The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1909-02-13

.i,rteers had been surprised and
..arnowered by larger body of Mex
80 troops. The prisoners were
Sorched to the banks of the Rio
nrande and incarcerated in the dom
..on Of (te castle. to await the arrival
- csnta Anna. He had arrived the
d.v preyious. and at the court mar
40, over which he presided, deter
mined the fate of the prisoners.
For the perpose of executing the
ar,t provisions of the sentence they
were brought forth from their pris-
IN cells into the plaza at the mid
6night hour
~ within a hollow square. formed by
tuo files of Mexican soldiers, the lit
t,e eyasp of Americans stood in ques-
tionirg amazement They had not
heen Informed of the nature of their
sentence and were at a loss to under
stand the proceedings.
One of the soldiers brought forth
small wooden box, with hole in
the top large enough to admit a
mans hand This, at the command
Of the captain of the lancers, was
~nlaced on a stand in front Of an ell
(QIerIy man in citizens dress, who
stood facing the prisoners. Into the
box this man dropped twenty beans
ten white and ten black ones. Then
he addressed the captive Texans.
"Priseners, said he, citizens of
Texas in revolt against her lawfully
constituted authority, you have been
/ taken with arms in your hands, and
arrayed in warlike guise against a
government to which you owe entire
allegiance. 1t has been decreed by
the Court of this State, in and for
tho Republic of Mexico, that you are
guiley of treason, and that you shall
suffer death. You are brave men, or
you would not have been found with
arms in your hands; but to permit
96ou all to die the death accorded to
brave men would have no effect in
deterring others of your misguided
countrymen from a similar course
course equally injurious to them
selves and the interests of our coun-
try. Therefore, it is ordered that
each of you in succession place his
hand in the box before you land take
therefrom one bean. There are TWEEN
ty of you, and there are twenty beans
half of them black and half Of
them white. Those who draw the
white beans shall be shot within the
present hour. Those who draw the
black beans, shall be confined in sep
arate cells, without food or drink,
until oath results. Only one caution
] will give you. Should any one at
tempt to evade his just fate by draw
ing two beans, it shall be the same
as though he had drawn a black one.
Prisoners. advance and read your
own DOOM"
Not one of the twenty men but ex-
pected death; but not one there had
believed their captors would be so
inhuman as to prolong existence just
Tor the sake of ,orturing them. For
well they knew that such confinement
with no hope of relief but death
would daily exceed the pain of many
deaths. Strong, brave hearted men
that they were, there was not one
among them whose cheeks did not
pale at the though of such torture.
Il is no wonder that each should hes
ltate to be the first to decide his fate.
At taxnting laugh from the COM
mander of the soldiers, and a reiter-
alton of the command to proceed with
the drawing, one OF the doomed men
stepped quickly up to the box, in
serted his hand, withdrew a bean,
and held It up to the view of the Of
ncer.
Hiram Hallowell was one of the
later immigrants from Tennessee to
Iexas He was tall and stout, with
q splendid physique. Well educated,
9entlemanly, with natural refine
ment OF manner, he won his way zap
IDLY in favor among the other resi-
dents of TIE little Texan village of
Houston. wh,re he settled, and which
was built and owned almost exclu-
sively by citizens of the United
States.
Then, when Texas desired her in
dependence, Hiram was among the
Est to volunteer his services, and
was Immediately elected captain of
company of Texan Rangers. Stationed
near the Rio Grande, to protect the
border, his little command had been
attacked by greatly superior force,
With the result stated.
It was the remnant of Captain Hal
lowelPs company that was drawn up
lnat night in the public square, sur
1ounded by body of Mexican SOL
Hers, and condemned to die-some
@ be shot to death within the hour,
Ia l. -