Straight Texas Page: 30
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the other women captive and hurriedly retreated. A
posse made up to follow them found the head of a child
fixed on a jagged stump that had been shattered by
lightning; some accounts say on a rock. The rock or
stump, whichever it may have been, was on a low moun-
tain, and Baby Head Mountain it was named. Rain that
falls on its slopes sheds into Babyhead Creek, and Baby
Head is the name of a small community that grew up
not far away.
Popher Creek, in Angelina County, remembers an
Indian in a different way. As a legend of the country
runs, Chief Popher had a wayward young son named Jim
who killed a pair of peddlers for their calico and hand
mirrors. White settlers captured him and sentenced him
to be shot.
Then the aged chief plead that he might be executed
in his son's place. He himself, he reasoned, had lived
out his time of usefulness and would soon die anyway;
the boy would repent and become a good man. The
settlers agreed to this proposal and even allowed Chief
Popher to set the time of his execution and pick the
place where he was to die.
He chose the slope of a little creek along which he
had killed many a deer. At the hour set he appeared,
without guard, dressed in a robe of calico with long
sleeves and ruffles falling below his hands. He knelt,
gave the tribal war-whoop, and twelve men fired. Only
one of the twelve guns had a ball in it, however, the
other eleven being loaded with blanks, no one of the
twelve executioners knowing what was in his gun.
With a bullet through his heart Chief Popher fell
dead and was buried where he fell. Popher Creek the
little stream draining by the place of execution and
burial was thereafter called;
Indian Bend and Indian Creek, Indian Gap and
Indio Ranch, Indiahoma and Los Indios Junction-the
word Indian is attached to some place in nearly every
part of the country. Perhaps an old Mexican will tell
you that here the Indios roped a goat herder and dragged
him through the prickly pear; or an old-timer will tell30
STRAIGHT TEXAS
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Straight Texas (Book)
Volume of popular folklore of Texas, including tales about the origins of various cities and towns, personal anecdotes, songs, superstitions and other miscellaneous legends. The index begins on page 341.
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Dobie, J. Frank. Straight Texas, book, 1966; Hatboro, Pennsylvania. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67658/m1/42/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.