San Antonio, Texas - San Antonio De Bexar : a Guide and History (part 4 of 5)

" Rose too was deeply affected, but differently from his companions. He stood till every man but himself had crossed the line. . . . He sank upon the ground, covered his face, and yielded to his own reflections. ... A bright idea came to his relief; he spoke the Mexican dialect very fluently, and could he once get safely out of the fort, he might easily pass for a Mexican and effect an escape. . . . He directed a searching glance at the cot (jf Colonel Bowie. . . . Colonel David Crockett was leaning over the cot, conxersing with its occupant in an undertone. After a few seconds Bowie looked at Rose and said, ' V(ni seem not to be willing to die witli us. Rose.' ' No,* said Rose ; ' I am not prepared to die, and shall not do so if I can avoid it.' Then Crockett also looked at him, and said, ' You may as well conclude to die with us, old man, for escape is impossible.' Rose made no reply, but looked at the top of the wall. ' I have often done worse than to climb that wall,' thought he. Suiting the action to the thought, he sprang up, seized his wallet of unwashed clothes, and ascended the wall. Standing on its top, he looked down within to take a last view of his dying friends. They were all now in motion, but what they were doing he heeded not; overpowered by his feelings, he looked a.\\ay and saw them no more. . . . He threw down his wallet and leaped after it. . . . He took the road which led down the River around a bend to the ford, and through the town by the church. He waded the river at the ford and passed through the town. He saw n(j person .... but the doors were all closed, and San Antonio appeared as a deserted city,

' ' After passing through the town he turned down the River. A stillness as of death prevailed. When he had gone about a cpiarter of a mile below the town, his ears were saluted by the thunder of the boml)ardment which was then renewed. That thunder continued to remind him that his friends were true to their cause, by a continual roar with but slight intervals until a little before sunrise on the morning of the Gth, when it ceased and he heard it no more." ''^

And well ma>- it ' ' cease " ' on that morning of the (Jtli ; for after that thrilling 3d, the siege goes on, the enemy furious, the Texans replying calmly and slowly. Finally Santa Anna determines to storm. Some hours before daylight on the morning of the 6th, the Mexican infantry, pro\-ided with .scaling ladders, and backed by the ca\-alry to keep them up to the work, surround the doomed fort. At daylight the}- advance and plant their ladders, but give back under a deadly fire from the Texans. They advance again, and again retreat, A third time - Santa Anna threatening and coaxing by turns - they plant their ladders. Now they mount the walls. The Texans are ovei whelmed by sheer weight of numbers and exhaustion of continued watching and fighting. The Mexicans .swarm into the fort. The Texans club their guns; one by one the}- fall fighting - now Travis yonder by the western wall, now Crockett here in the angle of the church- wall, now Bowie butchered and nuitilated in his sick-cot, breathe quick and passawa>-; and presently every Texan lies dead, while there in horrid heaps are stretched five hundred and twenty-one dead Mexicans and as many more wounded! Of the human beings that were in the fort five remain alive : Mrs. Dickinson and her child. Colonel Travis' negro-servant, and two Mexican women.

* Rose succeeded in niaUiiig: liis escape, .Tiid le.iched the house of llie /iihers, as before staled, in fearful condition. After remaining liere some weeks, he started for his liome in Nacogdoches, but on the way his thorn-wounds became inflamed anew, and when he reached home " his friends thought that he could not live many months." This was " the last" that the Zubers " heard of him."

Tin.' town cli<l iiiit Ioiil; i\iii;iin in llic hands of llir Mc'xicans. I',\x-nls followed each other ra])idl\ nnlil llu- hallk- of San Jarinlo, alter wliieli tlie dejected .Santa Anna wrote his (anions letter of cai)ti\it\ nnder the tree, which for a time relieved the soil of Texas from hostile footsteps. .San Antonio was nevertheless not free from l)lood>lied, lliouuh ])eL;innin!^ to driw a sharp trade witli Mexico, and to make those approaches towards the peaceful arts which necessarily accom])any trade. The Indians kept life from stai;nating, and in the year IS 10 occtirred a bloody battle* with ihem in the \ery midst of the town. Certain Comanche cliiefs, ])ending negotiations for a treaty of jieace. had ])romised to brinj;- in all the capti\-es they had; and on the I'.'th of March, IS 10, met the Texan Connnissioners in the Councilhouse in .San .Xnlonio. to redeem their promise. LeaN'ini;' twent\' warriors and thirty-two women and children outside, twelve chiefs entered the c(juncil-rooni and presented the only captix'c they had l)rous?ht^a little white girl - declaring that the\- had no others. This statement the little girl pronounced false, asserting that it was made .solely for the purpose of extorting greater ransoms, and that she had but recently .seen other ca])tives in their cam]). An awkward ])ause followed. Presently one of the chiefs incfuired. How the commissioners liked it? B>" way of reply, the company of Captain Howard, who had been .sent for, filed into the room, and the Indians were told that they would be held prisoners until the\- .should .send some of their party outside after the rest of the captives. The commissioners then rose and left the room. As they were in the act of leaving, however, one of the Indian chiefs attempted to rush through the duor, and being confronted by the .sentinel, .stabbed him. vSeeing the sentinel hurt, and Captain Howard also .stabbed, the other chiefs .sprang forward with knives and l)ows and arrows, and the fight raged until they were all killed. Meantime the warriors outside began to fight, and engaged the company of Captain Read; but. taking shelter in a stone-house, were .surrounded and killed. vStill another detachment of the Indians managed to continue the fight until they had reached the other side of the river, when the}- were finally despatched. Thirty-two Indian warriors and fi\-e Indian women and children were slain, and the rest of the women and children were made prisoners. The savages fought desperately, for seven Texans were killed and eight wounded.

The war between Texas and Mexico had now languished for some years. The project of annexation was much discussed in the United States; one great objection to it was that the United vStates would embroil itself with a nation with which it was at peace - Mexico - ])y annexing Texas, then at war. The war, however, seemed likely to die away; and to prevent the removal of the obstacle to annexation in that way, Mexico made feeble efforts to keep up such hostilities as might at least give color to the assertion that the war had not ended. Accordingly in the year 1842 a Mexican army again invested San Antonio. After a short parle>' Colonel Hays withdrew with his small force, and the Mexicans, numbering about se\en hundred men under General \'asque/., took possession of the place and formally reorganized it as a Mexican town. They remained, however, onh' two days, and conducted themselves, officially, with great propriety, though the citizens are said to have lost a great deal of valua]:)le property by unauthorized depredations of pri\-ate soldiers and of Mexican citizens who accompanied the army on its departure.

Again on the 11th of September, 1842, a Mexican army of twelve hundred men under Gen. Woll, sent probably by the same policy which had despatched the other, surprised the town of San Anionio, and, after having a few killed and wounded, took possession, the citizens having capitulated. Gen. Woll captured the entire bar of lawyers in attendance on the District Court, then in session, and held them as prisoners of war. He did not escape, however, so easily as Gen. Vasquez. The Texans gathered rapidly, and by the 17th had assembled two hundred and twenty men on the Salado, some six miles from town. Capt. Hays, with fifty men, decoyed Gen. Woll forth, and a battle ensued, from which the enemy withdrew at sun.set with a loss of sixty killed and about the same number wounded, the Texans losing one killed and nine wounded. It is easy to believe that the honest citizens of San Antonio got little sleep on that night of the 1 Ttli of September, 1842. Gen. Woll was busy making preparations for retreat; and the Mexican citizens who intended to accompany him were also busy gathering up plunder right and left to take with them. At daylight they all departed. This was the last time that San Antonio de Bexar was ever in Mexican hands.

After annexation, in 18]."), the town began to improve. The trade from certain portions of Mexico - Chihuahua and the neighboring States - seems always to have eagerly sought San Antonio as a point of supplies whenever peace gave it the opportunity. Presently, too, the United States Government selected San Antonio as the base for the frontier army below El Paso, and the large (juantities of money expended in connection with the supply and transportation of all materiel for so long a line of forts have contributed very materially to the prosperity of the town. E'roni a population of al)out in 1S')I>, it increased to lO.OOOin 18oG.*

Abandoning now this meagre historical sketch, and pursuing the order indicated in the enumeration of contrast and eccentricities given in the early part of this paper : one finds in San Antonio the (jueercst juxtaposition of civilisations, white, yellow (Mexican), red (Indian), black (negro), and all possi])le pernuita-

Perhaps the \ariet\- of the population cannot be better illustrated than by the following "connnodity of good names," occurring in a slip cut from a daily paper of the town a day or two ago :

Matkimoni Ai,. Tlie niatriiiionial niaikel for a f()U])le of weeks past has been unusually lively, as evidenced by the foUowinjf list of niarriajre licenses issued durinj^ that time : Cruz de la Cruz and Manuela Sauseda ; I-'elipe Sallani and Maria del R. Lopez; (x. Isal)olo and Rafaela Urvana ; Anto. P. Rivas and Maria Quintaua ; Garinel Hernandez and Seferina Rodriguez; T. H. Leighton and Franceska K. Schmidt; Rafael Diaz and Michaela Chavez: Levy Taylor and Anna vSimpson, colored ; Ignacio Andrada and Juliana Baltasar ; August Dubiell and Philomena Muschell ; James Callaghan and Mary Grenet ; Albert Anz and Ida Pollock ; Stephen Hoog and Mina Schneider ; \Vm. King and vSarah Wilson, colored ; Joseph McCoy and Jesse Rro\vn ; Valentine Heck and Clara Hirsch ; John I'\ Dunn and K. Annie Dunn. "

Much interest has attached, of late years, to the climate of San Antonio, in consequence of its alleged happ}' influence upon consumption. One of the recognized " institutions "' of the town is the consumptives, who are sent here from remote parts of the United States and from Europe, and wdio may be seen on fine days, in various stages of decrepitude, strolling about the streets. This present writer has the honor to be one of tho,se strolling individuals ; but he does not intend to attempt to describe the climate, for three reasons : first, because it is simply indescribable ; second, if it were not so, his experience has been stich as to convince him that the needs of consumptives, in point of climate, depend upon two variable elements, to wit, the stage which the patient has reached, and the peculiar temperament of each individtial, and that therefore any general recommendation of any partictilar climate is often erroneous and sometimes fatally deceptive ; and third, because he fortunately is able to present some of the facts of the climate, which may be relied upon as .scientifically accurate, and from the proper stud\' of which each intelligent consumptive can make up his mind as to the suitableness of the climate to his individual case. For the past five years. Dr. F. V. Pettersen, a Swedish physician and ardent lover of science, resident in

"At the Commerce Street bridge over the San Antonio River, standsa post supporting a large sign board, ui)on which appears the following three legends :

Walk your horse over this bridge, or you will be fined. Schuelles Reiten uber diese Rrucke ist verboten. Anda despacio con su caballo, 6 teme la ley.

To the the meditative stroller across this bridge - and on a soft daj' when the Gulf breeze and the sunshine are king and queen, any stranger may be safely defied to cross this bridge vjithoiit becoming meditative - there is a fine satire in the varying tone of these inscriptions - for they are by no means faithful translations of each other; a satire all the keener in that it must have been wholly uncon.'ciou.=. For mark : ' Walk j'our horse, file, or you -jji/l ht-Jiiicd!' This is the American's warning : the alternative is a money consideration, and the appeal is solely to the pocket, but now the German is simply informed that schne/lea Reiten over this bridge ist verboten - is forhidttn ; as who shoidd say: 'So, thou quiet, law-abiding Teuton, enough for thee to know that it is forbidden simply.' And lastly, the Mexican direction takes wholly a different turn from either: Slow there with your hoi.se, Mcxicano, " o teme la ley,' - or 'fear the lev.''.' "

* This refers more appropriately to the date of Sidney Lanier's remarks. Since tli.it day there has been an increasing iuflu.x of .\niericaus. - W. C, Ed.

Sidney I.Anikr'S Historical Skktch

San Antonio, has conducted a series of meteorological observations with accurate apparatus ; and the results which follow have been compiled from his records :

San Antonio is at an altitude of 504 feet above the level of the sea, in latitude 29 ° 28', longitude *.)8 ° 24'. It is placed just in the edge of a belt of country one hundred and fifty miles wide, reaching to the Rio Grande, and principally devoted to cattle-raising Inside, the location of the city is picturesque. Two streams, the San Antonio and San Pedro rivers, run in a direction generally parallel, though specially as far from parallelism as capricious crookedness can make itself, through the entire town. The San Antonio is about sixty feet wide; its water is usually of a lovely milky-green. The stranger, strolling on a mild sunny day through the streets, often finds himself suddenly on a bridge, and is half startled with the winding vista of sweet lawns running down to the water, of weeping willows kissing its surface, of summer hou.ses on its banks, and of the swift yet smooth-shining stream meandering this way and that, actuall}' combing the long sea-green locks of a trailing water-grass which sends its waving tresses down the centre of the current for hundreds of feet, and murmuring the while with a palpable Spanish lisping, which floats up among the rude noises of traffic along the street, as it were some dove-voiced Spanish nun out of the convent yonder praying heaven's mitigation of the wild battle of trade. Leaving this bridge, walking down the main (Commerce) street, across the Main plaza, then past the San Fernando Cathedral, then across the Military Plaza, one come presently to the San Pedro, a small stream ten or fifteen feet in width, up which the ga/.iii^ strolk-r Ihuls no ronmiicc, Uul mostly strict use; for there scjuat the Mexican women on tlieir haunclies, h}- their tlat stones, washing' the family j;arnients. in a position the very recollection of which skives one simultaneous stitches of lumba'^o and sciatica, yet which they aj^pear to maintain for hours without detriment. . . .

Crossing the San Pedro we are among the /amis, .... more pretentious dwellings are built oi adobes, or sun-dried brick. The majority of the substantial houses of the town are constructed of a whitish limestone, so soft when first quarried that it can be cut with a knife, but quickly hardening by exposure into a very durable building material. In the more pretentious two-storied dwellings there are .some very good Moorish effects of projecting stone and lattice-work.

A fine architectural example in the town is the San Fernando Cathedral, which presents a broad, varied and imposing faoade upon the western side of the its topmost slit-windows just peer - an evident relic of ancient Moorish architecture, which one finds in the rear of most of the old Spanish religious edifices in Texas - has been pre.served, and still adjoins the queer ]>riests' dormitories, which constitute the rear end of the cathedral building.

There are other notable religiotis edifices in town. Going back to Commerce Street, one can see a fine large church for the German Catholics (San Fernando Cathedral is Mexican Catholic). Cro.ssing a graceful iron bridge, that turns off to the north from Commerce Street, one glances up and down the stream, which here flows between heavy and costly abutments of stone to protect the rear of the large stores whose fronts are on the Main Street, and whose rear doors open almost immediately over the water. Across the bridge in this odd nook of the stream is St. Mary's, the American Catholic Church, its rear adjoining a long three-storied stone convent building, and its yard sloping down to the water. Strolling up the river a quarter of a mile, one comes upon a long white stone building, which has evidently had much trouble to accommodate itself to the site upon which it is built, and whose line is broken into four or five abrupt angles, while its roof is varied with dormer windows and sharp projections and spires and quaint clock-faces, and its rear is mysterious with lattice-covered balconies and half-hidden corners and corridors. This is the Ursuline Convent; and standing as it does on a rocky and steep (steep for Texas plains) bank of the river, whose course its broken line follows, and down to which its long stern-looking wall descends, it is an edifice at once piquant and sombre, and one cannot resist figuring Mr. James' horseman spurring his charger up the white limestone road that winds alongside the wall, in the early twilight, when dreams come whispering down the current among the willow-sprays.

There are notable places about the town which the stranger must visit. He may ride two miles along a level road between market gardens which are vitalised by a long accquia, or ditch, fed from the river, and come presently upon the quaint gray towers of the old Mission Concepcion.* The old church, with its highwalled dome in the rear, is in a good state of preservation, and traces of the singular many-colored frescoing on its front are still plainly visible. Climbing a very shaky ladder, one gets upon the roof of a long stone corridcjr nnniing off from the church building, and, taking good heed of the sharp-thorned cactus which abounds up there, looks over upon a quaint complication of wall-angles, nooks, and small-windowed rooms

Further down the river a couple of miles one comes to the Mission San fose de Aguayo. This is more elaborate and on a larger scale than the buildings of the first Mission, and is still very beautiful. Religious services are regularly conducted here; and one can do worse things than to steal out here from town on some wonderfully calm Sunday morning, and hear a mass, and dream back the century and a half of strange, lonesome, devout, hymn-haunted and Indianhaunted years that have trailed past these walls. Five or six miles further down the river are the ruins of the Mission San Juan in much dilapidation.

Or the visitor may stroll off to the eastward, climb the hill, wander about among the graves of heroes in the large cemetery on the crest of the ridge, and please himself with the noble reaches of country east and west, and with the perfect view of the city, which from here .seems " sown." like Tennyson's, " in a monstrous wrinkle of the" prairie. Or, being in search of lions, one may see the actual animal, by a stroll to the "San Pedro Springs Park," a mile or so to the northward. Here, from under a white-ledged rocky hill, burst forth three crystalline springs, which quickly unite and form the San Pedro. With spreading water-oaks, rustic pleasure buildings, promenades along smooth shaded avenues between concentric artificial lakes, a race-course, an aviary, a fine Mexican lion, a bear-pit in which are an emerald-eyed blind cinnamon bear, a large black bear, a wolf and a coyote, and other attractions, this is a very green spot indeed in the prairies. Or one may drive three miles to northward and see the romantic spot where the San Antonio River is forever being born, leaping forth from the mountain, complete, iotus, even as Miner\-a from the head of Jove. Or one may take one's stand on the Commerce Street bridge and involve oneself in the life that goes by this way and that. Yonder comes a long train of enormous blue-bodied, canvas-covered wagons, built high and .square in the stern, much like a fleet of Dutch galleons, and lumbering in a ponderous way that suggests cargoes of silver and gold. These are drawn by fourteen mules each, who are harne.s.sed in four tiers, the three front tiers of four mules each, and that next the wagon of two. The " lead " mules are wee fellows, veritable niulekins ; the next tier larger, and so on to the two wheel-mules, who are always as large as can be procured. Yonder fares slowly another train of wagons, drawn b>- great wide-horned oxen, whose evident tendency to run to hump and fore-shoulder irresistibly persuades one of their cousin.ship to the buffalo.

Here, now, comes somewhat that shows as if Birnam Wood had been cut into fagots and was advancing with tipsy swagger upon Dunsinane. Presently, one's gazing eye receives a sensation of hair, then of enormous ears, and then the legs appear, of the little roan-gray burros, or asses, upon whose backs that Mexican walking behind has managed to pile a mass of mesquite firewood that is simply astonishing. This mesquite is a species of acacia, whose roots and body form the principal fuel here. It yields, by exudation, a gum which is quite equal to gum arable, when the tannin in it is extracted. It appears to have spread over this portion of 'iVxas within llic last t wen t>"- five years, i)erlia])s less time. The old settlers acconnt lor its appearance by the tlieorN- that the Indians -and after them the stock-raisers - were formerly in the habit of bnrnin^ off the prairie-grass annually, and that these great fires rendered it impossible for the mes(piite shrub to obtain a foothold ; but tiiat now the dei:)arttire of the Indians and the transfer of most of the large cattle-raising business to points further westward, have resulted in lea\ing the soil free for the occupation of the mesquite. It has certainly taken advantage of the opportunity. It covers the prairie thickly, in many directions as far as the eye can reach, growing to a pretty uniform height of four or fi\-e feet - though occasionally nuich larger - and presenting with its tough branches and innumerable formidal)le thorns, a singtilar appearance. The wood when dry is exceedingly hard and durable, and of a rich mahogany color. This recent overspread ot foliage on the plains is supposed by many persons to be the cause of the quite remarkable increase of moisture in the climate of San Antonio which has been observed of late years. The phenomena - of the coincident increase of moisture and of mesquite - are unquestionable : but whether they bear the relation of cause and effect, is a question upon which the unscientific lingerers on this bridge may be permitted to hold themselves in re.serve

And now as we leave the bridge in the gathering twilight and loiter down the street, we pass all manner of odd personages and "characters." Here hobbles an old Mexican who looks like old Father Time in reduced circumstances, his feet, his body, his head all swathed in rags, his face a blur of wrinkles, his beard gray-grizzled - a picture of eld such as one will rarely find. There goes a little German boy who was captured a year or two ago by Indians within three miles of San Antonio, and has just been retaken and .sent home a few days ago.* Do you see that poor Mexican without any hands ? A few months ago a wagontrain was captured by Indians at Howard's Wells ; the teamsters, of whom he was one, were tied to the wagons and the.se set on fire, and this poor fellow was released by the flames burning off his hands, the rest all peri.shing save two. Here is a great Indian-fighter who will show you what he calls his " vouchers," being scalps of the red braves he has slain ; there a gentleman who blew up his store here in '42 to keep the incoming Mexicans from benefiting by his goods, and who afterwards spent a weary imprisonment in that stern castle of Perote away down in Mexico, where the Mier prisoners (and who ever thinks nowadays of that strange, bloody Mier Expedition ?j were confined ; there a portly, handsome, buccaneer-looking captain who led the Texans against Cortinas in '51) ; there a small, intelligent-looking gentleman who at twenty was first Secretary of War of the young Texan Republic, and who is said to know the history of everything that has been done in Texas from that time to this, minutely ; and .so on through a perfect gauntlet of people who have odd histories, odd natures or odd appearances, we reach our hotel Sidxkv Lanier.

We have been permitted ])y the kindness of the family to examine this remarkable document, - "This little family history necessarily private," as it is modestly described in the preface.

In realitj' the Record is a portion of the annals of Texas, and from the earl}' days of trial and difficulty it reads us besides, a latter-day lesson of courage, patience and fortitude.

From the point of view of the historical trifler, the feeling that impresses one, on laying down the manu.script after scanning all its lines, is as though one had stumbled upon the diary of a noble Roman matron of the daj-s ot Regulus.

The few extracts and running comments which follow will give an idea of the story- - A tale not told in heroics, but which simply worded, never falls short of heroism, and which, in the unaffected courage, and affecting piety of its writer is probably unique.

Samuel Augustus Maverick was born July 28, 1<S08, at Pendleton, South Carolina of distinguished revolutionary stock of English and Huguenot extraction. Mrs. Maverick was an Adams - the Massachusetts family transplanted to Virginia and intermarried with a Lewis of that state.

Mrs. Maverick was married August 4th. lSo(), near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, her mother's home. The family started for Texas October 14th, IS."!?; Mr. Sam Maverick being then a baby of five months. Mr. Maverick senior, had been in Texas in 1835. and his friends thought him killed in the ALuno fight. As a record of old time travelling, and to illustrate the up-building of the Southwest, their progress to the L,one Star State is of interest in these days of Pullman sleepers; Mrs. Maverick says: "Father accompanied us half a day. . . . We traveled in a carriage, Mr. Maverick driving and nurse Rachel and bal)y and myself the other occupants. In a wagon with Wile\- as driver, was Jinny our future cook and her four children. We reached mother's, (Tuscaloosa. Alabama, from Pendleton, South Carolina) about the last of October, and stopped with her al)Out six for Texas. . . . Our party was composed of four whites and ten negroes. The negroes were four men Griffin, Granville, Wiley and Uncle Jim - two women Jinny and Rachel, and Jiuny's four childreii We had a large carriage, a big Kentucky wagon, three extra saddle horses and one blooded filly. The wagon carried a tent, a supply of provisions and bedding, and the cook and children. . . . We occasionally stopped several days in a good place to rest and to have washing done, and sometimes to give nuuldy roads time to dry. We crossed tlie Mississippi al Rodney, and Red river at Alexandria, and came through bottoms in Louisiana where the high-water marks in the trees stood far above our carriage-top, but tlie roads were good there when we passed. We crossed the Sabine, a sluggisli, nuiddy, narrow stream, and stood upon the soil of the Rcpul)lic of Texas about New Year's day is;'>,s.

"January 7th, 1S."!S, we occupied an empty cabin in San Augustine, while the carriage wheel was being repaired. This was a poor little village principally of log cabins, on one street, but the location was high and dry. We laid in a supply of corn and groceries here and pushed on through Nacogdoches, to the place of Colonel Durst, an old actiuaintance of Mr. Maverick. . . . There we met Oeneral Rusk. . . . We now had to travel in occasional rains and much mud, where the country was poor and sparsely settled and provisions for man and beast scarce. We, on advice, selected the longest but the best road, namely, the one leading by the way of Washington, high up on the Brazos. From Washington we went to Columbus on the Colorado, and thence al)out due south towards the Lavaca River. Now came a dreadful time. About January 2(3th we entered a bleak, desolate, swampy prairie, cut up by what are called dry bayous, and now almost full of water. This swamp, covered l)y the "Sandy," Mustang and head branches of the Navidad, was fourteen miles wide. . . . Every step the animals took was in water. We "stalled " in five or six of the gullies and each time the wagon had to be unloaded in wind, water and rain, and all the men and animals had to work together to pull out. The first " norther "" struck us here, a terrific, howling north wind with fine rain, blowing and penetrating through clothes and blankets. I never before experienced such cold. We were four days crossing this fourteen miles of dreadful swamp. The first day we made three miles and that night my mattress floated in water. No one suffered from the exposure, and Mr. Maverick kept cheerful all the while. Our provisions were almost gone when, on the 30th, we crossed the Navidad, stopping at Spring Hill, Major Sutherland's place. Mr. Maverick now went on to see if it was safe to take us to San Antonio, and visited other points with a view to settling, especially Matagorda, where he owned laud.

"At Major Sutherland's boarded Captain Sylvester, from Ohio, who had captured Santa Anna after the battle of San Jacinto. I attended a San Jacinto ball at Texana on April 21st. Here, too, I met old 'Bowles,' the Cherokee chief, with twelve or thirteen of his tribe.

"After tea we were dancing when Bowles came in dressed in a breech cloth, anklets, moccasins and feathers and a long clean white linen shirt which had been presented to him in Houston. He said the pretty ladies in Houston had danced with, kissed him and given him rings. We, however, begged to be excused, and even requested him to retire. . . . He stalked out in high dudgeon, and our dance broke up. Bowles told us of President Houston living in his Nation, and that he had given Houston his daughter for a squaw, and had made him a big chief.

inj4 place, when several Indians rode uj). They said ' mucho aniigo,' and were loud and filthy and manifested their intention to be very intimate. More and more came, until we counted seventeen of them. They rode in amongst us, looked greedily at the horses, and without exaggeratifMi annoyed us very much. They were Tonkawas and ke])t repeating ' muclio amigo,' telling us further that they were just iVom the Nueces, where they had fought the Comanches two days previously and gained a victory. They were in war-jiaint and well armed and displayed in triumph two scal])s, one hand and several pieces of putrid flesh from various parts of the human body. Tliese were to be taken to the tribe, when a war-dance would ensue over the trophies, and they and their squaws would devour the flesh. I was frightened almost to death, liut tried not to show my alarm. They rode u]) to the carriage window and asked to see the ' Papoose.' I held up the baby and smiled at their compliments, l)ut took care to have my pistol and bowie knife visible and ke])t cool. .... I kept telling Orifiin to hurry the others, and Mr. Maverick worked cooly witli tlie rest. Jinny said, ' Let's cook some sui)i5er first,' and grumbled mightily when (iriiTin* ordered her into the wagon and drove off. Imagine oiir consternation when the Indians turned back and every one of the .seventeen followed us. It was a l)right moonlight night and finalh^ the Indians, finding us unsociable and dangerous, gradually dropped behind."

On June l-")th, ls;;,S, the travellers reached San Antonio, having left home October 14th of the previous year. While Mrs. Maverick was at Spring Hill, Mr. Maverick made one journey back to purchase household effects in New Orleans.

Mrs. Maverick goes on to describe the San Antonio of the period and gives a charming picture of the society of the little coterie of Americans then living here.

" Early in B'ebruary 1889, we moved into our own house at the Northeast corner of Main and Soledad streets. This house remained our homestead until July 1849 - over ten years - altho' five of the ten years, those from '12 to '17 we wandered about as refugees " Let Mrs. Maverick describe a San Antonio stone, and had three rooms, one fronting vSouth on Main street and West on Soledad street, and the other two fronting West on Soledad; also a shed along the East wall of the house toward the north end. This shed we closed in with an adobe wall, and divided it into a kitclien and servants' room. We also built an adobe room for the servants on Soledad street, leaving a gateway between it and the main house, and we built a stable near the river. We put a strong picket fence around the garden to the North, and fenced the garden off from the yard. In the garden were sixteen large fig trees, and man>- rows of pomegranates. In the yard were several china trees, and on the river bank, just lielow our line on the De la Zerda premises, was a grand old cypress which we could touch through our fence, and its roots made ridges in our yard It made a great shade, and we

*This Griffin wa.s a faith ful slave, who after Mr. Maverick's capture at San .\ntoiiio, in ISJ'J. (Ic-tciniiiifd to foMnw his master into Mexico to serve him as he best might. He was killed fighting- bravely with Dawson's command in the beginning of the journey. Mr. Maverick often remarke<l: " We owe Criflin a monument, " erected our halli liouse ami wasli place under its spreading branches. Our neighbors were the 1 )e la Zerdas. In 1 >i I' I their place was leased to a Greek, Roque Catahii, who kept a shop on the street and lived in the back rooms. He marrried a jiretty brii;ht-e\ eil, lauj^hiui;- Mexican ^n\ of fourteen years. He dressed her in jewelry and line clothes and bnu^lit her a dila])idaled piano. He was jealous and wished her to amuse herself at home. The piano had the desired effect, and she etijoNed it like a child with a new trumpet. The fame of her ])iano went through the town, and after tea, crowds would come to witness her performance."

"Our neighbors on the north were Doiia Juana \'arcinez and her son Leonicio. She sold us milk at '2') cents per gallon, pumpkins at lio cents each, and spring chicken at 12 jj cents each. Butter w'as oO cents 'p lb. When we returned from the coast in '47, she had sold her place to Sam S. Smith. (The Court House stands there now, and the son, Thad. Smith, is there too as County Clerk). My son Lewis Antonio, was born at this house of ours, and, until quite recently, I was of the opinion that he was the first child of pure American .stock born in San Antonio. Rut now I understand that a Mr. Brown came here with his wife in 1828 from Hast Texas, and during that year a son was born to them. That son, John Brown, is said to be now a citizen of Waco

'"This summer (18;]9) M. B. Jaques brought his wife and two little girls and and .settled on Commerce Street. Also Mr. Elliott came with his wife and two children and bought a place on Soledad .street, opposite the north end of our garden.*

.... "Mr. Maverick was a member of the Volunteer Company of 'Minute Men,' commanded by the celebrated Jack Hays, an honored citizen of California. He came to Texas at the age of eighteen and was appointed a deputy sun'eyor. The surveying parties frequently had ' brushes ' with the Indians and on the.se occasions Jack Hays displayed marked coolness and military skill, and .soon became by unanimous consent the leader in all encounters with the Indians. There were from fifty to seventy-fi\-e young Americans in vSan Antonio, at this time, attracted by the climate, the novelt}- or by the all-absorbing spirit of land s])eculation. They came from every one of the United States. Man\- had engaged in the short and bloody struggle of 'o-') and '?>() for the freedom of Texas. Some l)ossessed means and others were carving out their own fortunes ; all were filled with the sjiirit of adventure and daring and more or less stamped with the weird wildness of the half-known West.

" The signals for their expeditions were the ringing of the Cathedral bell and the hoisting the flag of the Republic in front of the Court House."

Mrs. Maverick tells of many depredations by Mexicans and Indians, showing the insecurity of the place even u]) to the very walls of San Antonio.

* Mr. 'riioinas nig.i;inl)otliain. a cari)fnter and his wife, took the house opposite us on the corner of Commerce Street and Main I'laza, where tlie Dauenhauer buildinijnow stands.

"This year (1880) our nei;ro men ])lowed and planted one labor above the Alamo, and were attacked In- Indians, (iriffin and Wiley ran into the River and saved themselves. The Indians cut the traces and took off the work liorses. W'e did not farm aL^ain."

" In November, IS."!*), a ])arty of ladies and .gentlemen came from Houston to visit San Antonio. They rode on horseback. The ladies were Miss Trask, of Boston, Mass., and Miss Evans, daughter of Judge Evans, of Texas. The gentlemen were Judge Ev^ans and Col. J. W. Darcey, Secretary of War of the Republic of Texas. Ladies and all were armed with pistols and bowie knives. I rode with this party and some others around the Head of the San Antonio River. We galloped up the West side and paused at and above the Springs long enough to admire the lovely valley of the San Antonio. The leaves were almost all fallen from the trees, leaving the \iew open to the Missions below town. The da}' was clear, cool and bright, and we could see as far as vSau Juan Ca])istrano, seven miles below town. We galloped home down the east side, and doubted not that the Indians watched us from the heavy timber of the River l)ottom.

" In the fall of ISo*) or "40, eighteen dead bodies were brought in from the edge of town and laid out in the Court House. They were the remains of a party who had been surprised and cut off while out riding, a Mr. Campbell alone escaping by the fleetness of his horse. The bodies had been found naked, hacked with tomahawks and partly eaten by wolves. The following day the nine Americans were buried in one large grave west of the San Pedro, outside of the Catholic burying ground, and very near its southwest corner. The nine Mexicans were buried inside the graveyard. ......

"Indians being so numerous and 'bad' makes agricultural produce dear. Farming reminds one of the difficulties of the Jews on their return from the capti\-it\- or the first plantings of the Pilgrim Fathers. Corn selling from two to three dollars a bushel."

Mrs. Maverick was an eye witness of the terrible hand to hand conflict with the Comanche braves in 1840. The fight was nothing less than Homeric. We give it in her own words : "On Tuesday, March UHh, 1840, (dia de San Jose) sixty-five Comanches came into the town to make a treaty. They l)rought with them, and reluctantly gave up, Matilda Lockhart, wliom they had captured with her younger sister, in December, IS.'IS, after killing two others of the family. The Indian chiefs and men proceeded to the Court House where they met the city and military authorities. The jail then occupied the corner formed b\- the east line of Main Plaza and the north line of Calabosa (now Market) street, and the Court House was north of and adjoining the jad. The Court House yard, back' of the Court House, was what is now the City Market on Market .street.* The Court House and Jail were of stone, one story, flat roofed and floored with dirt. Captain Tom Howard's Compan>- was at first in the Court Hou.se yard. The Indian women and boys came in there too and remained during the pow-wow.

" This was the third time the Inchans had come for a talk, pretending to seek jieace and trying to get ransom money for their American and Mexican captives. Their present i)roposition was :]iat tliey slioidd be paid an enonnous price for Matilda Lockhart and a Mexican they had just given up, and that traders be sent with paint, powder, flannel, blankets and such other articles as they should name to ransom the other cajnives. This course had been adopted once before, and when the traders reached the Indian camj) the smallpox broke out amongst them, and they killed the traders, alleging that they had introduced the di.sease to kill off the Indians. After the slaughter they retained both the captives and the goods. Now, the Americans, mindful of the treachery and duplicity of the Indians, answered as follows :

" - We will, according to a former agreement, keep four or five of your chiefs and the others of you .shall go to your Nation and bring all the captives here, and then we will pay all you ask for them. Meanwhile, the chiefs we hold we will treat as brothers, and not one hair of their heads shall be injured. This we have determined upon, and if \-ou resist our soldiers will shoot you down.'

" The above ultimatum being interpreted, the Comanches, in.stantly, and as one man, raised a terrific war-whoop, drew their bows and arrows and commenced firing with deadly effect, at the same time endeavoring to break out of the Council Hall. The order, ' Fire ! ' was given by Capt. Howard and the soldiers fired into the midst of the crowd. The first volley killed several Indians and two of our own people. Soon, all rushed out into the public square, the civilians to procure arms, the Indians to escape and the soldiers in clo.se pursuit. The Indians generally struck out for the River. Some fled southeast towards Bowen's Bend, some ran east on Commerce street and some north on Soledad. Soldiers and citizens pursued and overtook them at all points: vSonie were shot in the River and some in the streets. Several hand-to-hand encounters took place, and .some Indians took refuge in stone hou.ses and closed the doors. Not one of the sixty-five Indians escaped ; thirty-three were killed and thirty-two taken pri.soners.

" Six Americans and one Mexican were killed and ten Americans wounded. Our killed were Julian Hood the Sheriff, Judge Thompson an attorney from South Carolina, G. \V. Cayce. from the Brazos, and one officer and two soldiers and one Mexican whose names I did not learn. Those severeh- wounded were Lieutenant Thomp.son brother of the Judge, Captain Tom Howard, Captain Mat. Caldwell a citizen volunteer from Gonzales, Judge Robinson, Mr. Morgan Deputy Sheriff, Mr. Higginbotham and two soldiers. Some others were .sHghtly wounded.

"When the deafening war-whoop sounded in the Court Room, it was so loud and shrill, so sudden and inexpressibly horrible, that we women, looking through the fence cracks, for a moment could not comprehend its purport. The Indian boys, however, instantly recognized its meaning, and turning their arrows upon Judge Robinson and otlier gentlemen standing nearby, slew the Judge on the spot.

We fled precipitately, Mrs. Higg;inbothani into licr house and I across the street to my Commerce street door. Two Indians rushed by me on Connnerce street and another reached my door, and turned to push it, just as I slammed it to and beat down the heavy bar. I rushed into the house and in the north room found my husband and my brother Andrew sittin.^- calmly at a table inspecting some plats of surveys. They had heard nothing ! I soon gave them the alarm, and hurried by to look after my boys. Mr. Maverick and Andrew seized their arms. Mr. Maverick rushed into the street and Andrew into the back yard where I was, now shouting at the top of my voice, ' Here are Indians ! Here are Indians ! ' Three Indians had gotten in through the gate on Soledad street and were making towards the River. One had stopped near Jinny Anderson, our cook, who stood bravely in front of the children, mine and hers. She held a great stone in her hands, lifted above her head, and I heard her cry out to the Indians : ' G'way from heah, or I'll mash your head with this rock ! ' The Indian seemed regretful that he hadn't time to dispatch Jinny and her brood ; but his time was short, and. pausing but a moment, he turned and rushed down the bank, jumped into the River and struck out for the opposite shore. As the Indian hurried down the bank m^- brother ran out in answer to my loud calls. While the Indian was swimming, Andrew drew his vinerring bead on him. Another Indian was climbing the opposite bank and was about to escape, but Andrew brought him down also. Then Andrew rushed up Soledad street looking for more Indians.

" I housed my little ones and then looked out of the vSoIedad street door. Near b}^ was stretched an Indian wounded and dying. A large man, an employe of Mr. Higgin]x)tham, came up just then and aimed a pistol at the Indian's head. I called out, ' Oh, don't ; he is dying ! ' and the big American laughed and said, 'Well, to please you I won't ; but it would put him out of his misery.' Then I saw two others lying dead near l)y.

" Captain I,y.sander Wells, about this time, passed by riding north on Soledad street. He was mounted on a gaily caparisoned Mexican horse, with silvermounted saddle and bridle, which outfit he had secured to take back to his native State on a visit to his mother. As he reached the Veramendi house, an Indian who had escaped detection, rushed out from his hiding place, and jumping upon the horse behind Wells, clasped his arms and tried to catch hold of the bridle reins. The two men struggled some time, bent back and forwards and swayed from side to side, until at last, Wells managed to hold the Indian's arms with his right hand and with his left to draw his pistol from the holster. He turned partly round, placed the pistol against the Indian's bod)^ and fired, - a moment more and the Indian rolled off and dropped dead to the ground. Wells put spurs to his horse and did good service in the pursuit.

" I had become so fascinated by this struggle that I had unconsciously gone into the middle of the street, wheri Lieutenant Chevalier, who was passing, called out to me : * Are you crazy ? Go in or you will be killed ? ' I obeyed : but my curiosit}' and anxiety again got the better of me, and I peeped out on Commerce street where I saw the dead bodies of four or five Indians. ... It was dark when Mr. Maverick and Andrew returned. ....

" vSeveral incidoiils occurred soon after llic rij;lit of the U>th which are worth narratinji'. On March "JSth, 2.")() or .">(>() Coinanclies under a dashini;' \(^un,n- chief, Isinianica, cauu- ch>se to the ed.ne of the town, where tlie main body liaUed, while Chief Isinianica and another warrior rode (hirinj^ly into the PuhHc Scjuare and circled around the Pla/a, theii rode some distance down Commerce street and back, shoutiiij; all the while, olTerinj; to lii^ht, and heaping abuse and insults on the Americans. Isinianica was in full war ])aint and almost naked, He stopped (juite a while in front of Hluck's saloon, on the northeast corner of the s(juare. He shouted denance, rose in his stirrups, shook his clenched list, raxed, and foamed at the mouth.

" The citizens, ihrouiih an interpreter, told him that the soldiers were all down at the Mission vSan Jose de Agua\-o, and that if he went there Colonel h^isher would give him fight enough.

" Isinianica took his braves to San Jo.se, and with fearless daring bantered the soldiers for a fight. Colonel Fisher was sick in bed and Captain Redd, the next in rank, was in command. He said to the chief: .' We have made a twelve daj^s' truce with your people, in order to exchange pri.soners. My countr\'s honor is pledged, as well as my own, to keep the tnice, and I will not break it. Remain liere three days, or return in three days, and the truce will be over. We burn to fight you.' Isinianica called him 'liar,' 'coward,' and other opprobrious names, and hung around for some time ; but; at last, the Indians left and did not ri-tuni. Captain Redd remained calm and unmoved throtighout this stormy talk, but his men could w^itli difficulty be restrained ; and, in fact, some of them were ordered into the Mission church and guarded there.

"When Captain Lysander Wells, who was in town, heard of all this, he wrote Captain Redd a letter, in which he called him a ' dastardly coward,' and alluded to a certain petticoat government, under which he intimated the Captain was restrained. This allusion had reference to a young woman who, dressed in lioy's apparel, had followed Redd from Georgia and was now li\"ing with him. This letter of Wells was signed, much to their .shame, by several others in vSan Antonio.

"Colonel Fisher removed his entire force of three companies to the Alamo in San Antonio. Redd challenged \Wdls to mortal combat, and one morning at (i o'clock they met where the Ur.suline Convent now stands. Facing his antagonist. Redd coolly remarked: ' I aim for }our heart' ; and Wells replied: 'And I for your brains.' They fired I Redd sprang into the air, and fell dead with a bullet in his brain. Wells, too, in fulfillment of their fearful repartee, was shot very near the heart : he, however, lived a fortnight in great agony, begging every one near him to dispatch him or furnish him with a pistol to kill himself. Dr. Weidemann, of whom more anon, nursed him tenderly. It turned otit that the girl before referred to was married to Redd, and they found the marriage license and certificate in his pocket ; also letters to members of his own and her families, speaking of her in the tenderest manner and asking them to protect and provide for her. She followed him to the grave and seemed heart-broken, and soon thereafter returned to her people." ....

Mrs. Ma\-ci-ick j4-ives terriljle accounts of tlic fcarlul treatment of captives by the Indians, and her narrative is another warrant for the behef that the only "good Indian is a dead one."

" Matilda I^ockhart, who came in on March IDth, had been in captivity about two years. When she was taken, two of her family were slain and she and her little sister were taken prisoners. At that time she was thirteen and her sister three years old. vShe came along with the Indian i:)art>- as a herder driving a herd of extra horse.s - thus the Indians could change horses from time to time for

"March 2r)th, Mrs. Webster came in with her three-year-old cliild on her back. The poor, miserable being was so unlike a white woman that the Mexicans hailed her as ' Indio ! Indio ! ' She came into the Public Square from the west and was dre.ssed as an Indian, in Ijuckskin, her hair was cut short and .scpiare upon her forehead, and she was sunl)urned dark as a Comanche. She called out in good English, however, saying she had escaped from Indian cai)tivity. She was immediately taken into John W. Smith's house, and we American ladies gathered to see her and care for her. vSlie was very tired and hungry and almost exhausted. .... Her story was as follows: She came to Texas from Virginia early in 1.S35, with her husband, who, she claimed, was a relative of Daniel Webster. They built a house northeast of Austin; and in August of that year her husband was removing her and her four children to to this wild home. The\' had also in the party two negroes and one white man. The}' were camped one evening on Brushy Creek, not far north of Austin, when a large body of Comanches suddenly attacked them. The three men fought bravely, but were overpowered and killed. Mrs. Webster's infant was taken from her arms and its brains dashed out against a tree and her second child killed. vShe and her eldest boy, ' Booker ' were tied upon horses and she held her child of two years so tightly to her breast and pleaded so ]Mte- . ously for its life that the Indians left it with her. They were taken by rapid marches to the mountains, where they stripped ' Booker ' and shaved his head. He was attacked with brain fever, and an old s(|uaw, who had just lost a son of his age, adopted him and nursed him very tenderly. The Indians let her keep her little girl, but forbade her talking to her son. They made her cook and stake out ponies and beat her continually. She had been nineteen months in ca])tivity when she seized a favorable opportunity to escape. It was one night after a long day's march, when, having learned the general direction of San Antonio, she quietly slipped out of camp with her child in her arms and bent her steps towards Bexar. She spent twelve terrible days on the road without meeting a human being. She sustained herself all this while on berries, small fish which she caught in the streams and on bones which she sucked and chewed. Sometimes she gave up and and unable to see any distance through the fog, .she gave up all for lost and lay down in utter despair. Soon the sun shone out and the fog disappeared, when, looking towards the East, she saw a "golden cross shining in the sky." Then she felt that God had answered her prayers, and again took up the march with a

In the ,i;reat raid to Lawica Ha\ , in AnL;nst, l>il", when I,inn\-ille was sacked and General l'\li\ Houston inflicted a memorable deleat on tlie Indians, Mrs. Maverick lost man\- household effects <v/ yf//^' Ironi New Orleans. Amongst other thin.i;s, was a set of law books for Mr. Maverick. These were heard from as bein,n " tacked by strin»;s to the Indians' saddle-bows and then used as cigarette i>apers. This shows how little resi)ect the Indians had for IJlackstone and the law."

We began, now, to ha\"e a society- and great social)ilit>- anu^ngst ourseh'es, the Americans. During this summer, l.s|], Mr. Wilson Riddle brought his bride and Mr. Moore his famil\-. These gentlemen were both merchants on Commerce street. Mr. John Twohig (the present banker) started a small grocery on the corner of Commerce street and Main Plaza. Mrs. Jaques had a boarding house at south west corner of Commerce and Yturri streets. She had a considerable place rented from Yturri, boarded all the nice young Americans, and was very hospitable and pleasant. She was a good nurse, very kind to the sick and wounded, and was considerable suite, vi.sited San Antonio in June. A grand ball was given him in Mrs. Yturri's ' long room,' - all consideral)le houses had a " long room ' for receptions - the room was decorated with flags and evergreens, flowers were not much cultivated then ; at the ball General Lamar wore ver}- wide trousers which, at the same time, were short enough to show the tops of his shoes. The General and Mrs. Juan N. Seguin, wife of the Mayor, opened the ball with a waltz. We were forced to smile, for the gallant President, although a poet and a first rate conversationalist, could not dance. ... At this ball Hays, Chevalier and Howard had but one dress-coat between them, and they agreed to use the coat and dance in turn ; the ones not dancing would stand at the door and watch the happ3^ tenant of the garment disporting himself on the floor, at the same time continually making faces to remind him that his time was up. Their by-play and good humor furnished ({uite a diversion and amused us very nuicli

" During this summer the American ladies led a lazy life of ease. We had l)lenty of books, including no\-els. We were all \-oung, healthy and hap[)y, and were content with each other's society. We read, joked and laughed away the time and in those days there were no envyings and no backbiting. . . . Now that merchants were establishing themselves on Commerce street, bathing at our place had become rather public, so we ladies got permission of old Seiiora Trevino to erect a bath house on her premises, some distance north on Soledad street, afterwards the homestead of the Jaques famil\ . Thither we went in a crowd every afternoon at about four o'clock, taking the children and their nurses with us and a dainty lunch prepared by one of us in turn to eat after the bath."

Cowboy Life

An eccentric character of those days was a Doctor Weideiuaiiii, - his memory is worth keeping green as showing that the present cosmo])olitan characteristics of San Antonio are congenital, so to speak. . . . " He was a Russian scholar and naturalist, and an excellent physician and surgeon ; a highly cultivated man and spoke many languages, and he had been a great traveler. He lived on the old Chavez place on Acequia street. I rememl^er that on the night of the Indian fight of March IDth, 1S40, I visited Mrs. Higginhotham, as I luive before stated. While I was there Dr. W'eidemann came up to her grated front window and placed a severed Indian head upon the sill. The good Doctor Ijowed courteously, and saying: 'With your ])ermission, Madam,' disappeared. Presently he returned with another blootly head, when he exjjlained to us that he had examined all the dead Indians and had selected these heads, male and female, for the skulls, besides two entire bodies, to preserve as skeletons. He said, ' I have been longing exceedingly to secure such specimens, and now, ladies, I must get a cart to take them home.' Dr. Weidemann had taken an active ])art in the fight, and done good service mounted on his fine horse, and now he was all begrimed, bloody and dirty, the result of his labors as a warrior, surgeon and scientist. He soon returned with the cart loaded with his magnificent si)ecimens, took the two heads from the window and departed

That night he stewed the bodies in a soap l^oiler, and when the flesh was completely dessicated, emptied the cauldron into the Acequia. Now, this ditch furnished the drinking water generally for the town ; it being understood that the River and the San Pedro were reserved tor bathing and washing. There was a city ordinance to this effect coupled with a heavy fine. On the 21st it dawned upon the dwellers on the banks of the ditch that the Doctor had defiled the drinking water, and that probably they had taken in particles of Indian in their fluid. The people, very properly, gathered in indignation, a mob rushed to the Mayor's office, the men talked in loud and excited tones, the women shrieked and cried, they rolled up their eyes in horror, they vomited, and some of them were so frightened that they suflered mis-carriage. Many thought they were poisoned and would die. Dr. Weidemann was arrested and brought to trial : they overwhelmed him with abuse, and called him 'diablo,' ' demonio,' ' sin verguenza,' and so forth. He took it calmly, assured them the Indians had all sailed by in the night, paid his fine, and went away laughing. Once the Doctor lost his watcli. He suspected one of his servants - Jose ; and after waiting in vain for him to confess and give up the property, he determined to get his own again !>>- magic. He invited a party to see the fmi, and arraying himself in a figured gown and a conical hat, and preparing a fire and cauldron on the roof of his house, he summoned all his servants to his presence and annomiced lliat they were all to dip their hands into the i)ot : at the same time informing them that the hand ot the guilty one would turn black. The con.science-stricken Jose waited till the last, all the others had come through the ordeal with clean hands. He at last approached, plunged in his hand, anil when he withdrew it, lo, it was black I The wretched man confessed in terror, and immediately gave up the watch. Thereafter no Mexican passed Dr. Weidemann witliout crossing himself, for they all firmly believed he was in league with the Devil. The Doctor told them that the spirits of the boiled Indians were under his control and told him everythinj^. He set their skeletons up in his summer house and defied any one to steal from him ; it is needless to s:i\- his jjioiktIx- was not further molested. The Doctor was drowneil in \'^\''> or 1 "^ I I in aUcm[)lin,^' to swim Peach Creek near Gonzales, durinij a rise."

Mrs. Ma\-crick !.;i\-es a ,y;raphic account of the nii;h!. from San Antonio in ISI'i on the approach of \'as([uc/.. She mentions the burying of valuables, the disposing of doubloons in bustles manufactured for the occasion, the turning over of furniture to Mexican friends and other incidents of what is known as the " Runaway of '42." Mr. Maverick and man\- gentlemen escorted the ladies as far as the Capote Farm, the Erskine place, on the Guadalupe. "On the way from Capote Farm to Gonzales we passed King's rancho, which had just been deserted by the owners. Here was desolation amidst plenty. The corn-crib was full, the smoke-house well supplied, and chickens and hogs were running around as usual. On the front door was pasted the following notice : ' To all refugees, welcome; help yourselves to what you need. Also to all marching to repel the invaders, take what you want but leave the remainder to the next comers.' Hays reoccupied San Antonio, but the fugitives continued their flight first to Gonzales and aftenvards to La Grange. Mr. Maverick made a trip to Alabama and returning to San Antonio to the fall term of Court, was taken prisoner in the raid by Woll after a gallant but ineffectual resi.stance to a complete surprise."

San x\ntonio was again reoccupied by the Texans after the battle of the Salado, but too late to rescue the prisoners, largely on account of the jealousy of the commanding ofiicers of the Texan forces, Moore, Morehead and Caldwell. Caldwell was the hero of the Salado, but Moore was the ranking officer. Each division wanted its own commander to lead, leaving Hays, who had already captured the Mexican Artillery, to maintain himself unsupported. The troops returned disgusted, in small squads, to San Antonio, Woll getting off in safety, his prisoners being already far on their way. Mr. Maverick was liberated in the City of Mexico on March oOth, 1848, through the good offices of General Waddy Thompson, a connection of his, and then United States Minister to Mexico. The remainder of the prisoners were not released by Santa Anna until June Kith of the same year. Mr. Maverick started for home on April 2d, and on " May 4th he dismounted at cur cabin on the Colorado." The family afterward removed to Decrow's Point, on Matagorda bay, remaining until October loth, 1.S47. They found the town on their return much changed since '42, "emigrants arriving daily." . . . "We moved directly to our old home, the fence was nearly gone and everything dilapidated.'' In July, ISoO, what is known as the Maverick Homestead, was begun on the corner of Alamo Plaza and Houston street, although that street then had no existence, and years after its opening, was known as Paseo.

This date brings our <}uotations to an appropriate end. but we close the MS., this mirror of by-gone days, with regret. Our extracts have been limited to matters of general interest, and we commend them to the reader who lives in calmer times, and who would learn somewhat of the struggles to which he owes his present comfort, with the admonition to profit by them, not only by informing himself of the facts of history, but also by observing some of the .spirit of that society which has created his own.

"The Republic of Texas!" Nowadays when "The vState of Texas" is so constantly in our ears we are apt to "disreniember" that our wide, broad, giant Texas was a star "apart", "lone," by itself and not of the great and glorious constellation. Every year makes the fact of the Rei^ublic less familiar, less palpable to us. Every year thins the ranks of that remnant which can claim that they were citizens of the Republic of Texas. Soon this will be a coveted family tradition. To-day real old timers are accorded a certain respect, not more indeed than is their due. One cannot help being reminded of that exqui.site touch of Canon Kingsley in his famous "Westward Ho" by which he illustrates the deference - almost filial - of a younger generation to the old pioneer "Pelicans" who had sailed the world about with their revered and worshipful Master Drake. What had not the "Pelicans" not enduied? Fire, battle, murder, sudden death, torture, all this and more, was the portion of these "wilder comrades sworn to .seek." What was there then for the sons of such fathers to do, Vjut to emulate as far as easier times would allow so high an example? Now and then in those annal.s - mention is made of noble women who dared to share the.se perils and hardshij^s. And in the annals of Texas - of the Texas Republic - that .sort of woman was not so very rare. Scientists have adopted an "irresistible impulse theory" with regard to the tendency of people and races to travel - to pioneer - ever Westward, the course of the sun. Not an altogether new theory if one may credit the verse maker.

It was such impulses that built the 1jest of the Texas of the new regime. It required no weak impulses to dare the dangers of those early days - war - Indian.? - and an almost untried future were no inconsiderable trifles. There is something "deeper than the lips" in such a simple communication as "I came to Texas a bride in 1S41."

"On May ±2d 1S41," .said Mrs. Canterbury, "I came to San Antonio, a bride, with my husband Wilson Irvine Riddle. He was one of the earliest American merchants on Main street. I was a native of Virginia, my maiden name was Elizabeth Menefee. There was a Menefee, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence of Texas, of our family I l)elieve. I was married however in Tennessee. Colonel Hays, the noted Indian fighter was a connection of mine by marriage, he married my first cousin - a Miss Calvert of vSeguin. My husband's store was that little quaint two-.storied building that still stands next to Sullivan's shoe store, now one door east of the corner of St. Mary's and Commerce streets. At that date it was one of the most imiiortanl ])uildings on Main or Commerce street, and altogether considered to 1)c the finest hou.se in the town. It was some years .subsefiuently rented by General

Harney for 8(i() ])ci uioiith, as his residence and for a while niilitar\' headquarters, and still later Major Hels^er made use of it as a Ouarterniaster's Depot. It was here that my dau.nhter Mrs. Iva.^'ar, was l)orn, as also m\- son James Wilson Riddle, a merchant of ICagle Pass, Texas. Mrs. lva.t;ar was a chikl cjnly ten day.s old when the Mexicans came on March Ttii ISj-J, I was the last American lady to lea\e the cit\ . I went to Gouzales and remained there from March to October IS 12. In my lli^ht I stayed at Don Manuel Klores ranch, a stopping place between San Antonio and Seguin. Mrs. Maverick went afterwards to Decrow's Point on the coast and stayed there about five years. It was a terribly anxious time for the women. After all, these Mexicans under Vasquez, were little more than a band of marauders. And when in September of the same year, WoU was reported as advancing upon San Antonio with a large force, man}- of the citizens determined if possible to make some kind of defence, but so strong a force was very nuich of a surprise, and many of the citizens were made prisoners, even as the District Court was sitting. It was a much more serious affair than the investment of the city under Vasquez in the spring. Our store was robbed of all our goods - and a claim against Mexico for the damage done us, is still unsettled. The claim was made through the British government, for my husband was a British subject, but in the midst of the many important events that quickly followed each other at that epoch, the claim although acknowledged to be a just one was neglected. When it will be settled I know not. Fifty-three good citizens were taken and put in chains by Woll, and marched all the weary way to the City of Mexico. I knew most of them well. My husband was chained to Wm. H. Jones. His brother to John Twohig, the banker - at the time John Twohig had a general store at the corner of Main Plaza and Main street, where Deutsch's store is. He coolly blew up his store - declaring that no man should rob him of his goods. Sam A. Maverick had for a companion Major Colquhoun, I believe - then there were John Bradley the father of Mrs. Waelder, James Truehart, Judge Hutcheson, Dr. Hatch. Dr. Booker, Dr. Mackay, Duncan B. Ogden and many others. I have a list but don't know just whereto find it now. Many men were killed a few days after in the fight on the vSalado. It was a dreadful time. I also knew man}' of the Mier pri.soners - that was a .sad bit of history - you have heard all about that I expect.

Soon after I came, my husband gave me a piano - it was about the first in Texas. I was the only player in San Antonio then - I still play a little. I had that piano until a few months ago, when I .sold it for $1G; I am sorry now that I sold it. I still have my old music stool. When the Mexicans came I had my piano hastily boxed, and on ni}- return, that, my music stool and a rocker were almost my only household possessions. Many of the prominent Mexican families were at first wealthy and well-to-do, but they had to live, and they were not merchants, and extensive farming was out of the question on account of the great danger of Indian raids - they did not dare trust themselves for long, out of town, so their great estates dwindled, and passed into the hands of others. I have seen many and vast changes in San Antonio."

Many other interesting matters were discussed by Mrs. Canterbury, and personal recollections were given of events, the history of which will be learnt in school b}' the children of Texas for many future generations.

I shall not soon forget my interview with Bishop Xeraz. The meeting at which much of the information lierein written was obtained was one whicli impressed me much. It was an appointment.

The morning was a lovely one in June, warm outside but cool and airy in the high rooms of the plain but comfortable house on Uwyer Aveiuie. Would I please come up stairs, the Bishop was somewhat lame by rea.son of advancing years, and found it difficult to move about ? I found him busy in his rooms but he put aside his work upon my entrance and bid me draw a chair towards his desk. He received me with a direct kindliness of manner at which had there been any restraint it must have vanished at once. A mixture of quiet dignity and simplicity one does not wonder in his presence that he is Catholic Bishop of San Antonio.

Said the good Bishop "I have brought here the records that you wished to see, some of the old archives of our Church and the Missions, we will look them over together - there they are," said he, pointing to his bookshelf - "Will >ou please bring them to the desk here?" Taking up the top volume I found the leaves of the second one to be loose, and before I could secure them a gust of the breeze through the open windows had scattered them over the floor. The Bishop in spite of my remonstrance hastened to help me to gather them up and laughingly remarked " We must take great care of these, the wind is fresh this morning," and then we sat down to talk and write. I had written to the Bishop some few days previously, enclosing at his desire, a string of questions, so he knew just about what I \vanted. " Your letter came to me," he said, "and I know what you require. I wish that you had come to me some years ago, for my memory is not so good as it used to be for these things. I used to have charge of the records and formerly made it my business to know all abount them, but I will tell you what I remember. It is very much to be regretted that many of our church records were destroyed by the fire in the Priest House on March 2;5rd. lS(i9. Many of the older records were removed to Zacatecas by the Mexican military authorities in 1824. I do not know why they took them from here nor if they are still in existence at Zacatecas or elsewhere, but it is a fact that many were taken there. The volumes that I have here are very old and about the most interesting that we now possess, they are of various matters concerning the church." The books were in manuscript and bound in thick brown rudely tanned leather or hide, worn smooth by much use and stitched here and there with laces of hide, most oi them were quarto shape, eight by ten inches or thereabout, varying a little. The character of the writing was mostly good, some of it, however, was difficult to decipher, many of the " ss" were made in the old fashioned way like " f f" and this made .some of the Indian names at first sight a little doubtful, for instance. Tilo.sa read like Tilofa ; Pasala, like Pafala and there were other peculiarities of the times and style in which they were written. The Bishop made many running translations from the Spanish which I did my best to follow.

" Here is an old book," continued the Bishop. " It is the Record of Marriages of Mission Concepcion, I think it will interest you. There is the original record you see 'Mission Concepcion, Tiichlo dc Acuna, founded March otli, IT-ll, on the l)order of the Ri\-er of San Antonio.' Here follow 'Marriages of the same Mission 17-'>oto l"**",' Ictus make excerpts of the different Indian nations mentioned in this rccortl of marriages. The first marriage is Joseph Klores of the nation Patumaco \s ilh Ivfiegenia of the nation Pasalat. The second is Juachin Antonio, of the nation Patumaco, with Brigida of the nation PachaUjuc. The third is Chrisloval, of Nacion Grande de Patalca, with Ikalriz, of the nation Tilosa, and .so on, in 17'")<i there a])pear to ha\-e been no marriages. Other nations recorded here are Xarame, Sicpiipil, Tilpocopal, Pusan, Pasalat, Pamache, Chayopina and the eighty -first marriage is that of Herndino Chaygoya of the nation Patumaco, with .\nlonia of tlie nation Ai)ache.

"Here is a 'Book in which are entered the Baptismal Records which were luade of the children of the Second Company of \'olunteers de San Carlos de Parras which stayed (or remained) in the Alamo. The Chaplain of it being Brn. Don Manuel Saenz de Juan Corena, and it begins on March 1st, 1788.' The book is apparently opened however on February (Jth 1788. The Alamo is also herein mentioned as 'The Pueblo of San Jose,' a stjde it bore at one short period of the Mi.ssion's Hi.story; this book runs on till after 1806 when there is a note to the effect that the Chaplain Jose Bravo having died then, one Clemente de Arocha took the place of him. It is in the beginning of this book that we find the memorandum that 'On Ma}' 8th, 1744 the first (or corner stone) of the new Church of San Antonio (de Valero) was blessed, being at the time Clergymen of the Mission, Diego Martin Garcia, Mariano Franci.sco de los Dolores and Friar Juan de los Angeles. In proof of which I sign my name in the Mission of San Antonio September 29th, 1745' - here follow the three signatures - this however is apparently a copy of an original entry, made at the date of the opening of this book.

"The next volume is a ])ook of Episcopal orders, the first signed August 6tli 17G1 concerning various matters of Church Government, these orders were brought by courier in advance of the visitation of the Bishop, we shall see mention of this later. The first lengthy order in this book refers to previous general orders from Rome dated 1681, this is in October 1761. Very likely if we went through all this we should find many interesting references to doings of the times. "This book," said the Bishop, taking up another, "is of similar intention to the last, it is the record of 'The Bishop of the Mitre, begining ]7!)o' - it is styled Book 2. Number 1 was probably lost in the fire. It contains copies of 'Letters Pastoral and orders which belong to the town of San Fernando, Royal Province of San Antonio de Bexar,' they .seem to have been .sent in advance of the Bishop of New Leon (Nueva Leone; by courier and in order that there shall be no mi.scarriage of the document, note that the instructions to the recipients are 'and you will hold this until the Bishop makes his visitation, when it is to be signed by him,' afterwards it is sent to the next church and so on and here is a list of the parishes to which this letter was sent : Cordillera, (Hills), Cerrio, Santiago, San Cantez(?) San Nicholas, Croizer(?) Crualla3^ Burgos, San Fernando, -^^ Reynosa, Camargo, Mier, Bahia, Bexar, Nacogdoches. (Some names are difficult to decipher) "and see the careful wa}-," said the Bishop, turning to the end of the volume, "in which any interpolations or additions to the letters were avoided or made imposible, 'This book has 752 pages used but there could be used 757,' and here are the five blank pages at the end."

"The next book we come to is a book of the Baptisms, etc., of the Mission of San Jose - the Second Mission as we call it - here is a memorandum of its contents :

Burials ': " " " " " 17S1 to 1S24. This same book also contains the same records for San Juan and San Francisco de la Espada Missions from 181,S to 1824 which is evidence perhaps that the Missions were already becoming of less importance.

"This last is a 'Book of the Government (or Achninistrationj and Visitation of the Foreign Vicar of the Province of Texas, being Don Juan Xepomuceno de la Peiia. Anode 1825.' It opens with a circular letter sent by courier, dated December, 1824, entitled 'Orders of the Church concerning Civil and ICclesiastical administration tagether,' and signed Sor. Col. Cont. Citizen Estevan de Ostin. It also contains the orders of the Bishop to the Priest.

"I am not sure whether Don Juan Xepomuceno de la Pena, the Foreign Vicar (Vicario foraneo) of 1S25 was the last President of the Missions, or more likely perhaps P'rancisco ]\Iaynes who was named P'oreign Vicar by Seiior Dn. D. Leon Lobo Guerrero, \"icar Capitular and administrator of the Diocese of Monterc}', on September 3()th 1825. Ah - I remember - certainly F. Maynes for he was the Reverend President at the time when the Superior of the PVanciscans came and passed, or delivered to the Bishop of Monterey all the Missions and their lands. Most of the lands of the Missions had been divided among the Indians belonging to each, with the exception of, it appears, fifteen acres whicli the Mexican Government attached to and granted to each Mission. The lands were I believe given or distributed to the Indians l)y suertes or lots. Bishop Odin bought back some of the suertes and the taxes of this land have been paid !)}- the Church ever since. The Church has been in possession of the Mission properties since 1824 or January 1825. Some of these facts may be .seen in the deeds to Bishop Odin. The state never excluded the rights of the occupants as has been averred, on the contrary, it recognized their rights as is proved by the result of the law suits gained by Bishop Odin in 1856. Mr. Altgelt knows a good deal about these matters. He has in his possession a book which gives the history and laws regarding these lands and transactions.

"Who was San Antonio ? He was St. Anthony of Padua, he was born in the vear 1195 and entered the Franci.scan Order in 1221, he died June IMth 12ol."

To l)r. Cupples thanks arc due for nian\- \alual)k- liinls and suggestions to the conipiUuion ol" this work. Was the editor at a loss to trace the date of any particuhir hajijiening of the earlier days after the Texan Declaration of Independence, if Dr. Cupples could not give it out of his excellent memory, in talking o\er the e\ent, some old and apparently insignificant recollection would be incidentally dropped that would be sure to lead to the elucidation of the point in question. It is interesting to note how closely linked in one's memories are stirring and momentous actions with the commonplaces of every day life. Once was discovered the name of a man who had done some action worthy to be forgotten, but which was not inconsequent to a niore important event, by the Doctor remembering that he had cured the man's brother of an extraordinary gall stone. It is the evidence and aid of such witnesses as Dr. Cupples that the historian even of modest pretensions knows how to value. Documentary evidence is one thing in its strength and firmness, but that of the contemporary or eye witness is another. A dear, musty-smelling, frayed, don't-touch-me-or-I-shall fall-to -pieces kind of document, written all over with the rigmarole of other days in quaint old-fashioned characters and signatures of familiar sounding names and lots of dates, is indeed a treasure and invaluable in the eyes of a searcher. But for that keen interest and enjoyment which is peculiar to triflers with the past, there is nothing to compare with the excitement of hearing that of a truth, such a man looked thus and another did that in this manner at such a moment, when each actor's senses were strained and quivering, and the listener feels that the emotions of men and facts in some momentous doings of the past are being recalled with a vividness that no second hand or written evidence could array.

Dr. Cupples has seen, experienced and endured much in a long, active and useful life, and to his taste for action he has brought the relish of a learned and enlightened observation. The editor here wishes to acknowledge the value to him of many comments by Dr. Cupples, upon notes of his prior to their final preparation for the press.

" I note," said the Doctor, " the curious discrepancy and anachronism in the fac simile drawings of those seals. You see this Royal seal dated IS-2'A, .sometime after the secession of Mexico, is on the same document with a Mexican Government seal of even an earlier date. My explanation would be that in the desire to have the document legal at all hazards, it was thought best in that unsettled period to make sure of having the right seal by using Ijoth. I don't know that it was so, but it looks as if it were, does it not ?

-- I think you should note that the original settlement of the Canary Islanders was not around the Military and Main Plazas, as is commonly supposed ; that was an after move. The first settlement was at the San Pedro Springs, between the crossing on North Flores street and the head springs. They subsequently removed to the location of those Plazas, concluding that it could be more easily defended against the incursions of hostile tribes than the settlements at the Springs. The Head of the San Pedro had always been a favorite watering place of the Apaches and other hostiles of the hills to the north and northwest.

' Yes, I remember many of the old erections around the enclosure of the Plaza de Armas (Military Plaza). I knew the man Goodman, you speak of; I remember him well, and the years of trouble he gave the city before he was finally ousted from the property on the Plaza, just opposite where Kalteyer's drug store is now was the location of the property he claimed. I remember he once came near to killing Ed. Dwyer over that and other matters, that was the late Mr. Dwyer's father, the present boys' grandfather. You say Juan Seguin'J'- is still alive at I^aredo - well. I shouldn't wonder ; he wouldn't be so very old. I knew his father very well, Scnor Krasmo Seguin, a perfect and courtly old Spanish gentleman. Juan Seguin was Gefe Politico here in is;^.") or "M'}, I believe. Gradually, and piece by piece, the city acquired the properties that private citizens claimed on the Plazas, and finally the whole space was cleared. The Bat Cave is a remnant of these old properties and the store owned by the Russis and rented by DuUnig, on the northeast corner of Military Plaza, was the last of airthe enclosing buildings to disappear, in LS.SS. The Plaza de las Yslas or Main Plaza, was similarl}^ afflicted, but the city became possessed of all the Plaza, finally. The Callaghan and Groesbeeck properties were the last to be improved off this Plaza.

"That portion of the city around Market street from Main Plaza, was in ante- Independence days about out of the thickly settled limits. It was called the Potrero, or the place for horses, because that was where all the horses of those who came to town were put for the night. Later, Manuel Yturri, probably the grandfather of the present M. Yturri, (the Yturris' are a family from the Basque Provinces, I believe) built a house on Market street, and - let me see - McGloin lived there, too, the Empresario who settled up the San Patricio country. On the west side of the Plaza de Armas in Spanish and Mexican times, the entries used to be closed at nightfall by rawhides hung on chains tightly stretched across the narrow roads. Behind these the settlers in the Plaza enclosure were safe from surprises by Indians and their arrows. The rawhide was arrow-proof.

"And the 'Plaza Hou.se' was a prominent institution in its days. This hostelry used to stand just about where the White Elephant was and Wolfson's. It was the starting place of the stages to Seguin, Port Lavaca, Victoria and a number of other places. It belonged to the late Mr. Billy Elliott's father, the present boy's grandfather. It was a two-story building. It was there that old Winchell tried hard to break his neck by falling from the upper gallery. Then Alsbury had the house. I forget who was the last holder of the old place. The Padre Garza House was another old landmark of which I have a lively recollection.

" I came here on April 27th, lS-14, with Castro's Colony. Dr. Herff says he finally settled in San Antonio in IS.K). I think the Doctor is mi.staken in the year; it must have been in 1849. I am pretty sure about that. Yes, I was in the First Carlist War. I was Staff Assistant Surgeon to the British Legion in Spain in IS'Sii. Afterwards I went to Paris, where I met Castro and came here- Without knowing it I located the present townsite of Castroville, and I cut the first brush there for the first clearing. On account of the troubles with Mexico and the hostile Indians, it was found impracticable to locate on the Colony's chosen lands, so Castro bought a leaj^^ue of land, paying the sum of S'iOOO for it, which he gave to the colonists ; hut there were suits brought for the land, - disputed title, - and finally the colonists had to pay for their lots at Castroville twice over to two different claimants, to Illis and to another. Mrs. Cupples, my wife, was a Miss Ja(iues. Mr. and Mrs. Jaques, her parents, were very old-timers in Texas. TIk-n- were inlimalc- with Stephen 1'. Austin and niau\- others of the earlier settlers. My wife still possesses a watch which Austin gave Mr. Jaques as a memento of his gratitude for aid rendered him in his escape from Mexico in 1835. Mr. Jacpies' house was burned by \'asquez in 1S42, and again when WoU invested the city he was placed under guard and would undoubtedly have been shot but for the intervention of Colonel Carasco, of General WoU's staff, who pleaded for his life. Colonel Carasco was friendly to Mr. JacjUL-s because ot some favor rendered.

"You spoke of the Recapitulation of the Indies," continued Dr. Cupples. " Perhaps I can tell you something about that. It was a kind of code and record of the Council of the Indies. This Council had its seat in Seville, I believe, and its members were appointed by the Crown. It had control and direction of Spain's Colonies in all parts of the world. Recognizing that water was a chief necessity to the existence, not to say success, of a Colon}', the}' devised exhaustive regulations and laws concerning the preservation of water rights, the construction of works of irrigation and the control of such water always to the be.st public advantage and the division of vSuertes of the Regadios to Regadors. The lot on which this house stands"" (the Doctor's residence on Soledad street) "is entitled to so many hours of water daily trom the San Pedro Acequia. It was formerly considered to be an inalienable right of the property holder. How the city overruled the privilege I cannot explain. The ini])ortance of land was formerly reckoned by the hours of water to which it was entitled. One of the rules in the Recapitulation was that navigable streams should have reserved for public needs, on either bank, a strip of land twelve varas wide. The San Antonio River was considered to be in their sense a navigable stream, and the rule undoubtedly applied to our River. Giraud was right as to this, but he lacked firmness. He was a good man, and had he svifficiently insisted, perhaps the city would he able to-day to boast of a remnant of a splendid possession. Giraud was one of the few who saw the right of the matter clearly."

And now what a book might be written from the Doctor's recollection of the know-nothing movement here, of the great war and of the famous Vigilance Connnittee trou])les. But as Mr. Kipling would say - that is another story.