By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

Let me tell you the story of First Founder Joseph Wersdoerfer. He came to Texas with the Adelsverein on board the brig Ferdinand in 1844. He travelled from Hahn, Nassau, with his wife, Anna nee Schmidt and two children. Joseph received Town Lot #8 on West San Antonio Street just half a block between Castell and Hill Street. Joseph also got a ten-acre lot south of town in the Live Oak Street area. He added a neighboring lot to his holdings. Three sons were added to the little family in 1846, 1849 and 1851.

And then life changed for the family.

In June of 1851, Joseph Wersdoerfer was shot through the window of the Comal County Courthouse where he was being held for shooting Mrs. Wilhelm Klinger in the face with a shotgun. It was said that “citizens dragged him out of town on a cowhide.”

That’s quite descriptive … and telling.

I need to backtrack for you. I found a news article from the Colorado Tribune out of Matagorda, Texas, for July 7, 1851. I couldn’t find anything in the Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung because Ferdinand Lindheimer did not start publishing the newspaper until November 12, 1852. I will let you enjoy the lovely editorial nature of the Colorado Tribune’s story in its entirety.

A Man shot dead in the Court-House

New Braunfels, June 7, 1851

To the Editor of the Western Texian:

Dear Sir — An incident of rather a singularly serious character took place here on the evening of the 3rd. A German of the name Wersdoerfer, well known in this and the surrounding counties as an old offender, was shot dead while bound in irons, and in confinement in our Court house. As customary, this Wersdoerfer was conspicuous in the suits tried at our last District Court, and more particularly in a suit brought against him by the State for stealing horses on the Cibolo, the property of Mr. Perryman.

His guilt seems to have been clearly proved, but from reasons not easily to be defined, two of the jurors disapproved of awarding any punishment. The consequence was, that the old offender, depredator and thief, was allowed once more to prowl at large, to the infinite danger of the community and the indignation of every well-meaning citizen. The common brag of this notorious delinquent, at each offense, was that he had still plenty of gold pieces, (accumulated by his dishonest practices) wherewith to win over the exertions in his behalf of some pettifogging and pitiful lawyer, who would think low enough of himself to accept, thereby showing little respect to himself or the community in which he may reside.

As was to have been foreseen by every thinking mind, from the unpunished catalogue of crimes which this man has committed, his offences would not stop here. He made an attack for some trifling cause, upon an unprotected woman, in the absence of her husband, with a pistol loaded with cut-lead, and discharged the contents, which took effect in the head and upper part of the body. This done, he absconded. This took place on the 2nd, about a mile from town. His own dwelling is about twelve miles distant, in the Santa Clara settlement.

On a report of this cowardly and unprovoked act having reached this place, a general state of excitement ensued, and energetic steps were taken for his capture. With this intent, the officers, with a few citizens, went in search of him and succeeded in bringing him back the evening after the deed was committed. The first stopping place on arriving was the smith’s shop, where he was secured in the most effective manner.

He was then conveyed to the Court house, and there fastened, with a guard of six men around him. The community waxed in excitement, and each mind was absorbed in recapitulating the many crimes of which he had been guilty, and the manner he had escaped all. The want of a jail, & etc., presented obstacles to keeping him in custody until the next term of the Court. No fixed plan seems to have been adopted, but the determined feeling to keep him fast was unanimous.

The streets were noisy with the discussion of this subject until a late hour, when the above mentioned act of the prisoner being shot dead through the window from without, in the immediate presence of his guard, caused some reaction on the subject.

Wow. I get the outcome; he seemed to mock the whole town about his ability to buy his way out of difficulty. He genuinely did not seem to be a very good man which makes me sad for his little family that travelled all the way to Texas for “a better life”. Was he already running from the law in Nassau and just continued his life of crime in Texas?

There is a suggestion in the family history that he shot Mrs. Klinger because she asked him about a piece of land he had said he was going to sell her and then didn’t — but to shoot her in the face for that question? I can understand how people were incensed at the unjustice of it all. As always in these stories, the vigilante who dispensed justice was never identified by the community — out loud.

I found the reference for the story of his body being dragged out of town on a cowhide; it is recorded in Greek letters, not German, in the record books of First Protestant Church. It also has the Latin words Latro & Homicida (robber and murderer) with Joseph Wersdoerfer’s name, followed by words of Psalm 130. Verses 3 and 4 are poignant: “If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O LORD, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee.” That says a lot. Wersdoerfer’s cumulative record of crime was not condoned, but mercy was shown towards the man and his family. I cannot find where or if he was buried.

Poor Mrs. Wersdoerfer. She rose above this family catastrophe and remarried. She had more children and got on with life. They made them tougher back then.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives: Wersdoerfer Family Genealogy; New Braunfels: The First Founders, Everrett Fey, 1995; The Colorado Tribune, Monday, July 7, 1851; Eternity at the End of a Rope: Executions, Lynchings and Vigilante Justice in Texas, 1819-1923, Caldwell and DeLord, 2016.

“Around the Sophienburg” is published every other weekend in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

I recently found a note in Oscar Haas’s archive collection, “Zeitung, Thursday, July 6, 1899. Use story some time concerning a jailbreak.” He never published the story.

I felt like he was “speaking from the grave” and I should look into it.

The first purpose-built Comal County Jail was a log structure constructed at the location of the current Elks Lodge’s parking lot on South Seguin Street. It was used until 1854, when a new jail was built at what is now 509 W. Mill St.

The earliest reported jailbreak in the New Braunfels Zeitung was from the Mill Street jail in February 1859. The prisoner, William D. Harris, had committed a brutal murder in Seguin. Eight days prior to the escape, the sheriff heard unusual sounds from the cell. Opening the door, he discovered that Harris had broken free of his chains and that an attempt had been made to break through the cell wall, from both the inside and the outside, with a crowbar and a file. Two men were put on constant guard outside the building. At 11 p.m. on the night of the breakout, about 15 men on horseback descended on the jail and broke the boards and one lock of the two oak doors. The chain and cuffs attached to prisoner Harris were broken off with a heavy hammer.

Don’t know if Harris was ever caught. That’s research for another time.

In 1866, a suspected horse thief and another prisoner attempted an escape by creating a hole in the cell wall. Fortunately, the sheriff arrived before the hole was big enough for the escapees. The two men were put in irons.

An extremely inventive jailbreak was attempted in July of 1874. Two prisoners used the bacon they had been given for supper to grease and set fire to the heavy oak planks of the door that separated their cells. One of the escapees got through and began working to make a hole in the outer jail wall. The second man began coughing from the smoke and got stuck in the burned opening. Prisoner One soon went back and pulled his comrade through. The process scraped quite a lot of skin from the man’s torso; he refused to help make the second hole in the outer wall. Daylight brought the sheriff and ended their creative jailbreak.

Eventually, the Mill Street jail proved inadequate both in size and reliability. In 1879, a new two-story cut-limestone jail was erected behind the 1860 Comal County Courthouse (located where the Chase Bank building is on Main Plaza). This jail was built with an iron roof and doors and cost the county about $10,000; it could hold 20-30 prisoners.

Crime must have been on the rise.

In a humorous, Andy Griffith-like moment, a prisoner escaped from the brand-new jail by simply walking out of his unlocked cell and through an unguarded front door. He was caught later across the bridge in Comaltown. The editors of the newspaper printed the question, “Why don’t we close the doors?”.

The year 1866 saw another jailbreak. James Alexander, incarcerated for the involuntary manslaughter of Walter Krause, simply disappeared from the jail. On the morning of the escape, he was heard playing his flute. When lunch was brought in to him, he was gone. The sheriff, who was in Seguin at the time of the jailbreak, located Alexander in San Antonio the next day. The newspaper never shared how the jailbreak was accomplished.

Now the 1899 story that motivated me to check out this subject. The Neu Braunfels Zeitung article is quite tongue-in-cheek.

Three prisoners escaped from “our break-in and escape-proof county prison” in the wee hours of the morning when the sheriff was away. The men had not been sentenced so were not locked in a cell. Having freedom to move in the corridor between the cells and the prison wall, they managed to fashion an axe with a piece of iron attached to a broken broom handle. With this implement, and the use of a water hose used to clean the cells, the three “very cleverly” used the water hose to soften the mortar and then scrape it away so that the stones of the wall could be pulled in or pushed out without much effort. The last paragraph is priceless:

“These guys really deserve recognition for their job. They probably didn’t want the free room and board from the County any longer… But rumor has it that the intelligent escapees, after celebrating July 4th outdoors, will want free quarters and will decide to break into the prison again. However, all precautionary measures have been taken to prevent this…”

I do love a journalist with a wicked sense of humor.

The 1879 limestone jail was replaced by an addition to the Comal County Court­house in 1931, although it wasn’t torn down until 1958. I found several references to jail­breaks from this newest jail. A rather spec­tac­ular one occurred in 1963. Two prisoners joined forces and escaped via a large steel trapdoor to the third-floor roof. The trap­door was chained to a steel ladder which was bolted to the concrete ceiling of the jail. The two prisoners worked the large steel bolts out of the concrete enough to slide the ladder and trapdoor over to give them space to escape. From the roof, they used an angled corner of the court­house to climb down the rock face to the roof of the first floor. There, they connected a rope made from two blankets and a jacket to the downspout of the gutter. Once on the ground they each went their own way. The other jail inmates said the breakout occurred around 9:45 p.m. The jail­break was not discovered until morning at 8:30 a.m. by a passer­by who saw the blankets fluttering on the building and informed the jailer. The alarm was sounded and by 9 a.m., one of the fugitives was rearrested at his home in Comaltown. The other, who had served time for murder, had been waiting to be trans­ferred to Mexico by immigrat­ion authorities. It is thought he may have made his way home on his own.

Thanks for the nudge, Mr. Haas. It really did need to be used in a story.

(“Around the Sophienburg” is published every other weekend in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.)

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

The cool-headed, businesslike determination of the mob which killed King; the fact that the assault, for which he paid the penalty, was attempted within 100 yards of where the little girl’s father and mother were seated on their front lawn; the confession of King to the Sheriff and to a fellow prisoner; the homely story of the grief-stricken father and the life of King who was a foundling and who died because he was a boy not liable to a man’s punishment had he been regularly convicted, were some of the startling and unusual features of deep-seated human interest which developed during a day that will forever stand out as unequaled in criminology in this peaceful little German town.
— Southern Mercury United with the Farmers Union Password, July 27, 1905

So ends a newspaper account of the murder of Sam King. This is a sad story, one that played out too often in other towns and other states, but this was unique for New Braunfels. On Wednesday, July 20, 1905, 16-year-old Sam King, an African-American, was shot and killed by unknown persons as he awaited arraignment in a Comal County jail cell.

Sam King was an orphan raised by a Mexican family in Comaltown. Sam was often in trouble and had already spent a couple of overnights in the county jail for petty theft and disturbing the peace. He was well-known by Sheriff Nowotny.

William Karbach Jr., also of Comaltown, had employed Sam to do odd jobs on his farm. At dusk on Tuesday, July 19, Karbach had ordered Sam to bring in some cows from the brush about 100 yards from his yard. Newspaper accounts say Karbach’s four-year-old daughter Elsa, ran “playfully” after Sam. Karbach later testified that Sam pulled a little wagon with Elsa and her little brother behind him as he went for the cows. Too much quiet, too much time passed and Karbach went to look for them. He testified that he thought maybe Sam was hiding a cow back in the bushes.

Newspaper accounts say that Sam had told Elsa he “would kill her if she dared to give him away,” and then went out to meet Karbach. Karbach testified that his little girl was crying and that he hit Sam and told him to leave. Sam ran off and Karbach reported the incident to Sheriff Nowotny. Sam was found hiding in the home of a friend, arrested and taken to the county jail for safe keeping. After midnight, a crowd of people assembled at the jail. Three sets of doors were battered down and within minutes Sam King lay dead on the cell floor.

News accounts say that feelings in the town over the incident at the Karbach’s were “running high” that evening. No doubt. Every instance I have come across in NB history involving criminal assault on a minor has been met with anger and high emotions. It didn’t matter what race or age the perpetrator was. Rape of a child was a very big deal.

Newspapers across Texas picked up the story and I have read them; however, the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung published the transcript of the inquest which is literally like the script from a movie. Much of the following information is from this incredible document.

On Thursday afternoon after the murder of King, Justice of the Peace George Weber and County Councilman H. G. Henne conducted the required inquest. Witnesses were interrogated to determine how Sam King had died and who was responsible.

The first witness was Juan Meza. He was in the jail cell with Sam King and he testified that “King admitted to him that he intended to rape the little girl but had found her to be too young.” Juan said that he heard the noise of the jailhouse doors being battered and broken. Three masked men came in; it was impossible for him to recognize them again. He said they had lanterns but just used matches to make light. The men tried but could not open the cell door. Juan was then “told to go to the back of the cage away from where the Negro was. I did. I feared being shot.”

Having failed to get their hands on Sam, one man fired a gun though the iron grid of the cell door and shot Sam hitting him in the head; he fell to the floor. According to Juan, the men stayed for a moment, left the cells and then came back in about 15 minutes later. The same man fired a second shot, this one went into King’s chest area.

The second witness was City Marshal Joseph Arnold. “Around 1 a.m., Mr. Hofer, the night watchman, came to me and said he was expecting a disturbance in the town tonight; Dr. Garwood had told him that a mob was coming in to lynch Sam King.” Marshal Arnold sent Hofer to go get the sheriff, then he dressed, saddled his horse and rode to within thirty yards of the jail. (The jail at this time was a lovely limestone building standing behind First National Bank [Chase] and next to what is now The Black Whale Saloon.) A crowd of 20 to 30 were assembled and someone in the group told Arnold to stay away or “he would shoot me dead. I replied, I don’t think you would shoot.” Seeing that he couldn’t do anything against so many, he rode towards the sheriff’s home in Comaltown. “I told him that the front door of the prison had been smashed in. Then we rode back together.”

Sam King was dead by the time the sheriff and Arnold returned. Not a soul remained near the jail. The lock on Sam’s cell had been bent so the two men had to break the door open. “We didn’t touch King,” Arnold said. When asked if they recognized anyone in the mob, Arnold answered “No.” When asked if he recognized the man who told him to stay away, Arnold answered “No.”

Dr. Garwood was the third witness interrogated. He said he arrived at the jail about 1:30 or 2 am “and found a dead Negro there.” He did not examine him. When asked how it was he came to the prison, Dr. Garwood said he “had heard that a mob was about to storm the jail and went downstairs. I heard some gunshots and when I got there the Negro was dead. There was no one in or near the jail at that time.” Garwood also said that he didn’t remember who had warned him and that he had heard it spoken of in general.

County Doctor Leonards then testified that King’s death was caused by gunshot wounds to the head and the heart area.

Sheriff Nowotny was the fifth called to testify. He had been riding through town around 9:30 PM Tuesday night and saw nothing suspicious nor had he heard anything about a mob assembling. Riding back across the Comal River bridge he met Willie Karbach, father of the little girl who had been molested. Nowotny said that Karbach had said, “Give me the keys; that Negro should be put to death.” Nowotny said he answered, “No. If he is not convicted, there are still opportunities enough later on to have him killed. Willie, hear what I say. Let there be no trouble.” Karbach promised him that no disturbance would occur and Karbach followed the sheriff across the bridge back to Comaltown.

I read that statement and thought, “Whoa….”, but then I realized that that is exactly the response most parents would have if their child was hurt like this. I have to keep in mind that it is different hearing a story and actually living it.

Sheriff Nowotny went on to say that night watchman Hofer knocked on his door around 1 am saying that it looked like a riot was going to happen. The sheriff still felt these were just rumors because the town was so quiet, but he got dressed and met Marshal Arnold as he left his home. Together they went back into town finding about a dozen people there telling them that the Negro was dead. Arnold, Hofer and Nowotny broke down the cell door, placed Juan Meza upstairs and left two men to guard the body of Sam King. Nowotny testified that “he found a rope in the hallway in front of the cells.” It appeared that the men had wanted to hang King but were forced to shoot him instead when they could not gain entrance to the cell.

Nowotny also said that he had arrested Sam King on Tuesday prior to midnight after Mr. Karbach came to see him and told him what had happened. They had searched, found and arrested King. King had admitted to him that he had tried to harm the little girl. Nowotny then testified that Sam had no parents and was raised until the age of 12 by a Mexican family; he had the reputation of being a thief and had been in jail before.

The last witness to testify was Elsa’s father, William Karbach, Jr., whose story was related at the beginning of this article. Karbach also testified that he knew nothing of the death of Sam King until he heard it talked about in the morning.

Justice of the Peace Weber issued the following verdict: “I find that the deceased, Sam King, was killed at about 1 am on July 20 in the Comal County Jail by a mob of unknown persons.”

I don’t know what to say. This was a terrible day in the life of this town. King didn’t get to go to court. The man who shot him didn’t get arrested. The Karbach family had to live with the trauma. But it happened … and life went on in New Braunfels.

History, good and bad, needs to be told so that we don’t commit the same sins over and over.

Sources: July posts in: New Braunfels Herald, Neu Braunfelser Zeitung, Houston Post, Fort Worth Record & Regular, Palestine Daily Herald; Sophienburg Museum genealogical collection.

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According to stories of the Old West, suspected criminals were shot or hung. No jail was necessary. Then as people became more civilized, there arose a doubt as to whether the person accused was actually guilty. Could we possibly say that “those were the good old days?” I think not. Should we have a trial before the punishment takes place? Holding a suspect in jail was certainly a better solution. A trial determining guilt or innocence would follow, but what to do with the so-called criminal until the trial?

From this need, the idea of a jail was born and in New Braunfels, this jail idea was necessary early on. For that matter, the first suspected criminal, a woman, was arrested and kept in the home of Sheriff Henry Gerwin. There were no buildings when New Braunfels was settled but eventually log huts were constructed. Gerwin’s prisoner’s infraction was not noted in the Comal County Commissioners Court minutes but the Comal County Commissioners agreed to pay Gerwin for keeping his prisoner for 45 days in his home. Must have been mighty cozy. The county had to rely on others who had empty rooms or empty structures sufficient to serve as a jail. New Braunfels Mayor Heuckel, in 1848, helped out by renting the commissioners a room in his home for ten months for $25 to serve as a jail.

In 1848, the County Commissioners asked the newly elected sheriff, Adam Maurer, to look for a place to be used as a jail. It would be subject to their approval. Now, this is interesting: About the same tine in 1848, the county asked the city if they would grant land to build both a courthouse and a jail. When the city offered no land, the commissioners advised the county clerk to tell the city that they intended to build a courthouse and a jail on the Main Plaza even though the property was owned by the city.

The city was asked to respond to the request and after not hearing from them, Commissioner Dr. Koester was asked to obtain a resolution from the city. This eventually happened, but not resulting in what the county expected. The city then offered two lots near the Comal Springs and suggested that if necessary, the county could sell the property in order to purchase property somewhere else, but NOT on Main Plaza.

Buying a lot and building a courthouse and jail was an expensive proposition and the county had only $400 and taxes were still forthcoming.

In July 1849, Theodore Sterzing offered his lot to the county for $600 which included two log buildings. This lot was town lot #85 fronting on Seguin Avenue. The lot is in the location of the parking lot for the Elk’s Lodge. The county records show that the offer was accepted, and the county moved in the larger of the two log buildings. The future plan was to build a log jail on the site 12 feet square using logs 9 inches thick. This building was eventually built and can claim its fame as the first jail in Comal County.

Eventually, the log jail became unsuitable and in 1854, a new jail was built at what is now 509 W. Mill Street. This jail served the county for 24 years.

Do you know the story of the Moesgen murder? Moesgen was a first founder of New Braunfels and he was murdered by his wife, daughter and son-in-law. If you own the book “Around the Sophienburg,” you can find the story on pages 236 and 237. The book is a “must read” to learn about the history of New Braunfels and Comal County. The family killed Moesgen in 1855. The story tells us that the three family members were hauled off to the sheriff’s home. The year shows that they were placed in the Mill Street jail. The court found the three guilty and imprisoned. One died in prison and two were paroled.

The Mill Street jail began to deteriorate, and plans were being made for a new jail to be built behind the 1860 courthouse (where the Chase Bank is located). The new jail was finished in 1879. The plans included iron cages to hold 20 or 30 prisoners. The two-story building was built of limestone rock with an iron roof. Fredrick Ernst Ruffini of Austin was chosen as the architect. The cost was $10,000 with a bid of $1000 for iron work. This building served as the jail from 1879 to 1931.

In 1898, the present courthouse was constructed and in 1931, the jail was added to the north side of the structure. The old jail that was in the Chase Bank parking lot, was torn down in 1958.

What happened to the old stones from the jail? It’s an interesting story. When Sts. Peter and Paul Church had an enlargement project in 1962, some of the stones were used from the old jail in their project. Both sides of the exterior of the church have some of the stones. When researcher John Coers was taking photos of the stones, he found carved initials. He thinks these were done by prisoners.

Another use of the stones from the old jail can be found at the outdoor patio and steps leading to the basement of the Prince Solms Inn on San Antonio Street. There are three notable stones at the top of the steps that have the words COMAL COUNTY PRIS.

The New Braunfels Conservation Society is in the possession of the cornerstone of the old jail with the architect, F.E. Ruffini inscribed on it and they also have a metal device that was thought to be used to pass food through to prisoners.

All of this information was researched by John Coers at the Sophienburg Museum and Archives. John is a member of the Comal County Historical Commission. He used maps, city minutes, county minutes and newspapers to aid his research. There is a wealth of information to aid researchers at the Sophienburg. Check it out.

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