352
TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
orders under the charge of having contraband goods; She was carried to Vera Cruz or :Matamoras; the cargo was lost to the owners; what became of the Vessel, whether formally condemned or not, is unknown. When taken, there were aboard several emigrants bound for this comi- try, all of whom were made prisoners temporarily, some were taken to Vera Cruz. A, Mr. Reynolds & family who hacl a good outfit for set- tlemt in Texas was robbed of every thing, tho' personally set at liberty. The collector of the port was Gonzales He went with the i\lontazuma; As the Montazuma with Gonzales moved off with the l\lartha, they met at the Month of the Brazos, the Schooner Columbia at anchor. They took the Columbia with them also. There were 20 or 30 passengers, all with their outfits of saddles &C. They were put on shore at the mouth but entirely robbed of all their effects. That was the last of the Columbia. Fisher, was the first Collector; came in fall 1831 at Galveston; it was at his order the house now on the Island was built by Wilson & Harris; there were two erected, one has been subsequently consumed as fuel for the steamboat Yellow-Stone.
..·,\NAHUAC
Anhuac was founded as a :Military post in the. fall perhaps october 1830 by Col. Bradburn who arrived in sloop "Alabama with about 100 persons including soldiers, weomen & other baggage. In the fall of 1831. Genl. Teran visited the post. Ile tarried a few weeks. He came in Schooner Constantia, which on his departure be- came lost in a fog at Galveston and was wrecked. He then chartered an American schooner, Topaz, Capt. Rider to take him to Brazos Santi Ago. On her return he placed on board one hundred soldiers destined to Garrison Anhuac under Bradburn. On leaving :Mattermoras, when<!e she sailed, the Captain and llfate were inhumanly murdered for their money, the one being knocked o,·erboard, and the other shot from the riggin whence he had climbed for safety. The Vessel reached An)rnac in safety, landed the soldiers; and then filling her with pickets to build a fort at Velasco, she sailed with Col. Ugartechea aboard to the :Month of the Brazos where she was wrecked & lost. This was Ugnrtechea's first appearance at that point. This horrible crime was never enquired into by the Go,-t. and indeed no villiany perpetrated b_y l\foxi('aus ou the Americans was ever punished. Shortly after Teran's visit, a man by the name of Fisher arriYed there as a collector of Imposts. Two vessels, the Exert and another per- haps the Lady's dcli,qltt, had arrived there. Bradburn wanted sor:irn thi110's which were aboard and ordered them ashore before the duties had "been arranged. To this the Collector remonstrated, saying that the Jlilitarv haci no command o,er his branch of business. Bradburn assertecl su1>reme control ornr all matters; and in as much as the Col- lection of imports was extremely offensive to the people B:adln11:n ,~•as enablecl to rallev to his siclc many citizens of the place. Fisher hnclmg himself extreme)~, obnoxious to ·the people and bull iecl by Bradhnn_1, lerflt the pliH:(' & c:ountry in the schooner Exert for ?i!a~amorns. Tins triumph oYer Fisher only serrncl to inc:rease ~ratllmrn ~ rns?lence. Shortly after Bradburn sent some of his sokhers, conncts, m the woods <TCtti 1 w timber· the\' committed Yiolence on the wife of n respectable e ~ , .
Powered by FlippingBook