The following is a partial account of the life and times of Edgar T. Neal. This story will be the final chapter or Part III of the book, The Texas Rangers & the San Saba Mob. This series is the narrative for the application of a new Texas Historical Subject Marker for San Saba County. Endnotes are available upon request. Ross J. Cox, Sr.
Part 2.
Neal was born in Wilson County, Texas, September 2, 1869, to Hamilton Thomas Neal and Mary Pedigo. Hamilton Neal migrated from Tennessee to Texas in 1855, lived in San Antonio for a few years and married his wife Mary Pedigo in 1860. Hamilton served in Wood’s Regiment, 36th Texas Cavalry during the War for Southern Independence. After the war, the family settled in Wilson County. To their union were born five children: Roanna, Hamilton, Edgar, Henry, and Andrew. 5
The community where the family lived was Fairview, located in the southwestern part of the county. Edgar attended Rabbit Hill School. It was known as a good school that provided a high number of recruits to the teaching profession. Fairview was also known for the 27 Texas peace officers and 20 Texas Rangers who hailed from there. The most notable were Edgar T. Neal and Frank A. Hamer. They were the best of friends; both were Freemasons with a strong relationship that would last throughout their lives. 6 Before Neal was a noted
Before Neal was a noted peace officer, he became a Freemason. Masonry ran deep in the development of Texas, the Rangers, and the Neal family. His father was a member of Pleasanton Lodge No. 283 in 1885 and affiliated with Floresville Lodge No. 515 in 1887. In 1893, Neal received his degrees in Floresville Lodge. Throughout his life he belonged to several organizations, but his membership in the Craft was his most cherished. 7
On November 25, 1895, Neal enlisted in Captain J. H. Rogers’ Company E at Alice. After a few months on the border, the company was called away, along with almost the entire Ranger force, to stop the Fitzsimmons and Maher prize fight, which had been banned in both Texas and Mexico. For more than a year, the episode captured the attention of the country and a fair share of the world. Judge Roy Bean, of “Law West of the Pecos” fame, maneuvered to move the fight on an island in the middle of the Rio Grande. Fitzsimmons knocked out Maher in less than two minutes. This episode introduced Neal to the other three great Ranger captains: John R. Hughes, J. A. Brooks, and William J. McDonald. 8
Central Texas became a haven that offered outlaws their safest refuge for uninhibited plunder. This arena provided a place where cattle rustling was well organized. To combat the rustlers, seven wealthy cattlemen from Williams Ranch, Texas, (Brown County at the time) came together and formed the “Honest Man’s Club.” After justice was served on the perceived outlaws, another mob, The Trigger Mountain Mob, was formed to eradicate the Honest Man’s Club. From these mobs sprang a reign of terror during which no person was safe. Men were found dead in creeks, dragged to death, and hung in trees. Families were ordered out of the area abandoning their entire possessions as they fled. As a result, violence and assassination spread to other communities and had sown the seeds of another more notorious mob, the San Saba Mob. 9