The Old Santa Fe Trail

d robbing the caravans to the United States which were owned wholly by Mexicans. In consequence of this, several Americans were accused of being spies and acting in collus

prising about two hundred men, which he led from Northern Texas, his home, to the line of the Trail, with the inte

here reinforced by another Texan colonel, named

th about twenty

d the village of M

five men, and dr

ere afterward fol

who stampeded and c

but those of the

burned their sad

they were disband

ly's camp, as b

anced along the Sa

h of the Arkansas,

exicans had passe

them, and a skirmi

ed, and as many wo

he Texans suffere

a hundred in numbe

ept two, who escape

who was encamped

ne hundred and fo

d out as hunter to Bent's and Colonel St. Vrain's train caravan, which was then making its annual tour eastwardly. When he arrived at the crossing of Walnut Creek,22 he found the encampment of Captain Philip St. George Cooke, of the United States army, wh

ation for the way Armijo had treated some Texan prisoners he had got in his power at Santa Fe some time before. Of course, it was the duty of the United States troops to escort this caravan to the New Mexico line, but there their duty would end, as they had no authority to cross the border. The Mexicans belonging to the caravan were afraid they would be at the mercy of the Texans after they had parted compan

and bosom friend named Owens. In a short time they arrived at the Fort, where Owens decided not to go any further, because they were informed by the men at Bent's that the

hich he would be exposed, walked, leading his animal, ready to mount him at a moment's notice; thus keeping him in a condition that would enable Carson to fly and make his escape if the savages tried to capture him. His knowledge of the Indian character, and wonderful

or three days, and presented his letter to the alca

dly as possible to the train. While at Taos, he was informed that Armijo had already sent out a com

ut Carson told me that only one got away, by successfully catching, during the heat of the fight, a Texan pony already saddled, that was grazing around loose. With him he m

thinking that the old mountaineer might reach the wagons before he did. Carson, with his usual promptness, started on the Trail for the caravan, and came up with it while it wa

caravans of the wealthy Mexican traders, was received with so little credence by the prominent citizens of the country, that several native trains left for t

ntonio was a very wealthy Mexican engaged in a general mercantile business on a large scale in Albuquerque, who made all his purchases of goods in St. Louis, which was then the depot of supplies for the whole mountain region. He necessa

he steamboat for St. Louis, leaving his coach, wagons, servants, and other appointmen

e was especially a noted gang of land pirates, the members of which had long indulged in speculations regarding the probable wealth of the Mexican Don, and ho

which government he claimed to hold a captain's commission, and one of their number was a doctor. It was evidently the intention of this band to join Warfield's party on the Arkansas, and engage in a general robbery of the freight caravans

ere were too many citizens of the border who would never have permitted such a thing to go unpunished; so they

ost dangerous point in the transcontinental passage of freight caravans and overland coaches, in the days of the commerce of the prairies. It was on this purling little prairie brook that

murdered, but the wealthy owner of the caravan was spared for a few moments in order to make a confession of

for one of the Mexican's teamsters escaped, and, making his way to Leavenworth, reported the crime, and was

int of crossing the Trail at the mouth of the Pawnee when the soldiers from Fort Leavenworth came along, and from them Hobbs and his companions first learned of the murder of Chavez on Cow Creek. A

il, they little dreaming that the government had taken a hand in the matter. The band tried to escape by flight, but Hobb

r escaping the death penalty by turning state's evidence. His sentence was incarceration in the penitentiary, from which he was pardoned after remaining there two

z family and a leading Santa Fe trader. He continued on to the river, purchased a stock of go

sts, and there is a touch of romance attached to the terrible Kansas tragedy, which lies in the fact that the doctor in about two years married the rich widow, and l