Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1931-10-06

rAa a.
q letter recently received by Har-
bert Davenport OF Brownsville from
John r. Box Of San Angelo. In
which he tells Of the life OF his
father. Frank M. Box.
Particularly interesting are the
comments made by MI. Box on the
Lost City" Of Padre Island, COM
mentS which seem to bear out pre-
vious surmises made regarding this
settlement since the discovery OF
Its ruins by Chas. Hardin oil
Brownsville.
Mr.. Box, who was at n time
one OF the owners Of the BOX
Ranch" Is q brother Of Ed Box,
Olmito resident.
His letter follows:
Mr.. Harbert Davenport,
Brownsville, Texas.
Dear sir:
/ have noted several press COM
ments on the Lost City" located
on Padre Island. I car give you
some information as to the time
that this ranch or town was In
evidence. My father was Frank NJ.
Box and he fought in both wars.
IT SO happened that in each war he
was living in Lavaca county. and
started out from that point and
patroled the coast from Port Boil
var to the mouth OF the Rio Grande.
He was a cavalryman and was in
Gen. Taylor's army that was later
camped at Point Isabel. Fought in
battle Resaca de las Paimas and
Palo Alto battlefield, and also
Matamoros and on to Coahuila.
and was in the last big fight there,
when Gen. Taylor ordered Captain
Bragg to give them a little more
"grape." He did and moved them
down. I have one OF the "grape"
shot that was fired on this battle
field. that won the last fight for
Ranch Town Recalled
During this war the soldiers
marched up and down these Is
lands and swan the passes from
Bolivar to the mouth OF the Rio
Grande. Then in the Confederate
war he went over the same route
and was the man that blew up the
Siluria light house with a Yankee
gunboat Smelling every second. Then
they marched down the islands all
the way TO Brownsville, and crossed
BrazoS Pass on the Brazos Island by
swimming their horses.
I have heard him make mention
of this ranch or town III ca n OF
these vars. Also about the boat
that IVES wrecked about 40 miles
I'D the golf beach from Brazos.
Said the old wreck was still there
as well as much wreckage scattered
all along the gulf beach and high
I'D in sand hills. 6 i'd there were
MANY casks OF fine French wine
and liquor Of all kinds. The soldiers
dug shallow wells in the sand hills
to water their horses. When the
Confederate war closed he was
mustered out and turned loose
afoot with an arm full Of Confed-
crate bills which he could not buy
n meal with. Finally found his way
back home. Also to find that his
friends that urged him to go on to
the war had done as they said they
would do. Branded his cattle like
they would their own. Their brand
was on all OF his and ne was flat.
Was Cattle Buyer
Then later, a few years. he start
cd back over these same old war
trails. AT this time he was located
ut Rockport, Texas. and started TO
work for the Coleman Fulton a.
Mathis Pasture and Cattle Co.
They were large ranch land hold
ers from Beeville TO Corpus and
Rockport.
At this time the company start
ed q packing house for the purpose
OF slaughtering cattle for the hide
and tallow. Cattle at this time were
worth about $500 per head when
fat. He was fond OF adventure and
a good horSeman. He was employed
by this Packing CO. TO purchase cat
tie all over southwest Texas. Al
this time most any part Of Texas
was a wide open range, and was in
rather a wild state OF affairs. The
country 10 the south and west had
many cattle and fine ranges. Since
he had tramped the Rio Grande
Valley over in former years, he
went back the third time in COM
mand Of ten U0) sturdy cow
punchers, all armed heavily. Since
there were no banks and checking
system in those days, his money
>Xconveyed by means Of a pack
He generally took about
NBO.00 in silver so he could make
03hge. Part OF this would be in
sfuhrters. halves. and the bulk in
dollars. At this time Captain King
'a--d Captain kennedy lad taken up
large land holdings south and west
OF Corpus Christi, and around
Santa Gertrudis ranch. which was
the main headquarter ranch. Cap
tain King kept a company Of SOL
dierS located at this point.
The old ranch was a fort with
the cannons looking out over the
wide world.
Bandits Everywhere
To the south OF this section were
many large ranches, some owned
by Mexicans and some by Ameri-
cans Some Of the owners were
John Young and Jas. B. McAllen,
Francisco Yturria and others.
Then there was still another
clas- OF people that inhabited and
had a very free hand.
They the bandits that
worked both in Texas and Mexico.
Cattle were very fine ans fat In
this section. In those days II TOOK
DAYS and weeks TO 90 into this
section of the country and buy a
string OF cattle and trail them out.
But this daring horseman with his
tel cowboys would make trip after
trip. and buy 1000 head Of cattle
10 be delivered every two weeks at
Rockport. No railroads. mails. tele-
phones. banks. or anything. When
they went out on a trip like this
there would be nc news until they
returned, or they would lave TO