USA > Texas > A Twentieth century history of southwest Texas, Volume I > Part 32
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Hostility Against Mexicans Since 1857.
The residents of Uvalde county, Texas, in September, 1857, passed several resolutions, prohibiting all Mexicans from traveling through the country except under a passport granted by some American authority. At Goliad, several Mexi- cans were killed because it was supposed that they had driven their carts on the public road.
On the wuth and 19th of October, the Mexican Legation at Washington ad- dressed the United States Government a statement of these facts. (Previously men- tioned : see Cart War.)
Governor Pease, on the IIth of November, 1857, sent a message to the Texas Legislature. In it he stated that proofs had also been received that a combination had been formed in several counties for the purpose of committing these same acts of violence against citizens of Mexican origin, so long as they continued to transport goods by those roads.
The Governor continues by stating the measures adopted by him for sup- pressing and punishing such outrages. He states that he proceeded to San An- tonio for the purpose of ascertaining whether measures had been taken for the arrest of the aggressors and to prevent the repetition of such occurrences, to which end he had conferences with several citizens at Bexar. The result of these conferences convinced him that no measures had been taken or probably would be taken for the arrest of the guilty parties, or the prevention of similar attacks. That in fact combinations of the kind mentioned did exist, and that they had been the origin of repeated assaults upon the persons and property of Mexicans who traveled over those roads. That in several of the border counties there prevailed a deep feeling of animosity towards the Mexicans, and that there was imminent danger of attacks and of retaliation being made by them, which if once begun would inevitably bring about a war of races.
The following paragraph of the same message shows how inexcusable these ontrages were: "We have a large Mexican population in our western counties, among which are very many who have been carefully educated, and who have ren- dered important services to the country in the days of her tribulation. There is no doubt but that there are some bad characters amongst this class of citizens, but the great mass of them are as orderly and law-abiding as any class in the state. They cheerfully perform the duties imposed upon them. and they are entitled to the protection of the laws in any honest calling which they may choose to select."
The condition of the Mexican population residing in Texas has changed but little since 1857. Governor Pease's message to the Texas legislature that vear ex- noses and explains the reason of revolts such as the one which occurred on the banks of the Rio Bravo under Cortina in 1859.
A large portion of the disturbances which occurred between the Bravo and Nueces river is attributable to the persecutions suffered by the Mexicans residing there; persecutions which have engendered the most profound hatred between the races.
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The Mexican Commission described the state of disorder in Texas, reflecting seriously on the charges made that the troubles originated from the Mexican side of border.
But the evils which seem to be the base-work of the Stock Raisers' Associa- tion of Western Texas, are not the worst phases of the question, and probably they do not know all their details, which differ according to the localities in which the frauds are perpetrated. All these varieties the commission have care- fully weighed, and will here specify what they discovered very lately in the county of Kerr. The bandits who have a refuge there dress like Indians, when sallying forth to rob and assassinate in all directions; and they were, under this disguise, engaged in the robbery of cattle and horses. The jury who made this declaration after careful investigations, did not include it in their report, al- though it was not doubted that the persons engaged in the scandalous trade with New Mexico found allies in the banditti of Kerr.
The present condition of Kerr county, the civil authorities of which are unable to defend it against the attacks of thieves and murderers, is sufficient proof of the truth of this statement. The Weekly Express of October 2 (1872), from that county, contains the following statement :
"For several years, Kerr has been the point of union of criminals, who are compelled to flee from other places, and who devote themselves there to their profession."
In view of this condition of affairs, a company of cavalry, by command of General Augur, marched to Kerr to preserve peace, but notwithstanding this, a correspondent of the Daily Herald wrote from that county, the nest of the criminals, an article published August 20th, as follows :
"We maintain that the only solution to the question of the defense of the frontier, is the establishment of our line beyond the Rio Grande, and, if necessary, to the Sierra Madre."
Previous to this, on the 7th of the same month, the Weekly Express, of San Antonio, published an article stating that the counties of De Witt, Goliad, Karnes, Victoria, and others were infested with bands of robbers and highway- me11, -.
"Because the authorities are incapable of restraining them. And what do we see in Kerr? The citizens of that place, in order to defend their lives and property, are compelled to neglect their business and organize themselves into companies of militia. What a state of society is this! Is the law a dead letter ? In some other parts of the state, the court houses have been burned and the towns pillaged by bands of armed criminals."
Some time later, on the 4th of September, the same paper, in referring to De Witt county, remarked that there existed there two large bands, well armed, who threatened the public tranquillity, and that the sheriff, through either fear or inability, was unable to cope with them; the article concluded as follows :
"This condition of things is not peculiar to the county of De Witt; it is the same throughout the state, and is the result of the abolition of the state police."
The state of affairs described by the newspapers as general throughout the state of Texas, was also alluded to in the Daily Herald, of San Antonio, of the 3Ist of May, relating that Martin S. Culver, of Corpus Christi, had been in the office, on that date, and had said :
"I am the bearer of sworn affidavits and statements of a great many of the most honorable persons, showing the manner in which they have been robbed, nor by persons who reside on the other shore of the Rio Grande, but by people living on this side. The chief of the band conducted a train of seven cars in which the hides of the animals they had stolen were openly conveyed to a rancho, and that in view of such acts it was absurd to even suggest that the thieves came from Mexico."
About the same time, a band of Americans and Mexican Texans made an assault upon Corpus Christi, according to a publication in the Galveston News of the 6th of July last (1872).
Martin S. Culver, one of the claimants against Mexico, before the Amer- ican commission, on account of cattle said to have been stolen by the Mexicans,
Vol. I. 16
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has damaged his claim by the petition which he has presented to the governor of Texas, asking protection against the thieves who live in Texas, and not in Mexico; he must be aware that he has prejudiced his own claim and that of his com- panions, but very likely preferred this to seeing his ruin consummated by the legion of banditti who were quartered there.
Still greater disorders have occurred in other counties. The county of Dim- mitt, for instance, which is situated on the Rio Grande, north of Webb and south of Maverick, the inhabitants are for the greater part thieves and murderers. The stealing of horses is committed by them in the most bare-faced manner; they hire escaped prisoners from the jails in Mexico, and employ them in steal- ing horses from Mexico, and not content with this, they murder the Mexican travelers who stop at their ranchos to sell horses, take possession of the animals, and enjoy the benefits of their guilt in the face of the populace, who are well aware of the manner in which such property is acquired.
Some of these bandits have crossed over into Mexican towns, contracted for valuable horses, and the owners, on going to leave the animals at Carrizo, Dimmitt county, have been murdered. These banditti appear as claimants against Mexico for large sums on account of cattle said to have been stolen by Mexican citizens and soldiery directly and indirectly under protection of the Mexican authorities. The investigations pursued have done nothing less than demonstrate the double robbery which the inhabitants of Carrizo have been indulging in; first by sale of animals of all kinds of brands, and then, after having aided in the transportation of cattle across the Rio Grande at points not authorized by law, they receive the animals again as stolen property whenever the Mexican author- ities have voluntarily rescued them from the thieves.
It has been said of these inhabitants of Texas, by their fellow-citizens who know them well, and are acquainted with their habits and mode of living, that all the crimes of which they are accused can well be believed, because they are quite capable of any crime in the calendar. They were the first who introduced cattle into Mexico for sale, and they are the ones who have continued the traffic. The fact of being a stock raiser in Texas is a passport for robbery, as one who sells animals belonging to another is not considered a thief provided he is also an owner, and nothing is more frequent than the sale of large lots of cattle in which there is not a single animal belonging to the vendor.
It is an old habit in a certain rancho that some of the stock raisers them- selves, or the Mexicans whom they employ, drive in large herds of cattle, formed of animals from Leona. Medina, Frio and las Nueces, and divide the profits after the sales are made.
It has been frequently observed, that when the thieves have been appre- hended with cattle stolen from the above-named ranchos, and escaped from the jails in Mexico, they seek refuge in the aforementioned county, where they live as herdsmen to the stock raisers, notwithstanding that some of these very stock raisers. on recovering the stolen cattle, have seen them in irons in the prisons of Mexico.
These acts, which are referred to amongst the many that have been proved by means of the investigations instituted on the right bank of the Rio Grande, are sufficient to form an idea of the extent of the demoralization on the opposite shore. Nor is there any intention to deny that it also exists, in a measure, on the Mexican bank; it certainly exists in the majority of the places, but, unlike the case in Texas, criminals do not control the towns, intimidate the action of justice, nor are the headquarters of their machinations established in Mexico.
It has already been shown of what these banditti are capable. Kerr county alone, whose nearest point is situated forty leagues from the Rio Grande, gives ample food for thought and deep reflection in the late horrible acts committed there, not only on account of the criminality of the principal actors, but because of the demoralization existing amongst the masses of the people. The banditti are not afraid to live amongst them; on the contrary, they attended the inves- tigations of the jury which sat in the case of Madison, who was murdered in order that his house might be appropriated by one of the chiefs of the band who had fancied it. So great, indeed, was their confidence that most of them sent for their families. These details prove that there were intimate relations and a life in common between the banditti and the rest of the inhabitants of the
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county, where they first engaged in the stealing of hides and the transportation of cattle, and then perpetrated other atrocities in the counties of Brown, Medina, . Boerne, Sabinal, Pedernales, and other points, it having been clearly proved that for five or more years they had been committing these depredations.
The same person who, in the month of July, informed the Daily Herald of the acts of the banditti whilst disguised as Indians, wrote on May 3rd: "that there had been incursions of Kickapoos, Lipans, Seminoles, &c., with their not less brutal allies, the Mexican Greasers, to whom the assassination of the Terry family was attributed." This family, as was afterwards discovered, and reported by the same correspondent, had been sacrificed by the disguised banditti who in- fested Kerr, and who were not in reality the Kickapoos, Lipans, Seminoles, and their allies the Mexican Greasers. Thus is truth perverted, and thus she punishes those who belie her, discovering their guilt at once, condemning them out of their own mouths, and branding them as inconsistent and destitute of common judgment.
And in order to make the calumny more glaring, it will be well to copy the letter which this same writer caused to be published on the 17th of July last, two months after he had furnished the previous information :
"Up to the present it has been almost impossible to believe that a great part of the depredations attributed to the Indians were committed by white men, but there is now no doubt whatever upon this subject. The statement of young Baker is fully corroborated. A great many of the details cannot yet be pub- lished, but from what is already known it would seem that these banditti do not number less than fifty to seventy in this part of Texas. The atrocities com- mitted by them under the guise of Indians, have been numerous. Our readers must recollect the murder of Mr. Alexander in this county about five years ago; the assassination of the daughter and grandchildren of Mr. Coe in Brown county ; and later that of the Terry family near Zanzemburg, ten miles from Kerrville. All these murders were, at that time, attributed to the Indians (and as it will be remembered, to the Indians resident in Mexico, and to their allies, the Mexicans), but to-day there is no doubt whatever that these horrible deeds were perpetrated by those disguised white devils."
These acts. described by the same person, were attributed at one time to the Mexican Indians, because it suited his purpose to do so, and afterwards, in defense of the truth, to the real criminals. He gives at the same time a sketch of the horrible condition of things on the Texas frontier, and declares that all the charges against Mexico are as unfounded as those of the above-named murders, which were attributed to residents of that country.
All sense of justice is completely ignored, and the administration of law so lax that one of the bandits of Kerr, at the point of being lynched, "cursed those who had not perjured themselves to save him." Another asked how many witnesses were needed to establish his innocence, and this, as the Herald naively remarks, needs no commentaries.
Whilst the Texan frontier was being devastated by the means and the people referred to, the Mexican frontier was suffering like injuries from the very same sources.
Troubles Not Settled By the Commissions.
The commissions appointed by the American and Mexican gov- ernments, and whose reports have been so liberally quoted from, did not succeed in terminating the troubles they were called to investi- gate; nor, in truth, did the authorities, with the facts set before them by these reports, inaugurate any effective system of repression that checked to any considerable degree the raids that had been going on for years. Instead of the outrages decreasing in number and violence, they were aggravated, if not in number, at least in their effects, result- ing in increased exasperation and bitterness between the residents of the opposite sides of the Rio Grande. The military forces stationed at such frontier posts as Fort Ewell, Fort McIntosh, Fort Duncan, etc., proved
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totally inadequate to effectually police an immense tract of country and guard against outbreaks that had none of the essentials of organized warfare. Through it all the prejudice against the Mexican government increased, and Americans finally openly discussed the possibility of an- other war against Mexico as the only means by which the northern Mexican states could be brought under the system of law and order to which other states were accustomed.
The raids continued throughout the decade of the seventies. An- other committee was appointed by Congress and made its investigations the basis of a long report in 1875. The ease with which the raiders could place the international boundary between themselves and their pursuers, and the security which they found on the Mexican side be- cause of inefficient policing and the laxity of Mexican criminal prosecu- tion, brought matters to a climax.
June 1, 1877, the secretary of war sent the following letter to Gen- eral Sherman :- "The president desires that the utmost vigilance on the part of the military forces in Texas be exercised for the suppression of these raids. It is very desirable that efforts to this end, in so far at least as they involve operations on both sides of the border, be made with the co-operation of the Mexican authorities. General Ord will at once notify the Mexican authorities along the Texas border of the great desire of the president to unite with them in efforts to suppress this long-continued lawlessness. At the same time he will inform those authorities that if the government of Mexico shall con- tinue to neglect the duty of suppressing these outrages, that duty will devolve upon this government, and will be performed, even if its per- formance should render necessary the occasional, crossing of the border by our troops."
This order, countenancing the right of the American soldiers to cross the Rio Grande in performance of their duty in case the Mexican government proved powerless to cope with the situation, was not issued till after the American forces had already, on several occasions, been on the south side of the boundary. The facts are stated in the testimony given by Col. W. R. Shafter, as brought out in a hearing before the sub-committee on military affairs, who examined Col. Shafter (com- manding the District of the Nueces, Texas), in relation to affairs on the Rio Grande border. (As quoted in the San Antonio Daily Herald, Jan. 19, 1878.)
He (Col. Shafter) said that what was called the Lower Rio Grande was settled by native Mexicans, the greater part of whom are citizens of the United States, and connected with families on the opposite side of the river by blood and marriage. The Upper Rio Grande was settled mostly by Americans above Laredo to San Felipe, while the settlements at El Paso are almost exclusively Mexican. He defined the Zona Libra
The Zona Libra.
to be a strip of country extending along the whole Rio Grande front, including that of the Mexican states of Tamaulipas and a part of New- Leon. The Zona Libra is three leagues in width, and was granted to the people of Tamaulipas for some service rendered to the central gov-
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ernment. Within this zone all goods are imported free of duty. If they go beyond the line into the interior, they pay duty. The effect is to bring foreign trade to the Mexican side to the injury of our own people. The goods imported within this zone free of duty are then smuggled into the United States.
With respect to raiding parties, they number from two or three up to thirty. Latterly he had not heard of a party of more than 20. He mentioned the cases of six or seven persons murdered by Indians and Mexican raiders in 1877, and said the number of raids was much smaller during the past two years than previously. The object of the incursions was plunder, not to make war.
The Colonel said that his troops first crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico in May, 1876; he was in search of the Lipans, who were seven miles from the town of Saragossa, and forty-five miles from the Rio Grande. The result of his expedition was the killing and capturing of nineteen Indians, the capture of their stock and the destruction of their village. He kept up his expeditions all the time, with the full consent of the local Mexican authorities. The well disposed Mexicans were anxious to be rid of the Indians. At the same time, a large part of the lowest element thrives upon the plunder the Indians bring them. They could buy a good horse from the Indians for a bottle of mescal or two or three dollars. Therefore, such Mexicans were glad to have the trade go on. The first square co-operation of Mexican troops with those of the United States was under General Falcon.
In answer to the question what number of troops would be neces- sary to protect American citizens, the Colonel said that if the Mexicans would exert themselves in that direction, we have more than enough troops, but if we are to cross into Mexico for that purpose, we have not troops enough. In his expeditions into Mexico he had always been treated with great cordiality by Mexican officers, and by respectable citizens of the frontier towns. Before the issuance of the order of the War Department to cross the Rio Grande, there did not appear to be any objection on the part of the Mexicans that this should be done, but when the formal order was issued, it seemed to the Mexicans an assumption on our part to dictate to the Mexicans. That order, how- ever, was modified in July, 1877, so as to provide that when the Mexican troops were prepared to go in pursuit of raiders, ours must stop. A report of the result in each instance was required to be made to the department.
The bitterness of the feeling expressed on the frontier was by those who have been robbed of their property. Our citizens on the border are opposed to war. They only want protection. The Colonel said that all along in the military district, with the exception of a few Mexican thieves the largest raids were committed by Indians. It was almost impossible to prevent them from crossing, as they come over on foot to the uninhabited part of the border country, and lie in wait until op- portunities occur for making raids in the populated sections. After stealing horses and cattle, they dexterously make their escape.
The Colonel said his second crossing into Mexico was in June, 1876, when he captured 127 head of horses and mules. He made other cross-
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ings during the past year (1877), six in all. Another crossing was made by him fifteen days ago in conjunction with Mexican troops, but after a pursuit of twenty miles, the rain washed away the trail, and the pur- suit of the raiders had to be abandoned. He knew of only two in- stances where the Mexican authorities have returned stolen stock-in one case to a Mexican who had ranches on each side of the river, and in another to an American. The reason why Americans do not go over into Mexico to claim stolen stock is, they say, that there are so many restrictions there and the requirements to prove property so severe that the journey would be fruitless. Within the last three or four months, there has been a stronger array of Mexican troops on the border than at any time previously in the interest of good order.
As to the Indians, it seems that they had to steal somewhere on our soil, as they could not steal anything from Mexicans, and this was their only means of support. Most of the raids made by the Indians are by those who formerly lived on American soil. He knew of no in- stance in which the Mexicans have refused to surrender stolen property on application, but as a general thing, Americans do not go over for that purpose, saying it is useless. He did not think there were any per- sons on our side of the river who assisted the thieves. The Mexican troops expressed a strong desire to put a stop to disturbances which produce so much hard feeling on both sides of the river. The Mexican troops on two or three occasions have started in pursuit of raiders, but their movements were so tardy that they were not attended with suc- cess.
The Raid of 1878.
Surpassing all other raids in the fatal results, the amount of prop- erty destroyed and carried away and the intensity of feeling aroused, was the Mexican and Indian raid of 1878. So wrought up were the citizens and so convinced of the ineffectiveness of the regular troops stationed at Fort McIntosh and other points for the proper defense and quick movement against the enemy, that a very earnest petition was sent to the secretary of state asking for redress of wrongs and im- provement of methods of protection. The history of the raid is given in a pamphlet printed at the time, containing the petition and the deposi- tions of various witnesses to the events described.
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