John M. Vines
Jefferson, Marion County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1844-1914) Born in Alabama. Joined W. P. Lane Rangers, C. S. A., 1861; was discharged 1865, rank of farrier. Served as sheriff-tax collector for Marion County, 1874-1876. In April, 1877, sent as agent of the state of Texas to bring Abe Rothschild back to Jefferson from Ohio to stand trial for the murder of "Diamond" Bessie Moore (one of the sensational murder trials of the 19th century.) Construction superintendent for Jefferson Federal Courthouse, 1888.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Alabama-born John M. Vines joined the W. P. Lane Rangers of the Confederate Army in 1861, mustering out in 1865 as a farrier. He later served as sheriff and tax collector of Marion County, and in 1877 was sent by the state to Ohio to return Abe Rothschild for one of the century's most sensational murder trials — the killing of "Diamond Bessie" Moore. Vines also superintended construction of Jefferson's federal courthouse in 1888.
Why it matters
His life threads together Confederate service, frontier law enforcement, and a notorious Gilded Age murder case, capturing the turbulent civic world of a booming East Texas river town.
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Related people
- · John M. Vines
- · Abe Rothschild
- · "Diamond" Bessie Moore
Related events
- · Diamond Bessie murder trial
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Confederate Civil War Meat Packing Plant
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George T. Todd House
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Captain George T. Todd, a Confederate veteran who became a district attorney, state legislator, and senior East Texas attorney, built this late Victorian home in Jefferson in 1893 for his large family. Distinguished by a corner tower with a mansard roof, the house remains in the hands of his descendants.
Site of Home of Captain George T. Todd
Jefferson, TX
Captain George T. Todd came to the Republic of Texas as a boy and grew into one of Marion County's most consequential men. He fought with the celebrated Hood's Texas Brigade in the Civil War, famously taking command at Chickamauga after General Hood was wounded, then rode with Lane's Partisan Rangers in the war's final year. In peacetime he served in the legislature and as a UT regent, but he is best remembered as the district attorney who spent seven years prosecuting the sensational 'Diamond Bessie' murder case.