William B. Slaughter

William Baxter Slaughter was a son of minister and cattleman George Webb Slaughter (1811 – 1895) and Sarah Jane Mason Slaughter (1818 -1894) and was born in Freestone County, Texas. The children of George Webb and Sarah Jane were Christopher Columbus, Nancy Ann, Peter Eldridge, George Webb Jr., John Bunyan, William Baxter, Francis Ann, Sarah Jennie Mary Permille and Mason Lee, born from 1837 to 1863.

For most of his life, William Baxter was a cattleman. He began early on by helping his family as they raised cattle and drove them to markets. He was too young to participate in the Civil War but rode east with his brothers to furnish cattle during that period. His first trip to cattle markets in the north was in 1869 when he rode on a trail drive to Abilene, Kansas. He continued to make other trail drives to northern markets at various times over as much as twenty years.

He formed a partnership with his next older brother, John B. Slaughter, around 1877. For the next several decades the two along with other family members from time to time engaged in the cattle business in Texas and New Mexico, primarily in the Panhandle. Around that same time, he married Anna Corrine/Corrina McAdams (1856 – 1948). The following year, their only child, Coney Cross Slaughter, was born. Anna’s family had come to Texas in the 1840s from Missouri. Her father William Carroll McAdams had served in the Mexican-American War and also had been a Texas Ranger for some time. Her mother was the former Ann Alexander. The McAdams were living in the Palo Pinto area as were the Slaughters at the time Anna and William B. had become acquainted.

The Slaughter brothers settled in Crosby County where they operated for a number of years until the land they were grazing on was acquired by the Espuela (“spur”) Land and Cattle Company a few years later. The Espuela Land and Cattle Company was a London-based (because of financing) syndicate organized to acquire and operate ranch land in the southwest. With the funds it raised the entity acquired land and herds of cattle in the area with an ambitious additional goal of providing towns and home sites for settlers. The syndicate was in business for around twenty years before it was dissolved.

John and W. B. operated their ranch as a partnership for many years. In 1887, they were living in Socorro County, New Mexico. They had lived there a few years when a shooting occurred. W. B. was allegedly shot by two New Mexico individuals named Youngblood and Atkins. The suspects’ motivation was thought to be revenge for their being indicted the previous year for cattle rustling. Slaughter had come across the pair on the road as he was thirty miles from home. Slaughter turned his horse around and attempted to escape but was allegedly shot by the pair until he fell from his horse. Several newspapers reported that Slaughter was killed. The El Paso Times recounted the incident in its May 10, 1887 issue under a headline that read “A Brutal Murder” and subheading that said “William B. Slaughter Shot Down in Cold Blood.”

Though seriously wounded, Slaughter survived and recovered from his numerous gunshot wounds. No local disposition of any case against Youngblood or Atkins can be found within the following twelve months. An article in the Arizona Weekly Citizen about one year later mentions that the pair was arrested but not prosecuted and refers to Atkins as being suspected of killing another Slaughter employee and continuing his threats against W. B., but seems to have not been prosecuted for either incident, likely because he fled the New Mexico territory.

The brothers continued their cattle enterprise for a number of years. Around 1890, W. B. acquired some property east of Dalhart in Sherman County, Texas. He raised cattle there and also farmed some of his land. Around 1900, he was involved in the ownership of several banks, possibly the largest one of which was called Mercantile National Bank in Pueblo, Colorado. Mercantile National Bank was formed around 1910 and both W. B. (president) and son Coney (cashier) were both employed there. The Pueblo later bank failed and W. B. was tried in both state and federal courts in connection with bank practices. W. B. was acquitted but son Coney, the former cashier, was sought by authorities in connection with an alleged embezzlement. Coney was a fugitive for a while, but was ultimately tried and convicted. He later escaped from prison for over a year but was eventually recaptured and served the rest of his sentence.

The family banking investments, culminating with the Pueblo bank failure appear to have resulted in the family’s financial reverses in which they lost much if not all of their ranch and commercial holdings. W. B. was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1918. His older brother C. C. Slaughter passed away in 1919. For the next several years there was also well publicized litigation, some of which was initiated by the W. B. Slaughter bankruptcy trustee, between those two family groups over various financial matters.

W. B. and his wife lived for a while in Dallas before relocating to San Antonio around 1921. San Antonio was also the location of former trail drivers’ meetings for many years. W. B. was noted as one of several hundred attendees over the years. He also served as an officer of the Old Trail Drivers’ Association from time to time until he died. His long first person accounts of the days of his family’s ranching life are quite entertaining and are part of “The Trail Drivers of Texas.” Unless W. B. published his memoirs elsewhere, the stories of his trail drives as presented in this book may be the main source for most of the cattle drive accounts that are attributed to him. The first edition of this book was released in 1920. George Saunders was the publisher and J. Marvin Hunter was the editor. Copies of the various editions of this work are still widely available.
 
W. B. passed away in San Antonio in 1929 at the age of seventy-six. He was buried in Palo Pinto Cemetery, according to his wishes. His widow Annie survived him by about nineteen years until her passing in 1948 at the age of ninety-two. She is interred at Mission Burial Park South in San Antonio. Their son Coney is believed to have died by his own hand in 1932 and is also buried at Mission Burial Park South.

© 2023, all rights reserved.