The sun. (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1906-11-10

~ Cynthia Ann Parker was lost to civiliza-
ton In the days when Fort Parker was
a destroyed this great empire State of
vmfW Texas had population of only 100000
They We're harassed by over 5000 hos
tile redskins, chief Of whom We're the CaddOes
and Comanches. Over 5000 semicivilized In.
dams roamed over the prairies, the most friendly
being the Choctaws and Chickasaws. Most of
our frontier history Is rapidly passing away as
the pioneers, one by one, cross the great divide
Like the lost mines Of the adventurous Spaniards,
vast historical wealth Is irretrievably lost for
the want of some one to put to record the rich
"reminiscences OF the Texas heroes. 1t was lately
my fortune to know and talk with one of the
Rangers that captured Quanah Parker From him
got the story of the white squaw and her boy
chieftain Of all the IComanches.
In the fall of 1S33 the Parker family moved
from Cole County, illinois, to Texas The elder
Parker was Virginian by birth He lived for
while IN Georgia, hut reared his family princi-
pally in old Bedford County. Tennessee. 1t was
from this county, In 1918 that he moved to I'LL
nos--then a country far west. To speak Of
Texas, even In the thirtes, was but to mention
land toward the setting sun. It had a far, far
away sound. But the elder Parker and his sons
dreamed Of the distant lands on the frontier. And
they came to build their altar fires in q bowling
wilderness. And what is more strange, they
came to be massacred by the Comanches, whose
savage braves We're destined to be ruled over by
the blood Of the very family they sought to wipe
out In that terrible raid. '''
lnOSe pioneers DuliC faTkOr 3 tOrC OH the mead
waters of the Navasota and about sixty miles
above the settlements 1t was a blockhouse,
built about mile west Of the river and about
two and onehalf miles northwest of the present
site of Groesbeck The fort was established In
1884 At the time the Indians made their deadly
raid--May 10, 1S36-the following were in the
fort: The Parkers, Pummers, Nixons, Kelloggs,
Frosts Dwights and the Faulkenburgs Mrs.
Duty, Silas Bates and Abram Anglin-represent-
ing twenty-five adults and some fifteen or more
wo oil In tha fort on niV
of the 18th-the night before the raid.
It was o'clock, on the morning OF May 10,
1S36-that tragic day, like SO many others that
have made Texas soil redeemed by her martyrs
blood. What would our mighty history be were
1t not for these bloody chapters that tell OF the
fall OF forts and recount the herosm on such
fields as Goliad and San JacntO? To tell the
story of these battles and our Alamo around our
firesides Is to teach our sons that they're born
of Spartan blood.
James w. Parker Nixon the two Faulkenburgs.
Bates and Anglin were off to the fields some dis
lance in Navasota bottom. Suddenly, as II rising
from the very dust, hundreds OF Indians were
seen riding toward the fort They came within
three hundred yards and having halted raised a
white flag Benjamin Parker went out to treat
with them. He came back and said that ne be-
lieved the Indians intended to fight, but that ne
would treat with them again He went-but ne
never returned Pandemonium set in. Amidst
savage screeches and blood-curdling war whoops
the whole band charged the fort now defended
only by two men, Execution was speedy and nor
rible. It was the common story OF an Indian mas
sacre. From this sad rehearsal let us turn away
to follow the fortunes of those few who lived to
be even led into captivity. For there was
mother who was compelled to lift her nine-year
old daughter, Cynthia Ann, and her little boy,
John, up behind warrior. The Indian turned
his pony's head to the far-away Comanche land.
AS he faded from view Cynthia Ann was torn
from her mothers arms only some day to rock on
her bosom baby born to rule the warriors that
stole his mother in the years Of long ago.
Mrs. Kellogg was taken captive and fell into
the hands Of the Keechis. Six months after
some Delawares bought her from these Indians
for $3.50 They carried her to Nacogdoches,
where General Sam Houston paid them ransom
of s15O-all they paid and all they asked One
of the most revolving crimes at the fall OF the
fort was the murder of the elder Parker. Having
surrounded him with his own family, they
stripped, tomahawked and scalped him before