San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-12
1ae OUR NEW HERO

Texas has discovered a new hero. II
is so long since the days of William b
Travis, Davy Crockett, Colonel Bowie
deaf" Smith. not to mention Gen. Sam
Houston, that the state has become
dull place in which to live. The old ro-
mantle and heroic days are now return
ing. A new hero has appeared on the
scene. He is not only colossal figure
in action. but is limpid in speech, remind
ing us OF the stately lines of Homer. in
depicting the great deeds of Achilles,
when the Greek hero marshalled his
ranger force and captured Troy. Just
what Troy had done has never been
made dear, but that Achilles surrounded
Troy and recaptured Helen is historically
stated. Achilles got his hooks into
Troy. That much is certain.
Our present valiant hero, General
Thomas X. Barton, with his army of fiji
. teen rangers, has got his hooks into
Bexar county'-uGng his own Homeric
lines-and announces in the same breath
that he is out for governor of Texas.
Achilles never ran for office, in so far
as his record has come down to us, but
that doesn't matter. Our latter-day hero
does not get his hooks" into quiet cities.
for military glory alone. He aims at
political office as we'll. which classifies
him as hero and statesman all in one.
The defenders of the Alamo and the
conqueIor at San Jacinto will please step
down out of their frames. Kindly allow
General Barton to take your places.
The stupendous, not to say scintillat-
ing career of Our modern Texas hero
IS so filled in with charming oratory and
valiant deeds that it is difficult to fol-
low him, in the lack of a modern Ger
vantes to describe the marvellous deeds
of his own Don Quixote. Our gallant
soldier and statesman has many of the
highly imaginative qualities of the noble
and pu;ssant Don Quixote himself. The
Spanish cavalier saw windmills, which
he courageously attacked in the open
day, and never hesitated to relate his
formidable achievements to his lowly
Sancho Panza. In this he proved him
self an accurate counterpart of our most
modern and homebred hero. The wind
mills of San Antonio have all beer
knocked down, and have been carried
away to north Texas, and are to be useC
for oratory in the gubernatorial cam
paign which is now upon us.
1t would require volumes to describe
the lofty and unexaggerated deeds of ou
new martial hero and modest candidate
for high civic honors. Suffice it to say
or little children, under his protecting
aegls. are once again permitted to troo1
to school in unnumbered thousands. par
ishioneIs march openly into the churche
1nafraid, and even the. public libraries
1hcaters, and hotel Hobbies are again
filled with throngs, without carryin;
their firearms. Peace seems to hav
come into Our midst since General Bar
ton got his hooks into us, and w
haven't witnessed any iynchings. or lash
ings, or Earrings for so many years nov
that memory fades in trying to recall
them. In the meantime, while on
Achilles-Don Quixote hero has beel
getting his hooks" into this Arcadia, hi
own beloved north Texas has been en-
joying the spectacle of adding to he
thirty-six or thirty-seven public whip
pings, with our hero enjoying his siesta
in the worst city in Texas-except one,
10 use again his charming and poetic de