John M. Vines

A 1936 county history says Sheriff John Vines traced Abraham Rothschild to Cincinnati, found him in a saloon and brought him back to Texas. The Handbook of Texas records that Rothschild tried to kill himself there and lost his right eye, and that extradition to Texas was approved on March 19, 1877. In 1888 Vines became construction superintendent of the federal courthouse at Jefferson. The building begun that year was finished by 1890, with the U.S. District Court upstairs and a post office below, and has held the Jefferson Historical Museum since 1965.

What the plaque says

John M. Vines (1844-1914) Born in Alabama. Joined W. P. Lane Rangers, C. S. A., 1861; was discharged 1865, rank of farrier. Served as sheriff-tax collector for Marion County, 1874-1876. In April, 1877, sent as agent of the state of Texas to bring Abe Rothschild back to Jefferson from Ohio to stand trial for the murder of "Diamond" Bessie Moore (one of the sensational murder trials of the 19th century.) Construction superintendent for Jefferson Federal Courthouse, 1888. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Excelsior House Hotel — 0.8 mi
  A brick-and-timber hotel at 211 West Austin that began as a river captain's boarding house in 1858 and was revived by a garden club in 1959, and still takes guests with rosewood furniture.
• Jefferson Historical Museum — 0.8 mi
  A four-floor museum in Jefferson's 1888-90 federal post office and courthouse, with rooms for African-American history, Jewish heritage, the Caddo and Diamond Bessie, bought by the historical society in 1965 for $8,100.
• Caddo Lake State Park — 12 mi
  A Civilian Conservation Corps park on the Texas shore of Caddo Lake, where the Caddo told of a lake made by wind-driven water and visitors now paddle Big Cypress Bayou past moss-hung bald cypress.
• Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge — 13 mi
  Wetlands and woods on part of a former ammunition plant, now a refuge for wood ducks, prothonotary warblers and alligator snapping turtles, with four easy trails and a free visitor center on a Ramsar lake.

More markers nearby

• Richard Waterhouse — steps away
• First Baptist Church of Jefferson — 0.5 mi
• Site of Home of Captain George T. Todd — 0.5 mi
• First National Bank of Jefferson — 0.7 mi