East Texas History

The Storytellers

2021-09-18T04:46:22+00:00

Come and remember Nacogdoches' most beloved citizens. Well known throughout the community, they were the best storytellers in this stretch of Piney Woods. In their memory, a statue by Harry Weber was placed to commemorate these most beloved storytellers. Here these men are sitting around a table, having some coffee, and listening to Mr. Murphey's wild and humorous stories.

Dr. Frances Edward Abernethy (1925-2015), was born in Altus, Oklahoma, and moved to Nacogdoches his senior year in high school. He enlisted and served in the United States Navy during World War II. After being accepted at a position at Stephen F. Austin Teacher College, he married the coach's daughter Hazel Shelton in 1948. He was a Distinguished Regents Professor Emeritus of English at Stephen F. Austin State University, the Executive Secretary-Editor Emeritus of the Texas Folklore Society from 1971 to 2004, the Curator of Exhibits for the East Texas Historical Association, and a member of the Texas Institute of Letters. He published poetry, short stories, a folk music book entitled Singin' Texas, a book of legends entitled Legends of Texas' Heroic Age, and a history of the Texas Folklore Society in three volumes. He lectured widely, popularly, and academically. Abernathy was a fixture in the local community when he carved out the LaNana and Banita Creek Trails to prevent future floods. He explored caves in Mexico and the Yucatan, he was a world traveler and a scuba diver, he soloed in a Cessna, he played the bass fiddle in the East Texas String Ensemble of Nacogdoches and was the vocalist in a jazz combo called the Golden Guys. [1]
Mr. Charles Raymond Bright (1927-2013), was born in downtown's Ingraham Building on Plaza Principle to thriving grocery owners Dovie Bailey and George Novel Bright. After graduating from Nacogdoches High School in 1945, he was drafted as an army military policeman. After the war, Bright was an entrepreneur who invented and patented the "Loco Lure." His status as a BIN (Born In Nacogdoches), and his lifelong residency in the city he loved provided him a vast knowledge of the town that few others possessed. Charles’s passion was the preservation of historic downtown Nacogdoches. In addition to the restoration of the Ingraham Building, he was responsible for the acquisition and placement of antique street lights, planter boxes, statues, and historical markers. He would recite the history of the buildings, name businesses that occupied them and name the business owners and their family members. Charles would regale listeners with stories rich with local history and lore known to few others. Charles bestowed a great gift to Nacogdoches by working so diligently to preserve her history by the buildings he saved, the statues he erected, and the stories he gathered to share with all.[2]
Mr. Bryan H. Davis, Jr. (1935-2017), was born in Nacogdoches, Texas to Bryan Holt and Elizabeth Bogard Davis. Bryan attended the SFA Demonstration School and was a graduate of Nacogdoches High School. He attended Stephen F. Austin State University and received his Bachelor of Arts and Law Degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. Bryan served as Nacogdoches County Attorney for 35 years. As County Attorney, he displayed a unique ability for diplomacy. People often came to his office angry about a given situation, only to leave laughing and with a sensible resolution for their dispute. As a prosecutor, he recognized that each case stood on its own merits and sought to seek justice, not merely convictions. He was instrumental in many projects which bettered our city and county, including the creation of the Nacogdoches County Court at Law, improvements to the courthouse and its various functions, and the creation of Lake Naconiche. One would be hard-pressed to find an individual more knowledgeable about Nacogdoches, its historic places, its stories or its inhabitants, both past and present, other than Bryan Holt Davis, Jr. In short, he loved every single thing about Nacogdoches and Nacogdoches County. He was a seventh-generation resident of the city. He was extremely proud of his family involvement in the community; a heritage that dates back to the early 1830s.[3]
Mr. Robert W. "Bob" Murphey (1921-2004), was born in Nacogdoches, Texas. Firefighting was Bob’s first love. Despite losing his arm at the age of twelve, Bob was a fireman from his youth. He served thirty-seven years of active duty with the Nacogdoches Volunteer Fire Department, five of those as Chief. He was President of the Texas State Firemen and Fire Marshall Association as well as an instructor at the Texas A&M University Fire School. Bob had various careers. His first job was as a Western Union delivery boy. He served his country as an officer in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II. He was Sergeant-at-Arms for the Texas House of Representatives, Nacogdoches County Attorney, District Attorney, and President of the East Texas Peace Officers Association. Bob was also a founding director of Fredonia State Bank, proudly served on the board for nearly forty years. Bob was probably best known for being a humorist and public speaker. He frequently appeared on national television and hosted his own early morning radio show. He was honored with the Mark Twain Award for humor as well as the Cavett Award awarded to him by the National Speakers Association. Bob entertained audiences all over the county…from the members of the Supreme Court to local churches and civic organizations. Bob’s travels took him far and wide, but he belonged to East Texas…it was home. Texas Monthly called Bob Murphey Texas’ Best Good Ol’ Boy, but as the people of East Texas knew, Bob was Nacogdoches’ treasured favorite son. He will long be remembered for his love of Nacogdoches and the gift of humor he shared with all.[4]
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Huntsville Prisoner of War Camp

2015-06-21T19:33:31+00:00

Combat operations during World War II occurred far away from the United States, mostly on distant Pacific isles or in European villages. However, a piece of World War II history did happen right here in East Texas. The United States held nearly half a million Axis prisoners of war (POWs) in 650 camps throughout the country. Texas housed roughly 50,000 of these POWs in 70 camps throughout the state.
Camp Huntsville served as one the first and largest POW camps in Texas. Completed in 1942, the camp opened the following April, when German prisoners captured in North Africa arrived In East Texas. By the end of 1943, Camp Huntsville housed roughly 4,800 prisoners, most from Germany's famed Afrika Korps. American military personnel at Camp Huntsville offered fair and humane treatment of prisoners who received ample food, fair working conditions, and a wide array of recreational activities.
Although German prisoners were captured while fighting for the Third Reich, not all the prisoners supported the Nazi government or its war aims. In fact, there were harsh disagreements between the Nazi and anti-Nazi elements at Camp Huntsville. In November 1943, these tensions exploded in a riot at the camp that sparked national news coverage and contributed to a call for reform at POW sites around the country.
As a result of tensions between Nazis and anti-Nazis, American officials created a program designed to re-educate POWs in American democratic traditions and history. Many Germans at Camp Huntsville listened to lectures, watched movies, and read materials that celebrated the virtues of the U.S. Constitution and American Bill of Rights. The Geneva Conventions banned political indoctrination, however, so the United States packaged the re-education program as voluntary “intellectual diversion.”
In 1944, as part of re-education, camp officials started showing newsreels that demonstrated the horrors of Buchenwald and Auschwitz. Many German POWs thought that Americans had faked these films as propaganda. Nevertheless, after the introduction of the re-education programs, Nazi solidarity, control, and violence decreased at Camp Huntsville.
During the early days of the war, federal officials had largely ignored educational programming for the small number of Japanese POWs. The Japanese prisoners had not caused problems as the German Nazis had. However, on July 18, 1945, the Secretary of War secretly authorized a re-education program for some pre-screened “cooperative” Japanese POWs. Camp Huntsville was selected as the lone site to carry out the program due to its location and experience re-educating POWs.
In September of 1945, Camp Huntsville sent its remaining German POWs to Camp Hearne to make room for the incoming Japanese prisoners. The United States hoped to create some pro-American, pro-democracy sentiment before repatriation; 200 Japanese moved to Huntsville for a crash course on October 5, 1945. These POWs translated U.S. documents and lectures into Japanese. Professors from nearby Sam Houston State Teachers College gave lectures with titles like, “The Need for Opportunity in Japan for Building a Liberal Democratic Nation,” and “Contrasts: Pseudo-Freedom in Japan and Real Freedom in U.S.” The Japanese re-education program ended on December 15, 1945 and the POWs returned home.
Today an official Texas Historical Marker marks the spot of the entrance to the former Camp Huntsville, a small reminder that this spot was witness to a piece of World War II. It was here that thousands of soldiers spent their war.
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Hearne Prisoner of War Camp

2015-06-18T01:58:36+00:00

During World II, Nazis not only threatened Europe, but held some influence in East Texas where thousands of prisoners of war (POWs) were held. During the war, the United States held nearly half a million Axis POWs and Texas housed roughly ten percent of these prisoners, more than any other state. One of the biggest POW camps in Texas, Camp Hearne, held approximately 4,800 prisoners. The biggest security breach in the United States POW program, and one of the best-documented instances of Nazi control, occurred at Camp Hearne.
When 275,000 members Germany's Afrika Korps surrendered in Tunisia on May 13, 1943, the Allies needed a place to hold them. Camp Hearne received some of these first prisoners on June 3, 1943. Life was relatively good at Camp Hearne where food was usually plentiful and prisoners enjoyed leisure activities, employment, and education. The United States tried to make life as good as possible for the POWs for two reasons: to ensure good treatment for American POWs and to win the hearts of the German prisoners who would return to rebuild a post-war Europe. Many POWs enjoyed Camp Hearne. However, some prisoners made life difficult for the guards and many of their fellow POWs.
Though most POWs at Camp Hearne fought for Hitler's Third Reich, not all remained loyal Nazis. But those who did stay faithful to Hitler controlled and intimidated the other prisoners through propaganda, an underground newsletter called Die Mahnung (The Admonition), and secret disciplinary hearings. The Nazi prisoners even infiltrated the POW postal service in order to censor anti-Nazi POW mail, send illegal messages and track disloyal German POWs throughout the United States.
In December 1943, the Nazi POWs punished one such disloyal German POW, Hugo Krauss. Krauss had immigrated to New York as a child but returned to Germany in 1939. He joined the German army, surrendered in 1943 and returned to the United States as a Camp Hearne POW. Camp officials made Krauss an interpreter because of his proficiency in English. Krauss reported clandestine activity to the American guards and openly criticized the Third Reich. The Nazi POWs decided to punish him and shortly after lights out, seven men beat Krauss with pipes, sticks and boards laden with nails. The attackers cracked Krauss's skull, broke both arms and caused multiple lacerations. No one in his barracks dared come to his aid and Krauss died six days later. Before Camp Hearne closed in 1946, one of the attackers, Günther Meisel, confessed to the crime. Meisel and four others went to prison for the attack, but President Harry Truman paroled them in 1949 and they returned to Germany.
Sadly, many POWs camps throughout the United States experienced similar incidents of Nazi abuse and intimidation. The United States POW program never found a way to stop the violence and power of the Nazi POWs. Ironically, the greatest threat to POW safety came from other POWs. Thousands of miles from World War II battlefields and concentration camps, a Nazi presence existed, even in East Texas.
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