The Bandera Bulletin (Bandera, Tex.), Vol. 12, No. 40, Ed. 1 Friday, March 29, 1957 Page: 6 of 8
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PAGE SIX
THE BANDERA BULLETIN
Friday, March 29, 1957
The Bandera Bulletin
PUBLISHED ON FRIDAY
Entered as second class matter August 3, 1945 at the
Postoffice In Bandera, Texas, by Act of Congress on March
1, 1878.
HUNTER PUBLISHING CO.
Mrs. John V. Saul J. Marvin Ilnnter Marvin Hay
MRS. JOHN V. SAUL, Business Manager
Subscription price $3.00 per year
Office of Publication
Bulletin Building, Upper Main St.
Notices of church entertainments, bazaars, concerts, etc., where
a charge of admission is made, lengthy programs, obituaries, cards
of thanks, resolutions of respect, and all other matter not news will
be charged for ut regular rates.
TWICE-TOLD TEXAS TALES
By J. Marvin Hunter, Sr.
Under this heading from time to time we will publish Texas
aistorical articles which we have compiled and printed before In
Frontier Times or in other publications, but which we believe will
of interest to Bulletin readers.
THE LEMON VALLEY ,
TRAGEDY
/^an Antonio Light,
November 1, 1014.
(The following account of the
horrible Legion Valley massacre,
was written by John C. Oatman
of Llano, and published in the San
Antonio Light, November 1, 1914.
As Mr. Oatman was t55 years old !
when he wrote the article herewith |
given, and as it was published 29
years ago, if still living he would
be 94 years old. We have pub-
lished several accounts of this
terrible affair, but Mr. Oatman’s
account is the only first-hand ver-
sion we have seen.—Editor.)
Among the many outrages com-
mitted by Comanche Indians in
Southwest Texas during frontier
days none was more horrible than
that perpetrated in Legion Valley,
Llano county, in 1867 or 1868. It
is known among old settlers as the
Legion Valley tragedy. The fol-
lowing account of the Indian raid
was written especially for The
Light by John C. Ostnian of Llano,
one of the three survivors of the
band of settlers that went in pur-
suit of the Indians:
In the June 22 (1913) issue of
The San Antonio Light there was
published an article by Captain A.
J. Sowell, describing the awful
tragedy perpetrated by the Co-
manche Indians in Legion Valley,
southern part of Llano county;
a clipping from which was handed
me by James R. Moss, with re-
quest that I writ up an account of
same for publication. It is now
nearly forty-seven years since the
foul deed was done, but being then
a boy of 18 years, the fearful
sights that 1 saw made such a
deep impression on my mind that
I have not alfiQ'unnot forget them.
So far as I lknuw all who were in
the crowd who followed that bloody
trail have gone to that undiscover-
ed country from whose bourne no
traveler returns, except C. T.
Moss, Charlie Haynes, John Rus-
sell and myself, and to prepare
myself to write up the particulars
of that terrible event 1 have talked
to Ilaynes and C. T. Moss. While
I differ with Captain Sowell in
many particulars, being an eye-
witness, I must tell it as I remem-
ber it.
Mrs. Matilda Friends was not
the daughter of Rev. Jonas F.
Dancer, but her maiden name was
Matilda Jones, whose mpther af-
ter her father’s' death married
Jonas F. Dancer, Jr., a son of
Rev. Jonas F. Dancer, Sr. This I
know because she was a classmate
of mine at school before her mar-
riage to Friend. John S. Friend’s
first wife was a daughter of Rev.
Jonas F. Dancer, Sr., and she was
the mother of Temple Friend, who
was carried into captivity. And
then Captain Sowell is mistaken
as to the geography of Legion Val-
ley; it lies south of Sandy creek,
and Hondo creek runs into Sandy
on the north. This valley is bound-
ed by mountains on the east and
south only and not surrounded by
them as stated by the captain. And
my impression is that the event
FIRST
or
LAST
Get our deal before
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REITERS
CHRYSLER . PLYMOUTH
KERRVILLE, TEXAS V
VOTE FOR
Thad Hutcheson
for U.S. Senator
O Make Texas a real two party state.
O Let’s put Bandera County at the top of the
column with Republican votes
O We voted for Ike, now we need to back him
with a Republican Senate
ELECT
Thad Hutcheson
APRIL 2, 1957
Paid for by friends of Thad Hutcheson,
occurred in December, 1867, in-
stead of February, 1868, for which
1 have several reasons not neces-
| sary to state, as it is sufficient to
! know that the awful murder was in
j fact committed.
| On the day of the crime, their
husbands being gone from home,
j there were congregated togther
| at Mrs. Friend’s house, in Legion
I Valley, Mrs. Matilda Friend, Mrs.
I Samantha Johnson and Mrs. Re-
! becca Johnson and their two chil-
I dren, one a girl about four years
; and the other a baby girl of about
| two years, Temple Friend, step-
I son of Mrs. Matilda Friend and
i nine years old, Malinda Cordle, a
| girl eight years old, and Miss
I Amanda Townsend, a girl of six-
I teen years.
About sunset twenty-five In-
I dians, twenty qn foot, three riding
1 ponies and two riding large mules,
made their appearance near the
house, and so frightened the
women that they began to scream
and ran into the house, which fact
was sufficient to inform the In-
dians that they were without pro-
lection and as they made a rush
lor the house the women shut the
door, but the Indians burst it open
and as one of them attempted to
enter, Mrs. Friend tried to shoot
hitp but was prevented by one of
Hu]/1 Johnson women, who seized the
gun. She then grabbed a smooth-
ing iron and knocked him down,
and when he arose he shot an ar-
row through her, striking her in
the light side, when the spike
bent on a rib and passed around
on outside of her breastbone, and
coming out on the left side it
struck a right-angle wall. I saw
the wound myself and if it had
passed straight through it would
have gone through her heart. She
fell on the floor and supposing her
to be dead this Indian scalped her,
taking off three pieces of skin, one
on each side of her head, at the
top, and one in front, each about
the size of a silver dollar. This
she stood • without showing any
signs of life.
By this time the Indians had
gathered together all the others,
and the whole party started off
in an easterly direction towards
what is known as Cedar mountain.
In a few moments this almost life-
less woman heard footsteps ap-
proaching. It was the Indian
brute whom she had knocked driwn
in her brave defense and who had
shot and scalped her. He came in
and hacked both of her arms to
the bone with a knife, and thert
took hold of the arrow and pulled
it back and forth through her
body. Having a bent spike at one
end and feathers at the other end
about a foot long, the arrow must
have caused great pain, but the
brave soul stood it al! without
showing any signs of life and the
brute, believing her to be dead,
left her and overtook his bloody
comrades.
When satisfied that the depart-
ing Indians and captives were out
of hearing Mrs. Friend got up and
started to a neighbor’s house,
something over a mile away, and
in going there almost followed
the Indians, for we found that they
passed about 400 years north of
the neighbor’s cabin. When she
reached the neighbor’s in her fear-
ful condition, he and his wife were
almost scared to death, and just
waited long enough to spread down
an old quilt near the fireplace for
the wounded woman to lie on, and
told her not to get on their bed
as they didn’t want their bed-
clothes bloodied. They then ran
out into a thicket near where the
Indians had just passed and had,
stayed there all night. It was a
very cold night and I didn’t see
how they and their little children
kept from freezing to death. The
next day the neighbor took no
pains to spread the news or get
assistance for the wounded woman,
and it was about sunset next even-
ing when the news reached Llano
town, fifteen miles away, the mes-
senger also coming for the father
of the writer, Dr. Hardin Oatman,
to see the wounded woman.
Hastily about fifteen men gath-
ered together and with Dr, Oatman
started to where the wounded
woman was. About ten miles from
Llano the most of these men turn-
ed west in the belief that they
could intercept the Indians and
prisoners. The remainder of us
vis: George W. Logan, Atta Luce,
Orville Oatman (my cousin), Dr.
Oatman and the writer, reached
the cabin about 10 o’clock at night.
Here the writer interview the
wounded woman and from her
learned the foregoing facts. The
owner of the cabin was there when
we reached his cabin but was not
there next morning. It is said
that he skipped out that night for
fear he would be summarily dealt
with for his treatment of the
wounded woman. I have never
seen him since that night.
At the cabin we were met by
Mr. Townsend, the father of the
young lady; Dock Walker, Charlie
Haynes, John Russell, and another
man whose name I cannot now re-
member, and we spent the night
by a big log fire to keep from
freezing.
The next morning as soon as it
was light we started north along
the foot of a mountain and at
about 400 yards came to the trail,
which went up the mountain, and
soon discovered that the adult
prisoners were marching bare-
footed. About half way up the
mountain we came upon the body
of the little two-year-old baby
girl. An Indian on a horse had
taken it by the ankles and wrapped
it around a black jack tree, crush-
ing every bone in its little body.
There was bits of flesh, hair and
clothes sticking to the hark of the
tree. About 100 yards farther
up the mountain was the body of
the little four-year-old girl, lying
fnce down on a flat limestone rock,
with her throat cut, and scalped.
Neither of the children was on a
rock eight feet high, as stated by
Captain Sowell. The first child
was lying in a heap at the root
of the black-jack tree. The writer
was first to see the body of the
second child and as I approached
it I thought that it had been strip-
ped to go to bed when it was taken
and that it had on a white night
cap, with a large lock of yellow
hair sticking out on the back of
its head, but when I got to it 1
found that it had been scalped,
taking all the hair off its head
except a small space next to its
neck on the back of its .head, and
what I thought was a night cap
was the flesh of its naked scalped
head, frozen.
Near here we found signs of
awful mistreatment of the captives.
Here the heart of one of our party,
whose name I will not mention,
failed him and he was told to go
back, that he was not needed. My-
self and Dock Walker carried the
frozen bodies of the two little ones
back to the cabin and Dr. Oatman,
John Friend, who had returned,
and the fellow whose heart failed
hipi. buried them.
When Walker and myself over-
took the rest of the crowd they
had just found the two Johnson
women, on the east side of Cedar
mountain near the home of Jack
Martin. Mrs. Samantha Johnson
had given out and sat down on a
limestone rock, and an Indian had
thrust a spear just under her right
shoulder blade, and it came out
on the left side just above her hip;
he had otherwise mutilated her
body and scalped her. Evidently
Mrs. Rebecca Johnson broke to
run from here and was overtaken
by an Indian, who thrust a spear
through the center of her body,
and then scalped her.
Getting from Jack Martin a
wqgon and yoke of oxen we hauled
the twowomen down to his house,
and he volunteered to get help and
bury them. Here we were met by
C. T. Moss, William Dunman, Boy
Johnson, husband of Samantha
Johnson, and some others, making
twelve or thirteen in all, and took
the trail on the east side of Cedar
mountain near Martin’s house.
From here* it turned in a souther-
ly direction and followed the trail
to a high, rough, rocky and brushy
place near Hudson’s Mound, in the
edge of Gillespie county, called
Hell’s Half Acre. From the top
of a tree we could plainly see a
red flag flying. Believing we
would meet them there we charg-
ed up that hill and into the thicket,
and found that they had waited
some time there .and hung up the
scalps and pulled off a scalp dance
around them. Here old man Town-
send picked up a small piece of
scalp with a long lock of yellow
hair attached, and screamed, “This
is my poor child’s hair!’’
My cousin, Orville Oatman, stay-
ed with the heart-broken father to
find and care for the unfortunate
girl, and he afterwards told me
that they found her about forty
yards away, and that she had been
brutally mistreated and then slain
with rocks. They carried her to
the home of a man named Hardin,
about a mile away, and buried her.
The rest of us pushed on, hoping
to rescue the two remaining chil-
dren. Passing Hudson Mound they
borq to east in a circle and finally
turned back almost north into
Llano county, near Comanche
Springs. On the way we found
where they had penned seven head
of horses and killed all of them
with lances. The next day we
followed them to a point called
Granite Knob. But the Indians
riding the two mules, which were
shod, turned off somewhere with-
out our noticing it, and the ground
being dry and hard it was very
hard to trail the foot Indians and
the three on unshod ponies, and it
was decided to send the writer to
Llano town to try to raise a crowd
and see if we could intercept them
at Baby Head Gap ,ten miles north
of Llano town.
I came to Llano town that night,
but found only three or four men
there. They would not leave for
fear the Indians would take the
town and murder the women and
children. I afterwards learned
that the balance of our party fol-
lowed the trail only a short dis-
tance and decided that it was use-
less and turned to their loved ones
at home.
These same Indians either pass-
ed over or around Pack Saddle
Mountain and crossed the Llano
river near its junction with the
Colorado river and turned up the
Colorado river to Long Mountain,
killing a man 72 years old, named
Smith, in sight of his family and
home. Smith was killed on the
third day after the capture of the
women in Legion Valley, and not
on the same day, as stated by
Captain Sowell. It was evidently
the same band of Indians, for
those who saw the murder said
there were three on ponies and a
large number on foot.
The two Indians' riding shod
mules evidently took with them
the two children. Temple Friend
and Malinda Cordle, for their
tracks were never seen any more
on the trail after the mule tracks
were missed. Rome time after-
wards Malinda Qordle was rescued
or ransomed and returned to her
relatives. Some five ye&J's after-
wards Temple Friend was recover-
ed, but could not speak JEnglish
and bad to be guarded for "a long
time.
From 1861 to 1874 many per-
sons were murdered by the Indians
in Llano county, but this was the
most sickening, heartrending, cruel,
brutal murder they ever committed
in the county. I was then but a
boy; now I am an old man, and
have given the above facts just
as T remember them, and feel al-
most sure thaut they are correct.
Time can hardly efface the impres-
sions made on my young mind by
the awful sights that I saw during
those eventful days.
Easy Party Trick!
Mr. and Mrs. Bill Smart of Me-
dina were Bandera visitors Mon-
day.
BOB ADAMCIK'S
CAFE
26 Hour Service
Fully
A ir conditioned
Schulenburpr, Tex
Peve&rin&iiorts
ofa
PIO^EEPv
PRINTER
^ J.MARVIN HUNTER
cs/n c/futobiography
Besides being the autobiography of an old time itinerant conn-
try printer and newspaper man, it is fall of hnmorons remi-
niscences and some good history. In it you will find mention
sf many people yon knew personally in different Texas coun-
ties. This old printer telle in pleasing style the story af his
peregrinations (wanderings) through West Texas, New Mexi-
co, Arisons, and even Old Mexico; how ho and a fellow news-
paper man had to leave "between two days” and rids in n
•ide-door pullman (box car) through to El Paso with the
Mexican rnrales hot on thoir trail; of his experience as a sheep
herder; of two uneasy days he spent entertaining a noted
outlaw in his shaep camp: of meeting noted characters, both
famous and Infamous; and of nanny other thrilling events and
at last he “settled down" hi Bandera to spend hie remsiniag
years among the best people on earth.
FRONTIER TIMES MUSEUM. BANDERA, TEXAS
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The Bandera Bulletin (Bandera, Tex.), Vol. 12, No. 40, Ed. 1 Friday, March 29, 1957, newspaper, March 29, 1957; Bandera, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth799026/m1/6/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bandera Public Library.