NOTES AND FRAGMENTS.

The Killing of — Rogers. ²⁸—Rogers came very near being killed by the Indians on the Colorado in February, 1839, at the same time with Mrs Coleman. When they appeared he and a young son of Mrs. Coleman were working in a field near the house. The boy was captured and was never recovered, but Rogers succeeded in making his escape. ²⁹

In 1840 Rogers was stopping at Kenney's Fort on Brushy creek. This fort had been built by Thomas Kenney, ³⁰ and was the first white settlement in that quarter. One day in the fall, when the buffalo began to come in, Rogers and a man named Ladd went hunting north of the place towards where Georgetown is now located. By and by they discovered some twenty Indians on the divide about half a mile away. Immediately they ran for timber, which was about four hundred yards distant. Rogers, being rather an elderly man, fell behind and was overtaken, speared to death, and scalped. This enabled Ladd to reach one of the dense thickets which then skirted the stream, but which have since disappeared. The Indians followed, but failed to find him. Then they unsaddled their ponies, kindled a fire, and ate in plain view of him as he lay concealed amid the undergrowth and afraid to stir. When they had finished eating, they prepared a target at the edge of the thicket, and much to his discomfort began to practice with their bows and arrows. Fortunately he was not struck, and as soon as they were gone he returned at once to the settlement, or fort, as it was called, and reported. Thereupon a party went out, hunted up the body of Rogers, and buried it.

The grave is now under the plow. As nearly as the place can be located, it is on the farm of John Palm.—J. W. Darlington, Taylor.

The Freedman in the Legislature.—On the adoption of the Constitution of 1868, my old body-servant, Tom, who had been faithful both to my father and to me, decided to run for the place in the legislature which I myself had previously held. In his speeches in the campaign by which he stepped into my shoes he said he wanted to go to the legislature in order to keep up the record of the family. He claimed to run as an “old member,” and his constituents knew no better. The whites were not permitted to vote, and he was therefore elected almost unanimously by the negroes and went from my old district to take my place as representative. As a member of the House he served his people as well as he knew how, drawing his eight dollars per diem from the treasury with the utmost regularity.

Tom was a good man; far better, in fact, than his white associates. I now have in my possession a bill of sale executed in the days of slavery for this member of the Texas legislature, and it is barely possible that he was not the only member that was ever bought and sold. But of this, let him that knoweth speak.—J. K. Holland, Austin.

The Attitude of the Spanish in Texas Towards the Indians.—The attitude of the Spaniard toward the Indian, which finds expression in the official documents of the time, and which undergoes significant changes during the century of Spanish occupation, is a romantic paragraph in our history. When the Spaniard originally came to Texas he was cautioned to win the Indian to allegiance by kindly methods. This was done in a large number of instances. But there was an air of superiority about the Spaniard, a tone of haughty condescension in his voice, when he spoke of the red infidel. He had little respect for the rover, and less for his institutions, and paid no heed to his prowess in battle.

What is here said, it should be noted, applies not to the Franciscan missionaries, but to the Spanish soldiers.

But this state of feeling came to an end with the massacre of San Saba in 1758 and the failure of the Parilla expedition to the Islas Blancas a few years thereafter. Previously the Indians had been spoken of as infidels. Now those of the North especially became “nuestros enemigos barbaros.” Later the coast Indians gave the Spanish trouble, and won for themselves the same appellation.

Toward the end of the eighteenth century there was another change, and the Indians became known as “nuestros aliados.” The Spanish, who wished no more enemies, were disposed to designate all of them as allies. This disposition was shown especially when the eastern boundary dispute arose. — W. F. McCaleb, Carrizo Springs.

Religious Belief and Customs of Texas Indians.—The one single instance known to me of faith in the Great Spirit as a being of supernatural power is afforded by a trivial incident, often related in the early days in Austin.

Flacco, a Lipan brave, was listening to a young lady who was drumming on the piano for his amusement. He was a faithful attendant on Captain Mark B. Lewis, and some one knowing it remarked that the young lady was the captain's favorite.

“Oh, no,” she said, “I am not tall enough.” She was, in fact, very short and remarkably fleshy.

“Yes,” said Flacco in his broken English, “you tall, too, but the Great Spirit”—here he raised his hand as if indicating the abode of the Being he mentioned—“he put his hand on head and mash you down.”

The ceremony of calling back the spirit of the dead was witnessed by a friend of mine who was present in a Tonqua camp at the death of one of the tribe. Without knowing the Indian custom of using on such occasions a secret name, he described the calling or rather shouting of the name as one of the most impressive things he ever heard. He regarded it as a kind of mourning ceremony, the constant calls being kept up all night.—Julia Lee Sinks, Giddings.

Texas in Poore's Charters.—Under this title appears in the Nation of September 16 the following communication:

To the Editor of the Nation:

Sir:In the matter relative to Texas in Poore's “Charters and Constitutions,” there are some mistakes, and a seriously important omission, which are very misleading to those who rely absolutely on the work. Under the title “Texas Declaration of Independence” is printed (Part II, pp. 1752-3) the declaration adopted November 7, 1835, by the consultation at San Felipe de Austin, in favor of the Mexican Federal Constitution of 1824, and against the revolutionary aims of Santa Anna. The foot-note (p. 1752), which says, “This Declaration of Independence was adopted by a convention which assembled at Washington, on the Brazos river, March 1, 1836,” applies properly not to “this Declaration, etc.,” but to the actual Texas Declaration of Independence, which was adopted March 2, 1836, and has passed by the name into history. The latter is, unfortunately, omitted altogether.

My attention was first directed to these errors by my colleague, Prof. John C. Townes.—George P. Garrison, University of Texas, Austin, September 3, 1897.

The Texas Magazine has been moved to Dallas, and is now published by William G. Scarff. Judge C. W. Raines' “Life of Santa Anna,” which was commenced in Vol. I., No. 1 of the Magazine, continues one of its attractions. Ex-Governor O. M. Roberts contributes to the August number an interesting paper on “The Shelby War.” “Personal Recollections of Stephen F. Austin,” written by Moses Austin Bryan for the information of his son, is one of the most valuable as well as readable articles of the September number. A prominent feature of the new Magazine is the emphasis laid upon woman's work in Texas and elsewhere. The Magazine has a fine field and a promising future.

The Midsummer Gulf Messenger (Houston, Texas) is a very creditable number. Besides the usual departments, the following are the leading articles: “Psychical Research,” a club paper, by Mrs. C. Lombardi, of Houston; “Women in the Music Teachers' National Association” (illustrated), by Caroline Somers; “Our Relations,” a story by Eleanor Kirk, editor of Eleanor Kirk's Idea, and author of “Libra,” and “The Influence of the Zodiac on Human Life”; “Will Allen Dromgoole as a Poet,” with frontispiece, by Louise Preston Looney. A popular feature of this magazine for some months has been the series of sketches of Women's Clubs in the South, with leading club papers. With this number it inaugurates a regular “Department of Women's Clubs,” and invites the co-operation and correspondence of club women everywhere, with a view to exchange of ideas on club work.