Dead Man’s Hole

Dead Man’s Hole is a natural sinkhole located a few miles from Marble Falls, Texas. Following the Civil War it was used to dispose of the bodies of murdered and lynched men. The remains of a total of seventeen bodies have been recovered from Dead Man's Hole.

General Information

In 1821, Ferdinand Leuders, an entomologist and naturalist hired to explore the virgin regions of the earth during the early 1800s, came to the vicinity of the "great falls." He would light candles at night to enable him to observe night-flying insects. One evening he heard sounds like bugs flying into a well and the next morning, as he explored the area nearby, he discovered what would come to be called "Dead Man's Hole," a deep, well-like hole probably caused by gas pressure.

The hole is mentioned again in local history when it would later be found by a naturalist named Walker in 1823. About 40 years would go by without mention of "Dead Man's Hole" in the articles about local history.

Civil War

When the War Between the States began with armed conflict at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, Burnet County was but nine years old and not a single murder had been recorded in the county. Rising passions soon began to rise between neighbors over Confederate or Union sentiments, however, and there was an uprising of outlaws, not to mention the increasingly bold attacks by Indians. Peace in the infant county would soon become a thing of the past.

In his book, "Burnet County History," Darrell Debo said that the vast majority of pioneer settlers in Burnet County were originally from the states of the Old South and few of them owned slaves, and many were anti-secessionist in view. In fact, when Texas voted on whether to secede from the Union on February 23, 1861, the heavy anti-secessionist sentiment in Burnet County was reflected in the vote against secession by a 248 to 159 margin.

Areas with a heavy German population were decidedly Unionist, although a number of their residents later served in the Confederate forces. In his thesis, "History of Burnet County," M. G. Bowden said, "Few soldiers went from the county to the Civil War." But in another historical account, Mrs. Alta Holland Gibbs stated, "The county furnished its share of men and supplies to the Confederate cause though only one soldier or renown, General Adam R. Johnson. The latter part of the war had left only cripples, old men, boys and slaves to care for the women and children. Hardships were endured regardless of the fact that Texas suffered least of the Confederate states." Most of the men who had marched off to war returned home injured and then to find their homes and other property involved in debt and in a run-down condition.

The area was also becoming overrun group of lawless secessionists who murdered and robbed some of the county's finest citizens who were opposed to secession. The group was referred to as "bushwhackers" and their actions were not in any way typical of the Confederate soldiers and sympathizers in the county.

Mention of Dead Man’s Hole showed up again in historical accounts of Burnet County. George A. Holland, the son of S. E. Holland and first recorded white child to be born in Burnet County, left a graphic report of the bushwhacker's activities:

'Many of the county’s best men, Unionist at heart, fled to California or Mexico, John R. Hubbard because of his political views, was foully murdered and robbed between Cow Creek and Smithwick just a few days before he planned to flee the country. Grandfather Scott, the county's first judge, came to Burnet County in 1851 and settled on Oatmeal Creek where he planted the first orchard in the county and had up to the Civil War prospered unusually well. . .

"Having been born in New York State and reared in New Jersey he was naturally a Unionist at heart, although he had four sons in the Confederate service and was doing his full share in helping to furnish Confederate supplies. He made a great deal of money In the California gold rush before coming to Texas. His life had been anonymously threatened and his friends had advised him to flee to Mexico until after the close of the war. Strapping $2,000 around his waist, bidding his family good-bye he saddled his horse late one evening and started for Mexico. He stopped to spend the night with friends some seven miles from home and the next morning was joined by a man by the name of McMasters also a Unionist at heart. Just before crossing a ford on the Colorado River between Smithwick and Marble Falls, they were held up. McMasters was robbed and hanged. Grandfather robbed and shot. Their bodies were taken several miles away to the dreaded Dead Man's Hole and their bodies were disposed of. After the close of the Civil War, father, George Davidson, Eliga Helms and Fred Williamson, the sheriff of Burnet County, went down into the gas-filled hole and found the remains of the two and of others.

Grandmother Scott identified grandfather's remains by a peculiar jaw bone and teeth.”

After the Civil War

The gruesome account of Dead Man's Hole continues in Ottilie Fuchs Goeth's book, "Memoirs of A Texas Pioneer Grandmother." In this account, the bushwhackers are referred to as fire eaters.

"The so-called fire eaters of the South were almost worse than the Indians, Secretly they murdered anyone who was not for the South and who expressed this view too openly. Fanatically they looked upon their actions as heroic deeds. A few miles from Marble Falls, on the road to Johnson City, one can see a place where men favoring the North were killed and thrown into a cavern after a trial of sorts was held there.

Many of the best men in the area lost their lives at this spot. One of these was Adolf Hoppe, father of George Hoppe, the son-in-law of my brother William. After the war, sacks full of human bones were removed from the so-called devil's hole (Dead Man's Hole) to be ceremoniously buried at Burnet."

Reportedly, 17 bodies had been thrown into the dark depths of Dead Man's Hole. Sacks of recovered bones were taken to the Burnet County Courthouse, where they remained for several days.

Some widows identified their husband's skeleton by teeth, buttons found nearby, etc. Judge Scott's widow identified her husband by his small wrist bones, which were bound together with silk cloth, After being displayed for several days, the skeletal remains mysteriously disappeared, their final resting place unknown. Of all the murderers who dumped their victims into Dead Man's Hole, only those responsible for the death of Benjamin McKeever were brought to trial.

According to Dale Fray in an article for the Highland Lakes Visitor's Guide, sometime in August of 1872, McKeever was riding his horse to visit a lady friend in the Double Horn area when he came upon a settlement of ex-slaves on Double Horn Creek. A dog belonging to a man named Ben Shelby ran out into the road and began to nip at the heels of McKeever's horse. McKeever drew his pistol and fired several shots at the dog, but missed it each time. Angry, he pointed the weapon at Shelby and pulled the trigger. Fortunately for the young black man, either the gun misfired or was out of bullets. McKeever, in a hurry to get to his girl's house, dismissed the incident, re-holstered is pistol and continued on his journey. Shelby and some of the others in the settlement didn’t take the matter so lightly. A few days later, the group murdered McKeever and threw his body into Dead Man's Hole. When searchers found his body and retrieved it from the hole, the five guilty men confessed their complicity in the murder and were placed under arrest.

Three were sentenced to life in prison, one received a two-year sentence and the fifth defendant was found not guilty.

Location of the Dead Man’s Hole

In 1997, Ona Lou Roper, owner of the property, donated 6.53 acres, which included Dead Man's Hole, to Burnet County. It was declared a Texas Historical Site the next year. The property is located off County Road 401 between RR. 2147 East and Highway 71.

The area is now open to the public, a grim reminder of the early days in Burnet County when freedom of speech did not necessarily mean you could speak openly about your political convictions. The bones of 17 men tell the story best of all.

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REFERENCES

· Linda Ware, River Cities Tribune, Dead Man's Hole: A gruesome reminder of early struggles in Burnet County, May 24, 2002

· Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "Dead Man's Hole," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/DD/rpd3.html (accessed July 22, 2007).

· Clayton Stapleton, DEAD MAN'S HOLE, http://www.whatwasthen.com/deadman.html

· RootsWeb.com, Historical Marker, Dead Man's Hole, http://www.rootsweb.com/~txburnet/HMDeadMan.html

· Austin Chronicle, Day Trips, Dead Man's Hole, http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/vol18/issue41/cols.daytrips.html

· TexasEscapes.com, Texas Tales, Dead Man's Hole, http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/Dead-Mans-Hole.htm

· Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "Dead Man's Hole," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/DD/rpd3.html l (accessed July 22, 2007).

Compiled from various sources by

Joe Cooper

Voices of the Texas Hills

Kendall County, Texas

Created: July 22, 2007

Updated: August 27, 2010