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A Capitol Standoff It was a classic Texas standoff: Tempers flaring, both parties heavily armed, a bloodbath feared, a President painfully aware that sending in federal troops would only make matters worse, and two opposing entities who claimed to be the only legitimate government of the state. But since it occurred 123 years before Fort Davis and only 38 years after the Alamo, CNN wasn't there to cover what became known as the Coke-Davis Dispute of 1874. On the evening of Monday, January 12, 1874, when the new and overwhelmingly Democratic-controlled Texas legislature moved into the Capitol to inaugurate Richard Coke as governor, there was just one problem: Governor Edmund Jackson Davis was still in the building. Protected by state troops on the first floor, Davis not only refused to step down, but refused to recognize either the governor-elect or the new legislature, which had dug in on the upper level with their own militia. Elected governor by a narrow margin in 1869, Davis already knew what it was like to have a "kick me" sign on his back. If it wasn't enough that his radical wing of the Republican Party pushed the implementation of many progressive Reconstruction programs including school integration and the extension of the basic rights of citizens to blacks, his unpopularity was solidified by his commanding of a cavalry regiment during the Civil War -- for the Union army. During his term, Davis also established the State Police, whose ranks included a good number of African-Americans (as well as whites and Hispanics), and many white Texans who blanched at the prospect of black Texans enjoying the right to vote positively saw red at the idea of a former slave carrying a gun and a badge. Davis also irked many ex-Confederates when he took out a notice in an Austin paper in 1871 urging people to buy pies from Mrs. Brown, an African-American, instead of those sold by Mrs. Warren, who'd lost two sons in the rebel army. So no one was surprised when Confederate hero, Richard Coke, stomped Davis by a margin of 2 to 1 in the 1873 election. But because of certain technical irregularities in the election and, believe it or not, a missing semi-colon in the State constitution, the State Supreme Court ruled the election invalid and Davis subsequently decided to hang in there like a bad cold, declaring that his term would not officially expire until April 28, 1874. Undaunted, the Democrats were armed and ready to oust the most unpopular governor in Texas history. While hundreds of blacks gathered on the Capitol grounds to show their support for Davis, the mayor of Austin, a Coke man, was arrested in an attempt to take over a state ammunition storehouse. As the week wore on, the crisis continued to escalate. Davis sent an urgent telegraph to President Grant requesting federal troops. Grant turned him down. His only remaining option was to use the State Police and militia forces still loyal to him, but he was painfully aware that such a confrontation was bound to end tragically, no matter what the final outcome. Although it was largely unrequited, Davis loved Texas and loathed the idea of Texans shedding other Texans' blood -- again. But none of that really mattered to the Coke forces. All that mattered to them was that Davis knew when to give up. On Friday, January 16th, Edmund Davis left the capital in a horse-drawn carriage, cheered by an assembly of his faithful militia. Monday morning the sun would shine down on a state once again ruled by Democrats, and a capitol building where Coke was the real thing. The Big E had finally left the building. |
More Big E in Cyberspace:
His tombstone GIF:
bio from Handbook of Texas: http://sparky.gsc.state.tx.us/ statecemetery/118.html
(the 1855-1881 photo is the one in the story -- also described as a corn crib with a pumpkin on top -- by O.Henry): http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/ capitols.htm |
