361
Frencli Intervention in Spain and Its Reaction in Texas
on in Texas was common knowledge in New Orleans. This news could be attributed to no other source than that of the returned settlers-the very ones who had sought permission to enter Texas as former "loyal subjects" of the king. 48 However, there were some who, although not entirely satisfied with conditions and having no particular love for either the Spaniards or Catholicism, were determined to remain in order to reap the fruits of their honest labor as well as the profits of illegal business. Such a one was Juan Dribread, who wrote his wife in Missouri that he could not afford to return to Cape Girardeau to bring his family for fear of losing out on the rise in value of his lands. John Magee boasted to his brother in Coteilla, Louisiana, that he and another brother had been able to secure two excellent pieces of land along the Trinity, which they stocked well with horses and cattle, and that "with the help of God" they were doing well in their commercial enterprises. He had, as a matter of fact, he explained to his brother, been able to buy several ranches which he expected soon to improve so as to enhance their value. Magee dealt mainly in strong liquors, such as mescal and taffia; occa- sionally, he did sell a piece of calico, some "pelloncey" (brown sugar bars), or a pair of shoes. Not all his customers were men, according to his book of accounts. Among his best customers were his wife, sister of the worthless William Burxer, and a certain Molly Ann, who seems to have appeared quite regularly to satisfy her craving for alcohol. Magee apparently procured his sugar and flour from Bexar, and his liquor and dry goods from Natchitoches. His was a thri\·ing business in Villa de Salcedo, for most of the new settlers were his customers.'' More interesting and significant, were the activities of Miguel Quinn. He wrote to a St. Louis lawyer named Beulitt (Judge Bullett?) in October, 1808, that for several days he had kept practically all his goods loaded on a train of horses ready to set out for that place, but that, fearing detection, he had not left. He informed his friend that he had been more than three hundred leagues farther into the interior and had been successful in carrying on some trade, but that it was not always a safe investment because of the uncertainty of the market. He inquired the price of horses in St. Louis, for he was planning to take a drove there, if the settlement of certain business matters with a Mr. Hoistin (Austin?) at La Mina (Mine a Burton?) required his presence. He also asked if the Americans were really going to press their claims
48 Clouet to Cordero, June 22, 1808. Bexar Arcltiv4s. 49 Hatcher, T/14 O-jiening of Texas to Foreign S41llement, 140-142.
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