Brann-Davis Shootings

The city of Waco in the 1890s divided into two armed camps over the caustic criticisms of William Cowper Brann (1855-1898) in his magazine, "The Iconoclast". A gifted writer, Brann attacked many organizations, especially Baptists and Baylor University. This controversy sparked a duel in 1897 between Judge George Bruce Gerald and James W. Harris. A Baylor partisan, Tom E. Davis, met Brann here, within a half block of the earlier fight, and shot him with a Colt .45 revolver. Brann returned the fire. Both men died the following day from their wounds.