Sally Skull

Sally Skull was known as a world-class cusser, an astute horse trader and a dead shot with the two pistols she wore. History describes her as a ruthless female desperado, but if you leave aside the weaponry, she's not much different than an assertive, modern-day businesswoman and mother.

Sally was born in 1817 as Sarah Jane Newman. Her family arrived in Texas with the first settlers in Stephen F. Austin'sqv colony (which later became Austin, Texas). Times were tough for settlers in Texas, where lawlessness reigned and you had to trust on your wits and your guns to survive, both from criminals and Indian attacks. Sally grew up on a ranch and learned early how to handle guns and to defend what was hers.

She was married five times; it is speculated that she may have killed one of her husbands. She had two children, Nancy and Alfred, from her first marriage to Texas Ranger Jesse Robinson. After their divorce, they fought over the children's raising and would frequently play against each other by switching the kids from one convent to another. Despite what some pioneer wives told their children, "Sally Skull will get your if you're not good", Sally loved children and stayed in close contact with her son and daughter.

She took the last name Skull from her second husband, George H. Scull, the husband she purportedly killed, some say accidentally. After he disappeared, she stayed busy by driving cattle and horses from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande, a territory known for its danger and disreputable characters.

When the Civil War began, Sally quit trading livestock to haul Confederate cotton and other goods past the Union blockade to Mexico for shipment to Europe.

Sally was married three more times; her last husband, Christoff Horsdorff, being eighteen years her junior. No one is quite sure how she died; it is rumored that Horsdoff murdered her for the gold that she carried. No one knows for sure; all recorded accounts of her suddenly cease, as though she dropped off the face of the earth.

While no one is certain of how her life ended, we do know how she lived. She was rough, dressed like a man, spoke like a sailor and could wield her weapons with deadly accuracy. She lived life on her own terms, in a time when women were still considered the weaker sex. Sally proved them all wrong.

Source: The Handbook of Texas Online by The Texas State Historial Association

The Story of Sally Skull by Dan Kilgore

Contributed by: Honor74 (GSS)

Contents of this page are
Copyright Sisters of the Golden Moon
And should not be removed from this site.