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Rolland Nichols

Michael has a BA in History & American Studies and an MSc in American History from the University of Edinburgh. He comes from a proud military family and has spent most of his career as an educator in the Middle East and Asia. His passion is travel, and he seizes any opportunity to share his experiences in the most immersive way possible, whether at sea or on the land.

Kerr County, Texas

In 1858, Mr. Nichols lived about five miles west of Kerrville, on the beautiful Guadalupe River. While he was out turkey hunting with Jim Hampton and a friend named Hurt, Mr. Nichols told his companions he was going into the river bottom to a turkey roost, which was about one-half mile east of the present town of Ingram. His two associates soon heard shots, and only thought he was killing turkeys. Shortly, however, they heard Mr. Nichols holler, "Oh, boys, oh boys." And when the boys reached him, Mr. Nichols had already been killed. Previously, Mr. Nichols had carried his pistol along, but on this particular occasion, he told his family he never had occasion to use it, only on rattlesnakes, so the very time he needed it most, his pistol was at home.

Ref.: The author conferred with Lafayette Nichols, a son of Rolland Nichols, and others who were living in Kerr County at the time this tragedy occurred.

The above story is from the book, The West Texas Frontier, by Joseph Carroll McConnell.

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