OCR Text |
Show 502 Ex. Doc. No. 41. or 1 will t'akc the turkey an1l you may take the buzzard." The lndi~ n repliccl, ''You never on<.e said turkey to mr." Novemb er 27.-Wc now moved our camp to a more sheltered position, where we ha<l ph•nty of cotton wood trecl:l, and at o?ce commenc •d uuildin~ house!', ha.vlng procured adobes for the chun· ncys from the rninf' of Val verde . November 28.-This morning I got a little sapsueker, "silta Carolina," a hinl that iR often sern creeping on the un1lcr side of limbs of trees tlmt cxlen1l horizontally; lht>y havP three toes runeinp; forwanl, and only one backward, but their bill reRembles that of a woodpecker. W r hcanl, thi~ morning, of tllt' death of two of the volunteers who were l'ncatnJH'd ncar us. These men had gone off from camp f1vc or ~ix milt·s without any wenpons, when tht>y were attaclccd by the Navajo s, who shot them down with rec·d arrows, ancl thrn heat out their brains with roc·ks~ and the Indians drove off 800 shrcp. A party ot thirty immC'diatr.ly \: cnt out in pursuit of the murd ret~. n tlte last ;ulviccs tltPY had not ovt•rtal 't•n th(•rn. 'V<· heard to day, that Ol' l\(•tal Wool had joined GC'nr.ral Taylor, ancl that tht•y had tak(·n Monterry. The pnson bringing this news, form r rl y a n o lii c; c r in t h <' 1~~ n g 1 ish army , h a.<] rome d i reel fro m the city of M c xi c· o . II c is n ow a t ' e fi or A 1 ~ i e r' s c a rn p . During the morning I Haw Mr. Glasgow, formerly our (~ onsul at Ma· zatlan. H e had received a letter from Rome frien<ls in Chihnahna., confirming the news of the battle of Mont<•rey. We also lenrnecl that 700 Mexicans had come up from }~1 Paso, and had ;trrived in sight of our camp on the day the volunt('l'rs rcachc1l here, ancl ~rcing the I at tcr, had retired. Durit g the morning I ~ent out to sc<• som mules tha.l were brandr,\ with thc· lctt(•rs "u. s.," whe.n the drivers showc.•d me a certificate signed by Licut<•nant toneman, elated in the vi<'inity of the copper minC's, on the Gila This gave us nt.'ws of the safety of Captain Cook, hut obliged us to lt>t the mule driv<·rs retain their mul~s. November 29.-A day of eold <ln:r.zling rain, during whieh Mr. R. F. Ruxton, the Eng Iishman previous! y mrn t ion eel, en tcrc<l .our camp._ He tol~l us thnt aft(•r tlH• battle of Monterey there was an armu-;tlCe for stx wc:ks; that Genrral Taylor luul been ordered to tHlvance upon Tamptco, ancl that Santa Ana had or<lercd his troops t~ fa.ll back on San Luis Potosi, whrre he was eoncentrnting all hts forces . Some of lhr traders seem to think that he will be able to raise an army of 30,000 men. Mr. R~xton brought a paper from the English minister, desirwg a11 .Amcncan offi~ers to extend every fa.eility to English tr~clcrs on thctr route to C~llhuahu~; also other pap<'rs, in whi<'h it was stated tha.t ~raders of .all nat10ns woul<l be permitted frt c egress, even Amenrans, provtdcd they came with M cxican drivers. W c also heard tha_t twent~-one_ of Mr. Spi~·t's men- this Spier forcrcl his way to Cluhuahua. m spttc of pursutt by the United States dracroons-bad peri. he<l i~ the mountains, of hunger ancl thirst, whilst c~ cl cavoring to escape mto Texas; and that General Armijo had gone to Durango; I Ex. Doc. No. 41 . 503 that 0 r t i 7., the c u r a o f E l Paso, h a r l 1 (' t 1 t l1 c t roo p s t h 'at c n m e to capture the Wctgons of the tradcls; atHl that the people of Chihuahua hatl made stx eopper fit•ld pieces .N'ovembcr 30.-To clay WP cmployr<l much of our time in building, although there was a driz;r.lwg rain th~1l was unfavorable for 1 a b o r ; y ~· l we . a c com p 1 i: h £ d t _h c fi II i n g in o f t h e w n r p of I i g h t p o 1 e s h y w t' a v 111 g w 1 t h r n shes. T l11 s after n o on w e h a d a. festive s c~ <' n c at the camp of a tradr>r from Missouri, who still had some fine elaret wine and .ome good old brandy. We had many tale~ of wild adve. ntur~~ of pratric_ life, and hair breadth csccqH'H. W c heard of M1ke Ji mk, who, wtth two olltcr dcspcradoe. , for a time livccl in th.~ Roe I< y mo uulains.. Th<'re Mike. \~Ou l d shoot a tin cup off the hc.Hl of one of the lr10 for some tnllmrr bet One day under the w:1ger of a keg of whisk<·y, Mike fired ~w.ly at tbe tin ~up ctnd his frtend droppt..d. "Thcrr," ~aid Mike "I've lost th<· whi~li'ey I s h o t a I it ll c t o o I o w . " T r u e, t h e h u l I ~ t h a <l c n t e r c cl b c t w c c n t'h c cy<'S of _the c~p bearer. Shortly after this oecurn·nce, Mike ha<l an allC'rcattO:l wtth the secotHl man, and, remarking that he had one of th? best rtfies that ~va:3 t'VPr shot~ tlt-e otlt-er drew a pistol and killed M_tl t' ~ead; and tltts man, on lus way to St. Louis, to ~land his tn_al, jt~mped overboard and was drowned in the waters of the M tssourt. T h u..-, as th_c na rra tor staled, p rri Hhe<l three of the most desperate m('n kr.own 1n the wt·st. Many mo rc la lcs Wl're told of Glass, ?f Colter, and othPr~, uul one only I will rclatt•, as it thr~ws some ltght ?n the character of the New Mcxil'ans. A few years ago the }\'Trxteans had been endeavoring to defeat the Apaches; not succcedmg, they persuaded a party of 140 to com(• into Chihuahua u n d c r t h e pre t c n c e o ~ m a k in g p <'a c c w i l h t h c m . II a vi n g give~ them plenty of nguar<h('nlc, tht~y fell upon the intoxicated Indians and lnlled them; one woman ran to the church, hoping to be protected by the s;u·n·dness of the sanctuary. The instinel that compcllc< l h~r to se<'k safety here was awakened not only for the prescrvattOn of .her own lif:, Lul for that of ar:olhcr yet unborn; but no u g h l a v a tl s : they s uz e h c r, t h c· y d rag t he i r vic t i m to t h c gran~l p~rch ~nd cut her to pieces, tearing out a living child; they ~tpttzc tt, With ficudtsh mockery, and tltcn 1ts soul is f.{'nt to join 1at of the dead mother!-ancl now, at this very morncnl, many 0t the scalps of t~1csc unfortunate beings hang claugling in front of ~ lC church, a chotec offering lo the saints. 'l'hrsf' an: clcccls of the cscenclants of those who eamc to crcet the blessed symbol of the cross, who, with such holy l10rror, cast down tlw i1lo ls of the Aztecs, and abolish<'d th<' !torrid ri tes an1l execrable s:1.crifices of the pric s~s of Iluitzilo pol<:hili. We~ tllls ?vcning, r£•ceivccl a disj)atch from Captain Walton, of the Mt~soun voluntet>rs, desiring all the trade rs to combine at some one potnt for their better defence, as he had recetvcd information thnt renclerecl such a movcnH•nt ncrcss.uy. J?ccember 1.-The month came in with much wind, scattering the folt~gc of the cottonwood trees, and rustling through their boughs. nunng the morning we ha<l an alarm of Mt-xicans, but it originatcll from the approach of a "mulada" that belonged to some of the |