Deputy Sheriff Thomas Shaw

Thomas Shaw

On Saturday, September 8, 1877, Deputy Sheriff Thomas Shaw and an assistant named Howell went to arrest Martin Rodriguez, alias Chequita, in Los Olmos in Brooks County on a warrant for selling stolen hides. Shaw allowed the man’s wife and two children to accompany them in a wagon. Shaw rode in the wagon with the prisoner and his family and tied his horse to the back of the wagon. During the trip Shaw sent Howell to get some horses. The party stopped in Banquette in Nueces County on or about Monday, September 10, 1877. The wife later told Sheriff Thomas Beynon that a group of armed men appeared and stabbed Deputy Shaw to death. The evidence was reported to have pointed to the arrested man who was charged with murder. There was a trial but no record of whether Rodriguez was convicted of the murder.

Deputy Thomas Shaw was about 25 years of age and it is unknown if he was married or had any children. His place of burial is unknown at this time.