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Our Catleolic Heritage in Texas
Indians, who assured them they did not want to hurt the Spaniards, that they were looking for the Apaches who had killed some of their people. Deatli of Fray Alonso. In a few minutes the Tejas chief returned. His face glowed with anger. He declared he had been received with a volley of fire, that three of his companions had been killed, and one wounded. He was evidently lying, for he had not had time enough to go there and come back. Fray Alonso tried to appease him by offering to go with him. His offer was accepted. Without a quiver, fully aware of the imminent danger of his action, he ordered the last horse in the corral to be brought and mounting it, started together with Jose Garcia, a soldier, toward the gate. In the meantime the Tejas chief had disappeared in the crowd. Fray Alonso and his companion, not finding him within the inclosure, rode toward the entrance to look for him outside the stockade. Just as they reached the gate, a shot was fired, and Father Alonso Giraldo de Terreros, who had labored for the Apaches in Coahuila and who had come to the San Saba for their sake, fell from his horse mortally wounded. The single shot at the missionary was instantly followed by a volley that killed Garcia outright. This was the signal for the massacre. The few Spaniards in the ,patio fought desperately to reach a haven of safety. Father Fray Santiesteban was killed at the foot of the altar where he had continued in prayer. Lazaro de Ayala and Enrique Gutierrez were cruelly shot and cut to pieces in the ,patio. Fray Molina, with a broken arm, accompanied by eight survivors, most of them wounded, succeeded by dint of great exertion in reaching the president's room where they barricaded themselves, determined to defend their lives by every means in their power. An orgy of blood and fire followed. The Indians danced and shouted wildly as they set fire to the stockade and the building where the survivors had taken refuge. Through the loopholes in the walls the Spaniards saw them disrobe the martyred Fathers Fray Santiesteban and Fray Alonso. With fiendish glee they desecrated the body of the former, cutting his head off and tossing it about as a ball. The images of the saints in the chapel were cut to pieces, the cattle in the corral were killed, and every- thin o- that could not be carried away was wantonly destroyed. While 0 engaged in their task of destruction, they paid little attention to the prisoners in the mission building, confident they would be destroyed by the flames.
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