Mystery Location No. 159: July 21, 2019

Today's Thought for the Day was about Texas, so I started searching in Texas and found the G.D. Tarlton House at 211 N. Pleasant Street in Hillsboro, Texas, which is in Hill County. The house, still the biggest in Hillsboro, was built in 1895 by Greene Duke Tarlton, an attorney who was born in Louisiana. When it was built, the house was one of the finest in town, with hand-carved mantels, stained glass windows, a "speaking tube" between the kitchen and a third-floor bedroom and a dumbwaiter. There was a cistern on the back porch that supplied cool water all year round. Outbuildings included a stable and coach house and there was a grape arbor, orchard and garden on the grounds. The mansion is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Tarlton's first wife was Sarah "Sallie" Scott Tarlton and the reason she never saw the house where she was mistress was because she was blind. They had five children. Sallie died in 1907 and because she had such a beautiful singing voice, her epitaph reads: "Her soul was attuned to melody on earth. Her sweet voice adds to the melody of the angel's songs."

The house was a B&B from 1985 until recently and advertised that it was haunted and welcomed ghost hunters. The story was that Tarlton remarried shortly after Sallie's death and the children were upset. The house is supposed to be haunted by both Tarlton and Sallie. People claim they have heard a woman, who has the "voice of an angel," singing. People also have reported hearing the laughter of playing children. Actually, Tarlton didn't remarry until 1910 and by that time, the youngest child was 14 years old, so it's doubtful the kids were all that upset about the marriage. His second wife was Mary Elizabeth "Bessie" Millard and it's generally believed that he knew her before he married Sallie. Bessie was 56 when they married, so they didn't have any children.

Bessie had cancer and died on August 26, 1931. A few hours later, Tarlton himself died. His cause of death is listed as influenza and it's possible that even though his wife had cancer, they both had the flu and died of pneumonia. Bessie was 77 and Tarlton was 79. But the story told while the house was a B&B was that Tarlton was so upset over his wife's death that he went to the attic and hanged himself.

While Laura Bush was First Lady of Texas, her pet project was promoting literacy and she attended a literacy event at the Tarlton House.

The crime by an infamous outlaw happened on April 30, 1932. John Bucher, a prominent citizen of Hillsboro, Texas, had already closed his grocery store, but reopened for two men who claimed they needed guitar strings for a musical performance. The men turned out to be Clyde Barrow and two other members of the Barrow Gang. There's more to the story, but it's generally believed that Clyde shot and killed Bucher.