As the “Teapot Dome” began to boil in January 1923, Albert B. Fall resigned as secretary of the interior.
But the central figure in the most infamous corruption case in U.S. history would not get off that easy. Read the entire story of the “temporary” Texan in the January 8 through January 14 installment of “This Week in Texas History,” the longest running newspaper column of its kind ever.
After dinner in the Capitol (now Rice) Hotel in Houston on January 7, 1858, Anson Jones went to his room and shot himself to death.
As the final President of the Republic, the Massassachusetts native convinced himself that one of the new state’s two seats in the U.S. Senate would go to him. Bitterly disappointed by the selection of Sam Houston and Thomas Rusk, he got his hopes up again when the latter committed suicide in 1857. He watched from the gallery as the legislature picked Rusk’s replacement without giving him a single vote and in a matter of days ended his unhappy life.
Dallas annexed East Dallas on January 4, 1890 just in time for the federal census. For the first and last time, Dallas came out on top as the largest city in Texas.
When the Republic became a state nearly half a century earlier, Dallas and Houston lagged far behind San Antonio and Galveston in population. But Big D (they didn’t call that it back then) and the Bayou City steadily gained ground until both left the Alamo City and The Island in the dust. However, the twentieth century would belong to Houston, which won every head count starting with the census of 1900.
Their 8-2 season record and national ranking earned the Bears of Baylor an invitation to the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day 1957.
Baylor faced heavily favored Tennessee, undefeated and untied champions of the Southeastern Conference. To see how this historic clash turned out be sure to read the “This Week in Texas HIstory” column for Wednesday, January 1 through Tuesday, January 7.