559
PAPERS OF l\fIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
Since our interview, I feel the strongest as[su]rance, that he will not fall off again, [and] that he will soon be, as he is so capable of be[ing] an ornament to his profession & to Society-
Yours
S.A.R
[Endorsed]
S. A Roberts
Austin July 24th. 1841
No. 2073
1841 July 25, C.H. GUILBEAU, BEXAR, TEXAS, TO 1\1. B. LAMAR, GALVESTON, ['l'EXASJ2.2
Bejar, July 27, 1841.
To His Excellencv The President of the Republic of Texas, Austin.
I take the liberty of writing to your Excellency with regard to the scenes of lawlessness committed by the Lipan Indians when they enter Bejar and have become intoxicated. ·That is not the most important. It is possible to repress them by punishing the delinquents by putting them in prison as has just been done, and suppressing the sale to them of liquors by a city ordinance, so that I have imprisoned the first meeting of the body. But how can the thefts which they commit on the ranches be sup- pressed ? 8 days ago I myself. was on the ranches adjoining their camps. I heard many complaints; I saw the gardens destroyed and the corn crops partly gathered trodden down by them. They kill cattle regardless of whom they belong to. Now they are camped nearer, nine miles from Bexar on the banks of the Salado. Since the first day they arrived I receiYed a complaint from 1.Ir. Ignacio Chavez that they had killed two head of his cattle, besides the young ox which he had given them to eat. Complaints come from the Missions which they have entered and robbed. They beg for protection, but I cannot give -it to them. Your Excellency should realize the difficulty of puni;;hing ac- cording to our laws, Indians who do not recognize our laws, do not observe them, and are little di~posed to be honest men. What I did was to send for Castro and tell him that he should not allow his Indians to devastate the property of the settlers, in his encampments, and warn him that if they continued, the militia would have to be called out to punish them. He promised to obey, but he has made this promise twenty times without keeping his word. I pray your Excellency in the name of the inhabitants of this city to set aside_ a remote place for them where they cannot harm anyone. Be assured, Your Excellency, of the distinguished consideration of Your humble servant, C. H. Guilbeau mayor ad interim
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