Another Blue Sky October Day In Texas Thinking About Fort Worth's Dangerous Neighborhood, Homeless People & Being Chased By Day Workers

As you can see, it is another blue sky morning, this 7th day of October in Texas. A chilly blue sky morning. Going swimming is being very refreshing. This morning it was warmer than yesterday morning by a degree or two.

I am ready for Daylight Savings Time to come to an end so that the sun lights up the place before 7 again.

The past couple days Fort Worth has been basking in the dubious glory of earning the distinction of having a neighborhood that was somehow determined to be the 15th Most Dangerous Neighborhood in America.

The Tandy Hills Natural Area is in that Dangerous Neighborhood. I feel quite safe when I am hiking on the Tandy Hills.

There is an area in Fort Worth's Dangerous Neighborhood that does look a bit dangerous when you drive by. I am talking about the section of Lancaster Avenue where homeless people collect, with incredibly large numbers of homeless people milling about.

When I first moved to Fort Worth I experienced quite a bit of culture shock. I remember checking out the Fort Worth Water Gardens. At that point in time Interstate 30 was still overhead above Lancaster Avenue. As I was leaving the Water Gardens I saw a statue on the south side of the street, and I believe south of the overhead interstate.

I parked my van and got out to inspect the statue. Next thing I knew dozens of men were running towards me, with looks of desperation on their faces. What fresh hell is this, I wondered?

Then, suddenly they stopped running towards me, looked disappointed and turned around and walked back to their shelter under the freeway.

The statue I was stopping to look at was a monument to the Fort Worth Texas Spring Palace tragedy. When I mentioned the guys running towards me incident, to a local, it was explained to me that these were "day workers" desperate for work. People wanting to take advantage of real cheap under the table labor would pull up in a van or truck and haul off some guys to do some odious task.

I was appalled. I already knew I was now in a different country from the one I had been living in, but this seemed way too different. I believe after the freeway came down those "day workers" were moved to the location on Lancaster Avenue where you now see a lot of people milling about.

I think I'll likely be going to Fort Worth's most dangerous neighborhood to do me some hill hiking later today, likely late in the afternoon. I will hike armed with my whacking stick, now that I know I'm in a dangerous place.

Al Hayne & the Texas Spring Palace Tragedy

My first year in Texas one afternoon I was exploring downtown Fort Worth. On the south side of downtown, at that time, an elevated section of Interstate 30 was above Lancaster Avenue, just south of the Fort Worth Convention Center and the Water Gardens.

I drove under the elevated freeway and saw what appeared to be some sort of statue. I was driving my van. I parked and got out to check out the statue. Suddenly I saw dozens of men running towards me. I did not know, at that time, that in Texas you can hire day laborers, likely illegals, who are desperate for work.

After the men figured out I wasn't hiring I proceeded to check out the statue. It appeared to be suffering from years of neglect, hidden away on the wrong side of the freeway. It quickly became obvious the statue was a memorial.

I was very pleased on Thanksgiving to discover that this memorial is now in a setting worthy of a memorial.

It's a memorial to a British man named Alfred S. Hayne. He was born in London, August 1, 1849 and died in Fort Worth on May 31, 1890. One of the messages on the memorial says, "In Honor of the Hero of the Spring Palace Fire Al Hayne who, unselfish as brave died that others might live." That message is one clunky sentence.

Spring Palace? Yes, I was curious too when I read that the first time. The Texas Spring Palace opened on May 29, 1889. It was sort of an agricultural fair. It was a huge success, attracting attention all over Texas, America and the World. Only the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. surpassed the Spring Palace's massive center dome.

The Spring Palace's second season began May 10, 1890. On May 30 several thousand people, including Al Hayne, were attending a dance in the palace. A flash fire swept through the building. Al Hayne helped dozens of women and children escape the burning building. Al Hayne did not make it out of the fire and became the only person who died in the Spring Palace fire.

The memorial to Al Hayne is near where the Spring Palace was located.

When we saw the memorial yesterday someone had placed flowers on it. I made the comment that there are likely quite a few descendants of those Al Hayne saved and one of them must have put those flowers there. The party to whom I said this got all weepy.

The memorial has some strange gargoyle like things on it. I've no idea what they are supposed to be.

Go to my Eyes on Texas website for a lot more about the Texas Spring Palace.