494
TE_XAS STATE LIBRARY
own hands, and not only threatning but actuly piratically executing thare own Laws according to the devises of thare own wicked and malignant dispositions; Lynch Law is the only code they respect and •enforce; while robbery and revenge constitute thare rool of action Your l\!Iemorialist feels compelld from a painfull necessity as well 1st. The depredators complaind of have violently and with force ·as from a regard to his afflicted family and a duty to his country to ·set fourth the following facts 1st. The depredators complaind of have violently and with force -and arms, seized upon the persons of our own citizens and after a mock trial have sentencd them to be hangd by the neck, and actually executed the sentence. 2nd. Thay have assumed certain inquisitorial powers and by the application of the lash and other instruments of torment, have endeav- erd to extort confesions from those sufering individuals, whose per- sons they have outraged, at the same time telling the suffering victim that thay would release him if he would but implicate others; and while grattifying thare demoniac malignatey thay would interogate the sufferer as to his knowledge of others; if shuch or such a man was not guilty, and when the answer was I know nothing about them, thay would threaten to kill if something was not extorted these facts have been sworn to by some of the unfortunate individuals who have been obnoxious to thare outrages and lawless designs. 3rd. thay have caused and still continue to create great alarm -among many of the good citizens of Texas 4 , thay come to the residence of your Memoralist in his absence :and told his family that thay meant to kill him and threated his soninlaw, (Goion [?]) that if he did not leve the house of your lVIe- morialist, (his home) thay would whip him and destroy the property 5th, For the better protection of my family and the safety of my own life as well as the preservation of my property (or a part of it) I directed my family to move to the citty of Houston while at thare urgent solicitation I was induced to keep out of the way of those out- laws; but with such malignant Vigilence did these userpers of the Law watch us; that my family to ev[adce] them wase so exposed to the -cold rain and inclemenency of the weather as not only to endanger :all thare lives but has actually taken Four of my belovd. of my family to thare long home; (among whome was my daughter Mrs. Plummer. her narative is herewith tra[n]smitted.) 58 While my little property that I have made by an Honest industry has been scatterd -stolen or taken by violence ; so that your Memorialist is actuly de- prived of the means of precure the necessarys of life for the few re- maining miserable members of my family Such are the charges and such the facts which it is the painfull duty of your memorialist to lay before your Excellency; your Memo- rialist is aware that the toung of calumny has not spared him but in the conscienceness of his own integrity he has challengd proof. touch- ing any accusation against him (see Defe [nse]5 8 which is also respect- fully submitted) none has ever dared to persent itself. Having sirvd. his country in a civil and l\filatary capacity and put fourth his :feble 1 8This document is no longer with the Lamar Papers.
Powered by FlippingBook