Theodore Armstrong of Belton was arrested in 1893 for the September 1892 ambush murder of Williamson County Sheriff John T. Olive. Apparently released he was rearrested belatedly, about 1914, and placed under a $10,000 bond. This trial took place in May 1915, to a courthouse filled with witnesses and spectators. Texas Governor James E. "Pa" Ferguson was called as a witness because the family farm of his wife, Miriam "Ma" Ferguson, was adjacent to the Armstrong family farm in the eastern Bell County community of Sparks. After only 10 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Armstrong not guilty. Armstrong sued a Fort Worth newspaper that had published a story that he had confessed to the murder; he won the case and won again when the newspaper appealed the decision, and was awarded $1,000 damages. Theodore Armstrong died of stomach cancer in 1916, one year after he was acquitted of the murder of Sheriff Olive. He and his wife are buried together in the Armstrong plot in the Volo Cemetery, a short distance south of the family farm.
—See Jim Dillard, The Noble John Olive
—See Jim Dillard, The Noble John Olive
Theodore Armstrong of Belton was arrested in 1893 for the September 1892 ambush murder of Williamson County Sheriff John T. Olive. Apparently released he was rearrested belatedly, about 1914, and placed under a $10,000 bond. This trial took place in May 1915, to a courthouse filled with witnesses and spectators. Texas Governor James E. "Pa" Ferguson was called as a witness because the family farm of his wife, Miriam "Ma" Ferguson, was adjacent to the Armstrong family farm in the eastern Bell County community of Sparks. After only 10 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Armstrong not guilty. Armstrong sued a Fort Worth newspaper that had published a story that he had confessed to the murder; he won the case and won again when the newspaper appealed the decision, and was awarded $1,000 damages. Theodore Armstrong died of stomach cancer in 1916, one year after he was acquitted of the murder of Sheriff Olive. He and his wife are buried together in the Armstrong plot in the Volo Cemetery, a short distance south of the family farm.
—See Jim Dillard, The Noble John Olive
—See Jim Dillard, The Noble John Olive
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