Slayer Of Men

Slayer of Men

Reminiscences of Desperate Battles of the Texas Rangers.

How the Notorious Padre Jarante Got His Deserts--A Brush With a Band of Comanches

In a comfortable, well appointed office on one of the upper floors of a New York skyscraper a remarkable old gentleman engaged in the laudable business of insuring people's lives with an ample margin for his own needs may be seen every day. Time was when he was engaged in taking men's lives at the risk of his own instead of preparing families for emergencies when the grim visitor calls the head of a home. The colonel, for such is his title, gained as a commander of the Texas rangers, grew reminiscent recently and related some of his experiences on the border.

"I accompanied Captain Hayes on his raid against the notorious priest leader of Mexicans, Padre Jarante, in all the history of outlawry perhaps the most skillful in the business of fighting and deviltry. We chased after the leader for two days and without knowing it passed him, so that when we got to San Juan he was behind us. But we were tired out for want of two nights' sleep, and we stripped our horses and ate and went to sleep, never expecting trouble.

About sunrise we were awakened by warning shouts and cries and the firing of shots. We grasped our revolvers and carbines and hastened to the windows. The five men on outpost had stood their ground and had gone under. One, lying wounded on an elbow, was still pouring a galling fire into the ranks of the enemy until the butt of a rifle was laid over his head. Three times the padre charged us, and three times he was repulsed by our fire, and the third time he was keeled off his horse dead.

"All of these were Interesting fights but the most desperate, I think, came when one of our lieutenants, Edward Burleson, was ordered to hand one of our Indian prisoners over to the authorities at Fort Mclntosh. I was in the party detailed to accompany the lieutenant, and on the way back, nearing the Nueces river we spied a couple of Indians. I was also one of seven chosen by the lieutenant to capture the Indians, while the remainder of the detachment continued along the road.

"The red fellows, however, had set a trap. Steadily the others of our command proceeded, leaving us to settle with the pair discovered, until finally we were out of earshot of one another. We dug bravely after the two Indians. The two suddenly turned into fourteen, and they were ready and waiting for us when we crossed the brow of a hillock which had concealed the snare. There was neither time nor necessity for retreat, however. We got the order to dismount, and it came so quick and fast while we were riding at top speed that I remember my horse went back on his haunches, cutting the same in the effort to stop short. Then from the middle of our circle of horses we opened fire with the Colt's six shooting rifles. We killed every Indian except one that got away to spread the wholesome tale, but the fellows had charged us so closely that several of them lying prostrate we could have touched with our rifle butts without moving from where we stood.

"In 1858 I had worked up the line to a captaincy and was then with the frontier battalion of state troops, with a headquarters camp at Deer fork, on the Brazos. The Comanches had been particularly active. They would swoop down on the white settlements and after working stealthily within the white lines would run off, driving stolen stock and killing and burning all within range. So we decided to give them a dose of their own medicine, and we took a wagon loaded with fifty rangers, followed by a similarly loaded one and about a hundred friendly Tahuahuacan Indians.

"We camped that evening, concealing our force, and sent out scouts. Our enemy, the scouts reported, were hunting buffalo, and their camp was just a few miles ahead. We moved during the night, and at daybreak carne within sight of the Comanche lodges. Eighty of these we counted, which, allowing four male fighters to a lodge, brought up the fighting force to something like 300 braves. Just at sunup a hostile Indian on horseback appeared, and at once excitement broke loose among my own Indians, and they yelled and gave the whole scheme away, for the solitary rider, of course, heard them.

"The Tahuahuacans were ordered out in front, so that we could keep the rangers as a sort of surprise. Then we charged, raising the Texas yell and bearing down on the Comanches like a living avalanche. The fight proved one sided. About those days the mere yell of the rangers was enough to strike terror to the heart of a small band of Indians, and here, though the enemy was in sufficient numbers to make resistance, there seemed a thousand rangers the way they were spread out. The Comanches cut and ran, deserting everything and spreading fanlike so that it was impossible almost to follow any one band. So we decided to come back, having slain more than fifty of them. All about us we could make out Indians skulking at a safe distance in the hills, and we were just ready to proceed to a proper looting of the place to recover stolen goods when a second and much larger outfit of Indians hove up out of nowhere and prepared to fight.

"One huge Indian on the opposite side dared any Indian on our side to come out to fight him single handed, and five of the Tahuahuacans went down in single combat before we turned the rangers loose. After all the fight made was more spectacular than bloody. The instant the rangers were released the Indians fled for dear life, and only those that blundered into range were killed or dropped."