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In this blog entry is a letter written in 1890. It was written from John Cavitt to his sister-in-law, Tillie Cavitt. Tillie had been married to John’s brother, Andrew. Andrew died young when his and Tillie’s son was 18 months old, in the mid-1870′s.
John Belvedere Cavitt in about 1886
Now, many years later, John was in El Paso for the investigation and trial of another brother’s murderer. This brother, Sheridan Cavitt, was my great-grandfather. He was shot on the street in Juarez, Mexico, where he had traveled to sell some cattle.
Sheridan Cavitt in about 1885
Here is the transcribed letter. See what you can guess about John from his style and sentiments. You may leave me comments and questions below this post!
El Paso Texas
Aug 20- 1890
My Dear Tillie-
Your letter from Home came today and tonight I shall prove to you that I both enjoyed & appreciated it by writing to you. I am glad you are all up at Home tho’ sorry to hear that you improve so slowly- for it seems that you have had more than your share of trouble to contend with. This leaves us all well now, except Tom has a very bad cold that has hung on to him for several days. Tonight he has placed himself under the care of Mrs. HcHatton and a handsome young widow who is mourning here at the Pierson, & I suppose of course he will soon be himself again unless the bitter is all taken from his tonics. & his nurses are too tender with him, under which circumstances it is likely to grow into a chronic stage until dismissed as hopeless.
I am tonight just getting over a right tight spell of headache that has been with me for three days, not bad enough to keep me in bed much but sufficient to remind me very strongly that I had a head & that it was extremely susceptible to pain. Our business here moves very slowly indeed, but surely I feel safe in saying, I wish it were so you all could know the surroundings & know the ground that I base my faith on, for it is not faith in the decree of fate or the [war?] kings of Providence, but faith in the linking & connection of facts & circumstances & proof, & in Law that I could not otherwise continue. For the circumstances and evidence is too plain for us to have any doubt as to the motive, or to the actual facts of the murder of Sheridan by these men who ought to have been men who would protect his life instead of take it. & surely nothing can be shown to lead one to believe that Sheridan would or could suspect that these men intended him any evil. I feel confident of what the final outcome of the case will be, & therefore I am willing to wait. It is as you say that a time of waiting will be a hard time but it is all hard. Within another week the testimony in the case I think will be closed, & will only be opened after the case is made public to the recalling of a few witnesses which cannot consume much time & so I feel sure that by or before the 1st Oct. the case here will be finally settled. Or course you understand that it is not in my power to hurry matters up, so for a delay you must not be impatient- for often hurry loses ground even if it could be managed, but matters in Mexican Courts are such that we do not understand them. So I’ve made up my mind to wait until Oct 1st for the finish & until the 15th too if it be necessary.
I’m sorry that I can’t finish up and be Home before you leave for Abilene, but I know that will be impossible, but will try to stop by and see you as I go Home even if it be but for one day & night, & maybe by that time you will be ready to go back with me anyway, In regard to Norman, it was not necessary for you to ask my pardon for anything of that sort, because of course I understand that he occupied the place nearest to your heart, and I know that you are always anxious to do everything that is best for him, & in regard to the matter you wrote me of, as to him going off to school I too think it probably would be best for him [not?] to go away this Fall, for I will need him more or less for the next year, and I think the experience perhaps would be as good schooling as any that he would get if away, and too I think he is a little young to send to College, tho this is a mere opinion, tho I assure you it is an unselfish one, for I would not suggest anything outside of the impossible that I did not feel was good and best for him & good & best for us all.
Well Tillie I cant of course give you many details of our daily life out here but I can say that it is not what I want to lead, for as the natural atmosphere here differs from that at Home so does the moral atmosphere differ from that to which we are accustomed- Still I try to learn & know what is just, right & best and to do that, – Henry Lewis came out yesterday and I guess he will be here now until the final wind up of the case, Tho’ of course I cannot tell how this may be or how it will be. I send with this letter many tokens of love to all the Dear ones, fondly silent petitions of my heart to God that He may see fit to keep you & us & soon restore us to each other in health & strength.
Your aff Bro
Jno B. Cavitt
The closing line is short for “Your affectionate brother”. “Jno” was short for ‘John’.
[...] was “Mr. J. B. Cavitt Gdr”. Being the brother of my grandmother’s father (who was murdered in Juarez), Uncle John was the guardian of my grandmother and her little sister when their mother was [...]
Have you come across more information about the Juarez court case referred to by Uncle John? Followup letters?
I’ve requested a book from the library on the history of textiles from 1650 to 1879. Hoping it will help with the Beduoin and Douic. I’d heard of the beduoin fabric before but didn’t know what it was.
Imagine taking on your brothers’ children. Doesn’t it make you wonder how much of the responsibility fell to his wife? They must have been quite close, that huge family.
Interesting he complains of a 3-day headache. We come by them honestly, apparently, cuz.
Hi, Cousin. There is a lot of information about the court case, and there is more about the hunt for the culprit after he escaped.
John Cavitt never married. He had such a heavy family burden already that he did not feel that he could take on a wife and family of his own. Remember, this was a time and place in which duty to family and community figured large, and individuals were not generally as concerned with their personal wishes as we are today.
I hope you can figure out the bedouin fabric and the douic. I could have mis-read ‘douic’, but that is the best I can see for now. Neither of these terms comes up on Google.
I am, perhaps, the great niece of the man who may have murdered your relative. I have been researching my “Uncle Billy,” James William Clayton, as we referred to him. Another cousin of mine just sent me information that my relative (she is on the other side of my family, but enjoys research) may have been a murderer. I know there was also a Jeff Clayton associated with W.S. Bolton. I read the article in the Fort Worth Gazette dated Friday April 4, 1890. In that article it clearly states that J.W. Clayton and W.S. Bolton had murdered S.H. Cavitt. If it was my great Uncle Billy, then I want to give you my sincere apology from his family all these years later. What do you know about the trial? I know that Uncle Billy married in El Paso, Texas in 1910. I know he owned and operated a mine in Mexico. My family told me that he died in Mexico trying to get the rights to the mine back. Anyway, none of Uncle Billy’s family knew of this murder. I need to know the outcome of the trial. I do not think we are related to Jeff Clayton. If we are, it would be distantly I believe. I had never heard of him before. Since I am on a quest for information, I hope you may be able to help me. Thank you so very much for your time. P.S. Uncle Billy ran away from home in Euharlee, Bartow County, Georgia when he was a teenager. His mother had died in 1859 shortly after giving birth to my grandfather. He evidently did not like another woman taking his mother’s place. My great grandfather married only a few months after his wife died. He had five small children and needed a wife to take care of them. The civil war came along and much of it was fought right where they lived. My great grandfather was sent to fight for the Confederate side, leaving his wife and children at home. If my information is correct, Uncle Billy ran away at about the age of 19. That would have been in about 1871. He was born in 1852. I know he married, and adopted a number of children. He died in 1935. I was trying to find out about a reace he was involved in in 1888 between a horse and a bicyclist when we discovered this news about the murder. Thanks again for any information you can give me.
Oh, isn’t it a small world!? Thank you so much for writing your comment. We have a lot of papers; an avalanche, really; and in them are quite a few bits of information about the murder and trial. However, nothing is organized AND 150 years of paper related to several families is mixed together, and it will take Mom and me a long time to sort it all out. I am keeping your e-mail address and will contact you every time we run across something relating to this matter.
I found an article in the Fort Worth paper saying J.W. Clayton had been in prison in Juarez for one year and now he was to be shot. Well, he was not shot. How did he get away? What happened? He was married in El Paso, Texas in 1910. He continued to go back and forth between Mexico and the United States. He owned a mine in Mexico. He died in Chihuahua, Mexico in on Sept. 25, 1935. I so want to know the “rest of the story”! If you can help me I would be most appreciative. I have photos and letters from “Uncle Billy,” If you would be interested in any of these items. Please do contact me at my email address. Thanks again.
This all sounds like a novel in the making, doesn’t it! Can’t wait to hear more…no pressure, Lynn!
[...] and clippings from 1890, the year my great-grandfather was murdered. I covered this event in “Murder in Juarez, Trouble in El Paso”. You may see the beginning of a correspondence in the comments at the end that blog, in which a [...]
[...] This map, folded and crumpled, we found in the possessions of Josephus Cavitt, born February 19, 1826. He was a great-great-grandfather of mine. He was the father of Sheridan, of whom I have written before: “Murder in Juarez, Trouble in El Paso“. [...]
Hi! So we’re related! I’ve grown up listening to this story from my mom and this is how I understand it:
A Mexican Rancher needed to get his Cattle up to Chicago but didn’t have enough money. Sheridan loaned him money and the rancher gave him the deed to his ranch as collateral. I don’t know the specifics of it but Sheridan was killed because of that deed. I believe the murderer was found guilty and hanged.
Weird side note: My uncle Stephen went to school in New Mexico. A friend offered to have him come to his family’s ranch in Mexico for Christmas (my Mom thinks that the friend’s Dad won the ranch in Poker Game or something but I’ll ask my uncle). While Stephen was there the family started to talk about how there was this crazy legend of a man being killed over the deed to the ranch. To which my uncle replied, “Yeah, that man who was killed was great-grandfather.” Crazy, huh?!
Everyone who has posted on this case please email me at Herrera6453@gmail.com because I am researching this case for a Pre-Law class. I am a graduate student in history at UT @ El Paso. The information I have gathered is rather interesting and involves extradition treaty by the US and Mexico.
[...] post “Murder in Juarez, Trouble in El Paso” has proven to be popular over the past year and a half since I published it. You can see in one [...]
[...] was shot and killed two days later. See “What to Tell the Judge About the Murder” and “Murder in Juarez, Trouble in El Paso” for further [...]