Grayson County TXGenWeb

Denison Daily News
Tuesday, December 9, 1879

The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, May 21, 1905
pg. 2

JOHN BOLAND
The Story of a Man with a History, That Recalls Some Lively Events - The Denison Wild and Woolley Days
John Boland, the Wanderer

After an absence of over twenty years, John Boland appeared upon our streets last week.
No one supposed that Boland was alive.
The advent of Boland recalls to memory one of the most remarkable men who have ever lived in Denison.
He is a typical figure of the old frontier town which has almost ceased to exist in the wild and wooly west.
Boland now is a poor broken down old man.
It is hard to realize that this is the John Boland of twenty years ago who was an elegant, well-dressed man; so particular that he used to change his shirt every day. Diamonds sparkled upon his immaculate white shirt front and you could see your face in his shoes.
Boland was the toughest saloon man who has ever lived in Denison, and this is saying a good deal. He was notorious for many years. When John went on his periodical sprees, which occurred about every thirty days, he painted the town red. His record was several fights a day. He was a "whizzer;" he liked to gougel, maul and bite, but seldom went to jail. Discussing this man who stands alone in his class, Russ Legate and Will J. Scott remarked that he paid more fines than any dozen toughs who has ever lived in Texas. His fines during his luminous career in Denison and Sherman aggregated thousands of dollars. His financial resources were unlimited. He was a money maker. Boland was an ideal saloon man. Suited to the frontier epoch. He would be out of his element just now in Denison; with the March of events, the saloon has grown better also.
Boland was a striking personality. Looking him over last Sunday we were sorry for him? Sorry that in his old age he has become a wanderer. This man with all his faults is a link that binds us to the past in the good old rough days when dance halls flourished, when gambling was on the first floor, and keno upstairs; when money was so plentiful that a beggar was a curiosity. Talking about the wild west, Denison in the seventies, and a portion of the eighties was bad, very bad. The present generation sometimes reads in the paper about early Denison, but they have no idea of the actual Denison of twenty-five years ago. There was night, but night was turned into day. From the first peep of the stars until the dawn of the breaking morn, there was music, dancing, and the voice crying "swing your pardner, who is ready for the next set," cowboys, buffalo hunters, gamblers, bankers, prospectors, they never seemed to sleep. We have wandered a little from Boland, but he makes us think sadly of the dear old times. It is true that they were sinful, but life was exciting, there was always something doing out of the ordinary. The distinct class had not yet grown up. Everybody was a hale fellow well met. If you wanted a collar you could always borrow one. It is doubtful if Denison will ever again see such flush times.
Now Boland's life is not without its romance. The greatest river boat race in the history of the West, old Mississippi days, was between the Robert E. Lee and the Natchez. It was a national event. It is said a million dollars changed hands on the result. The magnificent steamers raced from New Orleans to St. Louis. Thousands lined the river banks to see them pass. Gen. Lee won by a small margin. Boland was the proprietor of the saloon on the Lee. The steamboat bar at this perios was the most sumptious in the world. They are inseparable from the history of the early West. Around them have gathered the choice spirits that illuminated Western history. Mark Twain in his works has given an eloquent history of early Mississippi steamboat days. Boland left the Lee and started from New Orleans to Texas, with ten one thousand dollar bills sewed up in his coat lining. He landed at Galveston, and eventually drifted to Sherman and Denison. He lived between the two towns, and did business in both. Right where the Williams Clothing and Shirt Manufacturing house now is, Boland conducted a variety theatre. One night there lounged into the place three men. They were Joe Forsyth, Jim Cartright and McIntyre. If there is a race born without fear, these men belonged to it. They loved life but did not value it. A reward was hanging over the heads of the three men. It is said that they had ridden hard from Old Mexico, and they looked it. It is claimed that the three men had murdered a rich ranchero and fled the country. The Texas Rangers were hot on their trail and did follow them to Denison.
These three men are all dead. Jim Cartright, the most picturesque of the trio, was killed at Fort Worth by Luke Short, a noted gambler. At the theatre, Boland who was drunk, made a remark that did not please Cartright, and he knocked him down with a revolver. The men were here one night. McIntyre was a noted border man. They all lived a history. Texas at this period contained more bad men than any state in the Union, and it was quite the fashion for men to die witih their boots on.
John Boland was best known at his saloon, corner of Houston and Main streets, M.J. Sweeney's present stand. He had a live buffalo and two bears for attraction. He made money very fast, for in those days everybody had money. He was a drawing figure in the police courts. Poor old John, don't he wish now that he had saved some of the money paid in fines? He might live a gentleman the balance of his days. Twenty-five years ago he was a splendid looking man - and here is where the romance comes in. At the height of his notorious career, when he ran a saloon in Denison, and two over in Sherman, he married. His wife was a graduate of the leading academy in Sherman. She was beautiful and cultured, and the ideal of home. You can't account for these things, but they happen. The mind stands still and is amazed. She fell in love with Boland. This school girl knew all about him and seemed to glory in his bad reputation. Where there is a will there is a way, and she got an introduction. Parental intercession was set aside. A brief courtship and she gave her destiny into the keeping of Boland. The union was the talk of two cities. In a year or so the spell was broken and the courts gave her a divorce.
Boland went right on making money hand over fist. Col. Tom Crooks, of this city, can entertain you for an hour, telling of Boland's Sherman career. What a high flyer he was. His career even at its worst was always startling. Boland says that he has wandered all over the United States. He doesn't look as if he had a place to rest his head. The hard knocks that he has received have not impaired his wonderful memory. It is amazing to hear him tell in detail the pioneer history of the period that he spent here. It is very thrilling and entertaining to those who have passed through it all.
John Boland will never make a stake again; the shell is there but the spirit is gone.