Texas Pottery / Stoneware
Texas Pottery Stoneware
The Weston Building on the corner of Water and Earl Garrett, was erected in 1890 by Charles Barlemann. This Italianate style stone building, designed by Alfred Giles, was home to the Ranch Saloon. The saloon had a rough reputation. It was the site of fights and at least one murder =-that of Texas Ranger Tom Carson.
In 1897 it changed hands. An Advertisement in the Kerrville Paper, September 18, 1897, read "old Jeff's Corner... Formerly the popular Ranch Saloon in the Barlemann Building.
Choice Wins, Liquors, Beer and Cigars. Billiard and Pool Table in Connection. Frank Jeffries, Proprietor
An Early Photo of the former Ranch Saloon, Kerrville Texas.
The Ranch Saloon had a reputation for being a rowdy place and reportedly was the site of the murder of a Texas Ranger. He was Tom Carson, a tough, bad-tempered, and somewhat mysterious character. About 1880, he was recorded as part of a small Ranger scouting party in the Fort Davis area looking for the perpetrators of a series of robberies. Near del Norte they came across a gang of thieves carrying their loot toward Mexico. In the firefight that ensued a shortcut Carson's hat brim, and another passed under his leg, cutting his stirrup and wounding his horse. Unfazed, he wounded one of the robbers and aided in the killing and capturing of the band. Carson reportedly shot him in the Ranch Saloon in April 1893. Details about the event and Carson's assailant are sketchy. Will (Bill Holman) killed Tom Carson, Texas Ranger on April 21, 1893, at the Ranch Saloon.
April 30, 1893, Galveston Daily News / Kerrville News.
The reporter, while there, met Adolf Barleman, who formerly resided in San Antonio where he is well known and has a large number of relatives, and Adolf showed the scribe the sights of the country Metropolis, especially the river, the water works and rolling mill. He also showed him one of the pistol balls that went through and killed the last man who was shot in Kerrville about two months ago. The man killed was Tom Carson, of Junction City, who was killed in the saloon owned by Barleman's brother Charles. Carson was killed by Bill Hollman just as he was going out of the screen door and the ball is embedded in this door. Another is embedded in the floor. This shot missed Carson, but he was killed by the first shot that struck him. He was shot twice, both times in the back. His slayer is to be tried at the next term of the court that meets there. He was released on a $110,000 bail bond on a habeas corpus trial, in which he proved that the dead man had threatened to kill him for improper conduct towards his sister. Court meets here twice a year, in May and in November. A large number of San Antonians are spending the summer in Boerne, Comfort and Kerrville. At the latter place....
Excerpt from the June 16, 1893, San Antonio Paper.
Wm. Holman was acquitted of the murder of Tom Carson at Kerrville.