SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL QUARTERLY最新文献

Reviewed by:

• Man with the Killer Smile: The Life and Crimes of a Serial Mass Murderer by Mitchel P. Roth
• James Presley

Serial killers tend to choose special types of victims, who are usually strangers. Mass murderers prefer crowds and increased body counts. George Jefferson Hassell (1888–1928), the subject of Mitchel P. Roth's latest book, Man with the Killer Smile: The Life and Crimes of a Serial Mass Murderer, fits into both categories as well as a third: familicide. ("Killer smile" alludes to Hassell's superficial charm he used on women.) He killed thirteen—two wives and eleven stepchildren. In the annals of true crime, Hassell is part of a rare subset of killers. In our era of AR-15s, terrorists, and frequent atrocities, these long forgotten but important crimes stand out. Just as study of a rare but malignant disease may shed light on it and other [End Page 362] disorders, so may this complex case of a serial mass killer who specialized in families offer insight into criminal behavior on several levels.

The basic facts are chilling. In Whittier, California, in 1917, Hassell killed Marie Vogel, his common law wife, and her three children, one from a previous marriage and two adopted. He strangled all four with his bare hands and stockings. He buried them under the house where the bodies remained undiscovered for years. In Farwell, Texas, near New Mexico, in 1926, Hassell's slayings did gain scrutiny and sent him to Death Row. He killed nine: his wife Susan–his older brother's widow whom he had married–and eight of her children. He used a variety of means to snuff out their lives, all up close and personal. He bashed in the skull of his wife with a hammer and dispatched others with an axe, a razor, his hands, and a shotgun. As in California, he buried all nine in a common pit and lied about their absences. In each instance, he killed the mother first and then her children, ages ranging from two to twenty-one, as if killing the children might eliminate possible witnesses against him or—who knows?—targeting them as proxies in revenge for some perceived slight from years before. The slayings were senseless and in cold blood. Hassell ended his life story in Huntsville's electric chair less than two years after the Texas murders. The legal process appears to have been fair. He was read a Miranda warning years before Miranda. The judge entered a plea of not guilty for him when he failed to respond.

Professor Roth acquits himself well in the challenging task of researching old cases. In the first murders

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• William F. Buckley Sr.: Witness to the Mexican Revolution, 1908–1922 by John A. Adams Jr.
• Steven Collins

In William F. Buckley Sr.: Witness to the Mexican Revolution, 1908-1922, John Adams provides a long overdue biography of an attorney and oilman from San Diego, Texas. Buckley secured his place in history as one of the leading forces behind the Tampico oil boom in Mexico, 1908. After the ouster of his friend, Mexican President Porfirio Díaz, his keen knowledge of the oil industry and ability to negotiate with politicians and bandits alike gave him and his Pantepec Oil Company a front-row seat to Mexico's long revolution. In the 1920s, when the Mexican oil and gas industry experienced a downturn, he identified new possibilities in Venezuela. He then befriended Venezuelan President Juan Gómez and provided plans for commercial facilities and gained leasing rights in the Lake Maracaibo region. During the 1930s, Buckley acknowledged the importance of diversification for the long-term viability of his company. He secured drilling contracts in Florida, Canada, and the Middle East, establishing a truly global enterprise. Adams concludes that Buckley's upbringing in South Texas and his University of Texas law degree contributed to his success as one of the most accomplished independent oilmen in the industry's history. The lasting impact of Buckley's influence helped to shape the international oil industry for decades following his death in 1958.

The book demonstrates Buckley's unparalleled business acumen and astute political mind. Following the establishment of a law office in Mexico City, he used the local Petroleum Club as a venue for negotiating contracts and securing loans, culminating in the founding of his Pantepec Oil Company. He was critical of President Woodrow Wilson's administration, which lacked appreciation for Mexican culture, politics, and social dynamics. His defense of the Catholic Church and testimony during the 1919 Fall Committee hearings led to his expulsion from Mexico in 1921. Adams explains this was a watershed for Buckley's career. He fortuitously [End Page 360] expanded Pantepec Oil to Venezuela. Then, as the Great Depression unfolded, he had the great foresight to diversify Pantepec. He gained new leases in Florida, Canada, and the Middle East to create one of the largest independently owned oil companies.

Adams' book is more than a biography. It is a historical ride through the rough and tumble days of the Tampico oil rush and the Mexican Revolution. In the final years

Reviewed by:

• Our Stories: Black Families in Early Dallas ed. by George Keaton Jr. and Judith Garrett Segura
• Makenzie A. Wiley

This collection of stories and personal histories focuses on Dallas, but it aims to provide a deeper perspective on the lives of all African Americans in Texas. The book is a republication and expansion of two earlier works produced by Black Dallas Remembered, a non-profit history organization [End Page 355] led by Mamie L. McKnight. Entitled African Families and Settlements in Dallas and First African American Families in Dallas, these brief works appeared in 1990 and 1987, respectively. For this edition, editors George Keaton Jr. and Judith Garret Segura have added their notes and commentary throughout while updating some information to modernize the text and bring the monograph to new audiences. The monograph itself now acts as a great foundation for examining the establishment of Black settlements in the Dallas area, while also providing context regarding how those areas transformed as Dallas became the larger metroplex it is today.

Looking at three aspects of Black life in Dallas, the authors discuss the establishment of several towns following the Civil War, the schools that served those communities, and the major families of the area. Beginning with this background on Black communities and settlements founded in the Dallas area following emancipation, the monograph provides a comprehensive narrative of the subsequent development of Black neighborhoods in Dallas. Some communities mentioned are Booker T. Washington Addition, Eagle Ford, the Fields Community, the Thomas Hill Community, Mill City, North Dallas, Oak Cliff, The Prairie, South Dallas, Upper and Lower White Rock, and the West Dallas Community, all areas that became large subdivisions in modern Dallas. While the authors discuss each town individually, they also look at similarities between the communities, like the role of churches, schools, and important families that helped to settle the area. Additionally, the authors use oral history transcripts to provide more detail concerning the settlements of the Black communities in Dallas.

The authors do an excellent job of completing the picture of early Dallas; however, the greatest accomplishment of the book is their ability to humanize the settlers of so many of the Black communities. Despite the hardships and discrimination that plagued Black life in the period, this work shows how the first Black settlers in Dallas should be honored for the great steps they took in not only endurin

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• Before Lawrence v. Texas: The Making of a Queer Social Movement by Wesley G. Phelps
• La Shonda Mims

In popular opinion, social movements are often defined by major events punctuating a tidy timeline. Yet historians know that an analysis of the long game is where we uncover the true significance of a major achievement. Before Lawrence v. Texas is an exhaustively researched legal and political analysis to which Wesley Phelps applies the methodology of social history. Through an investigation of the complex legislative maneuvering that defined Lawrence v. Texas, which is sometimes viewed as a spontaneous achievement in the history of LGBTQ rights, Phelps shows that over three decades urban activists fought less successful cases that influenced the seismic Lawrence decision.

From the 1860 sodomy law in Texas, Phelps travels the winding legal road to the Lawrence decision, demonstrating the importance of "ordinary citizens" to a "thriving democracy." This book centers on Texas cities because that is where political action and community organizing happens. When the Texas penal code was revised starting in 1965, it resulted in the 1974 adoption of Section 21.06, which criminalized same-sex sexual activity. Phelps argues that this "homosexual conduct law served as a rationale for denying queer Texans the rights and freedoms of first-class citizenship." (p. 81) The results were devastating. For example, when two lesbians joined their families together in Garland, Texas, including children from prior marriages, they quickly faced a brutal custody case. In 1975, one of the women lost custody of her biological children because of 21.06. Placing individual stories like this in the larger narrative of Texas's legal history is imperative in order to understand how daily queer life exposed a culture of inequality in the state.

At the heart of the book, Phelps focuses on queer resistance in the 1970s and 1980s. Phelps asserts that cases like Baker v. Wade in 1985 represented a "turning point" because they created a national storyline for the legislative fight against sodomy laws. (p. 12) Even though Baker's claims to privacy rights were unsuccessful, and the plaintiffs were "battle worn and scarred" at the end, Phelps argues that the case was "critical" [End Page 365] to initiating the "legal strategy" necessary to overturn the state's sodomy statute. (pp. 160-161) Following the Baker decision, two cases brought by women plaintiffs highlight the diversity of those arguing against the state's sodomy laws. As a lesb

Reviewed by:

• Texas Secessionists Standoff: The 1997 Republic of Texas "War" by Donna Marie Miller
• Darren L. Ivey

For more than fifty years, sustained political violence has been plaguing American society. Throughout this time period, disaffected groups, who range the ideological spectrum, have attacked property and people, even to the point of murder, to further their radical goals. Austin-based freelance journalist Donna Marie Miller's well-researched Texas Secessionists Standoff chronicles one episode in this tragic historical trend. The book examines the Republic of Texas (ROT) secessionist militia and its taking of hostages in the Davis Mountain Resort (DMR) near Fort Davis in April 1997. Miller has organized her twenty-five chapters into three parts: Before the ROT War, The ROT War, and After the ROT War.

Part I lays the foundation for the events that occurred in the Davis Mountains. Much of this portion relies on interviews Miller conducted with participants between 2017 and 2019. Richard McLaren, the self-appointed "ambassador" of the ROT, was convinced that Texas had been illegally annexed in 1845 and disputed the legitimacy of the state government. To further his ambitions, McLaren exploited the legal system to prosecute a "paper war" and challenge land titles in the DMR. He also began abusing adverse possession laws and filing liens against banks, churches, businesses, politicians, and even neighbors.

Even as she ably weaves various threads together to explain subsequent events, Miller focuses much of the first part on telling the story of Jo Anne Canady Turner, a wife, mother, and businesswoman who was floundering financially and anxious to escape the threat of foreclosure. Her desperation led to the fateful decision to aid the ROT in their endeavors. Although she was not in the Davis Mountains during the standoff, Turner is central to Miller's narrative.

Part II chronicles the seven-day confrontation in the DMR where several members of the ROT held Joe and Margaret Ann Rowe captive in their own home. Three hundred law enforcement officers responded, and Texas Ranger Captain Barry Caver served as the on-scene commander. He, Rangers David Duncan and Joe Malone, and FBI hostage negotiator Gary Noesner (who wrote the book's foreword) were instrumental in saving the Rowes. As this incident followed other altercations with extremists at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, both of which ended badly, Caver and his colleagues were especially eager to resolve the crisis without bloodshed. Ultimately, the ROT

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• The Dallas Story: The North American Aviation Plant and Industrial Mobilization During World War II by Terrance Furgerson
• Richard Selcer

The title says it all: This is a book about the North American Aviation (NAA) plant set up in Dallas (actually Grand Prairie) at the beginning of World War II to manufacture a bomber, a fighter, and a trainer for the Army Air Corps. If you are looking for a book on air combat or the capabilities of various World War II aircraft, this is not it. Instead, this is economic and social history with a wealth of statistics gleaned from government records leavened with reporting from Dallas newspapers of the time. The author is an instructor at Collin County College. This is his debut book, which began as a graduate research project at the University of North Texas. It is a worthy first book.

For Fort Worth residents who thought all bombers built in North Texas during World War II came from Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft (Convair), this book is an eye-opener. The Convair plant was larger and built only bombers (the B-24 Liberator and B-32 Dominator). NAA built B-24s, but also the magnificent P-52 Mustang and the AT-6 Texan trainer by the thousands. Furgerson's book thus makes a nice companion work to J'Nell Pate's Arsenal of Defense: Fort Worth's Military Legacy (2011), which has three chapters on Convair.

Furgerson's story begins in 1938 with Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt's push for American mobilization for what he recognized as the coming war against Germany. Air power was going to be crucial. The plan for expanding was to build manufacturing plants with government money and turn them over to private enterprises like NAA and Consolidated Aircraft (the forerunner of Consolidated-Vultee). Plants were placed in Fort Worth and Grand Prairie for strategic reasons; they would be harder to attack and/or sabotage than plants on either coast. The rapid buildup that followed did not just create a muscular American air force but also supplied friendly countries in Europe with aircraft to counter the Luftwaffe. Foreign contracts drove production for the first two years. After [End Page 372] the fall of France in 1940, Washington wanted to ramp up production to 50,000 airplanes per year, an incredible number considering the few hundred aircraft then being built. That level of production demanded an unprecedented mobilization of resources and manpower that expanded upon the programs of the New Deal.

Furgerson's is a two-part story driven by decisions in