The adventurous life and brutal death of Waco’s own Alpheus D. Neill (1826-1877) is the stuff of lurid “penny dreadful” novels and Victorian melodramas. But the tale of the former Texas Ranger and lawman who was the first Waco police officer killed in the line of duty is family history to Leslie Hicks.

Hicks, 59, is the daughter of Mary Frances Neill Hicks (1921-1970), who was the daughter of Patrick Charles Neill (1896-1934). Patrick Neill was the son of Charles Theodore Neill (1860-1912), the son of the murdered officer.

Hicks, proprietor of Creative Custom Tours, has been delving into her family history for decades. She continues to look into the story of A.D. Neill.

A page of the Neill family Bible reads: “Alpheus D. Neill was killed Feb. 6, 1877. His widow, Jane, died Aug. 6, 1888.”
Leslie Hicks photo

“Well, it’s so engaging,” she said, “It makes me want to know more. It reads like a Zane Gray novel at times.”

A.D. Neill was born in 1826 along the banks of the Brazos to an Indian fighter and his wife. William Neill, his father, was an early Texas Ranger, Hicks said.

The young Alf, as he was known, followed in his father’s footsteps as a Texas Ranger. In 1848, he was a member of Capt. Shapley P. Ross’ company of Rangers and earned a reputation as “one of the best and bravest Indian fighters on the frontier,” according to local newspaper accounts of his life.

Bullets and arrows

In May 1850, Pvts. A.D. Neill, D.C. “Doc” Sullivan and John Lemon Wilbarger of the Texas Rangers were returning to Central Texas from leave in San Antonio when they discovered near the Nueces River that they were being tracked by a band of 30 warriors.

Neill’s companions were cut down by gunfire and arrows. Neill was gravely wounded in the encounter, taking a bullet to the chest.

He later reported that he fainted from loss of blood and upon regaining consciousness, he pulled several arrows from his flesh. He had been stripped of his clothing and left for dead.

Naked, bleeding and without provisions, Neill walked and crawled through the blistering heat some 65 miles to San Patricio. Outraged residents returned to the scene of the savagery to bury the slain Rangers.

Neill survived that encounter. He eventually married a LaVaca County woman, Jane Flemming. When the couple moved to Waco is unclear, Hicks said, although she discovered he was listed in the 1876 City Directory as a carpenter living in East Waco.

Domestic violence

In March 1876, according to the Waco Daily Examiner, A.D. Neill was appointed to the city’s police force to serve East Waco. He was on the job less than a year when he rode into a situation many a modern lawman would testify is fraught with peril — a case of domestic violence.

Alfred Claiborne Neill, a cousin of the murdered Waco policeman, was a lawman, too. He also was a veteran of the Civil War, having served with the Tennessee army.
Leslie Hicks photo

Charles Theodore Neill (1860-1912), son of the murdered officer and great-grandfather of Leslie Hicks of Waco.
Leslie Hicks photo

An East Waco woman was taking refuge in the home of her father, Addison Spradley, near the cotton factory in Old East Waco, because of the cruel treatment of her drunken husband, Perry Davis.

When Davis appeared the morning of Feb. 6, 1877, at Spradley’s door, threatening violence against father and daughter, a child was sent out the back door to summon help from Neill, who lived a few hundred yards away.

When Neill rode up, witnesses said, the agitated Davis leveled his gun at the officer to shoot, but the gun failed to fire.

Neill dismounted, keeping the horse between him and the assailant, but before he could draw his own weapon, Davis ran up and fired over the horse’s neck and into the head of the policeman.

Neill fell to the ground with a bullet in his brain. He was carried to his home, where he died later that evening, surrounded by his sorrowing wife and children and never having regained consciousness for a final farewell.

Meanwhile, after gunning down Neill, Davis turned toward the house and snapped the pistol at his wife, who stood in the doorway with an infant in her arms.

But, the Waco Daily Examiner reported, the caps had become damp and would not explode: “Cursing the weapon, (Davis) sprang upon his horse and galloped away.”

A weeklong manhunt ensued, as Davis stole a fresh mount from the sharecropper community of Harrison’s Switch to effect his escape from McLennan County. The posse chasing the fugitive included future Gov. Lawrence Sullivan “Sul” Ross.

Davis was captured after the astute deputy marshal of Hearne received a tip on the wanted man’s whereabouts.

Davis was found living as a vagrant by the railroad tracks near Jewett and the lawman was able to enlist the aid of area residents in surrounding the cabin where the murderer was hiding.

‘Necktie party’

Davis’ trial in August 1877 lasted less than two days and the “necktie-party” was set for Aug. 30 in East Waco, “near Mrs. Morris’ farm about a half mile east of the railroad depot,” the Waco Daily Examiner reported.

Neill was buried in East Waco Cemetery (now known as Greenwood Cemetery), following a funeral attended by the mayor, city council, the police force and a large number of residents.

The newspaper suggested that the city make an apportionment to support the officer’s family “for certainly the widow and orphans of the man who lost his life while in the discharge of his duty as an officer of the city should be kindly and well cared for.”

Hicks said that she and her brother, Neill Dewitt Hicks, 65, recently combed Greenwood Cemetery, but have been unsuccessful in finding Alpheus D. Neill’s grave.

tjryan@wacotrib.com

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