Pyron had been postmaster but a few
months.
One would think Barton enjoyed
postal work, as in 1894 he estab-
lished a community just north of
Adell called “Advance” and served
as postmaster there. Advance never
really lived up to its name and the
post office opened in ’94 and closed
in 1906, two years after Adell lost its
office.
Adell truly is a “wide spot in the
road,” and a lovely one! The roll-
ing countryside, which must have
attracted the early settlers, makes for
a fine drive, or, better yet, ride. The
tiny town’s population never exceed-
ed 100. But there was a cotton gin,
corn crusher and gristmill, and three
churches and a school, all the trap-
pings of rural life in early Texas.
Another little community in the
area, Authon, popped up just south
of Adell. First known as “Dry Creek,”
the fledgling town applied for a post
office about 1879 under the name
“Author.” Some postal bureaucrat
apparently misread the application
and rendered it “Authon.” (Well, how
the blazes was he to know? There
could have been someone named
Authon living in Dry Creek.) It caused
a little confusion and the post office
did not open until October 1882. As
rural post offices go, it lasted a good
while, remaining open until May 14,
1904, when delivery of mail went
to Garner. That’s right, the same
day Adell lost its mail to Garner.
Consolidation, I think it’s called.
#The phrase “caught red-handed”
is a very common one, generally
used to note that it’s pointless to
deny you did something, because
the evidence speaks for itself. A
child denies getting into the cookie
jar while wearing a cookie-crumb
mustache. A teen swears he’s not
been drinking when his hoppy breath
belies the denial and a pull tab is still
on his right index finger. The phrase’s
origin is quite descriptive of a partic-
ular situation: “It is a straightforward
allusion to having blood on one’s
hands after the execution of a murder
or a poaching session. The term origi-
nates, not from Northern Ireland, but
from a country not so far from there,
socially and geographically, that is,
Scotland. An earlier form of ‘red-
handed’, simply ‘red hand’, dates
back to a usage in the Scottish Acts of
Parliament of James I, 1432.”
Sources: • Handbook of Texas
Online • parkerchc.org Texas
Almanac Jim Wheat’s Postmasters
and Post Offices of Texas other
online sources
Adell Church
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