Ottr Catholic He,-itage in Texas
presidio at the time of the disturbance. Word was sent to him, that all the Indians had run away. He mounted his horse and, accompanied by a few soldiers, went in search of them. He overtook them a short distance away and after talking to them for a while he succeeded in quieting their fears and in persuading them to return to the presidio and mission. It grew dark before he reached La Bahia and many of the Indians, who did not entirely trust Captain Ramon, took advantage of the opportunity which night afforded them to steal away, so that when he arrived at the post only about half of the men were left, although most of the women and children were still present. He ordered all that remained to be placed in a small hut, and from this overcrowded prison they were to be sum- moned, a few at a time, to meet their doom. Ramon commanded the slaughter of a bull apparently to supply these Indians with meat, but in reality the butchered animal was provided to entice the savages to the place where the cannon of the fort might be trained on the victims with deadly effect. This was the original intention for the cowardly trick, according to the majority of witnesses examined. One soldier, however, declared that he had been ordered by the captain to gather up all the rope in the presidio to bind and hang these poor defenceless Indians. Whether the tribesmen became suspicious because of the sinister prepa- rations that they saw going on around them, or whether they understood what the real intentions of the captain were, they refused to leave the hut, even though they were hungry for the meat of the bull which had been killed ostensibly for their benefit. Instead, they tried to break away from the narrow confines where they were held in captivity. When Domingo Ramon noticed this attempt to escape, he called some of the soldiers and with their help forced them all back into the wretched prison. He now entered the hut or was drawn into it by the Indians. He tried to pacify them, assuring them nothing would happen to them. When they became calm, noticing a number of soldiers nearby, he suddenly called out with a loud voice, "At them, friends, and get them!" When the Indians heard him yell these words, one of them approached him and stabbed him in the breast with the blade of a large pair of scissors. The soldiers attacked the Indians, and at the command of the captain, fired a cannon which was trained on the hut. The Indians, with the exception of two, succeeded in escaping unharmed through a hole in the house. A squaw was the only one that they were able to catch and Ramon ordered
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