Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-04-10

ing one night, five Irishmen and one
German crept out of the mission gate,
seized the cannon and started to run 1t
to the mission. They were about half
them. but they were successful in reach
ing the gate with their prize without
life lost The next morning they mount
ed the cannon upon the roof OF the mon
astery and poured leaden hail upon the
Mexicans until more than 800 of them
lay dead upon the ground. The sur
vivors abandoned their camp and fed,
meeting a party Of twenty-eight Texans
under Capt. Aaron B. King on their way
to the relief of the mission.
Powder Wasn't Dry.
While crossing creek Kings men got
into deep water and ruined their ammuni-
ton so that they were absolutely help
less before the Mexicans, who made
short work of them and resumed their
retreat 1t was not for several weeks
that the fate of Kings men was learned
when the Irishmen in the mission gather
ed their bones together and buried them
in common grave in the center OF the
plaza of the town Of Refugio, where
marble shaft stands today inscribed with
their names.
The mission was abolished in 1S41 and
it's site is now occupied by an imposing
church.
The surrounding country has been used
as a range until within a few years,
but is now rapidly being transformed into
a truck and fruit country. Where the
cattle Of the Irish colonists grazed for
seventy five years are now orchards and
vineyards, cotton fields, strawberry beds,
vegetable gardens and watermelon
patches, which are producing almost in
credible crops for shipment to the north
ern markets. The rich bottom land of
the Nueces river and it's tributaries have
been found to be especially favorable for
the long-fiber variety of cotton, which
brings the highest price: Irrigation is
not necessary, but is absolutely insurance
for a crop, and each farmer may have
his own system by boring eight hundred
or a thousand feet into the ground
There is an artesian belt. subterranean
lake, along the coast almost from Houston
to the Rio Grande and as far west as
Laredo, with a fine. clear. cold water that
gushes through the pipes in a crystal
stream wherever the lake is tapped.
Several Crops a Year.
All sorts of fruits can be grown here
and all sorts of vegetables at any time
of the year. and two. and even three.
crops are gathered annually. They plant
potatoes and cabbages in December, Feb
ruary, May or September. Seasons are
obliterate and the climate is perpetual
July
From Lake Charles. on the main line
of the Southern Pacific railway, to a
point opposite the old French town of
Natchitoches. on the Red river, and al
most due east to the little town of Pa
troon, in what is now Shelby county,
Tex, the track traverses what is known
as the neutral ground" After the pur-
chase of Louisiana from Napoleon in
1903 the United States claimed all the
territory east of the Rio Grande, which
was resisted by Spain, and treaty was
entered into by Gen. Wilkinson conf
handing the American troops, and Her.
rerra, the Mexican general, providing
that certain strip of the disputed ter
ritory should be regarded as neutral
| until the boundary question could be
finally settled. AS a consequence. this
| district became the resort of revolution
| lists. criminals, desperadoes and others
whose occupation caused them to find
refuge beyond the reach of the law.
and Herrera averted war between Spain
and the United States
The neutral ground" at present is a
very productive district. turning out i'm
mense quantities Of lumber, which is
shipped through Galveston to every part
| Of the world.
It was in this strip of territory, on the
| banks of the Sabine river. that Aaron
| Burr Is believed to have selected the site
| Of the capital OF the kingdom he was
When he fed from New York I'm 1903 to
| escape the consequences in his duel with
| Alexander Hamilton he stopped for sew
| eral months at the hospitable home of
Hermann Blennerhassett. on an island
in the Ohio river. He went from there
to visit Gen. jackson at the Hermitage,
near Nashville. and then proceeded by
slow stages to New Orleans, where he is
| supposed to have entered into a con-
spiracy with Gen. Wilkinson. commander
II -f TOD tn4l