The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963 Page: 553
641 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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in height, and two and a half feet in length, and through this small
hole came all the fresh air to be inhaled by us, about one hundred
and sixty prisoners. I was fortunate to be crammed in near this
window, luckily it had no glass in it, only wooden cross bars. These
two rooms could never have been intended for a dwelling, but a
prison for a few criminals.
We all felt a sensation of suffocation, the window was too narrow
for even us emaciated men to crawl through it-and the wall was
too thick, for us to dig through with our hands.
Soon outcries arose for the front men nearest the door, to break it
open, but it was too solid and strong to do so without tools. In the
meantime those nearest the window, begged the guard to let at least
a portion of us leave our narrow confinement. The guard either did
not regard our entreaty, or above the din of the men could not hear
what we desired; all efforts at breaking open the door proved un-
availing. At last our captain, Salezar, hearing the noise and surmising
we might suffocate, permitted about fifty of us to pass out. Those
who were permitted to go out, tried to shelter themselves from the
terrible cold blast, behind the mud walls of a cow yard. Terribly as
the men suffered there from cold it was any how better than to
suffocate. It was so cold that even the guard left their posts, to seek
some shelter near our prison.
On the 2 st of October, after a days march, the guard at our camp
brought sacks with corn, and issued to each man one ear of corn!
And in mercy to some of us youngsters they gave them two ears
of corn! It would not have been able to sustain even a little pony,
after being compelled to travel like we were from twenty-four to
thirty-six miles daily. Human endurance must certainly be far
superior to that of animals, for no brute would have endured what
we did, with so little food on our dreary marches.
At Sandia the population came out in a body to see us, and during
a short halt the women gave to each of our men a watermelon, apples,
bread and such things as these poor people could offer us to eat. Our
ablest and foremost men generally fared better than the feeble or
young, for usually the Mexican guard gave us no halt, to receive those
generous gifts of eatables presented by the villagers, but hurried us
on; we had to snatch and eat what we received as we marched along.
Here an old gray headed Mexican, I should rather say an aboriginal
Indian, for Sandia seemed to be inhabited by that class, stepped for-
ward toward me, who was from weariness in the last rank, our men
from sheer fatigue, being often scattered along from 300 or 400 yards,
but yet vigilantly guarded, right and left, this old man presented me
with a loaf of bread. I thanked him, I could have kissed and hugged
the good old man, but there was no time given us to demonstrate
thankfulness. Salezar the brute, did not allow us to rest at Sandia, but553
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963, periodical, 1963; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101196/m1/593/?rotate=270: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.