New Texas Historical Marker erected at courthouse

On Wednesday, April 24th, San Saba Masons erected the new Texas Historical Marker on the east side of the courthouse. The marker denotes the contributions of Edgar T. Neal, especially to San Saba County. A formal dedication will take place on Saturday, June 1, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. Special guest speakers will be Joe B. Davis, retired Texas Ranger and president of the Former Texas Ranger Association in Fredericksburg, Michael Lee Cox, retired spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and best-selling author of more than 40 nonfiction books and hundreds of magazine articles, newspaper columns and essays, and Bradley Scott Billings, current Grand Senior Warden of the Grand Lodge of Texas.

Neal, as a Texas Ranger, Sheriff, Deputy Game Commissioner, conservationist of the Izaak Walton League, an active member of the West Texas Sheriff’s Association, lived a fascinating life. He was able to appreciate the grand frontier before it was marred by the hand of man, and throughout his adult life, he never severed his connection with San Saba County. No matter where he was stationed or lived, he always returned. He never moved his Masonic membership or lost his love for the place where he was instrumental in the defeat of the San Saba Mob. Even though he was at times, the right man at the wrong time, until the day he died, he was an honest man, a lawman with integrity above reproach, an engaged conservationist, and upright Freemason.

The legacy of Edgar T. Neal survived long after his death. Articles in magazines and newspapers appeared every decade concerning his life. These always highlighted his experiences as a Ranger with the old Frontier Battalion and his days as Sheriff of San Saba County. Perhaps the most well-known coverage was about his boot print, which appeared in the San Angelo Standard-Times 18 April 1963, 2: In Old San Saba He Left His Mark San Saba – There is a boot track imprinted in the concrete walk at the west entrance to the county courthouse.

It was put there in whimsy by Edgar T. Neal when the sidewalk was being laid years ago, but its proximity to the courthouse is fitting because it was there that Neal made one of his typically heroic stands in the face of violence. It is a small boot track, because Neal had small feet, but that was all that was small about him. He weighed 225 pounds, and what wasn’t muscle was nerve, as the San Saba Mob found out back in August of 1896. In the earlier stages of its operation, the mob included many of the best people of the community, people interested only in seeing long-delayed justice speeded up. Known rustlers were hanged, land-claim jumpers were moved out or strung up. But finally, the mob got out of control, degenerated, became a bully, a force of terror. The community sent an appeal for help to Governor C. A. Culberson, who dispatched four Rangers to San Saba. Neal was one of them. The others were Allen R. Maddox, Dudley S. Barker, and Sergeant John L. Sullivan. They went into camp at Regency, in northern San Saba County near Buzzard’s Water Hole was the holdout conclave of the mobsters and was near the scene of the latest killing, that of a Mr. James who was ambushed while hauling water for his family. Local authorities, tied up with the mobsters, were outright hostile to the Rangers. But within nine months, the Rangers had secured enough evidence to present to a grand jury. Now came the showdown. When the four Rangers showed up at the courthouse to present their evidence, they were met by mobsters on the steps who told them to “high-tail it and live awhile.” Sullivan and Maddox took their stand on the northeast corner of the plaza, and Neal and Barker on the southwest corner, only a few yards from where Neal’s boot track is seen. A masked mobster stepped forward, ordered the Rangers out. Barker, later sheriff of Pecos County for many years, shot him dead with his pistol, calmly blew the smoke off the end of the barrel and quietly announced to the crowd that it had “just two minutes to get out of here – no more – and you’ll be locked up if you don’t.” Sullivan and Maddox already had their pistols out and Neal jerked his Winchester from its scabbard. Additional Rangers rode up at this time under Captain Bill McDonald, who had been dispatched by Gov. Culberson at Sgt. Sullivan’s request. Several convictions were achieved based on evidence supplied by the Rangers. Neal was elected county sheriff in 1898 and served several terms before going back into the Rangers service. He returned to be the sheriff from 1917 through 1924. Several years ago, he died in Houston.

The famous boot print still survives to this day, and is expected to be placed by the historical marker by the San Saba County Historical Commission.

Even when his children were mentioned about their accomplishments or personal lives, they were always referred to as the son or daughter of the former “Ranger Neal” or former “Sheriff Neal” of San Saba. His personal legacy, and that of the Ranger service, would continue mainly through the efforts of his wife; but that is another story.