Sixty years in Texas Page: 181 of 398
5 p. l., 384 p., incl. illus., plates, ports. front. (port.) 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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SIXTY YEARS IN TEXAS. 167
the Main or so-called West Fork of the Trinity.
Their camp was in a grove on a mound, since bearing
the name of Phelps Mound, on the north side of
the stream, four and a half miles northwest of Fort
Worth. One of the men was named James Wood,
formerly of Indiana; the other is believed to have
been named McCombs, or Combs, but there is some
doubt about his name.
James W. Chowning, yet living in Denton County,
was sent by the agents at Stewartsville with provisions
in a two-horse wagon for the surveying
party. It is probable he had left the party for this
purpose; but of this I am not advised, nor is it
material.
On reaching the camp, Mr. Chowning was horrified
to find himself alone and in the presence of three
dead men, their bodies yet scarcely cold and lying in
the tent, where, during the previous night-April
9th, 1849-and while asleep, they had been murdered
by Indians, a considerable number of whom were
raiding that portion of the country-so much so, in
connection with swollen streams, as to prevent the
Texas Rangers, then at different stations on the
frontier, from sending a party in time to bury the
unfortunate victims. A few persons assembled and
performed the sad office-among them Mr. Conley
and Mr. Thomas, whose widow, Mrs. Drusilla
Thomas, lives in Jacksboro. They were buried half
a mile west of the mound, the land being owned by
Mr. Conley, who soon afterwards sold it to Mr. Farmer,
who disposed of it but a year or two since.
The sadness of the occasion was augmented by
the fact that Mrs. Phelps had died only about three
months before, leaving an infant but a few weeks
old, destined to grow to womanhood without father,
mother, brother or sister. Yet, in her warm and
noble-hearted uncle, Alexander Harwood, and his
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Jackson, George. Sixty years in Texas, book, 1908; Dallas, Tex.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20205/m1/181/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.