Prologue
Twin Sisters
Texas History
From the Handbook of Texas Online comes this account from Texas History: “On November 17, 1835, after Francis Smith convinced the people of Cincinnati, Ohio to aid the cause of the Texas Revolution, funds were raised and the foundry of Greenwood and Webb manufactured two six pounder cannons. They were shipped down the Mississippi to New Orleans where William Bryan, an agent of the Republic of Texas in New Orleans, took official possession of the guns on March 16, 1836. From there the guns were placed on the schooner Pennsylvania and taken to Galveston Island. The family of Dr. Charles Rice was on board and agreed to see that the guns were presented to authorities in Texas. Someone noted that there were two sets of twins, Dr. Rice’s twin daughters, Elizabeth and Eleanor and the matching guns, and thus the cannons became known as the “Twin Sisters.” They are credited with having won the Texas Revolution against Mexico in the battle at San Jacinto. There are various stories as to the fate of the cannons at the end of the war. One is that a group of Confederates led by Henry North Graves buried the guns to prevent their removal by Union Soldiers in August 1865 somewhere in either Houston or Harrisburg. However, this report, like all others regarding the final fate of the Twin Sisters, has never been conclusively proved. To this day the Twin Sisters final resting place remains a favorite Texas mystery.”
Chapter 1
Uvalde, Texas
It was a short flight from San Antonio to Uvalde, Texas. The weather was clear, the winds gentle; a perfect flying day in his Cessna Skylane. The decent from 10,000 feet at a speed of 130 miles an hour was quickly reduce to achieve the bumpy landing on the private air strip at the southern end of Frank Reynolds’ 5,000 acre ranch. It was a landing the owner and experienced pilot had made many times over the past seventeen years as he returned from job sites around the country.
Uvalde was the birthplace of Frank Reynolds, and his only home; but he was no stranger to cities, large and small, from the West coast to the Eastern shore. His construction business had become specialized in recent years: American Track and Turf had become a leading builder of sports venues for both private and public school systems. Frank was sixty years of age and stood less than six feet tall, slender but muscular. His head was covered with a western hat, white in the summer and black in winter. His skin was tanned and rough from the hot Uvalde weather, often over one hundred degrees in the summer months. He relished opportunities to travel north and east to places where the temperature was more comfortable.
Uvalde is located just sixty miles from the Mexican border in the southwest section of the Lone Star State. It is known as the "City of Trees" due to the huge live oak trees that were preserved during the layout of the town. The city fathers left an occasional large oak tree growing in the middle of many roads causing traffic to veer around them, making for a unique driving experience. Frank was not as famous as the city’s most renowned citizen, John Nance Garner, vice-president under Franklin D. Roosevelt; but to Frank Reynolds, Uvalde is his home and he is proud of it.
“Hey, boss, good to have you back.” It was a common greeting from his two trusted ranch hands, Thomas and Ezra. Thomas is the older of the two brothers and taller with hair covering his ears and sporting a mustache. Ezra is stocky, broad shouldered and muscular, but unlike his brother maintains a short hair style. Both are dressed in their ranch outfits, blue jeans, western shirt, cowboy boots, and heavy belt with an oversized western buckle, and large cowboy hat to protect their heads and eyes from the sun. Thomas wore wrap-around sun glasses.
The hand’s father left home when they were preschoolers and returned to Mexico, leaving the boys with their mother to raise and care for them. She remarried about the time Thomas began second grade. The boys were adopted by their step-father and took the name Navarro. They did the best they could on the farm, but nine years later Rosemary Navarro was forced to sell the farm to avoid foreclosure. The farm accident that claimed her husband’s life left her alone once again and the boys fatherless for a second time. Following high school graduation the boys worked at the Bar C Ranch and lived in the bunkhouse Frank Reynolds built for them. They are responsible to keep things going when Frank was away on construction business, and frequently, were called upon to join a construction crew when work demanded their assistance. Now in their mid-twenties, the two dark-skinned Mexican-Americans were anxious to save enough money to buy a spread of their own.
“You boys need to attend to the fence on the southern border. As I approach the landing strip I noticed there was a section where it was down. We don’t want any livestock heading for Mexico.”
“Okay, boss, we’ll get on it,” the boys obediently responded. “Oh, say boss, there’s somebody at the house for you to meet.”
Twin Sisters
Texas History
From the Handbook of Texas Online comes this account from Texas History: “On November 17, 1835, after Francis Smith convinced the people of Cincinnati, Ohio to aid the cause of the Texas Revolution, funds were raised and the foundry of Greenwood and Webb manufactured two six pounder cannons. They were shipped down the Mississippi to New Orleans where William Bryan, an agent of the Republic of Texas in New Orleans, took official possession of the guns on March 16, 1836. From there the guns were placed on the schooner Pennsylvania and taken to Galveston Island. The family of Dr. Charles Rice was on board and agreed to see that the guns were presented to authorities in Texas. Someone noted that there were two sets of twins, Dr. Rice’s twin daughters, Elizabeth and Eleanor and the matching guns, and thus the cannons became known as the “Twin Sisters.” They are credited with having won the Texas Revolution against Mexico in the battle at San Jacinto. There are various stories as to the fate of the cannons at the end of the war. One is that a group of Confederates led by Henry North Graves buried the guns to prevent their removal by Union Soldiers in August 1865 somewhere in either Houston or Harrisburg. However, this report, like all others regarding the final fate of the Twin Sisters, has never been conclusively proved. To this day the Twin Sisters final resting place remains a favorite Texas mystery.”
Chapter 1
Uvalde, Texas
It was a short flight from San Antonio to Uvalde, Texas. The weather was clear, the winds gentle; a perfect flying day in his Cessna Skylane. The decent from 10,000 feet at a speed of 130 miles an hour was quickly reduce to achieve the bumpy landing on the private air strip at the southern end of Frank Reynolds’ 5,000 acre ranch. It was a landing the owner and experienced pilot had made many times over the past seventeen years as he returned from job sites around the country.
Uvalde was the birthplace of Frank Reynolds, and his only home; but he was no stranger to cities, large and small, from the West coast to the Eastern shore. His construction business had become specialized in recent years: American Track and Turf had become a leading builder of sports venues for both private and public school systems. Frank was sixty years of age and stood less than six feet tall, slender but muscular. His head was covered with a western hat, white in the summer and black in winter. His skin was tanned and rough from the hot Uvalde weather, often over one hundred degrees in the summer months. He relished opportunities to travel north and east to places where the temperature was more comfortable.
Uvalde is located just sixty miles from the Mexican border in the southwest section of the Lone Star State. It is known as the "City of Trees" due to the huge live oak trees that were preserved during the layout of the town. The city fathers left an occasional large oak tree growing in the middle of many roads causing traffic to veer around them, making for a unique driving experience. Frank was not as famous as the city’s most renowned citizen, John Nance Garner, vice-president under Franklin D. Roosevelt; but to Frank Reynolds, Uvalde is his home and he is proud of it.
“Hey, boss, good to have you back.” It was a common greeting from his two trusted ranch hands, Thomas and Ezra. Thomas is the older of the two brothers and taller with hair covering his ears and sporting a mustache. Ezra is stocky, broad shouldered and muscular, but unlike his brother maintains a short hair style. Both are dressed in their ranch outfits, blue jeans, western shirt, cowboy boots, and heavy belt with an oversized western buckle, and large cowboy hat to protect their heads and eyes from the sun. Thomas wore wrap-around sun glasses.
The hand’s father left home when they were preschoolers and returned to Mexico, leaving the boys with their mother to raise and care for them. She remarried about the time Thomas began second grade. The boys were adopted by their step-father and took the name Navarro. They did the best they could on the farm, but nine years later Rosemary Navarro was forced to sell the farm to avoid foreclosure. The farm accident that claimed her husband’s life left her alone once again and the boys fatherless for a second time. Following high school graduation the boys worked at the Bar C Ranch and lived in the bunkhouse Frank Reynolds built for them. They are responsible to keep things going when Frank was away on construction business, and frequently, were called upon to join a construction crew when work demanded their assistance. Now in their mid-twenties, the two dark-skinned Mexican-Americans were anxious to save enough money to buy a spread of their own.
“You boys need to attend to the fence on the southern border. As I approach the landing strip I noticed there was a section where it was down. We don’t want any livestock heading for Mexico.”
“Okay, boss, we’ll get on it,” the boys obediently responded. “Oh, say boss, there’s somebody at the house for you to meet.”
