Chapter XII: Part 12

Diablo Canyon, The Mystery of. Stevens, Walter B., Through Texas, St. Louis, 1892, pp. 28–29.

Eagle Lake, legend of. *Morning Star, Houston, June 13, 1839, p. 2. Richmond Telescope, June, 1839; Telegraph and Texas Register, June 19, 1839. *Darden, Mrs. F. A. D., The American Sketch Book (Texas Pioneer Magazine), Austin, Vol. VII, No. 2, 1881, pp. 99–102. Duke, Mrs. Emma, the Eagle Lake Headlight, 1909. *Carothers, Mrs. H. W., “Legend of the Lake,” four-page folder, in verse, “written for the Eagle Lake Chamber of Commerce,” circum 1922.

Egg-Nog Branch, Nacogdoches County, origin of name of. Fuller, Henry C, “The Story of Egg-Nog Branch and Fall of Fredonia Republic,” Houston Chronicle, February 4, 1923.

Enchanted Rock of Llano County. *New York Mirror, October 20, 1838, p. 135: letter of a traveler lately returned from Texas. *Reid, Samuel C., The Scouting Expeditions of McCulloch’s Texas Rangers, Philadelphia, 1848, pp. 111–112. *Dewees, W. B., Letters from an Early Settler of Texas (compiled by Cora Cordelle), Louisville, Kentucky, 1852, p. 152. Brown, Frank, Annals of Travis County and the City of Austin, unpublished manuscript in the archives of the University of Texas, Chap. I, p. 16. Hörmann, von, Pater Alter, Die Tochter Tehuans oder Texas im vorigen Jahrhundert, Fredericksburg Publishing Company, Fredericksburg, Texas, 1917. The book is a fictional expansion of the legend of the Enchanted Rock as told in this volume by Julia Estill. Wehmeyer, I. G., “The Enchanted Rock,” Fredericksburg Standard, September 3, 1921, p. 1. Dietel, William, “An Indian Legend Retold,” Dallas News, May 28, 1922, Magazine Section.

Fig tree at Columbia, Brazoria County. Tree grew out of blood of a murdered man. Davis, M. E. M., Under the Man-Fig, Boston, 1895, p. 9.

Fort Phantom Hill, Old (Jones County). Chittenden, W. L. [Larry], poem in Ranch Verses, New York, 1893, p. 97.

Galveston Bay, legends of life about. Sjolander, John P., “Rhymes of Galveston Bay”: *“The Padre’s Beacon,” Texas Magazine, March, 1911; “Pinto and the Stingaree,” ibid., 1911, pp. 48–50; “The Ballad of the Bayou Belle,” ibid., June, 1912; *“The Boat that Never Sailed,” ibid., May, 1913.

Haunted Mansion, Mitchell Lake, near San Antonio. Barnes, Charles Merritt, Combats and Conquests of Immortal Heroes, San Antonio, 1910, pp. 240–241.

Headless Horseman on the Nueces, legend of. Reid, Captain Mayne, The Headless Horseman, A Strange Tale of Texas, London, 1866, pp. 361–362. The legend may be purely fictitious.

Honca Tree, The Accursed. How it got its thorns. Raht, Carl, The Romance of Davis Mountains and Big Bend Country, El Paso, 1919, pp. 286–293.

Hornsby’s Bend (Travis County), When Spirits Walked at. Dealey, Edward M., Dallas News, October 2, 1921, Magazine Section, p. 3. In Morphis, J. M., History of Texas and Wilbarger, J. W., Indian Depredations in Texas, the incident is told as history and not as legend, and certainly the weight of evidence seems to be on the side of history. The story of “The Scalping of Josiah Wilbarger,” and the consequent apparitions is reprinted from Wilbarger’s Indian Depredations in Frontier Times, Bandera, Texas, Vol. I, No. 6, March, 1924, pp. 28–31.

Huisache, The Spring of the—An Apache Legend. Wright, Mrs. S. J., San Antonio de Béxar, Austin, 1916, 123–124.

Indian Maid’s Vision, An. A legend of the New Braunfels Oak. De Zazala, Adina, Interstate Index—The Pioneer Magazine of Texas, San Antonio, April, 1922, p. 12.

Lafitte, Jean, legends concerning treasure of.

*“Lafitte’s Treasure Vault,” Galveston News, October 27, 1908.

*“Seeking for Buried Treasure,” Houston Post, date uncertain. See
“Horror Guarded Treasure of the Neches,” this volume.

*“Pirates and Their Sacks of Gold,” Galveston News, date uncertain.

“Empty Chest Revives Tales of Buried Treasure Horde,” Port Arthur
News, July 1, 1923.

“Buried Treasure of Jean Lafitte,” Frontier Times, Vol. I, No. 8,
May, 1924, pp. 24–26; reprinted from the San Antonio Light,
February 17, 1923.

Lost Canyon in the Big Bend of Texas. *“A Lost Valley in a Texas Canyon,” Western Story Magazine, December 2, 1922. The same account, evidently syndicated, appeared in the New York World early in 1923 and was reprinted in “Cattle Clatter” of the San Antonio Express early in 1923.

Lost Company of Irish Troops, tradition of, on the Rio Grande. Richardson, T. C, “Trodding [sic] ‘Old Rough and Ready’s’ Path through the Brownsville Country,” Houston Chronicle, November 26, 1922.

Lost Mines. See Treasure Legends.

Lovers’ Leap (also Lover’s Leap and Antonette’s Leap), Mount Bonnell, Austin. *Morphis, J. M., History of Texas, New York, 1874, pp. 510–513. Reprinted in the Austin Tribune, circum 1908, according to Miss Louise von Blittersdorf. Swisher, Bella French, The American Sketch Book (Texas Pioneer Magazine), Vol. IV, 1879, pp. 94–95. The legend is incorporated in “A Historical Sketch of Austin,” and is said to be reprinted from the Courier-Journal. Two years later Bella French Swisher incorporated it in a story called “Mount Bonnell,” which appeared in The American Sketch Book, Vol. VII, No. 1, 1881, p. 34. Whitten, Martha E., “Mount Bonnell,” in Texas Garlands, “Author’s Edition,” Chicago, 1889, pp. 218–221; verse. Rumpel, Charles Frederick, in Texas Souvenir [Poems], Austin, 1903, p. 36. Rumpel plays with the legend in vers de société. Brown, Frank, Annals of Travis County and the City of Austin, unpublished Ms., University of Texas, Chap. VI, p. 49. The Brown account, essentially the same as that of Morphis, appeared in the Austin American, under the title “Austin’s Romantic History,” January 20 and January 27, 1924. Moreland, Sinclair, The Noblest Roman, 1910, 1911, pp. 256–257.

Lover’s Leap, South Llano, Kimble County. *Jaques, Mary J., Texan Ranch Life, London, 1894, p. 255.

Lover’s Leap, Santa Anna. *Callan, Austin, Santa Anna Beautiful, Santa Anna, Texas, 1907. Pamphlet.

Lover’s Leap, Waco. Everett, W. E., “The Legend of Lovers’ Leap,” Waco Times-Herald, December 19, 1913; verse. Scarborough, Dorothy, “Traditions of the Waco Indians,” Publications of the Folk-Lore Society of Texas, No. I, pp. 50–51.

Margil, Fray Antonio, “The Blessed,” also called “The Venerable,” legends of.

“The Blessed Margil’s Enchantment—A Legend of the San Antonio
Valley,” Wright, Mrs. S. J., San Antonio de Béxar, Austin, 1916,
pp. 127–128. Barnes, Charles Merritt, Combats and Conquests of
Immortal Heroes, San Antonio, 1910, “Legend of Enchantment,” pp.
80–81. The versions are practically the same.

*“The Holy Spring of Father Margil at Nacogdoches,” Fuller, Henry
C., Galveston News, 1902. Contributed to this volume by Littlejohn,
E. G.

“The Margil Vine, Legend of the First Christmas at the Alamo,” De
Zavala, Adina, folder, stitched, San Antonio, 1916. Reprinted in
History and Legends of the Alamo and Other Missions in and around
San Antonio, by De Zavala, San Antonio, 1917, pp. 65–68.

*Legend of the mission bells ringing at the death of Father Margil,
De Zavala, op. cit., pp. 150–151.

See also San Antonio River, origin of.

Medina, The Maniac of. Domenech, The Abbê, Missionary Adventures in Texas and Mexico, London, 1858, pp. 113–116.

Mexicans, transmigration of souls of into mesquites. [Page, D.], Prairiedom: Rambles and Scrambles, “by a Suthron,” New York, 1845, pp. 129–130.

Miracles, The Lord of. “Legend of el Señor de los Milagros,” De Zavala, History and Legends of the Alamo, etc., pp. 195–196.

Mocking Bird, Origin of. “Origin of the Mocking Bird, A Legend of Southern Texas,” Sale, Ellen L., Ladies’ Messenger, July, 1888; reprinted in The Bohemian, “Souvenir Edition,” Fort Worth, 1904, pp. 99–100. Verse; lovelorn Indian maiden drowns herself in the San Antonio River; her soul takes the form and song of the mocking bird. According to Mrs. A. B. Looscan, the legend has also been written in verse by Lee C. Harby for either the Gulf Messenger or Texas Magazine, Houston publications. Complete files of these magazines are difficult to find.

Monk’s Leap. Aimard, Gustave, The Freebooters, A Story of the Texan War, Philadelphia (no date given), Chap. XXIII.

Mount Bonnell. See Lovers’ Leap, Mount Bonnell.

Navajoes, a legend of the. “The Dancing Man,” Hunter’s Frontier Magazine, Vol. I, No. 1, May, 1916, pp. 17–18.

Pacing White Stallion, or White Steed of the Prairies. *Kendall, George W., Narrative of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, New York, 1844, pp. 88–89. Marryat, Captain, Narrative of the Travels and Adventures of Monsieur Violet in California, Sonora, and Western Texas, Leipzig, 1843, pp. 155–156. Marryat purloined his material largely from Kendall’s account as it appeared in the New Orleans Picayune. *Barber, J., “The White Steed of the Prairies,” The Democratic Review, New Orleans, April, 1843, Vol. XII, p. 367 ff. A ballad.

Pecos Bill, The Saga of. O’Reilly, Edward, the Century Magazine, October, 1923, pp. 827–833.

Pirate fortress on Galveston Island, legend of the founding of by Don Estevan de Sourdis and the Devil. Aimard, Gustave, The Freebooters, A Story of the Texan War, Philadelphia, Chap. XXI.

Pirates. See Lafitte.

Randado Ranch, Jim Hogg County, origin of name of. Falvella, J. Will, a feature article in the San Antonio Express, August 12, 1923.

Rio Grande: “Legend of the Great River.” Clark, A., Jr., Add-Rann (Texas Christian University), Vol. IV, No. 8, 1898. Verse; narrative of phantom lovers.

Sabine Lake, The Legend of. Reid, Mrs. Bruce, Port Arthur News, July 1, 1923.

San Antonio River, legendary origin of: *“Legend of the San Antonio River,” Barnes, Charles Merritt, Combats and Conquests of Immortal Heroes, San Antonio, 1910, pp. 76–79. Wright, Mrs. S. J., “A Legend of the ‘Blessed Margil,’” San Antonio de Béxar, Austin, 1916, 121–122. Swisher, Bella French, “The San Antonio River,” in Writers and Writings of Texas, edited by Davis F. Eagleton, 1913, pp. 86–87; reprinted from The American Sketch Book (Texas Pioneer Magazine). The versions by Barnes and Wright vary little. Swisher’s version employs a thunderbolt, lovers, and fairies.

San Antonio Valley, Discovery of. Wright, Mrs. S. J., op. cit., “An Apache Legend,” pp. 125–126.

San Antonio River, springs of. Wright, op. cit., “When the Springs Ceased to Flow,” pp. 124–125.

San Antonio, The Folk of the Underground Passages of. “The Padre’s Gift,” “The Courteous and Kindly Child and the ‘Good People’ of the Underground Passageway,” De Zavala, Adina, History and Legends of the Alamo, etc., pp. 58–65.

San Bernard River, mysterious music in. *Letts, F. D., an article in the Galveston News, no date given; reported by E. G. Littlejohn. *Wilson, Eugene, J., Jr., Gulf Messenger, Houston, December, 1894, Vol. VII, pp. 691–692. *“Wesley,” (J. W. Morris), two articles on “Fiddler’s Island,” Freeport Facts, summer of 1922; another article, ibid., on “Mystic Music in the San Bernard.” Western Story Magazine, “Music Heard on Texas River,” December 2, 1922, p. 131. All these versions are incorporated in “Mysterious Music in the San Bernard River,” by Bertha McKee Dobie, this volume.

San Gabriel Mission, early Spanish legend concerning the abandonment of. *Bolton, H. E., Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century, pp. 268–269.

San José Mission, San Antonio, legends of. “The Windows of the Voices” and “A Legend of the Bells of the Mission San José,” De Zavala, Adina, History and Legends of the Alamo, etc., pp. 142–145.

San Marcos River, A Legend of: how water lilies came in. *Swisher, Bella French, The American Sketch Book (Texas Pioneer Magazine), Austin, Vol. I (Vol. IV), 1879, p. 146; reprinted in Vol. II (Vol. V), 1880, pp. 91–92.

Santiago Peak, Big Bend, how it got its name. Raht, Carl, The Romance of Davis Mountains, El Paso, 1919, pp. 77–81.

Snively. See Snively under Treasure Legends.

Sour Lake, The Legend of. Young, Maud J. The legend is referred to in various places in Texasana, including Raines’ Bibliography of Texas, but I have been unable to find time or place of its publication.

Staked Plains, origin of name of. Gregg, Josiah, Commerce of the Prairies, 1855, Vol. II, p. 181. Marcy, Randolph B., Captain United States Infantry, Exploration of the Red River of Louisiana, 1852, Washington, 1854, p. 92. Parker, W. B., Notes ... Through Unexplored Texas ... 1854, Philadelphia, 1856, p. 161. Sneed, John, “Many Legends as to Staked Plains,” Dallas News, June 9, 1923.

Steed, White, of the Prairies. See Pacing White Stallion.

TREASURE LEGENDS

Almagres Mines, Miranda’s reports on. Archives University of Texas. See pp. 12–13, this volume, notes. See Bowie, Cerro de la Plata, San Saba, and Llano.

Anna Cache Mountains, Kinney County, treasure in. San Antonio Express, “Cattle Clatter,” January 5, 1924.

Bowie Mine. *Hunter, John Warren, Rise and Fall of the Mission San Saba to which Is Appended a Brief History of the Bowie or Almagres Mine, Mason, Texas [Austin, 1905], pp. 42–59. Pamphlet, 84 pages, very rare. *Hunter, John Warren, “The Hunt for the Bowie Mine in Menard,” Frontier Times, Bandera, Texas, Vol. I, No. 1, October, 1923, pp. 24–26. “Fight by Bowie Brothers while in Search for Mine,” Dallas News, January 28, 1921, Pt. II, p. 7, col. 1. Stoddard, William O., The Lost Gold of the Montezumas—A Story of the Alamo, Philadelphia, 1897. A highly fictionized account of some of Bowie’s treasure hunting expeditions. See also Almagres, Cerro de la Plata, San Saba, and Llano.

Brand Rock Water Hole, Dimmit County, treasure in. Honnoll, W. V., Galveston News, 1909.

Casa Blanca, Jim Wells County, legends of treasure at. Sutherland, Mary A., The Story of Corpus Christi, Houston, 1916, pp. 2–3.

Cerro de la Plata. Bolton, H. E., Spanish Explorations in the Southwest, pp. 283–284.

Coleman County, Dig for Treasure in. Dallas News, December 9, 1923.

Ebony Cross, legend of. Brown, Clinton G., Ramrod Jones, Akron, Ohio, 1905, pp. 316–317.

“Escondida” and “Big Rocks,” treasures of, Victoria County. Rose, Victor M., Some Historical Facts in Regard to the Settlement of Victoria Texas, Laredo [1883?], p. 9.

Franklin Mountains, Lost Mine in to be sighted from the tower of the church in Juarez. Stevens, Walter B., Through Texas, St. Louis, 1892, pp. 61–63.

Guadalupe Mountains, Lost Mine in. *Hunter, J. Marvin, “Mysterious Gold Mine of El Paso County,” Hunter’s Frontier Magazine, Vol. I, No. 6, October, 1916, pp. 177–179; reprinted in Frontier Times, Vol. I, No. 7, April, 1924, pp. 24–26. “Lost Gold Mine of the Guadalupe Mountains,” Frontier Times, Vol. I, No. 6, March, 1924, pp. 1–3; reprinted from El Paso Times.

Leander, old Spanish mine near. Fulcher, Henry C., “Corn Tassels Wave over Spot where Legend Says Earth Gave up Fortune,” Austin American, October 14, 1923; reprinted in Frontier Times, Vol. I, No. 4, January, 1924, pp. 16–17, under title of “Legend of the Old Spanish Mine.” A variant of the same legend appeared in the Galveston News, March 8, 1906.

Leon County, treasure in a lake near Trinity, in. Wood, W. D., “History of Leon County,” Texas State Historical Association Quarterly, Vol. IV, p. 208.

Llano country, legends of rich minerals in. *“The Brook of Gold Discovered by Lost Rangers,” and *“The Smelter on the Little Llano,” both printed in this volume, were adapted from stories printed in the Galveston News of uncertain date. “Llano Treasure Cave,” Naylor, Dick, Texas Magazine, Houston, Vol. III, pp. 195–204; reprinted, under name of T. B. Baldwin, in the Dallas Semi-Weekly Farm News, July 11 and July 14, 1922. See also Almagres, Bowie, Cerro de la Plata, San Saba.

Lometa (Lampasas County) Wakes up to Find Evidence that Landmark Held $49,611 Treasure, San Antonio Express, March 1, 1923.

Mexican diggers for buried money follow white horse, San Antonio. “Report of Mysterious Diggers Leads Police to Treasure Hunters,” San Antonio Express, January 29, 1923.

Mexican Government gold dumped into Attoyaque Bayou, Nacogdoches County. Fuller, Henry C., “Neutral Ground of Louisiana Line and Legend of Buried Treasure,” Houston Chronicle, October 29, 1922. The legend involves Aaron Burr, General Wilkinson, and the Mexican Army.

Moro’s Gold. Rose, Victor M., Some Historical Facts in Regard to the Settlement of Victoria, Texas, pp. 36–37.

Nigger Gold Mine of the Big Bend. *Raht, Carl, The Romance of Davis Mountains, El Paso, 1919, pp. 331–334.

Peak of Gold, The. Lummis, Charles F., The Enchanted Burro, Chicago, 1912. The “Peak of Gold” may be in New Mexico, but seems to be in Texas.

*Realitos, six loads of treasure in a well below. In a news item regarding the Texas Folk-Lore Society, Dallas Times-Herald, October 22, 1922; also in other Texas papers about the same date.

San Pedro treasure, the guarded. Barnes, Charles Merritt, Combats and Conquests of Immortal Heroes, pp. 88–91.

San Saba Mines. Hornaday, William D., “The Lost Gold Mines of Texas May Be Found,” Dallas News, January 7, 1923. Sturmberg, Robert, “The Elusive City of Gold,” in History of San Antonio and of the Early Days in Texas, San Antonio, 1920, Chap. III. Webber, Charles W., The Gold Mines of the Gila, New York, 1849, pp. 190–191; 196–197. Webber makes vague use of the legends in Old Hicks the Guide, 1848, to which The Gold Mines of the Gila is a sequel. Bonner, J. S. (K. Lamity), in The Three Adventurers, Austin (undated), elaborates the legend of the lost mines. See Bowie, etc.

Snively (Schnively), Jacob, gold hunting expedition of. Hunter, John Warren, “The Schnively Expedition,” Hunter’s Magazine, January, 1911, p. 5. Whitehurst, A., “Reminiscences of the Schnively Expedition of 1867,” Texas State Historical Association Quarterly, Vol. VIII, pp. 267–271.

Starr County, treasure of “Casa de Bob” in. Lott, Virgil N., “Unbroken and Unsuccessful Buried Treasure Hunt along Mexican Border Goes Merrily on,” Houston Chronicle, November 5, 1922.

Wichita Mountains, quicksilver in. Kendall, George W., Narrative of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, New York, 1856, Vol. I, pp. 183–186; Vol. II, p. 425.

Wichita, origin of the name. Dallas News, Magazine Section, September 30, 1923, p. 4.

Wold Woman of the Navidad. Rose, Victor M., op. cit., pp. 71–72.

CONTRIBUTORS

From the brief sketches of contributors that follow, something is revealed of the humanistic interest in their own social inheritance that is stirring among men and women over the State of Texas. If culture is a cultivation of the inherent rather than a grafting of the extrinsic—and history shows that it is—then surely no small debt will be acknowledged to these individuals by the growing number of children of Light who claim also to be children of Texas.

Stanley E. Babb, a young man of Galveston, has written some genuine poetry of the sea. He is literary editor of the Galveston News.

Julia Beazley of Houston is a gatherer of Texas folk-songs as well as of legends.

L. D. Bertillion’s business of mounting horns has carried him into many parts, and apparently he has always traveled with open ears. Only lack of space has prevented the inclusion of other legends of his gathering. He lives at Mineola.

Austin Callan, who used to live at Santa Anna, is a newspaper man.

John R. Craddock is a true product of the rangy West, and he is gathering all manner of folk material from the old-time Plains people. Only one to the manner born can seize a legend as he has seized “The Legend of Stampede Mesa.” At present Mr. Craddock is ranching in Dickens County. He has written good ballads and has been a student at the University of Texas.

Dr. Alex. Dienst of Temple is a well known scholar in Texas history. He has contributed to the Southwestern Historical Quarterly and is engaged on a bibliography of Texasana.

Bertha McKee Dobie has from childhood been familiar with the country of the Brazos and the San Bernard rivers.

Flora Eckert is a native of the Llano region. At present she is teaching in the Fredericksburg Public Schools.

A. W. Eddins, who is engaged in school work in San Antonio, has contributed to both preceding Publications of the Society. He promises more lore from the Mexicans.

Julia Estill is president of the Texas Folk-Lore Society and one of the most useful members that the Society has ever known. Last year she contributed an article to the Publications on German lore of Gillespie County. She is principal of the Fredericksburg High School.

Jord Leeper Gay has played tramp, cowboy, treasure hunter, and collegian. At present he is attending the School of Mines at El Paso.

Lillian Gunter is librarian of the Cooke County Free Library at Gainesville. There she has a county museum and is inspiring a widespread interest in local history.

Charles Heimsath is instructor of English at the University of Texas.

Frontier Times, issued monthly at Bandera, is, to one interested in Texas folk-lore and pioneer reminiscences, the most interesting magazine ever published within the borders of the state. Of it J. Marvin Hunter is editor and publisher. During the eight months that Frontier Times has appeared it has printed as many Texas legends, in addition to folk-lore of other forms. One who is interested in folk diction, folk metaphor, etc., will find in this magazine invaluable source material. Mr. Hunter compiled the two volumes of Trail Drivers of Texas published by George W. Saunders of San Antonio. He has written also a history of Bandera County.

Martin McHenry Kenney (1831–1907) was born in Illinois and at the age of three came to Texas with his parents, members of Austin’s colony. He was a forty-niner, captain of a company in the Confederate Army, a Texas Ranger, and for thirteen years Spanish translator of the State of Texas. He was a diligent student of Indian life and knew the Indians at first hand. He wrote “The History of the Indian Tribes of Texas,” which is included in Wooten’s Comprehensive History of Texas.

Edgar B. Kincaid is a ranchman of Uvalde County.

Edith C. Lane is an active member of the El Paso Archaeological Society.

E. G. Littlejohn is well known among Texas historians. He is the author of Texas History Stories, familiar to many school children of the state. He is secretary of the Texas Historical Society at Galveston and principal of the Alamo School.

Adele B. Looscan, president of the Texas State Historical Association, has made many valuable contributions to the history of Texas and has largely encouraged the cultivation of literature in this state. Her home is in Houston.

Roscoe Martin is a student at the University of Texas.

J. W. Morris is a lawyer at Freeport. He has written various legends of the coast country that have been published in the Freeport Facts.

L. W. Payne, Jr. has perhaps done more than any other man to keep alive the Texas Folk-Lore Society. He was the first president of the Society, having been largely instrumental in founding it, and has been a constant contributor to its Publications. Dr. Payne is now gathering the folk-songs of Texas for a proposed volume. He is Professor of English at the University of Texas.

Fannie Ratchford is assistant in the Wrenn Library, in connection with which she has done interesting research.

Mrs. Bruce Reid, of Port Arthur, has put a series of legends into story form for children. She acknowledges her inspiration to Mrs. E. C. Carter, until recently Chief Librarian of the Memorial Library at Port Arthur. In this library Mrs. Reid’s folk-stories are read and told to children. Mrs. Reid has made extensive studies of birds.

R. E. Sherrill, a business man of Haskell, has written a history of Haskell County. Working through the public schools, he has stimulated a lively interest in the history and lore of his county.

John P. Sjolander, a veteran of seventy-three years, will long be remembered as a pioneer Texas poet. He was born of a noble family in Sweden, was educated in England, and came to Texas more than half a century ago—as a seaman. For a long generation he has lived at Cedar Bayou, cultivating poetry and the art of life. He has translated many folk-songs from the Swedish and has contributed to various magazines of this country and Sweden. A sketch of his life by Hilton R. Greer is to be found in Library of Southern Literature. Only some of his “Rhymes of Galveston Bay” are here reprinted.

J. S. Spratt, recent student of the University of Texas, lives at Mingus in Palo Pinto County.

Mary A. Sutherland is the author of The Story of Corpus Christi, an interesting history not only of her home city but of the lower Nueces country. She contributed to the Publications of 1923.

Victor J. Smith, a member of the faculty of the Sul Ross State Normal College at Alpine, is the acknowledged representative of the Texas Folk-Lore Society for the Big Bend country. He combines anthropology and folk-lore and contributed an article of such blend to the 1923 Publications.

As editor of The American Sketch Book, which she brought to Texas from the north and continued to edit under the sub-title of Texas Pioneer Magazine, Bella French Swisher was during the eighteen eighties rather prominent in Texas literary circles. Her romantic nature took her to California, to the stage, and to a young husband. She died some fifteen years ago.

In the note to “The Devil and Strap Buckner” something is said of the author’s life. Nathaniel Alston Taylor was born in North Carolina, 1835. He graduated from the University of Virginia, came to Texas, and served as colonel in Polignac’s Brigade during the Civil War. After the war he settled in Houston.

Louise von Blittersdorf is an enthusiastic worker in the Texas Folk-Lore Society. Her home is in Austin, and she is a student in the University of Texas.

J. O. Webb, Superintendent of Schools at Alvin, is writing a history of Galveston for his Master’s thesis at the University of Texas.

W. P. Webb perhaps knows more about Texas Rangers and frontier outlaws than any other man living. He has written various articles on Texas history and Texas folk-lore; at present he is working on a book having to do with Texas Rangers. Mr. Webb is Adjunct Professor of History at the University of Texas.

Mrs. S. J. Wright is the author of San Antonio de Béxar, Historical, Traditional and Legendary, which contains a number of legends pertaining to San Antonio. Mrs. Wright is a leader in Texas women’s club work. San Antonio is her home.

NOTES

[1] History and Legends of the Alamo and Other Missions in and around San Antonio, by Adina De Zavala, San Antonio, 1917; San Antonio de Béxar, Historical, Traditional, Legendary, by Mrs. S. J. Wright, Austin, 1916; Combats and Conquests of Immortal Heroes, by Charles Merritt Barnes, San Antonio, 1910. The last named of the three books is now very scarce; the other two are obtainable at reasonable prices.

[2] See Bolton, H. E., Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century, p. 4. I am indebted also to Mrs. Mattie Austin Hatcher, Archivist in History at the University of Texas, for information in her unpublished (1923) book on The Opening of Texas to Foreign Settlement, particularly Chaps. II and V.

[3] Brewster County, in which mines were worked, was not in the old Mexican state of Texas and Coahuila.

[4] Sutherland, Mary A., The Story of Corpus Christi, Houston, 1916, pp. 2–3. Mrs. Sutherland does not give her authority.

[5] Bolton, H. E., Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century, p. 9; Priestley, H. I., José de Galvez (University of California Publications in History, 1916), p. 288. According to Priestley, some presidios were established by the Spanish in America to protect the special interests of large landholders.

Don Pedro de Terreros, banker and wealthy mine owner of Mexico, who advanced the money for the establishment of the Mission of San Saba, may not have been so altruistic as Bancroft, Dr. Dunn, and Dr. Bolton have all implied. The government must bear the cost of military protection for the mission. With government protection and Indian labor, the mines at San Saba, which Miranda had in his famous reports made so promising, would richly pay any individual working them. Don Pedro had an interest in the mines. The Terreros records, if extant, might throw a great deal of light on the subject.

[6] About $11 around for each man in the Texas army, besides $3000 that was voted to the Texas navy. There was $11,000 in specie in Santa Anna’s military chest. His “finery and silver” were auctioned off at $1600 and his rich saddle at $800. See “An Account of the Battle of San Jacinto,” by J. Washington Winters, Texas State Historical Association Quarterly, Vol. VI, pp. 139–144; “Memoirs of Major George Bernard Erath,” by Lucy A. Erath, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXVI, pp. 266–269.

[7] Austin Papers in University of Texas archives. Information given by Mrs. Mattie Austin Hatcher, Archivist.

[8] See “The Legend of the San Saba, or Bowie, Mine.”

[9] Dr. Barker, in treating of “Land Speculation as a Cause of the Texas Revolution,” Texas State Historical Association Quarterly, Vol. X, p. 76 ff., ignores all idea that reputed mineral riches had anything to do with the land speculation.

An unfounded but popular view to the contrary is offered by Captain Marryat, who says: “The dismemberment of Texas from Mexico was affected by the reports of extensive gold mines, diamonds, etc., which were to be found there.”—Narrative of the Travels and Adventures of Monsieur Violet in California, Sonora, and Western Texas, Leipzig, 1843, p. 147.

[10] Prescott, Conquest of Mexico, Book V, Chapter III. I am aware of the fact that some historians question the loss of any great treasure.

[11] Prescott, Conquest of Peru, Philadelphia, 1874, I, pp. 420–422; 453 ff. Also, Bandelier, A. F., The Gilded Man, p. 19.

[12] Bandelier, p. 26.

[13] Zahm, J. A. (H. J. Mozans), Through South America’s Southland, New York, 1916, p. 361.

[14] For full accounts of the El Dorado history and legends, see Adolphe F. Bandelier’s The Gilded Man, New York, 1893, and Z. A. Zahm’s (H. J. Mozans) The Quest of El Dorado, New York, 1917. Both are readable and distinguish well between history and legend. Bandelier is the more scholarly of the two writers.

[15] Zahm, J. A. (Mozans), Through South America’s Southland, pp. 353–362.

[16] Bandelier, The Gilded Man, “The Seven Cities,” p. 125 ff.

[17] Skinner, Chas. M., Myths and Legends of Our New Possessions, Philadelphia, 1902, p. 103.

[18] Bandelier, The Gilded Man, “The Amazons,” p. 113 ff.

[19] Bolton, H. E. (Editor), Spanish Explorations in the Southwest, New York, 1916, pp. 130, 156, 184, 186.

[20] Ibid., p. 130.

[21] Ibid., pp. 283–284.

[22] Bancroft identifies the “mountain of silver” with “the famous iron mountain near the city of Durango.”—History of the North Mexican States and Texas, I, p. 100.

[23] Bolton, Spanish Explorations, pp. 313–317.

[24] Lummis, Chas. F., The Enchanted Burro, p. 161 ff.

[25] Zahm, J. A., The Quest of El Dorado, p. 6.

[26] Ibid., pp. 197–200.

[27] Bandelier, The Gilded Man, “Quivira,” p. 223 ff.

Dr. Bolton points out that the Spanish searched in Texas for “the Kingdom of Gran Quivira, where ‘everyone had their ordinary dishes made of wrought plate, and the jugs and bowls were of gold’”; also “for the Seven Hills of the Aijados, or Aixaos, where gold was so plentiful that ‘the natives not knowing any of the other metals, make of it everything they need, such as vessels and the tips of arrows and lances.’”—“The Spanish Occupation of Texas, 1519–1690,” by Herbert E. Bolton, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. XVI, pp. 1–2.

[28] The Alhambra, “The Journey.”

[29] Bandelier, The Gilded Man, p. 223 ff.

[30] See “The Snively Legend,” infra.

[31] Webber, Chas. W., The Gold Mines of the Gila, New York, 1849, especially pages 189–191 and 196–197. Webber concludes the book with an actual proposal to readers to join him in an expedition after the treasure. He had been a ranger with Jack Hays a short time and he claims to have gotten his information about the San Saba deposits from the talk of men in camp. Use is made of the same legendary material in Webber’s Old Hicks the Guide, 1848.

[32] Galveston Weekly Journal, May 13, June 6, June 16, 1853.

[33] “The Hunt for the Bowie Mine in Menard,” in Frontier Times, Bandera, Texas, October, 1923, pp. 24–26. The article is full of concrete evidence not to be questioned.

[34] San Antonio Express, October 21, 1923, p. 1.

[35] For good satire on Texan credulity in Mexican mines, see On A Mexican Mustang Through Texas, by Alex E. Sweet and J. Armory Knox, Rand, McNally and Co., New York, 1892, pp. 439–452.

[36] Bolton, H. E., Spanish Explorations in the Southwest, pp. 283–284.

[37] “Miranda’s Expedition to Los Almagres and Plans for Developing the Mines,” a Spanish transcript from original documents in the archives of Mexico, now in the history archives of the University of Texas, “1755–1756, A. G. I. Mejico, 92–6–22, N′ 16A.” See also another transcript from original sources: “Report on Disposition of San Saba,” listed “1767, A. G. I., Guad., 104–6, 13.”

[38] “Miranda’s Expedition to Los Almagres,” etc. Vide ante.

[39] For a succinct history, see Dunn, William E., “The Apache Mission of the San Saba River,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XVII, 379–414; also, Bolton, H. E., Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century, pp. 78–93.

[40] Bolton, supra, p. 83.

[41] This is an interesting but somewhat confusing document. It was printed in 1905 and is already so rare as to be almost unobtainable. It is in neither the Texas State Library nor the Library of the University of Texas. I am indebted to Mr. E. W. Winkler for use of his presentation copy. Mr. Hunter was living at Mason when he issued the pamphlet and had a rare first-hand knowledge of the ground and of traditions as well as access to some original documents.

[42] Op. cit., p. 47.

[43] History of San Antonio and the Early Days of Texas, compiled by Robert Sturmberg, San Antonio, 1920, Chap. III.

[44] “Report on Disposition of San Saba.” Vide ante.

[45] Op. cit., p. 48.

[46] See, for instance, “The Lost Gold Mines of Texas May Be Found,” by W. D. Hornaday in the Dallas News, January 7, 1923.

[47] U. S. Geological Survey, Bulletin 450, “Mineral Resources of the Llano-Burnet Region, Texas,” by Sidney Page, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1911.

But note the following dispatch in the San Antonio Express, February 26, 1924, p. 5:

“AUSTIN, Tex., Feb. 25—Sam Young, Llano banker, was in Austin
Monday and reports much activity in that region in the mineral
line. Young says experts think they have found gold in paying
quantity, also graphite, and that capital now is being interested
in the deposits with the early prospects of real mining and
shipping of valuable ores and probably the refined products. Many
small deposits of precious metals have been found near Llano in
recent years, but the new finds are said to be large enough to
warrant exploitation and give that section a new and valuable
industry.”

Thus history never tires of repeating itself; thus the dream of treasure once dreamed lives on.

[48] Fournel, Henri, Coup d’oeil ... sur le Texas, Paris, 1841, p. 23, speaks “des richesses metalliques depuis longtemps signalées par les Espagnoles.” I am unable now to verify the reference, but I am sure that Gustave Aimard introduces the subject in one of his romances, probably The Freebooters.

Of course the rumor of the mines had a wide vogue in Spain, where the viceroy’s reports went direct.

An English novel published in 1843 has this sentence: “The Comanches have a great profusion of gold, which they obtain from the neighborhood of the San Seba [sic] hills, and work it themselves into bracelets, armlets, diadems, as well as bits for their horses, and ornaments to their saddles.”—Marryat, Captain, Monsieur Violet, etc., p. 175.

[49] As examples of fictional uses of the legend in America, see Webber, Charles W., The Gold Mines of the Gila, New York, 1849, pp. 189–191; Webber, Old Hicks the Guide, New York, 1848. In this last named book, the use is so vague and general that no particular pages can be cited. Other examples are “The Llano Treasure Cave,” by Dick Naylor, The Texas Magazine, Vol. III, pp. 195–204, reprinted in the Dallas Semi-Weekly Farm News, with T. B. Baldwin as the name of the author, July 11 and July 14, 1922; The Three Adventurers, by J. S. (K. Lamity) Bonner, Austin, (no date given).

[50] Sowell, A. J., Early Settlers and Indian Fighters of Texas, pp. 405–408.

[51] “Several days previous to the fight it was currently reported in Camp that there was a quantity of silver coming from Mexico on pack mules to pay off the soldiers of General Cos. Our scouts kept a close watch, to give the news as soon as the convoy should be espied, so that we might intercept the treasure. On the morning of the 26th, Colonel Bowie was out in the direction of the Medina, with a company, and discovered some mules with packs approaching. Supposing this to be the expected train, he sent a messenger for reinforcements.”—Baker, D. W. C., Texas Scrap Book, p. 92.

[52] The Battle of Calf Creek, 1831, in which eleven Texans fought one hundred and sixty-four Indians under the leadership of Chief Tresmanos of the Lipans. Only one of Bowie’s men was killed. Rezin P. Bowie wrote an account of the battle that has often been quoted in Texas histories. The account by James Bowie seems not so well known. It is to be found in John Henry Brown’s History of Texas, Vol. I, pp. 170–175.

[53] A signed article on the Calf Creek fight in the Dallas News, January 28, 1923.

[54] “Command El Cañon and Los Almagres to deliver up their known treasures,” wrote De Mézières in an effort to stimulate Spanish activity in Texas.—Bolton, H. E., Athanase de Mézières, II, 297.

[55] Vol. I, No. I, October, 1923, p. 25.

[56] Santa Anna, according to Brown, did cross into Texas at Laredo, but he went to San Antonio, not Goliad. See Brown, John Henry, History of Texas, Vol. I, p. 569 ff. Another Santa Anna chest is said to have been dropped off near Lockhart on the road to Nacogdoches. Of course, Santa Anna never went from San Antonio to Nacogdoches.

[57] This latter explanation is more probable. The feminine Santa is never apocopated in Spanish, and caja is feminine.

[58] A tale common to both legend and roguery. I have a copy of a letter written in 1911 by a prisoner in Madrid to an American at Aguas Calientes, Mexico, in which the prisoner offered to share $273,000 concealed on the American’s land, provided the American would send funds for passage of the prisoner and his wife.

[59] “The company, being six months’ men, were discharged at Fort Merrill on the Nueces, on the 4th day of May, 1851, but reorganized as a new company for another six months the next day.”—Brown, John Henry, History of Texas, Vol. II, p. 356. See a report to the Secretary of War: Sen. Ex. Doc. 1, 32d Cong., 1st Session, Serial 611.

[60] See, for instance, “The Mission de Los Olmos, near Falfurrias,” by Marshall Monroe, reprinted from the Houston Chronicle, in Frontier Times, January, 1924, pp. 44–45.

[61] Sutherland, Mary A., The Story of Corpus Christi, Houston, 1916, pp. 2–3.

[62] A euphemism of the Texas Rangers.

[63] Old-timers still call much of the “Magic Rio Grande Valley” by nothing else than The Sands.—Editor.

[64] This last legend was printed in the Dallas Times-Herald, October 22, 1922, and in other papers over the state about the same time, I having given it to the press in the hope of creating a wider interest in legends.

[65] The mine is often referred to as the “Nigger Ben Mine.” I have not been able to learn why, but I have a guess. In the early seventies a half-breed negro-Mexican named Ben Hodges, but known as “Nigger Ben,” went up the trail to Kansas with a herd of Texas cattle. “Nigger Ben” remained in the vicinity of Dodge City and became a notorious, almost legendary, fraud. He claimed to possess a Spanish grant to lands on the Rio Grande on which were located wonderfully rich mines. It would be very much in the manner of legend to blend “Nigger Ben’s mine” with another mine on the Rio Grande claimed by another negro. For an account of “Nigger Ben,” see Wright, Robert M., Dodge City the Cowboy Capital, Wichita, Kansas, 1913, pp. 273–280.

[66] Raht, Carl, The Romance of Davis Mountains, El Paso, 1919, pp. 331–334.

[67] In Hunter’s Frontier Magazine, October, 1916, I, 6, 177–179. Further testimony to the existence of “the Sublett Mine,” given by an old buffalo hunter and prospector named Dixon, is printed in Frontier Times, March, 1924, Vol. I, No. 6, pp. 1–3. Dixon heard of the mine in 1879 from his sweetheart, daughter of a Mescalero Apache chief.

[68] Bolton, H. E., Athanase de Mézières, II, 33–34; see also p. 47; also, Vol. I, p. 104.

[69] Shipman, Daniel, Frontier Life: 58 Years in Texas, 1879, pp. 23–26.

[70] Edward, David B., History of Texas, Cincinnati, 1836, pp. 44–45.

[71] See Bolton, H. E., Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century, pp. 89–90, for an account of the Parrilla Expedition.

[72] Ibid., 129, 414. See also Bolton’s De Mézières, II, 187–238.

[73] After having written the above, I was informed by Mr. Joseph B. Thoburn, secretary of the Oklahoma Historical Society, that he had received a letter from Dr. Bolton identifying “Old Spanish Fort” with the fortification attacked by Parrilla.

[74] See page 99.

[75] See Roberts, Capt. Dan W., Rangers and Sovereignty, San Antonio, 1914, pp. 185–186.

[76] Bolton, H. E., Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century, pp. 114, 391; Cf., also, pp. 90, 414.

[77] According to Charles M. Skinner, Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, Vol. II, pp. 279–280, the Hessian troops, after the surrender of Burgoyne, packed their plate, pay, and jewels into a howitzer and buried it somewhere near Dalton, Massachusetts.

[78] I have never heard the details of the legend, though I have heard of it from several sources. Mr. E. G. Littlejohn sends in a legend clipped from the Galveston News of 1909, in which a Spanish prince, besieged by Indians about the year of 1700, cast a great quantity of “gold, silver, and jewels” into Brand Rock Water Hole, of Peña Creek in Dimmit County.

[79] Wooten’s Comprehensive History of Texas, Vol. I, p. 292; Brown, John Henry, History of Texas, Vol. II, pp. 46, 66, 67.

[80] In 1816, Luis de Aury, well known in Texas history as a slave smuggler and privateer, was, by the incipient republic of Mexico, made civil and military governor of the province of Texas. He stationed himself on Galveston Island and among other acts made an alliance with the romantic Colonel Perry. See Bancroft, H. H., History of the North Mexican States and Texas, Vol. II, 34–39. Dyer, J. O., The Early History of Galveston, Galveston, Texas, 1916, pp. 4–9, has a rather detailed account of Aury.—Editor.

[81] The Republic of Fredonia was announced December 16, 1826.—Editor.

[82] Manuel Flores, Mexico-Indian agent, with a party of twenty-five men, was met by Lieutenant James O. Rice, with seventeen men, near Austin, May 14, 1839, and Flores was killed. Burleson shortly afterward met and defeated Vicente Cordova, Flores’ aid. See Yoakum, History of Texas, Vol. II, 257–261.—Editor.

[83] According to his own statement, Mr. J. O. Webb of Alvin, Texas, who is writing a history of Galveston, has never met the name of Steinheimer in his researches.—Editor.

[84] For a history of his first expedition, see any Texas history, but particularly “The Last Stage of Texan Military Operations Against Mexico, 1843,” by William Campbell Binkley, in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXII, pp. 260–271. Perhaps a juster estimate of the motives of Snively is to be found in J. W. Wilbarger’s Indian Depredations in Texas, Austin, 1889, pp. 51–58.

An excellent account of the highly romantic second expedition is “Reminiscences of the Schnively Expedition of 1867,” by A. Whitehurst, Texas State Historical Association Quarterly, Vol. VIII, pp. 267–271.

[85] Smithwick, Noah, The Evolution of a State, p. 267.

[86] Brown, John Henry, History of Texas from 1685 to 1892, St. Louis, Vol. II, p. 291.

[87] Bolton, H. E., Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century, pp. 140–141.

[88] Ibid., 260–261.

[89] Ibid., 138, 227.

[90] Ibid., 268–269.

[91] Ibid., 275–276.

[92] The legend may be compared with that of La Vaca de Lumbre (the Fiery Cow) of the City of Mexico, fabled to come forth at midnight from the Potrero de San Pablo and gallop through the streets like a blazing whirlwind, breathing from her nostrils smoke and fire. Janvier connects the story of La Vaca de Lumbre with that of the goblin, El Belludo de Grenada, “who comes forth at midnight from the Siete Suelos Tower of the Alhambra and scours the streets pursued by hell-hounds.” See Janvier, Thomas A., Legends of the City of Mexico, “La Vaca de Lumbre,” Harper Brothers, New York, 1910.—Editor.

[93] Skinner tells a tale of two young men who were digging for a treasure chest supposed to have been lost by a Spanish galleon at New London, Connecticut, in 1753. “They had dug down to water-level when they reached an iron chest, and they stooped to lift it—but, to their amazement, the iron was too hot to handle! Now they heard deep growls, and a giant dog peered at them from the pit-mouth.”—Chas. M. Skinner, Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, II, 282–283.

See also Pete Staples’ story of the ghost-dog as a guardian of treasure, page 54.—Editor.

[94] For a brief account of “Moro’s Gold,” see Rose, Victor M., Some Historical Facts in Regard to the Settlement of Victoria, Texas, Laredo [1883?], pp. 36–37.—Editor.

[95] Reprinted from The Coming Empire or Two Thousand Miles in Texas on Horseback, by H. F. McDanield and N. A. Taylor, A. S. Barnes and Company, New York, 1877, pp. 49–73.

[96] Benavides, Alonso de: The Memorial of Fray Alonso de Benavides, 1630, translated by Mrs. Edward A. Ayer; annotated by F. W. Hodge and Charles F. Lummis, R. R. Donnelley and Sons, Chicago, 1916, pp. 58–59.

[97] Casis, Lilia M.: “Letter of Fray Damian Manzanet to Don Carlos de Sigüenza Relative to the Discovery of the Bay of Espíritu Santo,” Texas State Historical Association Quarterly, II, pp. 282–283.

[98] Casis, ibid., pp. 311–312.

[99] A copy at St. John’s College, Fordham, New York.

[100] “Carta en que se da noticia de un viaje hecho a la bahía de Espíritu Santo, y de la población que tenian ahi los franceses.” In Buckingham Smith, Documentos para la historia de la Florida.

[101] Shea, John Gilmary: The Catholic Church in Colonial Days, New York, 1886, p. 197. Vol. I of A History of the Catholic Church Within the United States, 4 vols.

[102] Bolton, H. E., Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XVI, No. 1, July, 1912, pp. 8–9.

[103] Chapman, Charles E., The Founding of Spanish California, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1916, p. 333, footnote.

[104] Hodge also recounts the legend in his “Bibliography of Fray Alonso de Benavides,” Indian Notes and Monographs, Vol. III, No. 1, pp. 11–13.

[In addition to the references given by Mr. Heimsath, the following may be added. The story is told in the History of San Antonio and Early Days in Texas, compiled by Robert Sturmberg, and published by St. Joseph’s Society, San Antonio, 1920, Chapter IV. The legend is discussed in “Ven. Maria Jesus de Agreda: A Correction,” by Edmond J. P. Schmitt, Texas State Historical Association Quarterly, Vol. I, 121–124; also in a note by M. M. Kenney, ibid., I, 226–227.—Editor.]

[105] Yoakum, History of Texas, I, 184.

[106] Lubbock, Francis Richard, Six Decades in Texas (edited by Raines), Austin, 1900, p. 32.

[107] British Diplomatic Correspondence Concerning the Republic of Texas, edited by Ephraim Douglass Adams, Austin, “Crawford to Pakenham,” p. 13.

[108] Hudgins, Charles D., The Maid of San Jacinto, New York, 1900, pp. 12–13, footnotes.

[109] An old corruption of bore.—Editor.

[110] Cf. Southey’s “The Inchcape Rock.”—Editor.

[111] An adequate treatment, in a brief space, of the marriage customs of the Plains Indians is to be found in Chapter II of North American Indians of the Plains, by Clark Wissler, published by the American Museum of Natural History. The volume includes a good bibliography of works on Indian life.

[112] Author of Die Tochter Tehuans.—Editor.

[113] Originally there were two Spanish sites in the Menardville vicinity, both founded in 1757: the presidio, San Luis de Las Amarillas, on the north bank of the San Saba River, and the mission, San Sabá, three miles south. In 1758 the Comanches destroyed the mission; then the presidio was strengthened and maintained until 1769. The remains of it are yet to be seen at Menard. The mission was established for the benefit of the Apaches; their hereditary enemies, the Comanches, from the north, regarded the Spanish policy of trying to Christianize the Apaches as an act of war. In the middle of the eighteenth century, it is hardly necessary to say, the Comanches and Apaches were not yet “remnants.” The Cheyennes and Arapahoes never got as far south as the San Saba. The whole story of the San Saba settlement is to be found in two monographs by William Edward Dunn: “Missionary Activities among the Eastern Apaches Previous to the Founding of the San Sabá Mission,” Texas State Historical Association Quarterly, XV, 186–200; and “The Apache Mission on the San Sabá River; its Founding and its Failure,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XVI, 379–414. Dr. Bolton in his Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century, pp. 78–101, gives a succinct account of “The Apache Missions and the War with the Northern Tribes.”—Editor.

[114] Through the courtesy of Miss Nell Andrew, librarian of Texas Christian University, I have seen a poem by A. Clark, Jr., that relates a similar tale. A phantom lover on the Rio Grande diurnally meets his love. The poem is called “Legend of the Great River” and was published in Add-Rann (T. C. U.), Vol. IV, No. 8, 1898.—Editor.

[115] This legend is reprinted from a small pamphlet called Santa Anna Beautiful, published by Clay P. Morgan, Santa Anna, Texas, 1907. It is the only signed article in the pamphlet, which was designed for commercial purposes.

[116] Morphis, J. M., History of Texas, New York, 1874, pp. 510–513.

[117] Theodosia Burr Allston, daughter of Aaron Burr and wife of Joseph Allston, Governor of South Carolina, 1812–1814, set sail from Charleston in December of 1813 on the Patriot bound for New York. The vessel was never heard of again, and it is supposed to have been wrecked off the coast of Hatteras. “Some forty years afterward, however,” according to Lamb’s Biographical Dictionary of the United States, Vol. I, pp. 76–77, “a romantic story found credence and went the rounds of the press, to the effect that a dying sailor in Detroit had confessed that he had been one of a crew of mutineers who, in January, 1813, took possession of the ‘Patriot’ ... and compelled the crew and passengers to walk the plank.” The New International Encyclopedia says that “a tradition of uncertain origin” has the Patriot to have been taken by pirates.—Editor.

[118] Reprinted from The American Sketch Book (Texas Pioneer Magazine), Vol. I (Vol. IV), 1879, p. 146; “republished by request” in Vol. II (Vol. V), 1880, pp. 91–92.

[119] Wright, Mrs. S. J., San Antonio de Béxar, Austin, 1916, pp. 121–122.

[120] De Zavala, Adina, History and Legends of the Alamo and Other Missions, page 150.

[121] Note the striking resemblance in plot to Lanier’s ballad “The Revenge of Hamish.”—Editor.

[122] In a note to “The Aguayo Expedition into Texas and Louisiana, 1719–1722,” Texas State Historical Association Quarterly, Vol. XV, p. 39.

[123] Thrall, H. S., A History of Texas, New York, 1876, p. 37.

[124] Captain Rafael Martínez Pacheco, 1763, escaped unseen and unscorched from the presidio in which he was besieged. According to Mrs. Mattie Austin Hatcher, Archivist in History at the University of Texas, the legend is to be pieced out from the Bexar archives. For some facts of the case, see Bolton, Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century, pp. 111–112.

[125] For a copy of the song, I am indebted to Mrs. V. M. Taylor of Angleton.

[126] “The Arms of God” by Claude M. Girardeau of Galveston, in The Texas Magazine, Houston, May, 1897, II, 431–434. About this time Mrs. Davis’ books seem to have been popular with readers of The Texas Magazine, two reviews of her work having appeared in it during the preceding twelve months.

[127] Davis (Mrs.), M. E. M., Under the Man-Fig, Houghton, Mifflin and Co., Boston, 1895, pp. 1–3. Reprinted by permission.

[128] Aimard, Gustave, The Freebooters, A Story of the Texan War, Chapter XXIII, Philadelphia [date not given]. The novel came out in France around 1858 or 1860.

[129] Kennedy, William, Esq., Texas: The Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of Texas, R. Hastings, London, 1841, Vol. I, pp. 167–168.

[130] Thrall, H. S., A History of Texas, p. 37. Thrall goes on to say that “in old maps the San Antonio is marked as the Medina and the Guadalupe as the San Marcos.” For additional evidence as to the confusion of the Brazos and the Colorado in nomenclature, Mr. Littlejohn cites Bolton’s Spanish Explorations in the Southwest, pp. 376, 413.

[131] A History of Texas, p. 37.

[132] George Wilkins Kendall gave this account in his Narrative of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition, New York, 1844, pp. 89–90. Prior to this Kendall had written some sketches for the New Orleans Picayune, one of which was about the Pacing White Stallion. It was this account that he incorporated in the book. Doubtless many of the later written accounts are based upon Kendall’s.