True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young. Page: 194

194 TRUE STORIES OF OLD
that bound the negro to the tree. He realized that he was free
and bolted. The Indians let him get a good start and then,
raising awful whoops and yells, they took after him. He made
a bee-line for home with what he thought was a whole tribe
of bloodthirsty Indians at his heels.
Colonel Baylor said they could hear the Indians yelling for
two miles away and they knew they had the negro headed for
home. He says when the negro finally showed up his eyes were
popped out and twisted so that they were back of his head. The
negro tore through the camp and made for a little shanty he
occupied. He rushed in and slammed the door, which was immediately
broken open by the Indians, who rushed in on him.
Then the fun commenced in earnest. The negro became perfectly
frantic with fear and fought like a fiend. An Indian
knows nothing about fighting with his fists, so the negro had
everything his own way. The colonel says the Indians were
knocked here and there and pummeled terribly, but took everything
good naturedly. They did not get the least angry but
fought on until the shanty was wrecked and fell down on the
combatants. Then the negro, finding himself in the open air
once more, got on his feet and knocking Indians right and left
cleared a passage and made for the river, half a mile away.
When he reached the river he dived off a high embankment,
where there was a big whirlpool, and came near drowning before
some Mexicans roped him and pulled him safely to shore.
The colonel said there were at least a dozen Indians with
black eyes and bloody noses, but not an angry Indian in the
whole bunch. They seemed to have enjoyed every moment of
the chase.
So far as the negro was concerned, he was cured and could
scarcely be induced to go near an Indian in the camp, to say
nothing of going out in the woods, which he feared was full
of them.
During that conversation, the colonel told me another interesting
story about a fight he had with the Comanche Indians
when he was captain of a ranger company. He said he was
certain that he had killed the last Comanche Indian killed in
Texas. His company had had a fight with a band of them and
was following them. He had a very fast horse and got far
ahead of his men, following three Indians. The trail they were
on dipped down into a dry gully and when he saw that the Indians
did not ride out on the other side, he said he knew what
they were doing just the same as though he could see them.
They had gotten on one side of the trail and intended shooting
him as he rode down the gully. Instead of doing that he turned
to one side and came up behind them. They were close together,
ready to shoot him the moment he appeared. He got right close
to them and fired both barrels of his shotgun, loaded with buckshot,
killing all three of them. The others of the gang got away,
but that was the last raid the Comanches ever made, therefore