"Not a well man…."

Ima and her father were constantly together during the last year of his life. After his accident in January 1905 and subsequent surgery, he was critically ill and bedridden for eight weeks. Most of that time, Ima was his devoted nurse, often sleeping in his room. When he was well enough to travel, she took him to various hotels and resorts to recover. And as was his habit, Jim Hogg wrote letters.

On March 16, he wrote to Will from the Hill Country resort town of Boerne, near San Antonio:

Reinhardt Ranch

5 ms. from Boerne

March 16, 1905

Dear Will:

On the excuse and for the alleged reason that I “talked too much” at the Menger [hotel in San Antonio] Ima bundled me up and brought me out here last Monday, without notice or a chance to reform. So I am “in the Mountains” at last as an invalid under rigid surveillance. Tom got a job on [Walter] Schreiner's ranch about 100 ms. North of here and is by this time probably roping cattle—the ambition and joy of his exuberant life. He is a curious boy to me. After we left San Antonio that morning for this place he got acquainted with every cattleman on the train. “Round-ups” soon to come was the theme of their conversations and Tom fell into the fever. He telephones now that he is settled for good and never wants to return. I guess however he will change this tune in due time. Ima is rosy and fine. I am yet very weak but slowly improving. . . .

Lovingly your Father

J. S. Hogg

After the stay at the ranch the former governor declared he was strong enough to speak at a banquet honoring President Theodore Roosevelt in Dallas on April 5, 1905. He did, but he was not a well man. Years of obesity (all those barrels of lard, all those hams, all those beaten biscuits),  in an era when low-fat diets were unheard of, had taken their toll on his heart. It is possible that the “bilious attacks” he had suffered over the years were really small heart attacks.

Surgery weakened an already failing heart.

---