The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1923-12-28

were close on the heels of the old
| man who stopped suddenly, turned
short upon his pursuers, discharged
the rife, and one of the enemy fell
from his horse"
/ The chase was renewed, but finding
that he would be overtaken and cut
to pieces, he now turned again, and to
the amazement of the enemy became
the assaiIant in turn. He dubbed
| his gun, and dashed among them like
wounded tiger, and they fed like
! sparrows. "By this time we reached
the spot, and In the ardOr of the mo-
ment followed some distance before
we saw that our retreat to the fort
was cut off by another detachment
of cavalry. Nothing was TO be done
| but to fight our way through. We
were all of the same mind. Go ahead!
cried l.; and they shouted, Go ahead,
| Colonelp We dashed among them, and
bloody conflict ensued. They were
| about twenty in number, and they
stood their ground. After the fight
had continued about five minutes a
i, detachment was seen issuing from the
| fort TO our relief, and the Mexicans
| scampered off, leaving eight of their
| comrades dead upon the field.
But we did not escape unscathed,
for both the pirate and the bee hunter
were MORALLY wounded, and l received
saber cut across the forehead. The
old man died without speaking, as
soon as we entered the fort We bore
my young friend to his bed, dressed
his wounds, and watched beside him.
He lay without complaint or manifest
ing pain until about midnight, when
he spoke, and 1 asked him If he want
ed anything.
Nothing he replied. Poor Katep
His eyes filed with tears as he con-
tinued: Her words were prophetic,
Colonel and then he sang in a low
voice:
But toom' cam the saddle. all bluidy to
see,
And hame cam the steed, but hame
never cam he"
"He spoke no more, and few min
utes after, died. Poor Kate! who will
tell this to thee"
March fifth.-"Pop, pop, pop! BON,
bonn, bonn! throughout the day-no
time for memorandum now-go ahead.
Liberty and independence forever!"
So ends Davy's journal. Before
dawn of the sixth a final assault Of
the Mexican force carried the lost
Alamo, and at sunrise there were only
six Of the defenders left alive. Col
onel Bowie was found with his back
his bloody knife. Before him lay
Thimblerig, his dagger to the hilt in
q Mexican's threat, his death grip
fastened in the dead mans hair.
The six prisoners were brought be-
fore Santa Anna, who stood surround
ed by his staff amid the ruins. Gen
eral Castrillon saluted the president.
"Sir, here are six prisoners l have
taken alive; how shall 1 dispose Of
them?"
"Have I not told you before how to
dispose Of them-why do you bring
them to meT"
The officers Of the staff fell upon
the prisoners with their swords, but
like a tiger Davy sprang at Santa
Annals throat. Then he fell with a
dozen swords through his body.
UP with your banner, Freedom.
Thy champions cling to thee.
They'll follow where'er you lead EN-
To death or victory.
Up with your banner, Freedom.
Tyrants and slaves are rushing
70 tread thee in the dust;
Their blood will soon be gushing
And stain our knives with rust,
But not thy banner, Freedom!
While Stars and Stripes are flying
Our blood we'll freely shed:
No groan will 'scape the dying,
Seeing thee DER his head.
Up with your banner, Freedom.
Let us consider now, briefly, the
life Of cyclone passions and whirling
change-a white boy turned Indian,
then hero Of a war against the red
skins lawyer, commander in chief and
governor of state, a savage, broken
man begging job at Washington an
obscure figure in Texas-had made him
leader Of the liberators.
The fall of the Alamo filed the Tex
ans with fury, but when that was fol-
lowed by the awful massacre Of Coli
ad they went raving mad Houston,
their leader, waited for reinforcements,
until his men wanted to murder him,
but when he marched it was to San
Jacinto where, with eight hundred Tex
ans, he scattered one thousand six hun
dred Mexicans, and captured Santa
Anna. He was proclaimed president
of the Lone Star republic, which is now
the largest star in the American con-
StaJl O tinp