The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 21, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 27, 2009 Page: 4 of 74
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The Clifton Record
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Looters Rob Post-Civil War Texas Blind
Even as he ordered all county
sheriffs to protect state and Con-
federate property on May 25,1865,
Gov. Pendleton Murrah feared
there was no stopping looting in
the post-Civil War chaos.
When news of Robert E. Lee’s
surrender reached eastern Texas
by word of mouth in late April 1865,
soldiers started deserting droves.
Marc's
Remarks
By Marc Johnson
Any y’all find it sorta hard to be-
lieve that another school year is
might nigh in the|
history books? I do.
Good gracious,
where do the time
go? Kids we’ve
known ever since
they was born fixin’
to git turned loose
out in to the crazy,
mixed up world we all live in. We
all need to wish them the very
best.
By the way, I’ve been told that
the Gap School will be open fer
bidness next year. What a relief.
The news is full of stories about
schools all over the country in bad
financial troubles. It seems a
shame to me but 1 reckon that’s
the way it is. Some cities, countys,
and states in deep doo-doo too.
Just check out California.
Woke up ’bout 0515 early Sattidy
morning, the 16th, and it is super
still outside. No stars in sight and
it wasn’t but a few minutes that the
wind come up. Purty big wind.
Looked around and didn’t see but
very little lightning and heard very
little thunder. Then, here come the
rain. Looked lak it was gonna be a
really good rain. I watched and
enjoyed fer a bit and then went on
back to bed.
Got up next morning and my
rain guage showed 1 point 9
inches. Went on down to the Low
Dog Feed Store and might nigh
everybody down there had differ
ing amounts. Strange! But, they
call ’em scattered showers; and I
reckon they right. But, it was all
good. All the pastures and fields
look really good. ’Bout as good as
I’ve seen ’em in a long time. Might
nigh all the stock tanks got water
in ’em. Some of ’em ain’t full yet;
but they do got some water. Most
of the fish probably gonna be just
fine. Won’t have to doctor ’em fer
tics. ... m ■
I’ve mentioned this many times
over Several years and have never
had anybody come up with any
kind of an answer. I don’t lose no
sleep worried about this but it do
have a tendency to “bug” me. And
the question is. How, why, and
when did the noon meal started
gittin’ called “lunch” instead of
“dinner”? And, same fer the
evening meal. How come it’s now
called “dinner”, instead of “sup-
per”? When I was raised several
years ago the first meal of the day
was “breakfast” and I don’t think
this has changed. But, “lunch”
was in mid-morning. Then ‘bout
noon “dinner” was served. Mid
afternoon was another “lunch”.
Then, the final meal of the day af-
ter all the chores was done was
“supper.” Now, what the heck hap-
pened?
I even e-mailed the question to
a journalist what writes about
etiquete (sic) or something lak
that. Never got an answer. Ex-
ample of these meals is especially
when Jim Jenson would be in town
either butcherin’ a hog of calf, or
plowin’ gardens with his hoss-
drawn plow. Hosses didn’t pack
the ground lak them modem trac-
tors did. Lunch fer Jim would; best
I remember; be coffee, ‘bout half
a loaf of home-made bread and
‘bout half a jar of jelly. This would
be morning and afternoon if he
was still around. I can see him
now. If any y’all got a thought or
the answer; call me at 597-2588 &
e-mail me at
<marcatthegap(<'embarqmail.com>.
I’d really like to know.
Got to tell ya this quick story
about Grandma Sorenson; who we
lived with. Dad finally made
enough money to buy Mom an
electric cook-stove thinking we
could git rid of the wood cook-
stove that’d blister ya on one side
and leave ya cold on the other.
Well, got the new stove all hooked
up & workin’ and was gonna com-
mence to take out the wood-stove.
Not!!! Grandma said that new
fangled electric stove wouldn’t
properly bake bread. Guess what?
The wood stove stayed ‘til after
she passed away. And, it did bake
good bread. Aw man.
First time this deal really af-
fected us was when we was sta-
tioned with “The World’s Largest
Canoe Club” (U.S. Navy) out in
California in 1960. Invited a couple
to Sunday Dinner. We went to
church; got home; Bet got every-
thing set out and ready. Come
‘bout 12:30, then 1, and ‘bout 1:15
we gave up and ate. Didn’t neither
of us have a phone so couldn’t git
ahold of‘em. Well, ‘bout 5 p.m. they
showed up. Fer “dinner”!!! They
ate left-overs with us. I cain’t even
remember where they was from.
Too many years ago but I never
forgot the deal.
Any y’all got a clue as to what’s
gonna happen to all our troops in
harms way with Pres. Obama as
Commander-in-Chief? I ain’t
shore nobody does. These troops
and the leaders of all nations re-
ally need us to keep them in our
thoughts & prayers.
See ya next week,
Marc at the Gap
This Week
In Texas
History ,
Gen. Magruder, the Galveston
commander, reported on the 29th
that scores of demoralized troops
were disappearing every night.
The evacuation of the island on
May 21 set off an unruly stampede
as the last traces of military disci-
pline evaporated. Hundreds of sol-
diers, most carrying weapons,
streamed inland in an ugly mood.
The mayor of Houston made
frantic preparations to pacify the
uninvited guests but found that
his free feast only whetted their
appetite. A muted mob of former
fighters and opportunistic civil-
ians picked the Confederate arse-
nal and clothing warehouse clean.
When latecomers from the
Galveston garrison threatened to
torch the town unless they re-
ceived a share, local looters gave
up their ill-gotten gains.
The public generally sympa-
thized with the ex-soldiers and ac-
cepted the argument they were
entitled to the leftovers of the de-
funct Confederacy. Who was more
deserving? The men who risked
their lives in service to the South or
the Yankees that soon would sub-
ject Texas to armed occupation?
The reaction of Fayette County
was typical. A duly elected com-
The Clifton Record
Editorial / Opinions
By Our Staff And Qur Readers
Obama Signs Off On Repeal By Treaty
Of The Second Amendment
By Jim Parks
SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
A historic war over gun control
is brewing between the White
House and Senators on both sides
of the aisle.
During his recent trip to
Mexico, President Obama signed
off on the United States’ ratifica-
tion of an Organization of Ameri-
can States (OAS) treaty that would
criminalize the manufacture,
sales, shipment and ownership of
firearms and ammunition and of
reloading spent ammunition.
Soon, the United States Senate
will be asked to ratify the “Inter-
American Convention Against The
Illicit Manufacturing Of And 'Maf-
ficking In Firearms, Ammunition,
Explosives, And Other Related
Materials.”
<http://www.unodc.org/pdf/
crime/a_res_55/255e.pdf >
Senate approval would neatly
sidestep the Constitution of the
United States in its Second
Amendment, which guarantees
that “the right of the people to
keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed.”
In an effort to control interna-
tional shipment of arms, the OAS
adopted the treaty in November,
1997 at the 24th Special Session of
the General Assembly when it met
at Washington, D C.
So far, all but four of the
organization’s thirty-four member
states have ratified the treaty.
They are The United States,
Canada, Jamaica and St. Vincent
The Grenadines.
Freedom-loving nations such as
Argentina, Chile, The Dominican
Republic, Haiti, Paraguay, Uru-
guay, Colombia, Nicaragua and
Venezuela have already outlawed
the possession, sales and ship-
ment of firearms, except for rel-
ics and curios built in the 19th
century. That includes ammuni
The Outdoor Mouse
Taking yet another break from
my income tax prep, I headed to
the kitchen for a snack. Earlier
Zack had put fresh seed in the bird
feeder outside the kitchen win-
dow. We view bird seed as an en-
tertainment expense. Not only do
the birds keep US entertained, but
the dog and cats think they’re
watching the Nature Channel on
TV 24/7. Our feeder is a big old
thing made from two old plow
disks and some tractor part that
looks like a Greek column. There’s
plenty of room at the table. So
sure enough, there were the car-
dinals ana sparrows and many
birds I have yet to identify. And
among them under the feeder,
was THE MOUSE.
Our back yard mouse is still
around. As hard as I have fought
to get rid of his field mice cousins
that slip into this old farmhouse, I
can’t bring myself to take decisive
action against this one outdoors
guy. I can’t eradicate mice from
this entire ranch. And this one’s
just too funny. Granting him a par-
don goes against everything I’ve
learned during my various
“mouse wars” on this place. If you
live on a ranch, you will see field
mice. It’s a given.
If you’re unlucky, you may have
a couple of mice (or more) make
it inside your home, no matter
how clean and neat you are, no
matter how organized. Mice don’t’
care if you’re a good person. If
they want in, they’ll find a way.
Like little Houdinis, they slip into
the tiniest of cracks, appear, and
disappear at will. Once in, I con-
sider them fair game and will go
after them with every weapon in
my arsenal. I’m not proud of this.
It’s just a fact. They are not wel-
come inside. I have warned them
before and do my best to ward
them off with peppermint oil. If
they ignore all the warnings, woe
be unto them.
I’ve watched THE OUTDOOR
MOUSE for weeks now, slipping
from under the cover of our back
deck, through the little hole he’s
made in the earth. Each week, he
inches closer and closer to the
feeder. I’ve always said that if they
just stay outside, they can live. (I
Rustic
Ramblings
By Dr. Gene Ellis
regretted that decision after one
enterprising mama mouse
chewed into the top of our hot tub
and made a nest there for her four
babies. That was pretty gross and
a really, really bad surprise.)
As the birds choose the choic-
est morsels, they often sling dis
cards from the feeder, along with
the hulls of the seeds they con-
sume. I’ve watched one little bird
in particular do a special dance in
the feeder the moment he lights,
slinging seed in all directions. Only
then will he pick and choose.
Whatever he throws ends up on
the ground, available for other
birds and for THE MOUSE.
Yesterday, Mousie ventured far-
ther thall ever, to the base of the
feeder, about eight or 10 feet from
the cover of his deck. He’s getting
more and more brazen. The dog
ignores him as he ignores the
birds. If a cat comes along, both
birds and mouse scatter for cover.
And I admit that I laugh at him and
would miss him if he disappeared
— because the whole thing is just
so funny. Maybe this is my comic
relief in hard economic times.
Maybe I’m just losing it.
The only way I can justify my ir-
rational action (or rather
INaction) is by:
1. Hoping the mouse is male and
won’t produce a whole geometric
mouse population in less time
than it took for this column to ap-
pear in the paper.
2. By believing that he’s grown
way too fat on birdseed to enter
this house — unless he ap-
proached a door and knocked.
(Gene Ellis, Ed.D is a Bosque
County resident who returned to
the family farm after years of liv-
ing in New Orleans, New York,
and Florida. She is an artist who
holds a doctoral degree from New
York University and is writing a
book about the minor catastro-
phes of life.)
A The Clifton Record
Serving Bosque County Since 1895
Th* Clifton Record (USPS-118-100 • ISSN.1086-9352) it published weekly, on Wednesdays,
by Progressive Media Communications, Inc., 310 West Fifth Street Clifton, Texas 76634-1611.
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THE ENTIRE COHTBfTC o< each lesue of The Clifton Record an protected under the Federal Copyright Act.
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tion and any accessories - includ-
ing telescopic sights, high capac-
ity magazines or any other gear
that may be attached to them.
Dealing in any of these is referred
to as “trafficking.” All firearms
must be numbered and identified
under government license and
supervision, under the terms of
the treaty.
The manner of that licensure
and supervision is yet to be deter-
mined. Bureaucrats will be called
forth to promulgate those new
regulations if the Senate approves
the treaty.
Assembling or disassembling
firearms without government li-
cense and supervision, even for
purposes of cleaning, is illegal in
those states. Shipment or sales
are also illegal, including any part
of the whole round meant to be
fired - propellant, projectile,
primer or cartridge case. That is
classified as manufacturing.
According to one legal expert
who has spent a great deal of time
analyzing the 4,078-word docu-
ment, ‘‘...’’’TVafficking’ is not ex-
plicitly limited by ‘illicit’ and could
mean almost anything.”
The basic conflict will be be-
tween the language of the United
States Constitution, a document
which assigns the role of making
law to the Congress, a limited role
of making law to the judiciary in
its appeals holdings, and the en-
forcement of laws and treaties by
the Executive Department. In the
case of international treaties, they
may not be enforced without Sena-
torial ratification, termed as a pro-
cess in which Senators “advise
and consent” to the adoption of
treaties and international conven-
tions.
The treaty provides for “States
Parties that have not yet done so
shall adopt the necessary legisla-
tive or other measures to estab-
lish as criminal offenses under
their domestic law the illicit manu-
facturing of and trafficking in fire-
arms, ammunition, explosives,
and other related materials.” Ad-
ditionally, the treaty provides that
“...the criminal offenses estab-
lished pursuant to the foregoing
paragraph shall include participa
tion in, association or conspiracy
to commit, attempts to commit,
and aiding, abetting, facilitating,
and counseling the commission of
said offenses.”
The conflict that is likely to
erupt is reminiscent of the epic
efforts of the Woodrow Wilson Ad-
ministration to gain ratification of
the treaty that would have in-
cluded the U.S. in The League Of
Nations following World War One.
mittee collected government —
both state and Confederate —
goods of every description and
distributed the items to home-
coming veterans on the basis of
their individual and family needs.
However, this peaceful process
gradually deteriorated into blood-
stained anarchy as criminal ele-
ments took advantage of the chaotic
conditions. Highwaymen ruled the
lawless countryside, especially be-
tween San Antonio and the Rio
Grande where one stage was report-
edly held up every five miles.
Private businesses, which had
been scrupulously spared by the
soldiers, were robbed in broad
daylight with alarming frequency.
Even the state penitentiary at
Huntsville came under attack
from an outlaw legion that sought
to free incarcerated comrades
and to strip the prison bare.
The most tempting target in
the entire state was, of course,
the treasury in Austin rumored to
contain $300,000 in gold and U.S.
currency. Although under constant
guard during the war, not a single
sentry was on duty at the deposi-
tory on the night of June 11,1865.
An authentic first-person ac-
count of the sensational events of
that evening did not surface until
1929, when J.W. Trimble finally
granted an interview to a persis-
tent newspaperman. Sixty-four
years had not dimmed in the slight
est his vivid memory of the at-
tempted robbery of the treasury.
Trimble recalled being awak-
ened by “a loud noise that
sounded as if an army of black-
smiths might be hammering on
steel.” He jumped in his clothes,
strapped on his six-shooter and
ran into the street where a crowd
had already gathered.
“There’s a bunch over there rob-
bing the state treasury!” Capt. G.
R. “Tom” Freeman told the throng.
“If 20 of you fellows will follow me,
we’ll go over and stop it!”
The necessary number of vol-
unteers, including 18-year-old
TYimble, bravely stepped forward.
With Freeman m the lead, they
fought their way past the bandit
lookouts posted at the entrance to
the treasury building and crept up
the stairs to the vault room on the
second floor.
Three dozen or more robbers
were hard at work opening the
enormous safes with chisels and
sledge hammers. So engrossed
were they in their nefarious labors
that the vigilantes caught them
completely by surprise.
That was when, according to
Trimble, all hell broke loose. “A
lively battle followed with bullets
aplenty whizzing, but it didn’t last
long. It looked like the robbers
were bent on escaping rather than
fighting. They disappeared at ev-
ery available opening in the room.
Although our company of volun
teers put on a spirited chase, the
robbers, excepting the wounded
one, got away."
The panic-stricken
safecrackers left behind a fortune
in their wake. The treasury
grounds as well as every escape
route out of the capital were
strewn with gold coins. Most must
have been returned by honest
townspeople because the total loss
was assessed at a modest $1,700.
After doctors informed the
wounded outlaw of his imminent
demise, his captors pressed him
for the names of his accomplices.
But he died without identifying his
partners in crime saying only with a
scornful smile, “You’d be surprised if
you knew who they really are.”
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Smith, W. Leon. The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 21, Ed. 1 Wednesday, May 27, 2009, newspaper, May 27, 2009; Clifton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth789033/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nellie Pederson Civic Library.