Temple Lea Houston ( August 12, 1860 - August 15, 1905 ) was anattorney and politician who served frm 1885 to 1889 in the Texas State Senate. He was the last-born child of Margaret Lea Houston and Sam Houston, the first elected president of the Republic of Texas.
Temple Lea Houston was the only one of Houston's eight children to be born in the Texas governor's residence in Austin. By the time he was seven years old, both of his parents had died. He lived with an older sister and her family in nearby Georgetown, Texas. At the age of thirteen, Houston left home to join a cattle drive and later worked on a riverboat on the Mississippi. Aided by a friendof his father's, he gained an appointment as a page in the U.S. Senate and worked in Washington, D.C. for three years.
Houston returned to Texas in 1877 at the age of seventeen to attend the Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Texas A & M ). He transferred to Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he graduated in 1880 with honorsin law and philosphy. He "read the law" with an established firm and was admitted to the bar, He was the youngest attorney in Texas when he opened his practice. That year he was appointed as the attorney for Brazoria County near Houston.
In 1882, Houston was appointed as the district attorney ofthe 35th Judicial District of Texas, which then was covered a large part of the Texas panhandle, based in Mobeetie, Texas.
Houston was considered, by many, to be one of the courties most brilliant trial lawyers. He was also known for his flamboyant and unorthodox dress and behavior. Houston was well educated, spoke both French and Spanish fluently, as well as seven Indian languages.
In 1888, Houston gave the decdicating address for the opening of the Texas Capital. After serving in the Texas State Legislature, Houston moved his family and law practice to Woodward Oklahoma in 1894 and became involved in the movement for Oklahoma statehood.
Houston was equally know as a deadly gunfighter. Once a judge persuaded Houston to reoresent a penniless horse thief and houston promised: "I'll provide the unfortunate gentleman the best defense I can." Houston asked the judge for a private office where he could confer with his client. Sometime later, a court official decided to check on Houston and the horse thief. He found Houston sitting alone in the room with the window wide open. Houston smiled and said: "I gave the best advice I could". Houston advised him to run. Another remark Houston was famous for was: "Your honor, the prosecutor is the only man that I"ve ever seen that can strut while sitting down ".
On the evening of October 8, 1895, Houston was involve in a shooting in downtown Woodward. When the smoke cleared, Ed Jennings was dead. You see, Ed Jennings was a rival of Houstons. Houston was blamed for Jenning's death but, it was never proven.
In 1899, Houston delivered the "Soiled Dove Plea" on behalf of a hopelessly guilty prostitute, Minnie Stacey, in a trial here in Wooodward. That plea is considered \, by many attorneys to be the perfect closing argument.
In another trial, Houston was defending a man accused of murder following a gunfight. Houston picked up the man's pistols and suddenly discharged both guns into the courthouse ceiling. The jury panicked and ran outside. Asked why he did such a thing, Houston replied he was attempting to prove his client's fear of the victim's "incredible speed" of gunfire. He then successfully argued for a mistrial, since the jury had not been sequestered.
Temple Houstondied of a cerebral hemorrhage following a stroke on August 15, 1905. His wife, Laur (Cross) Houston died April 17, 1938. They are buried together, along with other family members, just a few feet east of this cache.