A political meeting was held in Kellyville, Texas, five miles west of Jefferson, which many from Jefferson attended, and among those was Chief Justice Haughn. After the meeting the men from Jefferson stayed for a short time to chat with friends but Chief Justice Haughn was not interested and left. When he reached what is now known as the old Freeman house, he was killed and his body was found in a deep ditch. Every manager of the election boxes was arrested, but to no avail, as it is not known today, in 1944, how or by whose hand he met death. TEXAS’ FIRST FEDERAL COURT The first Federal Court to sit in the State of Texas met in Jefferson in 1879 with Judge Amos Morill on the bench. In a short time the court was made a circuit, which included San Antonio and Galveston. Three generations of Jefferson men served succeeding terms as clerks of the court—W. E. Singleton, W. E. Singleton, Jr., and J. M. Singleton. These men served for a total of sixty years. The first court met in the Post Office which had been established in 1842 and was located in the Northeast corner of Polk and Austin Streets, and was the only Federal building in Jefferson. All records were kept in this building and when word came that Federal troops would possibly come through Jefferson and that all valuable papers and documents should be moved to a spot further interior for safe keeping, local authorities hastily gathered the court records and sent them to Dallas from which place they had not been returned after 65 years—though efforts have been made to have them returned. THE CITY OF JEFFERSON, TEXAS as a MANUFACTURING DISTRICT IN 1871 The undersigned would respectfully invite the attention of capitalists, at home and abroad, to the manufacturing facilities of the City of Jefferson and its surroundings, with a view of securing such co-operation as our railroad prospects and natural advantages seem to warrant. We say railroad prospects, because our city will shortly become the Great Railroad Center of Northeastern Texas. Here the International Trans-Continental and East Line and Red River Railroad will all intersect ere many more months elapse, thus opening up direct communications with all the leading business centers in the Union. So far as railroads are concerned, Jefferson will become the Atlanta of all that portion of the State known as “Northeastern Texas.” Associated with this fact is another equally significant in a manufacturing point of view. We have here within striking distance inexhaustible supplies of material for the manufacture on an extensive scale of an endless variety of articles; and for steam purposes we have living waters and fuel in abundance. Indeed Nature has here strewn upon the earth’s surface and planted beneath it forests and mines immeasureable in extent and of inestimable value.