Our Catliolic Heritage in T ezas
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band of marauding Indians. After he had been at last captured in April, 1801, he attempted to escape while being led to the presidio at La Bahia, wounded a sergeant and a soldier, and almost succeeded in escaping before he was shot in the resultant scuffie. 96 Chief Frazada Pinta, who it will be remembered did not join the mission, was a constant source of worry. He, accompanied by a band of braves, would visit the mission at irregular intervals. He was always on the point of joining and he always promised that upon his return from the present hunting trip he and his people would settle down. His visits were preceded or followed by the disappearance of the choice stock from the mission herd and the loss of numerous trifles. In time he became openly hostile. On July 18, 1797, a soldier from Refugio reported at La Bahia that the night before Chief Frazada Pinta and his party had attacked the mission herd, killed a servant, wounded another, and escaped. Alferez Jose Antonio Cadena was sent with four men to inves- tigate the case. He reported that, judging from the tracks, the attacking party consisted of twelve or fourteen men, and that they had taken refuge on the neighboring coast islands. Almost a year later Captain Jose Miguel del Moral from La Bahia went to Refugio to investigate another attack by Frazada Pinta. Upon his arrival, on June 20, I 798, he found that fourteen Indians, Karankawas of Frazada Pinta's tribe, had executed a raid and fled immediately with their loot to their chief's inaccessible ranc/1er1a, known as Vergantin. Another Karankawa chief from Rosario named Zertuche also com- mitted numerous depredations on Refugio. Father Garavito wrote Jose Miguel del Moral at La Bahia that Zertuche was "the worst Indian living under the sun." He was absolutely faithless and treacherous. He had recently killed two cows in sight of the mission but denied it. Angered at the accusation of an act which was witnessed by everybody, he ran away and took with him the Padre's mare from the corral. 97 The Comanches, while maintaining peace with .the Spaniards after a fashion, did not respect in the least their enemies who, like themselves, were Spanish allies. For some time they had been making incursions into the area south of San Antonio pursuing their enemies as far as 96 Manuel Silva to Manuel Munoz, January 28, 1795; Governor Munoz to Fran- cisco Xavier Uranga, April 4, 1 So 1. Bexar ArcMves. 97 Captain of La Bahia to Munoz, July 20, 1797; Jose Miguel del Moral to Munoz, June 21, 1798; Garavito to Jose Miguel del Moral, October 27, 1798. Bexar Archives.
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