AUTHENTIC HISTORY OF SAM BASS AND HIS GANG
Printed in the Monitor Book and Job Printing Establishment at Denton, TX, 1878, pp. 19-20:
"Sebe Barnes. Of the antecedents of this member of the Bass banditti comparatively little is known by the writer. He lived for some time in Denton county, having formerly resided in Tarrant county where some of his near relatives now live. He worked at the potter's trade, at Augustus H. Serrens' pottery about five miles south of Denton. He was of a wandering disposition, however, and it seems, had no fixed abode. He was about 25 years of age at the time he met his death at Round Rock, was rather slender of build, light complexion, had a large prominent nose of Roman "variety," dark hazel eyes overhung by rather a heavy brow. The upper portion of his face was broad, while from his cheek bones downward it receded rapidly, leaving the region of his mouth and chin disproportionately narrow. His neck was unusually long, and his throat marked with a huge Adam's apple. With such a physiognomy his appearance could not fail to be remarkable, and it is said that withal he was not ungainly or unhandsome. He was, however, like all of Bass' confederates, illiterate and rough in his demeanor, and it may be stated here, for the benefit of the rising generation who may be captivated by certain rose-tinted reports as to the personal characteristics and notoriety of Bass and his adherents, that there was not one of them who possessed the first element of a cultivated gentleman in his appearance or bearing -- not one who was calculated to attract any but a mind of brutish instincts and coarse impulses."
