PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR 259 lipas. He was captain, commanding the garrisons at Santonio de Bexar in 1811. He proclaimed in favor of the insurgents, united with the people of Bexar in the cause of the revolution, and was placed at the head of the revolutionary party. The first thing he done was to arrest Herrera, Solcedo and others, and send them as prisoners to the interior, perhaps to Monclover, Monterey' or to the Army then succesful under Hidalgo. But very soon after this Hidalgo was be- trayed and captured; and a counter revolution immediately took place,. not only in the interior but also in Bexar. Indeed so soon as the people of Bexar heard of the capture of Hidalgo, they knew that the Revolutiona:ry cause was hopeless; and they lost no time in retracing their late movements, and declaring in favor of the Royal cause. Hear- ing that Herrera and Solcedo, were on ,their way home to Bexar, and dreading their vengeance, the people of that place hoped to escape or mitigate their resentment by an over zeal now in their behalf; they according arrested Cassas, & Almanda, and others and held them pris- oners until the arrival of Herrara & Solcedo. Cassas, Aldama perishec!.. They were taken to Monclover and beheaded; and the head of Cassas, was brought to Bexar and stuck on a pole to the public gaze. - Now commenced a series of the most horible cruelties. The prisons were crowded with citizens taken up for their principles, and cramed together so close that they could not lie down. Eighteen died in one night. They were daily taken out, a dozen at a time, given a. mock trial and shot in the public square without compassion. • Aldama and his assosiates, who had inspired Cassas to revolt, brought to Bexar nearly ·a million of dollars in spicia, to aid the revo- lution. '!'his fell into the hands of the Royalists after these reverses. - [Endorsed] Juan Cassas - Aldama. - Delgado & others No. 2452 [184-f G. COLLINSWORTH?] CONVENTION OF MA:aCH, 1836GT A convention of the people of Texas met at Washington on the first day of March 1836. When I arrived it !leemed to be understood that Richad Ellis from that part of Red River under the Conventi.al Juris- diction of the U. States_ wa~ to be President. He was accordingly nominated to that station without opposition. And the ver:v first acts done by him in the appointment of his com- mittes he clearJ:v exhibited the comse he subsequently intended to pur- sue. He .United· himself with Robert Potter of famous memory and other avarious rsic] land speC'Ulators who in order to carry their own speculations where they had pretended. to purchl!!!e & h,:,n !l"tlwllv nrocured conveyances to head many ofns had never been bona fide set- tled: Attempted to pass the famous agararian law declaring all grants of land forn 9 than one league of land. abso~utely void. This measure "'A? D. ""The word "them" was evidently intended to have been inserted here. "'The word "more" seems to have been omitted here.
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