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The stories that we are told are never complete. Blog posts, memes, newspaper articles, research papers, nightly news stories, etc., are all someone's interpretation of the facts as they see them. Information is sometimes left out because of brevity, sometimes because of bias, and sometimes because its importance is not yet realized. If we accept the facts as they are presented, then we are bound to be proven fools as sometimes new information is found to contradict the prior story.

Allen Walker - Harpers Weekly 1892 The story of Allen Walker "may" certainly be one of those stories.

Allen Walker was born in Patriot on January 19, 1866 to William and Eveline Walker. He enlisted in the U.S. Army at Indianapolis (some say Cincinnati) in 1884 and his 19th U.S. Infantry Regiment went to South Texas during the Indian Wars. Although Southern Texas had already experienced most of its notable battles prior to his arrival, I can imagine the continued fight between natives, Spanish settlers and American expansion persisted.

After 5 years of service, he was discharged in San Antonio in 1889 and immediately re-enlisted in the Army with the 3rd Calvary at about age 24.

Allen Walker - Harpers Weekly 1892 During his second enlistment, Walker receives his meritorious label while as a courier during the Garza Revolution, which was an attempt to overthrow the Mexican government. On December 30th, 1891 Walker came upon 3 armed Mexican enemies and ordered the men to stop. They refused and a gun battle broke out. Walker single-handedly defended himself and ended up shooting one of their horses. All 3 men escaped, but Walker was able to secure valuable documents from the slain horse, including Garza commission papers. Apparently this was a valuable find. Captain John G. Bourke said later of Private Walker, he showed "courage, efficiency", and "self-reliance". It was for this effort that Pvt. Allen Walker received the Medal of Honor.

Sometime around 1901, he was sent to the Philippines and was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant in the Philippine Scouts, an Army group purposed with combating the Philippine Revolutionary Army. He earned the Silver Star for this service and was later promoted to Captain in the Scouts in 1908.

He retired from the military in 1911 after 25+ years of service.

Returning to the state of Texas, he then settled in Laredo. His military reputation followed him and he was appointed deputy U.S. Marshal by R.A. Harvin at the request of the U.S. Attorney General and his former commander in the Philippines, General Leonard Wood. He began his service in the Southern District in 1914.

In 1920 the U.S. government instituted the 18th Amendment prohibiting basically anything related to alcohol. From here Walker's story, and I'd bet millions of others' stories become a little murky. Purchasing the beverage they were used to consuming was now illegal. They could make it at home, but they could only consume it at home. But for anyone on the border, they simply had to cross into Mexico to legally consume and transport the "evil". As a deputy U.S. Marshal, Allen Walker should have steered clear of that activity because it eventually landed him into some trouble.

During hearings between 1929 and 1930, a Congressional committee was reviewing appointed federal positions and trying to determine whether those bureaucrats were receiving undeclared items of value. Their target wasn't Walker specifically, but was a custom's official by the name of Campbell, whom Walker dealt with on a regular basis as Marshal. The committee ushered in a Judge, a lieutenant colonel, customs agents, etc., and during testimony, they mentioned that Walker was a "smuggler and bootlegger" and it was Campbell's close relationship with Walker that should keep him from being reappointed.

Way down near the end of the committee's finding, we see written testimony from Walker himself. He goes on to declare that something he said in a "jocular mood" while in the company of a Judge Valls was taken as truth. And for that, the witch hunt against him began.

Along with the smuggling and bootlegging charges, Judge Valls, whether in testimony or in newspaper articles said Walker was also indicted on charges connected with the deaths of 2 Mexican Army officials and was accused of smuggling gold from Mexico into a Texas Bank. Walker was stopped on the charges for smuggling alchol, but after posting bond, Walker fled to Cerralvo, Nueva Leon, Mexico.

Can you see why I began this post declaring that stories are never complete? Who would have ever thought Allen Walker, our local hero, would have had to become a fugitive from the very government he served for 32 years?

But again, I'll reiterate, this story is NOT complete, and there are too many holes in it.

If I were to conjecture, I think Walker was involved with smuggling alcohol across the border, but prior to 1920, was that even a crime? Also reading further into the testimony, there were numerous instances of officials crossing into Texas without having their vehicles checked, but Walker got stopped. Why? This makes believe he was being targeted for some reason. And about him fleeing to Mexico, I think if any of us felt like we were being scapegoated, we might make a desperate move.

But again, I'll reiterate, this story is NOT complete.

Census records show us that within 15 years of those congressional hearings, he had moved back to Laredo with his wife and kids. So what happened, were the charges dropped? Did he stand trial? Did he spend time in jail? Or did he simply gamble on his freedom? We do know that Captain Allen Walker died in 1953, and was buried in Laredo, but this story is NOT complete.

Because of his military service we have our great stories, our reasons for commemoration, our carved stones to visit and remember. He does have a record of 32 years of meritorious service within the military and then as a Marshal. We can't negate all of the notable good for stories of unconfirmed accusations and reports.

We also can't stop digging further into the life of Allen Walker. We must find more, we must learn and we must share. There are several links below to get you started. Tag, you're it!

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References:

https://books.google.com/books?id=-V1tPmN_lzgC https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1929-12-25/ed-1/seq-4/ http://www.vevaynewspapers.com/allen-walker-of-patriot-switzerland-countys-medal-of-honor-winner/ https://www.lmtonline.com/opinion/editorials/article/Descendants-highlight-the-Walker-story-10063413.php https://archive.org/stream/experiencesofcol00cran/experiencesofcol00cran_djvu.txt https://books.google.com/books?id=PfjaOVrGa-8C https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Army/USMA/Cullums_Register/3313*.html

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Other Lingering Questions:

Why did Allen Walker make a trip to Detroit?