• Greenbrier Cemetery
  • Wilson Chapel Methodist Church
  • Marian Anderson High School
  • Alfred M. Hallmark
  • No 57: Old San Antonio Road
  • Zephyr Cemetery
  • Zephyr Gospel Tabernacle
  • First Baptist Church of Zephyr
  • Military Road
  • Zephyr Presbyterian Church
  • Burkett Pecan Tree
  • Hittson Ranch
  • Callahan City Cemetery
  • Admiral Baptist Church
  • Belle Plaine Cemetery
  • Ross Cemetery
  • The Prew House
  • Brooke Smith
  • Minnie Fisher Cunningham
  • Ebenezer Baptist Church
  • Dodge
  • Site of Andrew Female College
  • Glendale Cemetery
  • Community of Fodice
  • Pegleg Crossing on the San Saba
  • B. T. Brown House
  • German Methodist Church/First Fire Station
  • Providence Church and Cemetery
  • Packsaddle Mountain
  • Homesite of W. F. Heller, Pioneer Farmer
  • The Bosque-Larios Expedition
  • No. 60 Old San Antonio Road
  • No. 56 Old San Antonio Road
  • No. 59 Old San Antonio Road
  • Texas Central Railroad
  • Center City Community
  • Orla
  • Fairview Cemetery
  • Anderson County in the Civil War
  • Leander
  • Oveta Culp Hobby and the Women's Army Corps
  • Jacob Haller House
  • James M. Holt
  • Washington-on-the Brazos
  • Donigan House
  • Fort Worth Stock Yards Entrance
  • Smithfield Baptist Church
  • Elite Cafe
  • Joseph Brooks Home
  • Phair Cemetery
  • Witting School
  • Pioneer Bank Building
  • Whitney Memorial Park
  • Site of Alvarado School, Church and Union Building
  • Two Sheriffs of Mason County
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TEXAS HISTORICAL MARKERS

​The Texas Rangers, and the San Saba Mob

S
A
N

S
A
B
A

C
O
U
N
T
Y
Marker Text: Removed from major roads and railways, early San Saba County residents had limited access to law enforcement and government. Beginning in the mid-1850s, citizens in and around the county formed vigilante mobs to dispatch justice. Although initially formed to protect residents, these mobs often evolved into organized gangs, terrorizing the residents they had initially formed to protect.
  By the 1880s, a group unofficially called the San Saba Mob, or the Assembly, had killed numerous area settlers. Believed to have included religious leaders and elected officials, the mob operated under strict ritual and secrecy, meeting clandestinely at places like Buzzards' Water Hole and Cottonwood Pond. Organized similarly to a fraternal lodge, the group used secret signs and gestures to identify membership. After meeting and deciding who to eliminate, the regulators would ride wearing black masks or hoods, and ambush their victims with a telling nine bullet holes.
​ In 1896, in order to stop the violence, the state sent Texas Rangers led by Sgt. W. John L. Sullivan to investigate, and San Saba County News editor Uluth M. Sanderson began running editorials against the mob. Sullivan was later replaced by Ranger Capt. William J. "Bill Jess" McDonald, who worked effectively with district attorney W. C. Linden to expose as many mob members as possible. To avoid interference from local officials believed to have ties to the group, they moved key trials to Austin and Llano. By 1900, the Rangers and Linden succeeded in breaking the mob's control over county residents, although few members ever paid for their crimes. (2005)

Marker No: 14756
Aluminum 27 x 42 Subject Marker
Geographic: N 31° 11.726 W 098° 43.036
Location: South Cherokee Street, San Saba
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  • Greenbrier Cemetery
  • Wilson Chapel Methodist Church
  • Marian Anderson High School
  • Alfred M. Hallmark
  • No 57: Old San Antonio Road
  • Zephyr Cemetery
  • Zephyr Gospel Tabernacle
  • First Baptist Church of Zephyr
  • Military Road
  • Zephyr Presbyterian Church
  • Burkett Pecan Tree
  • Hittson Ranch
  • Callahan City Cemetery
  • Admiral Baptist Church
  • Belle Plaine Cemetery
  • Ross Cemetery
  • The Prew House
  • Brooke Smith
  • Minnie Fisher Cunningham
  • Ebenezer Baptist Church
  • Dodge
  • Site of Andrew Female College
  • Glendale Cemetery
  • Community of Fodice
  • Pegleg Crossing on the San Saba
  • B. T. Brown House
  • German Methodist Church/First Fire Station
  • Providence Church and Cemetery
  • Packsaddle Mountain
  • Homesite of W. F. Heller, Pioneer Farmer
  • The Bosque-Larios Expedition
  • No. 60 Old San Antonio Road
  • No. 56 Old San Antonio Road
  • No. 59 Old San Antonio Road
  • Texas Central Railroad
  • Center City Community
  • Orla
  • Fairview Cemetery
  • Anderson County in the Civil War
  • Leander
  • Oveta Culp Hobby and the Women's Army Corps
  • Jacob Haller House
  • James M. Holt
  • Washington-on-the Brazos
  • Donigan House
  • Fort Worth Stock Yards Entrance
  • Smithfield Baptist Church
  • Elite Cafe
  • Joseph Brooks Home
  • Phair Cemetery
  • Witting School
  • Pioneer Bank Building
  • Whitney Memorial Park
  • Site of Alvarado School, Church and Union Building
  • Two Sheriffs of Mason County
  • New Page
  • New Page
  • New Page
  • New Page
  • New Page
  • New Page
  • New Page
  • New Page