At 54, Bascom Giles was a prosperous businessman and a durable politician, well known all over Texas. A nourishing real-estate operator, he was past grand master of the Grand Lodge of Texas, Ancient and Accepted Order of Freemasonry, and a prominent and popular figure in the state government at Austin. Texas' land commissioner for 16 years, he was re-elected for the eighth time last year, but disqualified himself and astonished his friends when he refused to take the oath of office. Last week in a courtroom in Austin, Bascom Giles was convicted as...
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