The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-07-19
Continued from Fourth tage.)

"ln 1868 the Hon. w. Hender
son of Houston, ex-Lieutenant.Go Gov
ernor of Texas, and commonly called |
Smoky Henderson, a prominent lawyer
and something of a sport himself,
organized the prize-fghting company
Of the Confederate army in the Trans
Mississippi department. He was pop
ular with the sporting element, and
aimed to get company of 'bloods,
and he got them. Every man aid for
his own outfit, horse and everything
else, and as a result they were the best
equipped soldiers | ever saw NcarN
every member had a gun record rang
were almost without exception despel-
ate characters
"Well, the company started out on
the warpath, and never stopped until it
wound up down on Matagorda PENN
sula The only Yankees down there
were out on the guuboats and block
aderS, The company wanted to sec
Yankees any way, s. It wen, down
there and was rewarded for It's pains,
for a gunboat was seen out in the Gulf
of Mexico, about five miles from shore
There was long peninsula reaching
out into the gulf and bay II was very
narrow near the shore end but broad.
ened out into sort of island. TIE
famous cavalry company marched out
on this peninsula SO as to get better
look at the Yankee gunboat. The
boat remained stationary, and appar-
emily paid no attention to the cavalry
men.
CATER little the men dismounted,
and stalking their horses, began strolling
over the peninsula, and finally, forget
ting all about the Yankee gunboat,
began a game or two of poker and
monte. Nothing occurred for an hour
or SO, when suddenly bang went big
bombshell that had exploded between
them and their horses. They jumped
to their feet, and their hair fairly stood
on end when they saw a cutter full Of
hlClI dDOul ,)OC NdldS llOul lllC DCdNaIl
between them and their horses. The
cutter had a small gun mounted on the
bow, and about the time the cavalry
men jumped up the Yankees turned
loose about a buShel of grapeshot from
it at them. That panic the captain
there spoke of while ago was nothing
to what happened then. | know, be
cause | was there and took hand in
it. The minute before we thought we
wanted the horses out, but when the
grapeshot tore up the sand and weeds
around us we found We did not need
them If any man had had a horse he
would have been left behind, for we
made quick time, tell you. OF
course we headed away from the
Yankees, and, fortunately, that was the
proper direction for US to take, for it
led toward the mainland.
eve had gone about mile-and |
reckon we made it in about half a min
ute-when bang right in front of US
the Yankees opened up from another
cutter. There was a whole b ,atoad of
them, and they were pulling like fends
to reach the narrow neck of land and
head US off, and if you ever saw good
running it was done there, for we fairly
flew. The Yankees saw there was no
use competing with such fast flyers as
we were, so they stopped rowing and
settled down to shooting, Fortunately
for us the Gulf was rough aud they
could not shoot accurately
FINALLY We reached the main land,
and then we scattered You know it
is all bald prairie down there, So there
was no shelter for US. We scattered,
and kept on scattering for ten or fifteen
minutes.
Six of Us, including the Captain,
headed for the panhandle as near as
we could make out. thinking tlat was
the furthest point in Texas from
Yankees, and after we had gone beyond
the range of the COMPOUNDED gun we
stopped to breathe and size up the
situation. We had rested about half
an hour, when bang whizp and a
great Sucll pdSoCu bFCl Oul hCadS anu
struck few hundred yards behind US,
We got up out of the grass and saw
that the big gunboat had steamed in
near the shore and had opened fire
with her guns. 1t was really ridiculous,
but we did not laugh any at the time,
The Yankees were having lots of fun.
You'd see a stray gambler away out on
the prairie, and the next minute big
shell as long as a piano would land
near him, and then you would see some
of the fastest running on record. Those
Yankees amused themselves for an
hour or two Smelling every big bunch
of grass they could see. Finally there
was not gambler in sight, and they
stopped firing.
"The crowd l was with went to an
old house about quarter Of mile out
Of range Of the guns ond sat down to
rest. The family was away, but we
broke open the door, and, finding some
fresh beef, we prepared to cook dinner
lust as we got the meat cooked, the
captain said he would 90 up on the
roof and see if he could find any of the
boys on the prairie. He was big
man and weighed about 200 pounds.
When he got up on the roof, he found
he could not see well for the chimney,