Texas State Capitol: the murder of Robert Love and his ghost

On 30 June 1903, a public official was murdered inside the Texas State Capitol in Austin. His name was Robert Marshall Love and he was the state comptroller. Over the years a legend grew: that he never left the building. I walked those same halls without knowing about the crime or the stories, and here I separate what is documented from what is told.

Honest note: this was a daytime tour, not an investigation. Staying overnight in the Capitol requires permits I didn't have this time. The video is in Spanish.

The building

The Texas State Capitol stands in downtown Austin and opened in 1888. Everything about its design is meant to convey stability, authority and power: at a little over 302 feet (92 meters) to the star of the Goddess of Liberty statue on top, it is taller than the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Inside it is huge, spotless, and every room tells a piece of Texas history.

But government buildings aren't made only of stone. They also accumulate tragedies, and one of them happened in an office in the middle of a working day.

Who Robert Marshall Love was

Love (1847–1903) was no ordinary desk clerk. He fought through the entire Civil War in Ross' Brigade, on the Confederate side. He was a deputy sheriff and later sheriff of Limestone County, president of the Texas Sheriffs' Association, and also served as a U.S. Marshal. In 1873, when Governor E. J. Davis refused to accept Richard Coke's election, Love was one of the armed men who helped seat the legislature, in the old capitol that stood before the current one.

In 1901 he won the election and took office as state comptroller, the official who oversees the public accounts.

The letter and the shots

On 30 June 1903, Love was working in his office when William G. Hill walked in, a former employee of the comptroller's office whom Love had fired. Hill didn't come in shouting or threatening: he came with a letter in his hand. The letter began by saying that public office is a sacred trust and went on to accuse Love of corruption and favoritism, calling him incompetent, a hypocrite and a tyrant.

While Love was reading it, Hill pulled out a revolver and shot him. Another employee chased him and, in the struggle, Hill died of a gunshot: depending on the account, he shot himself or the gun went off by accident. The letter doesn't prove the accusations were true, but it does show the resentment with which that man walked through the door.

Lying on the floor, knowing he was dying, Love asked to speak to his secretary: he told her Hill had shot him while he was reading the document and that he didn't understand why. According to newspapers of the time, his last wish was for God to forgive and bless the man who had killed him. He died about an hour later.

Up to here, the official story: a violent, documented crime.

The legend

Over the years, Love moved from the archives into a legend that, at least according to what the staff told me, isn't forgotten. People talk about a male figure with an old-fashioned look, in formal dress, crossing the empty halls at night near where his office was. Those who say they've seen it describe a sudden drop in temperature and a presence that watches in silence. Other accounts add footsteps, voices and a mysterious woman in red.

One of the guards told me the ghost has been seen quite a lot on the night cameras, dressed in period clothing, "in old clothes, from Confederate times". The others didn't want to say much about it. Those who did talk told me the phenomenon is real, and that often, when they hear a noise at night, they don't even go: they watch on the cameras and stay away.

What I saw on the tour

I went up the main staircase speaking quietly, walked through the places where the guard told me the figure has been seen, and took the chance to see the rooms: the story of the Texas flag, the one with the lone star, and the huge painting of the Fall of the Alamo, the place where that battle was fought, which will get its own video.

"During my walk through the Capitol I didn't manage to record, feel or measure with my equipment absolutely anything that couldn't be explained."

So I leave without a clear answer: is it a real phenomenon, echoes, or an urban legend? I don't know, and I'm not going to sell this tour as something it wasn't. What I do take with me is the desire to come back with the permits, stay overnight, alone, watching the security cameras, and do a proper investigation.

The video (in Spanish)

On the same trip to Austin I also spent a night at Oakwood Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in the city, from where you can see the Capitol.

If you visit

The Capitol is in downtown Austin, on Congress Avenue. Admission is free and there are guided tours; check the hours before you go. And as everywhere: be respectful, it's a government building that is still in use.