Jewish Lady breaks horses for Pancho Villa

Some years ago, at a summer camp in Maine, I heard a story I have never forgotten. A lady, hearing about my father’s story in the Mexican Revolution, now the published book  “Dos Gringos,” told me about her Jewish grandmother and Pancho Villa.

It seems the woman was a recognized horse-breaker during those hectic years, living in central Texas, maybe San Antonio. Determined to meet Pancho Villa, she drove her Cadillac sedan into Mexico to find the infamous revolutionary leader. She found him and, as you can imagine, he didn’t know what to do with this American. I understand he gave her his toughest horse, one which the men had failed to break. And she succeeded to break that horse. I don’t remember what the lady in Maine told me after that.

I would dearly like to know the whole story of this. If anyone reading this post has any ideas who this woman might be and reliable details of this really humorous story, I would really like to know. The Jews of Texas were historic and accomplished many things in those days. But a Jewish grandmother breaking a horse for Pancho Villa is indeed historic—and a bit unusual, don’t you think?

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

The Jews of El Paso

 Popular Dry Goods

Someone ought to write a book about the Jews of El Paso. When I grew up in that Texas border town, I was very aware of the Jews. My mother bought our shoes at Given’s Shoe Store. Some of the leading Jews were 32^nd  Degree Masons, as was my dad. The top department store was Popular Dry Goods founded in 1902 by the pioneer Adolph Schwartz. From a small village in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he landed in New York in 1883 with fifteen cents in his pocket and somehow made it to El Paso and opened the Popular.  As a high school student I worked on Saturdays in the Popular, manning the Boy Scout Department, and working for Willy Wildstein and Ed Smallberg.  But there were Jews before Schwartz.

Adolph Krakauer migrated from Bavaria to New York in 1865 and 1869 moved to San Antonio, Texas, where he went to work for Louis Zork, a leading merchant. He moved to El Paso in 1875, at a time when the town’s population was listed as seventy-five Mexicans and twenty-five Anglos. There he clerked in the firm of Sam Schutz and Son and became manager when the business was sold; later he became a partner. In 1885 he sold his interest in the firm and organized the firm of Krakauer, Zork, and Moye with his brother-in-law, Gustave Zork. That firm was the main hardware store in El Paso my entire life there. It also was a main source for arms to both sides in the Mexican Revolution as you may read about in my family story of that time, “Dos Gringos.” My grandfather, Friedrich Müller (not Jewish)was the salesman and I used to have pictures of him in Mexico with the Villistas with their sombreros and guns. Krakauer was voted Mayor of El Paso, but could not take office as he had neglected to become an American citizen.

There were many others. The Jews made their mark and were important contributors to the success of that town on the Rio Grande. When I visit El Paso today, I stand across from where the Popular was, in the square with the fountain where the alligators used to be, and I miss the Jews, who made that border town so livable. In fact there have been several accounts of the El Paso Jews: See The History of Jewish El Paso

German Texans in the “Dos Gringos” Story

Beautiful Pauline in El Paso, Texas, is the love interest of Arthur, the immigrant Norwegian mechanical expert who in “Dos Gringos” risks his life to raise a few dollars to buy a wedding ring. He volunteers, with his Irish partner, in the midst of The Mexican Revolution, to fix a gold mine in that warring country. Pauline comes from a German Texas family.

The history of the German immigration into Texas is a fascinating story. They came during the mid 19^th century for various reasons, mainly to escape the wars between Germany and France, and to find a new life. They settled mainly as farmers and small businessmen in their settlements, mainly around San Antonio and Austin, which have later produced some notable leaders, like Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, of Fredericksburg, who led the U.S. Navy in the Pacific in World War II.  New Braunfels, Schulenburg,  Boerne, are a few of the many other German Texas towns.

The immigrants were of all faiths, but mainly Catholics and Lutherans. But there were also Jews and these German Texas Jews and their major El Paso hardware store figure largely in the “Dos Gringos” story.  

The Pauline Müller character is based on my mother who came from a line of Germans, originally from Alsace and the Rhine Valley, ranging back to the 1600s. Family names included Keller, Fest, Curlin, Bihl, and others.  In reading “Dos Gringos” you learn a little European/American immigration history, too.

Enjoy.

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.