Vol 01 No. 06 - March 1924

The Lost Gold Mine of the Guadalupe Mountains.

L. H. Davis. This interesting story appeared in the El Paso Times in 1912. Fascinating account of buffalo hunters turned gold prospectors and their findings… Many interesting details and place/person names: Pat Garrett, Charles Dixon, Abilene and Big Springs, Fort Griffin, General McKenzie, buffalo hunting outfits Long & Anderson, a big outfit, Moore Bros., Coleman & Lewis, Charlie Hart, George Wilhelm, Henry Hamberg, Charlie Green, - a great copper magnate in Cananoa and is now called Col. Bill Green, 'Bat' Masterson, now a Now York detective; John Wesley Hardin , John Selman, Bill Hillman, known as 'Coyote Bill.' Reynolds & Rare, who had a hunters' supply on 'Red Mud', south of Blanco canyon. J. A. Brock, the El Paso real estate man, Jim Chism's ranch which is about three miles from where Roswell now is, 'Prairie Dog Dave, Oscuros, San Andres and Caballos, the White mountains and Sacramento, the Mescalero reservation, Major Llewellyn, Don Juan, Selas Teticua or the Twin mountains, Guadalupe peak, the Russell hills, old man Sublett, Ross Sublett

"…at a certain time of the day when the sun shines on a slant, we could look into the cave about 60 feet and we saw three skeletons or mummies. This cave is in the Russell mountains about 15 miles south of the old seep springs…"

Death of Mrs. R. G. Carter

In 1870 she made a bridal trip with her husband, Capt. R. G. Carter, U. S. army, retired, from Boston, Mass., to, Ft. Concho, Texas, to which he had been assigned after graduation from West Point that year, and which was then one of the extreme frontier ports on the western border of Texas, then habitated only by a few hardy settlers, jack rabbits and rattlesnakes. After reaching San Antonio by boat, rail and stage, she marched with her husband, who was assigned to the duty of driving 400 -unbroken Texas horries (broncos) over the expanse of wilderness, at the end of which she took tip her abode in. a wall tent. She had four children. Two daughters were born at old Fort Richardson, Jack county. located on Lost Creek, a small tributary of the west fork of the Trinity river. One of these daughters was born in a wall tent during a howling "norther" and the tent was held down by men at the guy ropes. The other was born in a rough pecan picket jacal plastered with mud, infested with scorpions, centipedes and tarantulas. Mrs. Carter made one march of thirty days with her two babies through the wild savage country, swarming at that period with hostile bands of Comanche and Kiowa Indians, the camp being picketed at night. Mrs Carter was in her seventy-seventh year…

The Gospel West of the Pecos.

Max Bentley.

If Roy Bean was the law west of the Pecos, the Rev. William B. Bloys was the gospel west of the Pecos,

Thirty-six years ago a slender little man with blue-gray eyes drove across the Pecos River in a buckboard to organize a Presbyterian congregation in the mountain village of Fort Davis, Texas… The newcomer lost no time in delivering his message of his Master. He delivered it so earnestly, so eloquently, and so proudly, that the cowmen came to hold him in love and veneration such as no other man has enjoyed that ever lived out there. They came to call him everybody's friend, little minister of the hills, and, finally, just plain Brother Bloys. (Dr. William B. Bloys). Story mentions: Fort Davis, where he died in March 22, 1917, the Davis Range, Skillman Grove, the Bloys Camp Meeting Association, . Judge Roy Bean "Those two names-Bloys and Bean stand out over all others in the annals of the ranch country of Texas, west of the Pecos." Langtry, G. Wesley Evans and John Means, "Bill" Jones and "Ote" Finley, "Bill" Kingston and Cap'n Gillett, "Bill" Jones, Mount Bloys, G. Wesley Evans, John Means' Bill 'Joiles, "Bill" Kingston

How Old Is Texas?

Her Centennial should be celebrated that year, on the grounds where Austin settled with his first settlers, and where Austin, Houston, Blount, Burnet, Smith, De Zavala, Lamar, Rusk, Wharton, Archer, Burleson, Childress, et al, wrote the most. profound declaration of independence ever penned by man: March 2, 1836, at Old Washington on the Brazos

Thrilling Tales of Frontier Days.

By Taylor Thompson. Jack Harris, who for many years, was a prominent citizen in certain circles in San Antonio was killed in the early eighties by Ben Thompson of Austin. When General Albert Sidney Johnston, with, a force of United States troops,, marched across the plains to Salt Lake City in 1858 to put down the Mormon uprising Jack Harris was with General Johnston's force in the capacity of hunter and scout, and there were perhaps twenty-five or thirty men with the expedition in the same capacity, among them being a Cherokee Indian who was known as "Cherokee Bill," Further reference is made in this story to: Sol Tanner, who became quite noted as an Indian fighter, and in 1858 became captain of a company of Texas rangers

Daring Hold-up Between Fort Concho and Abilene.

From The Police News, 1884. Two stage coaches between Concho and Abilene, Texas were held up at about I o'clock in the morning, February 4th, by two roadmen. The coach leaving Conch Was first attacked and the mail and Passengers robbed. it had gone about one mile when it met the coach going to Concho and in which was Deputy Sheriff W. L. Jerrell of Las Cruces, New Mexico, who was in pursuit of the thieves who robbed J. D. Barncastle in Dona Ana County, accompanied by Sergeant L. S. Trumbo of Col. Baylor's Texas Rangers, and two other passengers. The robbers soon came up on the second stage and in trying to hold it tip a fight followed in which Jerrell Wag killed. Mentions further: Samuel P. Cochran, of Dallas, Marshall Gillett, who selected him because of his dauntless courage and untiring energy. In the spring of 1883, he rejoined the Rangers as a member of Captain George W. Baylor's Company, and for gallant service was promoted to the rank of First Sergeant, Mr. Sam P. Cochran, Past Grand Master of Masons in Texas; Past Grand High Priest Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Texas; Trice Illustrious Past Grand Master, Right Eminent Past Grand Commander Grand Commander of Texas; Past Grand Patron Grand Chapter Order Eastern Star of Texas; Past Past Potentate Hella Temple A. O. N. M. S.; Sovereign Grand Inspector General in Texas of the Supreme Council Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, of Freemasonry for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States Mother Council of the World.

The Lofty Courage of a Frontier Boy.

By John Warren Hunter. Capt. Cal Putman came to Texas in 1821, and settled on the San Gabriel, in what is now Williamson county and built the first block house erected in that territory, not far from where Liberty Hill now stands. This was long before Austin was founded, and his nearest white neighbors were the Hornsby's who had formed a settlement at Hornsby's Bend, on the Colorado. Early in the 50's Mr. Putman, moved to Llano county and settled on Hickory creek, near House Mountain, where In the fall of 1864, Captain Putman started on a hunting expedition on, the Upper Llano, in the territory now included in Kimble county. This is a riveting account about a desperate Indian raid that came upon them and the unimaginable courage and resourcefulness of his son, Harve. An excerpt: "At close range the Indians fired a shot from a gun, the leaden missile passing through Captain Putman's thigh, rupturing one of the smallest arteries. About the same moment a shot struck Harve's foot tearing away his shoe and leaving his big toe hanging by a mere shred. This was about 4 o'clock in the evening and the Indians became more bold when they saw the-effect of their own shots, and yet when the white men's guns, remained silent, an Indian more daring than the rest, advanced to. the wagon and. .fired on Harve at a range so close that the blaze of the gun set his clothes on fire. This was getting too close for the Captain, and although desperately wounded, he raised up with his old shotgun and landed 18 buckshot into the carcass of the old copper-colored savage, at the same instance Harve drew a -bead on another-the one who had shot, up his new, hat and with a ball from his old army gun, sent him to the happy-hunting grounds. Both these Indians fell near the wagon and were speedily carried away by their comrades who made a charge in full force in order to recover the bodies. Further mentions: Tom Gamel and Jasper Chap, the Gamel ranch, where the Captain received the tenderest care.

"Speak Out in Meeting."

Uncle Dick Sullivan of San Saba, Texas, writes us a good letter and sends in the subscription of Veteran W. J Smith of that place. Among, other things, Uncle Dick says: "While reading Captain Gillett's narrative about "Slick" Clements in your last issue, I could not keep the tears back, as "Slick" Clements and Ben Anderson were both in my company in 1874, one year before Gillett knew him, and both of these boys were on the buffalo range with me. I loved them as brothers. I see many names in your magazine that I knew many years ago, and that is what makes it so interesting to me. Before long I will write my experience as a ranger, and when. I want to have a talk with you again I will just speak out in church as I know I am welcome to." And Uncle Dick is right. We want all of the Old Guard to know they are welcome to "speak out in meeting." Send us anything you have relating to the early days. We'll be glad to publish it.

Old Settlers' Association.

The Bandera County Old Settlers Association was organized at Bandera on January 26. Lee Risinger was selected president, and W. S.Ethridge, Secretary treasurer. Arrangements, are being made to hold an old settlers' reunion at Bandera July 4th and 5th, 1924, when a great home-coming of former Bandera county citizens, scattered all over the United States, will be expected.

The Killing of Riley Walker

Written by James Moore. R. A. Walker and D. E. Moore, both of whom fought and suffered through the Civil War, were early settlers in Llano county. Having located with their little families on Willow Creek, sixteen miles south of the town of Llano where they quietly entered upon on the morning of February 22, 1870. to haul a load of bacon to the town of Fredericksburg, hen suddenly from ambush about fifteen bloodthirsty Indians fired upon them. R. A. Walker sank slowly to the ground and remained motionless at the feet of D. E. Moore. Moore's left arm was shattered by an Indian's bullet and was bleeding profusely. He made an effort to get his gun, but could not, as the Indians were flocking about the wagon. With all odds against him, and believing his companion dead, Moore sought safety in flight. Three of the Indians followed him about two miles but he outdistanced them and they gave up the chase. Exhausted from the loss of blood, he reached home and for more than three months he lay under a lingering illness. His health was eventually regained, but...

George Braun Came to Texas in 1856

W. B. Hardeman, J. G. Braun was born in the German Empire in I837, and came to Texas from Germany in 1S56, when he was, nineteen years old, landing at Galveston. He labored from daylight to dark and sometimes longer, and managed to save enough to buy three cows and calves and accumulate fifteen dollars in cash, and he was well satisfied with his achievement during the two years he had been in America. Married Miss Christine, Wagner who lived only a year after marriage, then in 1873 married Miss Mary Bader, and to them were born four children…Mentions further: Ben Duncan, Jim Speed the Woodwards, and the Adamses,, and how by his honesty and industry lie has won the confidence and respect of all those who knew him. His good wife is a sister to Joe Bader, who was been sheriff of Medina county for nearly fifteen years. Cal Woodward, at one time one of the biggest ranchmen in the west, met George Braun in San Antonio on one occasion and knowing the struggle the poor German boy was having to get along, said to him: "George, when you need money come to me." Member of Devine Lodge No. 590. He was county commissioner Of Frio CO for eight years. Briar Branch , H. E. Miller of Shamrock, J. V. Hutton

An Englishman's Experience in Texas

The following very interesting narrative was taken from a book entitled, "With the Border Ruffians, 1852 to 1868," written by R. H. Williams, "sometime lieutenant in the Kansas Rangers and afterwards a captain in the Texas Rangers.

Captain Williams was an Englishman, a soldier of fortune, and his book gives many thrilling anecdotes of his experiences on the border. He .joined the Confederate service and was connected with the Partisan Rangers, was in Duff's company at the Battle on the Nueces when a large party of Germans going to .Mexico were overtaken and annihilated. The story tells of an Indian foray made while his company was stationed at Camp Verde, in Kerr county.

Mentions: Colonel Robert E. Lee, as he was then, "courteous, and dignified in manner, but without the slightest assumption, he was beloved by all who came within the charm of his personal influence. At this time he was about fifty-three years of age; but his dark hair was untinged with grey, and his blue eyes were bright and undimmed beneath his black eyebrows." General Gordon, General Scott, E. Lee Childe, General Twig, the K. G. C. (Knights of the Golden Circle) lodges in Eastern Texas, Colonel Ben McCulloch, an old Mormon settlement, where there were several solid stone houses and a mill. The Mormons had established themselves on the Medina at the time that the main body of their co-religionists were settled in Nauvoo; but when the general movement was made against that body in the States, these folks, like the rest of them, had to trek to Salt Lake.

On the Buffalo Range in 1873.

Varied accounts in the life of W. F. (Dick) Sullivan, San Saba, Texas. born in Mooreville, Mississippi, in 1854, and left there in 1868, to come to Pilot Point, in Denton County. Lived on the old Chisholm Trail, when thousands of cattle were being driven to Kansas and other northern markets…Mentions: J. T. Wilson , Bob Terrell, Brownwood, on the, Bayou, old Capt. Bill Anderson and a bunch of men from Salt Creek , "'Slick" Clements, Ben Anderson and Lon Anderson. , Camp Colorado, Cedar Gap, in what is now Taylor county, Jim Connell's company of Rangers, Government Knob, the Salt Fork of the Brazos. Mike Thompson ,Charlie Taylor, Bob Routh and Al Cheatem, George Womack of Brownwood and Dick Cheatem

Shot By Sam Bass

Dr. A. B. Reeves, who was engaged in the fight with the Sam Bass gang of robbers at Round Rock an July 211 1879, which resulted in the killing of Barnes and the mortal wounding of Bass. This is the account of Dr. Reeves, who knew Bass personally. Mentions: Sergeant Dick Ware, Round Rock,

Minor article further mentions: A bill of sale, written by Billy the Kid notorious youthful bandit, at Tascosa, Oldham County, in 1873, and witnessed by two men named James E. McMastem and George J. Howard, recently was photographed and the reproduction given to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Society. This copy of a very interesting document came to the society through the courtesy of Thomas F. Turner of Amarillo…

A Trying Trip Alone Through the Wilderness

Bv Samuel Dunn Houston, San Antonio, Texas. Trail herder’s fascinating and dangerous experience in 1879 on trail drive from TX to Wyoming. Mentions: R. G. Head, John Sauders Ogallala, the Tusler Ranch Red Cloud Agency, Dakota , D. R. Fant. , Tom Moore the old King herds which had come in by way of Dodge City, Kansas, from the coast country down in Southern Texas. Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Court House Rock, The North Platte River , Theodore Luce, of Lockhart, Texas. , the old Seven Crook Ranch above Ogallala. White River. the Dillon ranch. , Laramie Plains, the Bosler ranch. the Neobrara Ranch

Josiah Wilbarger Scalped by Indians.

Wilbarger's "Indian Depredations, in Texas". . Wilbarger had come to Texas from the State of Missouri as early as 1828 and first settled in Matagorda county, where he remained about one year and then moved up the Colorado, It was in about the month of March, 1830, that he selected for his headright a beautiful tract of land situated at the mouth of what is now known as Wilbarger creek, about ten miles above where the San Antonio and Nacogdoches road crosses the river where the town of Bastrop now is… Account contains ghastly details of being scalped alive:

Excerpts: "The arrow hit center of his neck and came out on the left side of his chin. He fell apparently dead, but though unable to move or speak, did not lose consciousness. He knew when the Indians came around him when they stripped him naked and tore the scalp from his head. ' He says that though- paralyzed and unable, 'to move, he knew what was being done, and that when his scalp was torn from his skull it created no pain from which he could flinch, but sounded like distant thunder. The Indians cut the throats of Strother and Christian, but the character of Wilbarger's wound, no doubt, made them believe his neck was broken, and that he was surely dead. This saved his life…"

"After going back to the pool and drinking, he crawled over the grass and devoured such snails as he could find, which appeased his hunger. The green flies had found his wounds while he had slept, and the maggots were at work, which pained and gave him fresh alarm. As night approached he determined to go 'as far as he could toward Reuben Hornsby's, about six miles distant. He had gone about six hundred yards when he sank to the ground exhausted, under a large postoak tree, and well nigh despairing of life. Those who have ever spent a summer in Austin know that in that climate the nights in summer are always cool, and before daybreak some covering is needed for comfort. Wilbarger, naked, wounded and feeble, suffered after midnight intensely from cold. No sound fell on his ear but the hooting of owls and the bark of the coyote wolf, while above him the bright silent stars seemed to mock his agony. We are now about, to relate two incidents so mysterious that they would excite our incredulity were it not for the high character of those who to their dying day vouched for their truth."

Further mentions: Reuben Hornsby , Webber, Duty , Strother, Standifer, Walnut creek, about where James Rogers afterwards settled, Joseph Rogers, John Walters, Leman Barker (the father-in-law of Wilbarger), Mrs. W. C. Dalrymple, Mrs. Lewis Jones, Colonel Edward Burleson

The Texas Ranger.

Written for Texas Siftings in 1882.

The Texas Ranger is not so handsome as an eight-dollar-a-week dry-goods clerk, but he is more courageous than. a Numidian lion and tougher than a Mexican burro. His language might sound a little barbaric in a London drawingroom, but he can, successfully ride a broncho pony and kill a Mexican horse thief at five hundred yards with his eyes shut. His manners are not exactly Chesterfieldian, but this deficiency in etiquette is more than offset by the aestheticism he displays in scalping an Indian, He may not be up on the tariff question, but he can follow a blind trail at a gallop and never miss the way. It is possible that he cannot tell the difference between the hypothesis of atomic evolution and a lunar eclipse, but he knows a "rustler" at sight and can name half the fugitives in Texas. Taken altogether, the ranger is a tough case and most of them have been born on the headwaters of Bitter Creek, where the natives are "wild and wooly and hard to curry." The further you go on this Classic Stream, the tougher the citizen. Underneath this rough exterior the Ranger hides a heart...

Some Names in this volume:

Ben Anderson, Capt Bill Anderson, Dr Anderson, Lon Anderson, Moses Austin, Stephen F. Austin, Joe Bader, Mary Miss Bader, Leman Barker, J. D. Barncastle, Sam Bass, Col Baylor, Capt George W. Baylor, Judge Roy Bean, Max Bentley, Rev William B. Bloys, George Braun, J. G. Braun, E. A. Brininstool, J. A. Brock, Col Edward Burleson, Jessie Campbell, Capt R. G. Carter, Mrs R. G. Carter, Talbert Chambers, Jasper Chapman, Al Cheatem, Dick Cheatem, E. Lee Childe, Jim Chism, "Slick" Clements, Margaret Clifton, Samuel P. Cochran, John Cole, W. W. Collier, Jim Connell, Charlie Cooper, Mrs W. C. Dalrymple, L. H. Davis, Charles Dixon, Chief Don Juan, Ben Duncan, Kin Elkins, W. S. Ethridge, G. Wesley Evans, George Evans, Joe Evans, D. R. Fant, Ote Finley, Hill Fletcher, Tom Gamel, Pat Garret, Pat Garrett, Capt Gillett, J. B. Sgt Gillett, Marshall Gillett, Gen Gordon, Col Bill Green, Charlie Green, Henry Hamberg, W. B. Hardeman, John Wesley Harden, John Wesley Hardin, Wes Hardin, JackHarris, Charlie Hart, Dick Head, R. G. Head, Lt Hill, Bill Hillman, T. D. Hobart, Billy Hornsby, Reuben Hornsby, Wm Hornsby, Samuel Dunn, George J. Howard, J. V. Hutton, W. L. Jerrell, Gen Albert Sidney Johnston, Bill Jones, Mrs Lewis Jones, Bill Kingston, Col Robert E. Lee, Maj Llewellyn, Theodore Luce, Capt Marcy, Bat Masterson, Col Ben McCulloch, GenMcKenzie, James E. McMasters, John Means, , H. E. Miller, Jim Miller, D. E. Moore, James Moore, Tom Moore, T. Paul Moore, Capt Cal Putman, Doc Putman, Harve Putman, , Gen Israel , Walter Reed, A. B. Dr Reeves, Lee Risinger, Bob Robison, James Rogers, Joseph Rogers, Bob Routh, John Sanders, George W. Saunders, Gen Scott, John Selman, Joe "Hosstail" Small, W. J. Smith, Jim Speed, Mose Stevenson, W. T. Stewart, Ross Sublett, Dick Sullivan, W. F. "Dick", Jesse Tannehill, Sol Tanner, Charlie Taylor, Bob Terrell, Ben Thompson, Mike Thompson, Taylor Thompson, L. S. Sgt Trumbo, Thomas F. Turner, Boss Tweed, Gen Twig, Christine Miss Wagner, R. A. Walker, Riley Walker, John Walters, Sgt Dick Ware, Susan Washburn, Charlie Webb, Sheriff James White, Harvey Wilbarger, John Wilbarger, Josiah Wilbarger, Matthias Wilbarger, Sallie Wilbarger, George Wilhelm, Capt R. H. Williams, J. T. Wilson, George Womack, Jack Woods, Cal Woodward, Woodul.