The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 12, July 1908 - April, 1909 Page: 276

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Texas Historical Association Quarterly.

THE CASE OF THE BRIG POCKET.
C. T. NEU.
I. THE CAPTURE OF THE POCKET.
In ;March, 1836, when Texas was engaged in a life and death
struggle with Mexico, and when the Texans were particularly
anxious to gain the good will of the government and the people
of the United States, an event occurred which might have resulted
in alienating the sympathy of that nation had the Texan authori-
ties not taken immediate steps to correct matters. This was the
capture of the brig Pocket, a vessel sailing under American colors.
An account of the capture was given by Alcee La Branche, the
United States charge d'affaires to Texas, in a letter which he
wrote to R. A. Irion, the Secretary of State of the Republic of
Texas, on November 29, 1837. He says:
On March 20th. of 1836, the brig Pocket, sailing under american
colors and belonging to citizens of the United States, left New
Orleans for Matamoras. On the voyage she was captured by the
Texan armed schooner Invincible, commanded by Jeremiah Brown,
and carried to Galveston, and her cargo appropriated without trial
or condemnation by persons acting under the authority of the
Texan government. The captain and the crew, with the excep-
tion of the second mate, who was still more severely delt with,
were detained nineteen days at that place, after which they were
released and suffered to embark for New Orleans. Permission was
given them to take such articles of private property as belonged
to them, but after a general search they were unable to find any-
thing. Their clothing, hats, books, quadrants, charts were all
missing, having been already secured by the captors. Previous
to this the passengers were transferred on board a Texan armed
schooner called Brutus, where they were stripped and searched by
a person named Damon, who acted as lieutenant, and four of them,
viz., Hill, Hogan, Murje, and Campo were immediately put in
double irons by him. One of the passengers, Taylor, had his trunk
broken open by this Damon and four hundred and ninety-seven
dollars ($497) together with other property taken therefrom,
amounting in value in all to eight hundred dollars ($800). When
he desired to obtain a simple receipt for the money alone he was
put in double irons.
Hogan and Campo received one hundred lashes with a cat-o-
nine tails, stretched on an eighteen-pound cannon and were threat-

276

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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 12, July 1908 - April, 1909, periodical, 1909; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101048/m1/314/ocr/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.

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