The Legacy of Sam Bass • Round Rock

The Legacy of Sam Bass • Round Rock

Written by Karen Thompson Friday, 06 June 2008

The life and legacy of Sam Bass has brought attention to Round Rock for the 130 years since his death in 1878.

The exploits of this rogue might have taken root in his youth in Lawrence County, Indiana. The death of Elizabeth Bass in 1861 was taken hard by her son, 10-year-old Samuel. In 1864 Sam’s father, Daniel Bass, died, leaving the eight children orphaned.

Sam went to live with his uncle, and by 1869 he was ready to leave his roots behind and seek a new life elsewhere. He boarded the O & M Railroad for St. Louis, Missouri but soon made his way to Denton County, Texas.

In Texas, Sam found work as a hired hand with Denton County Sheriff William F. Egan. Some accounts have reported that Bass was a deputy sheriff, but as a hired hand he tended livestock, milked cows, chopped wood and built fences.

On October 14, 1872, Bass received funds from his parent’s estate. He signed the receipt with an “x” to indicate he could not write his name. An acquaintance reported that Bass was “intensely ignorant and wholly illiterate.”

Bass next tried horse racing. The 1874 tax records revealed he owned four horses worth $50 each. Horse racing and gambling continued, and in 1876, he teamed up with San Antonio saloonkeepers Joe and Joel Collins.

Their life of crime began with robbing stagecoaches in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory, but it wasn’t long before they were holding up trains in Nebraska and Texas. One Union Pacific heist netted $100,000 and soon a $10,000 reward was being offered for their capture.

Soon not only were Texas trains being robbed, but also banks. By April 1878, Texas Governor R. B. Hubbard asked Major John B. Jones of the Texas Rangers to take action. Jones convinced gang member Jim Murphy to be an informant. Murphy learned the gang would be in Round Rock in July.

Jones and some of the lawmen checked into the Davis Hotel on Georgetown Avenue, now Main Street. On Friday, July 19, 1878, Sam Bass, Seaborn Barnes, Frank Jackson, and Jim Murphy headed to town, but Murphy stayed back in “old town.”

The gang entered Henry Koppel’s general store (the recently closed Rock Room at the corner of Main Street and Mays Street). Deputy Sheriff A. W. “Caige” Grimes was told that a man in the store was carrying a sidearm, and when Grimes entered the store, he was shot dead.

Bass, Barnes and Jackson ran toward their horses. Texas Ranger Richard Ware shot and killed Seaborn Barnes. Ranger George Herold shot and wounded Bass.

Bass and Jackson made a getaway and headed west across Brushy Creek.

The next day Bass was found by the Rangers and brought to a shed behind the Hart Hotel (near the current downtown water tower). He died the following day, July 21, 1878, his 27th birthday. Bass, Barnes and Grimes are all buried in the Round Rock Cemetery on Sam Bass Road.