TEXAS

HOMESTEAD: Brite Ranch was scene of Christmas Day raid

San Angelo Standard-Times

Lucas “Luke” Charles Brite II trailed a herd of cattle to the Big Bend of Texas in 1885, fell in love with the country, stayed and put together a 320,000-acre ranch with 3,000 registered Herefords. 

Brite was born in Caldwell County on July 29, 1860, to Lucas Charles and Nancy Caroline Carr Brite, who came to Texas from Calloway County, Missouri, in 1839. Young Brite was only 3 years old when his father died. 

While still a youth, Luke started working on ranches in La Salle and Frio counties. 

Mrs. L.C. Brite from Marfa.

In 1879, he and his brother, Robert, went to Coleman County to enter the ranching business but soon moved on to Tom Green County with 150 head of their own cattle and 600 head they were interested in, according to the Standard-Times. 

Robert Brite died in 1885 and Luke trailed 166 head of cattle from Frio County to Capote Peak in Presidio County where he spent several years homesteading land that would be the foundation of his own ranch.  

Luke Brite and Eddie McMinn Anderson were married June 24, 1896, in Schell City, Missouri. She came to Texas from Missouri in 1894 to live with her uncle, Robert Edward McMinn, and his family on his ranch in Presidio County, 40 miles from Marfa. 

After their wedding, Lucas and Eddie Brite lived on the Brite Ranch at Capote Peak for six years before moving to Marfa in 1902 where they made their permanent home. They had a son and a daughter. 

On Dec. 25 in 1917, the Brite Ranch was raided by about 45 Mexican bandits believed to be supporters of Francisco “Pancho” Villa. 

According to the Handbook of Texas Online, the attackers cut the ranch’s telephone lines to prevent any call for help in what proved to be a well-planned raid. 

Most of the ranchhands including the Brite family were away for the holiday except for the ranch foreman, T.T. Van Neill, and his family.  

The raiders dismounted their horses in the yard and scattered for cover and a gunfight broke out. Two ranchhands were captured. One, Jose Sanchez, was sent to the house and told Neill the other ranchhand would be killed if they did not surrender. 

Outnumbered, Neill gave the raiders the key to the Brite Store. After looting the store of clothes, canned goods and cash, the raiders rounded up the best horses and stole all the saddles. 

It was during the store looting when Mickey Welch, a postman, arrived at the ranch in his mail stage with two Mexican passengers. The raiders shot the passengers and hanged Welch in the store. 

When Rev. H.M. Bandy and his family arrived at the ranch for Christmas dinner with the Neills, the raiders were still there. They allowed the Bandys to reach the Neill home. After a prayer, Bandy took a rifle to defend the ranch. 

Neighbor James L. Cobb heard all the shooting and came to investigate. He then drove 12 miles to telephone Luke Brite in Marfa who called Col. George Langhorne of the Eighth Cavalry for help. 

The two families were finally rescued when Cobb returned with armed neighbors and soldiers. 

By the time the posse arrived in automobiles, the raiders escaped down the Candelaria Rimrock. Langhorne and the soldiers borrowed horses from neighboring ranchers and joined troops from Ruidoso and followed the raiders. 

The troops crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico on Dec. 26, located the bandits and killed 18 of them in a canyon near Pilares, Chihuahua. Three civilians were killed and one U.S. soldier was killed. Most of the stolen goods were recovered, but the horses were lost.      

In 1918, Luke Brite built a small fort to house Texas Rangers and protect the ranch but was never needed. 

By March, 1920, Brite had become a breeder of champion Herefords. He shipped 1,000 bulls of his own breeding for 14 straight years. 

According to the Texas State Historical Association, Brite won the Cudahy Trophy for Grand Champion Carload of feeder cattle in 1922 and 1925. He also helped organize the Highland Hereford Breeders Association in Marfa. He served as president of the Panhandle and Southwestern Stockmen’s Association, and the American National Live Stock Association. 

The Brites built a tabernacle on the ranch where they hosted the annual Brite Camp Meetings. They also endowed the Brite College of the Bible at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.  

Luke Brite was 81 years old when he died in 1941; however Eddie Brite continued the couple’s philanthropy to the Brite Bible College at Texas Christian University and the Mexican Christian Colony, a religious activity in Mexico. 

Eddie Brite was 88 when she died in 1963. 

Jerry Lackey is the agriculture editor emeritus. Contact him at jlackey@wcc.net.