shot himself in the head. His father and another doctor
rushed out to find the 30-year-old alive but beyond
medical help. Robert E. Howard died eight hours later
at 4 p.m. His mother died the next day. Double services
were held for the mother and son June 14, 1936, at Cross
Plains First Baptist Church.
Howard’s journey from little Peaster to boom-swollen
Cross Plains had been an unhappy one, but through the
fantasy worlds he created to escape, his legacy remains.
Sources:
• Handbook of Texas Online
• Parker County Historical Commission Online
• Burke, Rusty, “A Short Biography of Robert E. Howard”
— The Robert E.
Howard United Press Association, archived from the
original on
September 29, 2011
• Lord, Glenn (1976), “The Last Celt ,” Berkley Windhover Books
• Finn, Mark
(2006), “Blood & Thunder ,” Monkeybrain, Inc.
• Louinet, Patrice (2005), “Hyborian Genesis Part III” —
The Conquering Sword of Conan, Del Rey Books
Through his late teens, Howard worked various odd
jobs around Cross Plains, and by all accounts hated them
all. He began to have his fantasy fiction published in pulp
publications in the 1920s. His “Conan the Barbarian”
character has a pop-culture imprint that has been
com