The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 33, July 1929 - April, 1930 Page: 297
344 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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History of Fannin County, Texas, 1886-188
Mrs. Davis apprised her husband of the woman's fears, and he
arose with his usual self-possession and walked to the door.
"Susie," he asked, "what makes you think there are Indians
about ?"
"Why," she answered, "I heard them holloaing at the barn like
owls."
"Well, that is just what it is--it is nothing but owls you hear,
Susie. You know that you are a great coward. Now go back to
the kitchen and see that you have your breakfast on time."
At daybreak Davis walked to the front gate to talk with a young
man named Glothlin whom he had hired to assist him about the
place. While the two stood conversing they were fired upon from
the horse lot some sixty yards away. Glothlin escaped uninjured,
although his clothing was torn and a lock of hair cut from his head.
Davis, less fortunate, had one arm broken and received a ball
through his breast that killed him instantly.
During that night a heavy rain had fallen forcing a scouting
party of twelve or fourteen men from Lyday's Fort to seek shelter
at the Davis house. This proved a fortunate thing for the remain-
der of the family, for no sooner had the Indians fired upon the two
at the gate than they charged the house. They were swarming over
the fences when the rangers opened the door. The sight of their
unexpectedly large numbers caused the savages to retire in spite of
the fact that the scouts were caught unarmed by the sudden attack
and did not fire a shot. The rangers moved the dead man and his
family from the scene of the tragedy to James McFarland's place
three miles to the eastward, and it was there that Andrew Davis,
the son, learned of his father's death, at ten o'clock in the morning,
as he was returning from the fort where he had been sent the night
before with an old slave to obtain some hogs.24
The assassination of Davis, however, was rather an isolated inci-
dent in the warfare between the whites and the Indians. For the
settlers in general were enjoying a respite from predatory raids
by the mid-summer of 1839. This was due, in part, to Rusk's defeat
of the Cherokees and their associated bands at the Delaware village
"Phelan, History of Methodism in Texas, 400f. The date of Davis' death
cannot be accurately fixed although the evidence tends to place it in the
latter part of November, 1839. It is certain that Asa Hatfield was
appointed by the Probate Court as administrator of Davis's estate on
December 13, 1839. Probate Court Records, A, 79.297
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 33, July 1929 - April, 1930, periodical, 1930; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101090/m1/323/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.