The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 58, July 1954 - April, 1955 Page: 40
650 p. : ill., maps (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
He was what people call a "character." He was of medium height,
compactly built, and weighed about 135 pounds. His hair was white,
likewise his eye-brows and eyes. The latter were in constant motion,
as if under the influence of a current of galvanism, yet they pro-
duced no unpleasant impression upon the beholder. His countenance
was pleasant, his impulses generous, his intercourse with his fellow-
men gave evidence of manliness and frankness. He was insensible to
the feeling of fear; brave to a fault-a kind and accommodating
friend, and a bitter and dangerous enemy. He had an inseparable
companion, Alpheus D. Neal, of about the same height, but more
robust. He had all the manly qualities of his friend.23
Sullivan, when a mere lad, had been taken prisoner at Mier,
but had proved to be a difficult prisoner in Mexico. When
given tools to work, he threw them into a water closet; when he
was placed in a kitchen, the cooks fled with broken heads; after
being placed on probation with a kind-hearted old priest, he was
brought back for being incorrigible. After his release he joined
Captain Shapley Prince Ross's command of Texas Rangers, and
took up his practical joking there. When members of the com-
mand from farther east found him apparently eating buckeyes,
Sullivan blandly explained that they were "Spanish chestnuts."
"You can find plenty of them down on the branch." His were too
precious to be given away. The "Chesnuts" were gathered and eaten;
and there was a grand cascading, and a terrible swearing, heard in
that camp for hours.24
The arrival of some Comanches delayed Neighbors' departure.
Ford was impressed with the unassuming air of their head chief,
Mopechocope, or Old Owl. In his Memoirs, he said:
Prince Owl was quite a respectable appearing savage. He had none
of the swagger so ostentatiously displayed by bastard Rangers, and
self-styled frontier celebrities, who throw crowds into spasms of aston-
ishment and admiration by reciting the daring deeds they never
performed. His Highness was ready to accept anything in the shape
of a present from an old tooth-brush to a cloth coat.
Two years earlier Ferdinand Roemer, the German scientist who
accompanied Neighbors on a visit to the Comanches, described
the political chief, Old Owl, as "a small, old man who looked
23Ford, Memoirs (MS.), III, 504f.
24Ibid.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 58, July 1954 - April, 1955, periodical, 1955; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101158/m1/59/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.