Essie Mae Jenkins, at 39-years-old, moved from Rusk to Kerrville in 1928 seeking refuge from a troubled second marriage. This trouble came to a head when Essie’s oldest son, Nolan Martin, was involved in a violent altercation with Essie’s husband, Walker Jenkins; it seems 19-year-old Nolan wanted to borrow the family car and Mr. Jenkins would not allow it. A fight ensued wherein Nolan was stabbed in the back with a knife and Mr. Jenkins was severely beaten with an axe handle.

Essie’s younger brother, William “Johnie” Bartholomew, was already living in Kerrville; he had moved there from Angelina County to seek treatment at the newly-built VA hospital. Johnie’s lungs had been damaged in a mustard gas attack in France during World War I. After moving to Kerrville, Johnie supported himself by gambling and operating several pool halls in town.

After the fight between Nolan and Mr. Jenkins, Essie and her three teenaged sons moved in with Johnie at his home on Lytle Street until Essie could find a job and rent a house of her own. Essie quickly found a job as an orderly at the VA hospital and started renting a house where present day Highway 27 intersects with Riverside Drive. Essie’s youngest son Clyde moved in with her, while her other two sons Nolan and Jack remained with Johnie.

Things soon began to look up for Essie; she met a kind man named Edwin Babineaux, whose wife had recently died and left him to raise several young children. Edwin operated a barber shop in town and intended to marry Essie once her divorce became final.

Sadly, this was not to be. On the evening of Saturday, May 18th, 1929, Edwin’s two teenaged daughters, Myrtle and Bernice and their infant sister Annie Ruth, drove to Essie’s house for a visit. They parked their car across the street from the house. At around 8 o’clock PM, little Annie ran out the door to get in the car. Just at that moment, a sedan sped around the corner. Essie saw it coming and ran after Annie, reaching her at the same time as the sedan. Essie had managed to snatch the child from in front of the car’s bumper but she was too late. Essie was slammed to the ground by the car’s bumper and then dragged for a considerable distance before the car came to a stop.  The toddler was hit by the car’s windshield and thrown into the air. Local resident Van Goff was driving by at the time and rushed Annie to the hospital in his car, but both victims were killed instantly.

The driver of the sedan, 21-year-old Raymond Douglas, was charged with two counts of murder but it seems the charges were later dropped.

Nolan Martin remained in Kerrville and later became Chief of the city’s fire department.

Essie was buried in an unmarked grave at Center Point Cemetery. However, with the kind help of researcher Gloria Dozier and cemetery caretaker Guy Burney, Essie’s great-grandson, Patrick Martin, was able to locate the grave site and purchase a marker bearing the inscription “John 15:13”. That verse reads: “Greater love hath no man than this,that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

©2004 Patrick Martin

Essie’s Obituary and the Article About the Accident

Kerrville Mountain Sun, Volume 6, Number 24, Thursday, May 23, 1929

AUTO KILLS TWO PERSONS; DRIVER HELD

 Woman and Child Struck Down While Crossing Highway

Two charges of murder were filed Tuesday in the court of Justice E. H. Turner against Raymond Douglas, 21, driver of an automobile which struck down and killed two persons Saturday night on the highway near U. S. Veterans’ Bureau Hospital, Legion. Douglas was remanded to jail in default of $2,000 bond to await action of the next grand jury.

Funeral services were held Monday for the two victims of the tragic crash, Mrs. Essie Jenkins, 39, and Annie Ruth Babineaux, 3½ years old.

Mrs. Jenkins and the Babineaux child, who was in her care, were instantly killed at 8 o’clock Saturday night when a service car owned by the 200 Bus Line and operated by Douglas struck them while they were crossing the road in front of Mrs. Jenkins’ residence, two and half miles southeast of the city. Both bodies were badly mutilated and death was instantaneous.

Two sisters of the Babineaux child, Myrtle and Bernice, and Mrs. Jenkins’ 15-year-old son, Clyde, were with the victims; but they succeeded in safely crossing the road before the bus, a five-passenger sedan, rounded a curve and took its toll of life. Douglas was enroute to the Legion Hospital in answer to a call. No passengers were in the car.

According to eye-witnesses, Mrs. Jenkins was leading the Babineaux tot when their lives were snuffed out by the terrific impact of the car. The child was tossed several feet by the crash and the woman was dragged a considerable distance before her lifeless body was released.

After the accident, the driver hastened to a nearby phone and summoned an ambulance, which rushed Mrs. Jenkins to the Secor Hospital. She was pronounced dead and the body was removed to Haines Funeral Home.

Van Goff, employee of the Government Hospital, who was passing by, placed the mangled body of the Babineaux baby in his car and speeded to the hospital. The baby’s body was later taken in charge by Peterson’s Funeral Service.

Witnesses declared that the death car traveled a distance of about 100 yards after the accident before it came to a stop.

A short time after the bodies were removed to Kerrville, Douglas surrendered to Motorcycle Officer Bob Zigler. He was later taken into custody by Constable Frank Moore and placed in the county jail pending the filing of formal charges.

Funeral services for the Babineaux child were held Monday morning at 8 o’clock in St. Mary’s Church, with Rev. Father Kemper officiating. Interment was made in Glen Rest Cemetery.

The child’s mother died about two years ago. She is survived by her father, Edwin Babineaux; three sisters, Mrs. George Smith, Myrtle and Bernice Babineaux; and three brothers, Wesley, John and Curly Babineaux, all of Kerrville.

Mrs. Jenkins was laid to rest in Center Point Cemetery Monday afternoon, after services conducted there by Rev. J. M. Storms, Baptist pastor. She was a native of Rusk, and for the past several months had been employed at the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau Hospital. Surviving relatives are three sons, Ernest, Nolan and Clyde; a sister, Mrs. Bertie Mathews of Crockett, and one brother, W. J. Bartholomew of Rusk.