The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-05

. rSss hs,, hnt continued to fight"
 .orba Breach was made and the Mexi- cans nonred in. Among the nfst 70 enter was a Mexican officer ne ana Colonel Travis engaged in 2 ns hand fight with swords. nptL ss, killed and they fell together s'os Y
 And Captain Travis spoke feeiinsly of the bravery of South Carolina 6on- ham, of Louisiana Bowie, Of Iennessec Crockett, of all who made the memory of the Alamo a treasure.
 william c. Tkavis was born m Eose- field, S. C.. August 1, 1899. said zap tain Travis, going over briefly the Tam iIy history of the Alabamian- Als parents were Mark and Jememiah Ira wis. In lS1e, and when William Irayis was years of age, his parents came to Conecnh County. They built home about i've miles from Evergreen. but at that time there was no town here At all, There was a large family or children. William was the oldest or eleven.
 .There were few schools then and they were not good schools as we know them now. But William Travis was given the best of these schools. He was a promising boy. He had keen and acauisitiye mind. He was spirited and ambitious. He chose to practice law when he grew to young manhood, and was versed in it at Claiborne, where he read fin the office of Deficit and Parsons.
 when he entered into the practice | of the law he moved to Old Sparta, then the county seat of this county. How Travis Looked.
 ..Eyen then he showed himself nat | urai leader of men. He was six feet | in height and weighed perhaps l75 pounds. Handsome in face and hgure he made a fine impression on all who met him and great future was pre- 1 dicted for him. He was married 10 l Miss Rosanna Cato, of Monroe County, quite early in manhood. To them were born a son and daughter. Both the son and the daughter are now dead and only one grandson survives, Charles Travis DeCorsey of Brewton. "Eie moved to Texas in 1883. There was then some arrangement between him and his wife. She was with her family in Monroe County. The two , children later joined their father in Texas. He began the practice of law 1 at Old Washington on the Brazos Riv- CT. He was Q man made for such times. Of a brave and intrepid spirit, I handsome in face and figure and an el- | oquent speaker. he rose high in the | esteem of the people of his adopted | State. When the Texan War of lnde- | pendence broke out he was one of the | leading men of that section. It was | the highest of compliments to be put ! in command of such a body of men as | he led but his selection to the com \ mand of that body was natural one \ in view of the talents he possessed and of the confidence which the people of Texas gave him."
 And Captain Travis today laments I z..k ..F fnA | which forbade the glorious future of
 so much of young manhood's promise. He talks regretfully of what greatness | young Travis would have attained had the history of the Alamo been unwrtt- ten, and had he lived out his life in the Texan Republic ana In tho great American State of Texas.
 When one looks deep into the cir cumstances that made the Alamo he
 comes to find in it a similarity to the Icharge of the Light Brigade. for the men in the Alamo knew that some enc had blundered. There are those whc
 think that some one was General Sam Houston. The question may never be
 settled. Its discussion Is useless now
 But General Houston, so 1t is said, was
 not many miles away with consid-
 erable force of Americans. To htm I was brought word of the plight or Ira
 wis and his men. cooped up in the Alamo and fighting like demons There
 was time, so some critics say, in that long light between February 22 and
 March $, for Houston to have marched his men against Santa Anna.
 | Housten's Ferces.
 Houston's force was inferior to Santa Anna's. but the odds in the fight would
 have been more nearly equal than be-
 tween the force which was outside the
 Alamo and the force that was within the walls. There are some harsh crit
 ics who even say that Houston, great
 man as he was, was jealous of the ris-
 ing star of Travis. At any rate he did
 not move his force against the Mexi-
 cans besieging the Alamo.
 But he conserved his strength added
 to his forces and when a few weeks
 later he came upon the Mexicans al
 San Jacinto neither general nor army
 was left of the Mexican fighters
 And in Texas the honor of Travis is
 treasured with and like the honor oi
 Houston. It is the pleasure of thu
 Texans, as 1t should be with all pro. | priety, to hold his memory in the deep
 est reverence. To his brother, Captain
 Travis. when he visited Texas, they
 gave signal proof of this esteem The
 honors shown Captain Travis were evi.
 dence of the love and affection borne
 for the gallant Alabamian who com
 manded at the Alamo and who be
 queathed to Texas a glory that shall b'
 undinlinished so long as time shall last l usMrG wMFHnam