This house with the French mansard roof was built in the 1870s by H. H. Hickok, a capitalist. He and his wife separated after their young daughter died here and his wife rented the home to a married woman, with a young son and daughter, Mary Spragins. She was the wife of G. M. Spragins, a telegraph operator for the railroad. Mr. Spragins had been living in Colorado and working at his job for the railroad and had not been home for two years when a tragedy struck. On the night of May 1, 1905, 4 shots rang out from the house and when the neighbors rushed to see what the matter was, the body of Mr. Joe A Overton, handsome bachelor and owner of the Overton & Gilmore Co., a fashionable gent’s clothing store was lying in the hall dead and Mary was fatally wounded. To this day no one knows exactly what happened that fateful night! A delicious melodrama about the tragedy was performed for many years during the Heritage Jubilee on the stage of the Terrell Heritage Museum.



More information about H. H. Hickok and his involvement in Terrell history may be found in Dr. Horace P. Flatt’s Book, “Cap’n Terrell’s Town”. The script of the melodrama is located in the files at the Terrell Heritage Museum and a video of the melodrama may also be viewed at the Museum.