Photographers: Swartz Brothers

Ever since I read Richard Selcer's Hell's Half Acre, I have been fascinated with the story of the Swartz brothers, the photographers who had a studio on the 700 block of Main Street in Fort Worth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Swartz brothers worked on the edge of the Acre, and they are credited with the iconic photograph of the Wild Bunch, which included Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Today my father showed me an old family photo, and I was thrilled to see the Swartz name embossed in the bottom right corner. The picture features the man known in family lore as Grandpa Eidson and his three daughters. Grandpa Eidson, W.T. Eidson, was from Ireland, and he was a member of the Texas Cavalry in the war. He was also a friend of Sam Bass, and their relationship is documented in at least one Bass biography. W.T. Eidson is buried in Old Shiloh Cemetery in Flower Mound. Once I have a scanned copy of the Swartz Bros. photograph, I will post it on this blog.

Here is a Swartz Bros. photograph of some young men who would go on to become important to the genre of Western Swing.