The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1891-04-23
THE ALAMO,

law of nature that men of Anglo-Saxon
blood and American training should
obey the ever changing wills of Hispano-
Aztec rulers. Nevertheless, they main
tanned their allegiance until 1888, when
their inchoate state government was
treated with contempt and their dele
gate to Mexico, Colonel S. F. Austin, i'm,
prisoned. They then organized for de-
Tense. and the rest is oft told history.
The chronological record is as follows:
May Il, 1885, the first COMMITTEE OF
safety" was organized at Nina, now Bas-
trop. Oct 2 the first conflict of arms.
near Gonzales. Capture of Goliad by
the Texans Oct. o. Battle of Conception
near San Antonio Oct. 81 Nov. 3 the
consultation" at San Felipe de Austin
organized Il provisional government,
choosing Henry Smith as governor, J.
w. Robertson lieutenant governor,
Sam Houston commander-in-chief, and
Colonel Austin commissioner to the
! United States. Dec. 10 San Antonio de
Bexar was captured by the Texans. Dec.
20 the first declaration of independence
was issued at Goliad, b%lt the few who
| did 1t We're not authorized. So far well.
The year 1880 closed with no organized
SNfyss force IN Texas, but turn in
fortunes tide was at hand
Early in 1886 Santa Anna came with
5000 men, unusually well organized
and equipped for Mexican army
Feb % he infested the Alamo; March
he stormed and captured it, and mas
sacred the 172 men in it, sparing only IA
woman, Il child and negro servant.
Meanwhile, on March /, a regular con-
vention had met at Brazos, and on the
I'd adopted the formal declaration of in
dependence. David G. Burnet was
chosen president, and on the 18th con
stitution was adopted and signed. On
the eth Of March occurred the Infamous
massacre Of Goliad-3j1 prisoners were
| ordered by Santa Anna to be shot to
death, and but few escaped. The great
panic followed, the retreat of Houston
and the rapid march of Santa Anna to
San Jacinto and his fate. There this
detail appropriately ends.
Samuel Houston, twice president of
Texas, twice her United States senator,
once her governor, once governor of
| Tennessee and for some years a promi-
nent candidate for president of the
| United States, was born in Rockbridge
county, Va, March 2, 1893, and died at
Huntsville, Tex, July 26, 1868. Twice
in his life he lost his popularity, and in.
Texas did not live to regain it, but the
sober second thought of the people has
done full justice to his memory. He
was twice married, and the separation
from his first wife remains one of the
unsolved mysteries of American domestic
life. In 1927 he was elected governor of
Tennessee. In January, 1929, he mar
ried Miss Allen, of Sumner county, in
that state, but in few weeks aban-
doned her, resigned the governorship
and left the state amid a storm of yitu
peration rarely equaled
In April, 1910, he married Margaret
Motfette, lately from Alabama, and all
Texas soon took notice that she had ex-
erted wonderful power for good. The,
nature of the man seemed completely,
changed. Thereafter he was neither pro-
fame, nor Incorporate, nor slovenly, and
no proyocation could induce him to en-
gage in brawl. He became as gentle
and courteous as he was brave All that
was noble in the man shone out more
conspicuOusly-the alloy was fast ex-
PEELED. Many years of honor remained
before his last and greatest trouble came.
Governor Houston resisted secession till
war began, then on May 10, 1861, he
made speech defining the position OF
southern Unionists in which he said:
"The voice of hope was weak, since
drowned by the guns of Fort Sumter
The time has come when
mans section is his country. stand by
mine. y Whether we have op-,
posed this secession movement OF favored
it, we must alike meet the consequences
1t Is no time to turn back now"
He died in the darkest hour of tne'
civil war, but his reputation is safe
Wolfe at Quebec put an end to Latl1l
domination at the north; Houston ana
his men at San Jacinto ended it at the
south. They were the first and the lasI
Of the heroes who made it sure that tnlS
continent was to be dominated by the
free institutions OF the English speaking
FACE. j. II. BEADLE'