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Saturday, November 14, 2009 - 4:26 PM
n the late 1800s, the state of Texas was a wide open frontier with
thousands of acres of unsettled land. The Indian wars and feuds with
Mexico were all but forgotten, as most were looking ahead to the
future. One of those looking ahead was Joe Balls father Frank. Around
1885, Frank Ball moved to Elemendorf, Texas, a small town 15 miles
southeast of San Antonio, Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire which had recently been founded by a man
named Henry Elmendorf, who would later become the mayor of San Antonio. Shortly
after his arrival, Frank borrowed some money from the bank and opened a
factory to process cotton. Shortly thereafter, the railroad ran tracks
through town and Franks business boomed, making him a very wealthy
man. He began dabbling in real estate, buying and selling properties
throughout the area, and he eventually opened a general store in town.
Frank and his wife, Elizabeth, raised eight children in one of the
first stone homes to be built in the area. Every one of the children
prospered and several became important figures in the community. Frank
Jr. worked for the school district and became a trustee in 1914. His
brother Raymond opened his own grocery store, and in 1926 married a
local teacher, Jane Terrell, who was later appointed by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 as postmaster, and served the community
for 27 years. Frank and Elizabeths second child, Joseph D. Ball,
was born on Jan. 7, 1896. Throughout his childhood Joe kept to himself
and rarely participated in activities with other children, preferring
to spend his time outdoors fishing and exploring. As he reached
adolescence, Joes passion turned to guns. He loved them, and spent
several hours every week practicing and perfecting his skills. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire My
uncle could shoot a bird off a telephone line with a pistol from the
bumper of his Model A Ford," Joes nephew, Bucky Ball, said in a July
2002 interview with Texas Monthly magazine. Whether Joe had suspected it at the time or not, these skills would soon come in handy. On
April 6, 1917, the United States formally declared war against Germany
and entered the conflict in Europe. Shortly after the start of the
war, Joe Ball enlisted and was shipped off to the front lines in
Europe. While there is no surviving record of his deeds or actions
during the war, Joe survived and in 1919 received an honorable
discharge from the Army and returned to his hometown of Elmendorf.  Joe Ball
Joe worked for his father for a while, but then quit. Some surmised
that after a couple of years in foxholes, Joe needed some time to
adjust to civilian life. Joe may not have followed in his father's
footsteps, but he obviously learned something from him about business,
and quickly determined that with the advent of Prohibition that there
was a huge demand for illegal whiskey and beer. Thus, he began a career
as a bootlegger. The job may have been dangerous, but Joe apparently
enjoyed it and would travel all around the area in his Model A Ford
selling people whisky out of a 50-gallon barrel. During the
mid-twenties, Joe hired a young African-American man named Clifton
Wheeler to help with the business. A handyman by trade, Wheeler
quickly found himself doing most of the labor and dirty work. It was
later said that Wheeler lived in fear of Joe and that whenever Joe was
drunk, he would blow off steam by shooting at Wheeler's feet, making
him dance the jitterbug.
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