TEXAS INDIAN PAPERS, 1846-1859
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were engaged in catching the horses just driven from Hodge's house & putting their saddles on them, all of them being good horses-The Indians were not aware of the pursuit by Hodges & party. As the prairie was too large to justify an attack, they quietly waited till the Indians had saddled all the horses, & started· in the direction of the Guadalupe river, then about one mile distant-Mr H. & party now again followed on foot, & through a rough country- Keeping themselves always out of sight of the Indians & intending to overtake & fire upon them while they were in the act of crossing the river-they reached the river just as the Indians had reached the opposite side & were still in a small bottom-one shot was fired at them by the boy, wounding the Indian-Mr H. & Mr N. could not get shots on account of the Indians being concealed by the brush- The Indians immediately fled leaving twelve horses, which they had. stolen the previous night about six miles from Mr H's residence-They rode off all Mr H's horses-The Indians crossed the river in full view of a German family, unprotected, the hus- band being absent & who but for Mr H's pursuit might possibly have been attacked.- On last Monday Sept 17th-a single Indian made an attempt to steal a staked horse, in open day, from the same prairie in front of Mr Hodge's house & almost from the same spot, from which the horses had been driven on the 31 August-the horse became frightened, broke his rope & ran to the house-the In- dian was then seen running into the brush, by several members of the family-In the evening about dusk he made his appear- ance again at the same place, when Mr H. shot at him, but failed to Kill him-no doubt others were in company with him- These acts manifest great boldness in the part of the In- dians- About Sept. 6th a German belonging to the Settlement of Sisterdale in passing, unarmed, from Fredericksburg to Sister- dale was chased by an armed Indian for a considerable distance --& about the same time Mr Dressell of the same place, in pass- ing home from New Braunfels chased an Indian, on the road for some distance - Between the last of August & the 5th September a number of horses were stolen from a settlement on the Cibolo about fifteen miles above the road from New Braunfels to San Antonio-but how many I could not learn, & the names of the owners I do not now recollect.
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