The Killing of Sam Speer

The 1920 census counted 372 farms on 672,596 acres of agricultural land in Kimble County. Sheep numbered more than 139,600, while cattle had fallen to about 15,000, less than half the 1890 count, and horses and swine had also declined substantially. Crops took more land: 5,463 acres of cereals and 3,885 of hay. Pecans were another important part of the economy, with 693,193 pounds harvested in 1919, and by the end of the 1920s the county was one of the state's leaders in wool and mohair.

What the plaque says

The Killing of Sam Speer (8/10 mi. W., Hwy. 290; and 200 yds. S.) On Dec. 24, 1876, a band of Indians killed Sam Speer, only 17 years of age, who was driving in horses near here. A 50-caliber gun his brother was using failed to fire. This was the last Indian murder in Kimble County. Speer is buried in the North Llano Cemetery. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Kimble County Historical Museum — 1.3 mi
  A free county museum in Junction, the town at the meeting of the North and South Llano, with the papers, photographs and tools of a ranching county.
• Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve — 26 mi
  A limestone cave on the James River where about four million Mexican free-tailed bats raise their young each summer, kept open to visitors by a family's gift.
• Fort McKavett State Historic Site — 29 mi
  The post Sherman called the prettiest in Texas, home to soldiers of all four Buffalo Soldier regiments and then to a town that lived in its buildings until 1973.

More markers nearby

• First Court in Kimble County — steps away
• The Junction Eagle — 1.7 mi
• Schreiner Park — 1.7 mi
• First United Methodist Church of Junction — 1.7 mi