The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1850-05-09

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broken up and scattered over the plain, il
small hollow squares, cncircled on ever,
side by Mexican inlon,ry and troops o
horse with loaded muskets and naked
swords! And then came mnmentary
pause, awful in IFS stiffness, and disturbed
only by on occasional shrek of terror, as
he most ,iniI among the caplives realize
the impending storm Of fire and extinction
OF Iife's las, hope.
And then the internal work Of wholesale
murder was begun, aud scene ensued
such as scarcely might be matched in the
very annals Of hell itself. The roar o,
'nusketry burst in successive peaIa like ap-
paiing claps Of thunder, bnt could not utter.
ly drown the PRAYERS Of The living, The
screams Of the wounded. and The more ter
rible groans of the dying!
Col. Fannin fell among the first victims,
bu, not so the giant Neil. With The order
OF the Mexican officer tor his men TO fire.
our hero stopped almost TO the earth. 90 that
the volley passed entirely over him. lie
waited not for second; ihrusting haud
into the leg Of each boot, he nrnse with n
couple Of six shooters-the deadly reynlv-
ers Of Aliens pa,ent-ahd commenced dis-
charging them, with the quick rnpdity Of
lightning, into the ihickest rank Of his foes
his immense strength enabling him to
pull oil both the triggers together.
Panic stricken with surprise and fear, the
Mexicans rccoled and opened a passage
through which Neil bounded, with the
spring OF panther, and fled AWAY, as t
wings were tied to his heels, while half a
dozen horsemen gave chase. For awhile
it seemed doubtful whether the gian, colo
mel would not distance even these, so much
had the perils of the OCCASION incfeased the
natural elasticity of his mighty muscles
Bat presently charger fee,er. than the
rest miei. be di.cerned gaining on his hn-
man rival. aud approaching so near that
the dragnon raised his flashing sabre f,r
lbe coup de grace. Neil became corsciors
Of his danger. and hastily s.ackened bis
speed, till the hot stream of smoke from the
horses nosirils appeared 10 n,na!e with
his very hair; aud then wheeling suddenly
fired another round from revnlyer, and
the rider tumhled from bis saddle. The
victim then renewed his fight.
a mad yell of grief aud rage broke from
the remaining troopers as they witnessed
the fate of their cornrade, and its effect was
Immediately evident in the augmented eau.
ton of their pursui,-lor thcy gallopei nf
forwards in body, thereby gre atty reiard-
/ ing their progress, so that Neil reached The
river before them. Iic paused not a mo-
ment, hut plunged headlong down the steep
bank into the current. and struck off Cor
The oiher shore The dragons discharged
their side arms inefec,us'iy, and gave over
the chase!
In few minutes Neil landed, and as
soon as he felt satisfied TINT he was really
saved; burs, into an incxpressible convn!-
sion Of laughter. exclaiming: 1t will kill
me! Just to think how as,onished the yel.
low devils looked when hauled the re-
yoIvers out of my boots.
Such was Col. John Neil--possessina a
fund of humor ,ha, no misfortune could ev.
er exhaust, and 9ow Of animal spirit:
which would have enabled him {, dance on
the graves Of all his nearest friends, or L
have sung Yankee Doodle at his own exc
cution!
At much later period Of Texan history
the writer had the happiness TO make the
gallant CoioneI's acquaintance. The first
time he saw him was at the city of lious
ion in the summer Of lS45. lie was stand
Ing on the ground step Of the fiigh, leading
up 10 the door Of the sS,ar llo,el' Hold
ing his sides with both hands, md emitting
through his enormous mouth boisierous ex
plnsions, he seemed literally diving wit!
Laughter; hi. face turned purple, and the
blue veins on his forehead swel'ed ont ,hict
rs a mans thumb, while his eyes, CLEAN
ing with savage mirlh, was fixed on a farm
in the porch above him. The latter was
lawyer Seth Allen, geni'eman with the
tall, meagre figure Of BARRIERS pole.
hugo mous,ache, and grea, proflsion o.
ruffles. He had fought duel, mortal Il
his antagonist, the previous day, and wal
i Just then relating to circle Of wondering
loafcrs the history Of his prowcss. The
contrast between his skeleton figure, fop
pish dress, and narrated exploits, had s;rucl
Neil as transcendental; and hence his sud
den and ungovernablc merriment.
j sWhat arc YOU laughing at,-ieIlow? AL
len demanded, sternl,, as he measured OH
Fastaf with his eye.
| AT you.' followed by another sonorou
peal. was tho answer.
iii te2ch YOU how to mako sport of gen
tIcinen! shouted Allen, irenzied with rage
az he fed down the steps aud aimed furl
o,,e kick full al the o,ker's face.
i Neil caught the foot in his right hand
and then STOPPING, suddenly thrust his hcae
between Aliens legs and fairly raised hin
on his neck In that ridiculous position
he trotted with the famous duellist severn
times around the yard, ns strong maj
might trnt with n child, laughing noisil,
like an idiot, while Al!en.vociicrated for hi