Christopher Columbus Rogers
Historical marker location:Born in Palestine in June 1850, Christopher Columbus Rogers was a noted and controversial lawman. Although his family moved to a rural area, Rogers returned to Palestine and lived with his sister, Eliza, and her husband, James Ewing. Rogers was 13 when he enlisted to serve as a guard at Camp Ford, a prisoner of war camp in Tyler, during the Civil War; while there, Rogers killed his first man, a union prisoner. After the Civil War, he returned home to work at Ewing’s newspaper, as a clerk and in various town stores.
Chris Rogers became a Palestine policeman in 1872. He killed the town’s first Marshal, Dan Carey, in a gunfight; the City Alderman then appointed him as Marshal. His reputation grew when he quickly cracked the case of a July 20, 1872 train robbery. He also solved the infamous murder of Dr. and Mrs. Grayson, who were killed because of Dr. Grayson’s service to African Americans. However, Rogers would be suspended from his position several times after shootings. Particularly because of his desire to hire an African-American police officer, his relationship with city officials was often tumultuous, but he enjoyed support from the populace, winning every election from 1877, when City Marshal ceased to be an appointed position, until 1888.
Rogers’ 1887 shooting of an assailant led to his impeachment, resignation and a murder trial, which ended in a hung jury. Rogers also lost the use of his right arm after being shot during the incident. Although he was reelected the next year, Rogers again left office. He was stabbed to death on July 27, 1888, after an altercation with railroad engineer W.D. Young in the Robertson Saloon. Although Chris Rogers avoided bloodshed when possible, his life and death was marked by it. Today, he is remembered as a lawman that helped keep order in a town notorious for violence.