From Texas Ranger to convicted murder, Henry Baker was banned from Kerrville

 Published in the Kerrville Daily Times on July 2, 2026

Hen Baker in 1924

In last week’s column, I began the tale of Henry Harrison “Hen” Baker, a Texas Ranger and sometime deputy sheriff, who became a controversial character in Kerr County History. In spite of his early years in law enforcement, in later years, he began to take the law as a suggestion rather than the rule..

I have told you about Baker’s early years — his brave service with the Texas Rangers, his marriage to Sarah Coker and how toward the end of his life, he began “borrowing” items from his neighbors, was accused of stealing cattle and pigs from area ranches and developed a hair trigger temper that led him to face the charge of murder in the killing of Newt Merrit and the charge of attempted murder in the “cutting” of Harry Stokes.

Baker was fond of telling people that you never needed to bother with lawyers when you got in trouble, all you needed was two or three good witnesses. That philosophy seemed to keep him (mostly) out of trouble until the spring of 1915, when he was accused of killing his son-in-law.

In Baker’s 65th year, he and his wife were living with their daughter and son-in-law, Etwell and Dudley Laurie, in the 200 block of Mountain Street, now known as Earl Garrett Street.

The Lauries were the proprietors of the Busy Bee Candy Shop. Both Etwell and Dudley were natives of Kerr County who had moved to Houston sometime after their wedding in 1906. In Houston, Dudley Laurie was a traveling salesman for the National Candy Company until he and Etwell decided to return to Kerr County and purchase the candy shop from W.A. Stroman.

The shop was located where Flora, A Gallery of Plants now stands at 233 Earl Garrett St. The family’s living quarters were located at the back of the shop.

On the afternoon of Monday, March 8, 1915, only two months after the Lauries took over the candy shop, Dr. A.A. Roberts and E.A. Wied were standing on the sidewalk near the shop when Dudley Laurie came out of the front door of his business and ran to Dr. Roberts and said, “Doctor, do something for me quick! I have just been stabbed. Mr. Baker stabbed me; old man Baker stabbed me, I am turning blind, catch me, I am going to fall.”  

1916 Sanborn Insurance Map of Mountain Street - Now Earl Garrett - shows location
of the Busy Bee Confectionary and the building where Dudley Laurie Died.

Roberts caught Laurie as he fell, and he and Mr. Wied carried him into a neighboring furniture store. They placed Laurie on a cot, where he died about 20 minutes later.

Etwell did not exit the candy shop to check on her husband when he ran from the building. Witnesses testified that she locked the door to the store and posted a sign on the door that said “Closed Today” in large letters.

The men attending to Dudley Laurie summoned the law, and deputy sheriff Henry Staut was given the task of finding and arresting Hen Baker.

When Staut found Baker, he didn’t want to give the suspected murderer cause to flee, so before Staut said or did anything to cause Baker to believe he was about to be arrested, he called Baker over to him. 

“I understand you had a little trouble a while ago,” Staut said to Baker.

“I haven’t had a damn bit of trouble,” Baker replied.

“Somebody cut or stabbed Dudley Laurie pretty bad,” Staut said.

“I don’t know a damn thing about Dudley Laurie,” Baker protested. 

It was then that Staut took Baker to jail to face the charge of murdering his son-in-law.

Laurie’s body was taken to a mortuary that afternoon. It wasn’t until the next evening that his wife visited the body. At the time of viewing the body, she was overheard saying, “The killing was uncalled for.” 

So what happened inside the Busy Bee Candy Shop?

At Baker’s murder trial, his daughter, Etwell Laurie, was a material witness for the defense. She testified that her husband was drunk, cursing and abusing her. Her brother, Ivy Baker, heard the commotion and tried to intervene. Dudley cursed Ivy and drew a gun on him. Etwell picked up a shotgun, told Dudley not to shoot her brother or she would kill him. Dudley put his gun down and then Etwell laid her gun down.

She stated that she then went to hunt for an officer but failing to find the officer, she found her father and asked him to hurry to the confectionery, saying that her husband was trying to shoot her brother.

According to Etwell’s testimony, her father replied, “He must not do that. Can’t you all get along?”

When Etwell and her father returned to the store and words were exchanged, Dudley grabbed a gun and said, “I will kill all three of you.”

There was a scuffle and, when it looked like Laurie was about to shoot Ivy, Baker struck Dudley with a small penknife in the chest.

After being cut, Dudley turned the gun loose and went out the front door.

Testimony by Staut and other officers said that when they investigated the home, no guns were on the table or anywhere in sight. There was no sign of the scuffle, and the guns were found lying neatly under the mattress of the bed. 

Nobody but the three people who survived the incident know exactly what actually happened inside the Busy Bee Candy Shop, but the jury found Baker guilty of murder and sentenced him to 25 years in Huntsville Prison.

But that’s not the end of the story,

Shortly after going to prison, the appeals process started, and Baker lost his first appeal, but his family was not willing to give up on him. They started a letter-writing campaign and petitioned state officials for Baker’s release. The letters pointed to his brave service as a Texas Ranger and a lawman and said a man of such distinction and frail health did not deserve to spend his sunset years in prison.

Meanwhile, Baker was made a trustee in the prison, and I have found unsubstantiated accounts that say he killed a man while incarcerated.

Huntsville State Prison register listing Hen Baker as prisoner #39895 (close to the bottom of the page).
Both his incarceration date and date of pardon are listed. Click on image to see larger version.

In November 1919, after three years in prison, the letters written by Baker’s family, friends and fellow lawmen worked their magic, and Baker received a conditional pardon. The condition of the release was that Baker was never to return to Kerr County once he was released.

Baker lived the final years of his life residing with family in Bandera and, later, Menard. In 1934, after a long illness, Baker died. 

He did eventually return to Kerr County. His remains rest at Nichols Cemetery in Ingram, an iron Texas Ranger cross proudly stands next to a headstone with the epitaph, “God Bless Our Father.”