new suits and sat for a portrait. The studio belonged to John Swartz, at 705 1/2 Main Street, upstairs over a saloon. Swartz displayed a copy. A Fort Worth detective recognized the faces, and the picture ended up on wanted posters. The gang never robbed together again.
The Hell's Half Acre marker went up in 1993 near the Fort Worth Water Gardens. The Wild Bunch trail marker sits a few blocks north on Main Street.
1440 Houston St, Fort Worth, TX 76102
Find it in RoadHistorical before your visit.
How RoadHistorical Finds These Markers
Discovery Mode runs while you drive. When you come within range of a marker, your phone tells you. There's no searching and no pulling over to check a map. You get a heads up early enough to slow down and turn in.
The AI Tour Guide handles the questions a plaque can't answer. Ask who Charles Webb was, or what happened to the rest of the Bass gang, and you get an answer in the car. It all works offline, which matters on the two-lane stretches between Comanche and Cisco where coverage disappears.
Start Discovering Texas History Today
RoadHistorical is free to download on iPhone and Android. Download it here and turn on Discovery Mode before your next drive. Android users can download RoadHistorical from Google Play.
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