Day Trips

The Charles Noyes Memorial on the county courthouse lawn in Ballinger, Texas, honors all the cowboys of Texas and is a reminder of a tragic accident that devastated a local family.

The life-size bronze statue of a horse with a cowboy standing by its side follows classical rules of equestrian statuary and funereal motifs symbolic of a life cut short. The cowboy is dressed in work clothes, much as he was attired when he was killed. The sculpture was one of many pieces done in Texas by Pompeo Coppini and was installed in 1919.

Charlie Noyes, as his family and locals called him, was a popular young man who grew up on his father's ranch outside of Ballinger. Less than two months after his 21st birthday, he was working a small herd of cattle when a calf bolted, causing horse and rider to fall. The horse got up, but Charlie lay still on the cold ground with a broken neck. He died on Feb. 17, 1917, in the Brady hospital.

Distraught over the untimely death of his only son, Gus Noyes paid Coppini $22,000 to create the statue. Born in Italy, Coppini immigrated to the United States in 1896. From 1901 to 1916, he lived and worked in San Antonio, where his former studio is now a museum and the Coppini Academy of Fine Arts.

During this period, Coppini completed some of the most iconic sculptures in Texas, including one of Jefferson Davis and others for the Confederate monument in Paris, Terry's Texas Rangers statue on the Capitol grounds, the Littlefield Fountain Memorial and seven bronze statues along the South Mall on the University of Texas main campus, the Sam Houston memorial in Huntsville, and the John H. Reagan Memorial in Palestine.

Despite these high-profile commissions, Coppini was struggling financially, and in 1916 he relocated to Chicago to be near the foundries. After Gus Noyes called, Coppini took the train to visit the site where the boy had been thrown from his horse. He even spent the night in Charlie's room. "I could not sleep at all," he told his biographer.

Coppini used Charlie's horse, tack, clothes, and three poor-quality photographs as his models. The first clay model was destroyed when it froze in an unheated Chicago studio. When the cowboy's parents saw the finished product, Gus Noyes said, "Please do not touch it anymore, as it is my Charlie now."

Originally, the statue was to be placed where the rider and horse fell. Before Coppini could complete the memorial, the Noyeses sold their ranch, moved away, and donated the art to Runnels County. They could not even bear to attend the dedication.

The Coppini Academy of Fine Arts, 115 Melrose Place in San Antonio, continues the artist's vision of teaching representative art. For information about gallery shows, call 210/824-8502 or visit www.coppiniacademy.com.

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