American Flag-- Extra! (Brownsville, Tex.), Ed. 1, Saturday, October 1, 1859 Page: 1 of 1
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trownsville Saturday October 1 1859.
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-KSive men tilled! An armed Guerrilla
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fiBahd in possession of the City ! More
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the Oity ! The Guerrillas yet m camp
on. the American side of the river!!
"The excellent : conduct ' of our neigh-
bors the Authorities and Eeople of
"M-aiamoros ! I Mo American Protec-
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before they would disperse. One of these was the '
officer himself who had once been wounded without
e and whose further offence was that he thought
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m On the morning of Wednesday last jrar people
awoke from their slumbers with their usual feeling
of security and were quietly proceeding to their
jyjcustomsd avocations when a circumstance most
.efraordinary and beyond parallel threw the .city
.ihtoine utmost consternation ! It will-be recollected
i'lhatin" July 'last our City Marshal was: in the act of
Wr: arresting a disorderly person whenrbne Nepomueeno
ppr. Coronas . whoftaS an ubiquitous residence some-.
times on this and sometimes on the other side of
n y-'.-af dinf .lin nffiner rci ImflTv that rm to this
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; '- '"lfejr. jnoment he has not entirely recovered from the cf-
i --:..fccts of the wound. Cortinas immediately made
k" '&; ""-hig escape. After a short stay at tae Tancho
' of his mother about thirteen miles above here.-.---
he crossed Iho- river and has since until -very'
'i'i jjalely beeu in andaboat Mal-aihors. v Wednesday
vV; mcrniuG: he with a band Tariously estimated "at from
"W- "' Bixtv to one hundred men armed and on horseback.
t:"SSI all StexiGans by nativity but most of them outlaws
'-fiT Ms :from Mexico whom we on the American side have
. ;5;x -foolishly given an asylum rode into oiu- city about
-ftffl"1- daylight posted their sentinels. and proceeded to
fl.f;rt-:' pfclc- out the men most disagreeable. to them: Geo.
' T: :i" 'Morrjsr William P.lSToale R. L. .Johnson. COemenfe'
Reyes and Viviano Giircia were killed by thbm.
.-' Alejos Tela belonging to Cortinas' ' gang was Idi-'
v-lu':-jyJtihnson:vIt is. said that against Johnson-
.: 'fRndiHrGia they' had no animdsi"; but" Mr. Johii--
-pn:'.5?.s : the jailor and.; they . demanded: of Mi
!-"" the keys he refused to deliver' them and they
'sifs'i-ii .-.. -v;. itiiiea mm to oouiiu tiicin. julu viuu uwtuuieu tae
keys of the jail they liberated four or five prisonei-s
S'r; confined therein for various offences frbm mm-der
- vto horse-stealmg. Mr.' Garcia;s sole offence was
llits' shelter lie- afforded to Johnson. .. He was a
good inoffensive quiet industrious man a Mexican;
like themselves; tmd as well hehaved a man as we
had in the conn try. Mr; ISeale was killed in h is bed
. - he raised up on hearing his name called. Mr.
Morris-was IronLcd down. He lived within the now
deserted sarrison enelasure whence our Secretarv of
..'War has carried the soidieiB and the arms which
.until than ever protected this portion of our most
important frontier He was roused from his bed
his house having been surrounded ; as he ran out
under the house and found how slight his chance 'of
escape he sprang for the open parade ground and
; -attempted to save himself by flight It was in
. vain 5 they' struck him down with a sword before he
. liad half crossed the plaza and then riddled him
;r;-:i;ti-.y;witii halls. By this time our people were about
to pass around the streets hut the mierrillas were in
possession of them and their sentinels held the gar-
rison gates. Soon Mexican families were seen mov-
ing their furniture and the females declared that
the outlaws had sent to various selected families
warning them to leave for that they intended to burn
dbe town and hoist their flag (?) on the American flag
:ihff 'which oui' Secretary of War has stripped of
: ihcv.. stars- and stripes so as to be ready for any pro-
..'..- fanation!:. The few Americans here could not even
.pa33 out of their houses to meet together and the
cries of " Viva Coriinas y mieran Ion Gringos" could
be heard from the various sentinels.
The news had been quickly communicated to our
j neighbors in Matamoro3 and as soon as heard Gen.
. Jarvajal Col. Miguel Tigerjna P. Agapito Longo-
- ria I). Bartolo Passment and others came over to
enquire into the difficulties. By their entreaties the
guerrillas were induced to leave yet swearing that
they liad others on their list men who had desired
to. arrest and punish Cortinas whom they niustkill
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himself then unjustly treated. We have omitted
many other occurrences of less importauce than
these ail showing the malignity of the demons eft-
gaged in the work and their thorough trampling: on:
.all law and upon the rights of our population. "
At a late hour our citizens met for consultation
and after much consideration -a strong patrol was
organized under efficient officers to protect the city.
No effort has "been made to pursue the guerrillas our
numbers being too few to divide and it is deemed
unsafe for-a small body to unite in pursuit.
In the evening of Wednesday Col Capisiran
Col. Tigerina Mr. Agapito Longoria and W. La-
tham the Collector of our :Port went up to the
camp of the enemy and-had a parley. They:were
received without molestation and after much -and
vstrorig- eflbrt on jh&part of our Mends from Mesco
"agreed hot 'o" Molest the town any more whileat
the same time they declared that certain persona
who had oifended them they would yet kill- when-
ever the opportunity offered; It seems that they
complain xhat certain persons are obnoxious. fi4om
havin treated Mexicans hai-shly and particular
:StnQss:Ii3:Jaid'.upon then determination to kill" all
who are "disposed" iu punish Cortinas for.liis en.fircly
unprovoked attack on Mr. Shears. . - .
It is said and we hope it i&tiUe that.thereis now
no mor&danger of another inroad-f but what secu
rity haVe we of our lives .and those of our families
when a band of eighty armed outlaws declare that
we must close dm mouths and drop our arms to be
safe .frdia their revengeful fury. And to make our
situation worse-' the majority of these men have
committed crimes in Mexico which render it equally
perhaps : now more. unsafe for them to. rethie into
Mexico "while raanv claim to be American citizens
raud to be determined 16 maintain themselves on Jli
side of the river. - ' -. ' - -&J.
"Since the above was written it haSrbden.weU.iis-
ceravihed that instead of disbanding. Cortinas re-
mains4rwit'h his party in increased force deling
attack and threatening assault His force is. said
to Tse over two hundred men who are encamped at
his rancho. on the river and are constantly receiv-
ing accessions. Our citizens are well armed and
thoroughly in the alert. All without regard-to na-
tionality are enrolled and are acting in our im-
promptu military organization.
On Friday it was rumored that an immediate as-
sault was threatened. At once every man. and" hoy
in town assembled with very few exceptions to as-
sist in the defence. By the advice and approval of
the Committee of Safety a detachment of Mexican
infantry passed over under Gen. Carvajal and staid
under guard with us all night. They are yet with
us. On the night of the first attack all the troops
in Matamoros and live hundred of the citizens re-
mained' under arms "all night ready to assist in de-
fending our families and homes from ruin. We ten-
der them one and all from the bottom of our
hearts the thanks of thi3 community. What our
government has denied us frontier protection- we
now receive from a foreign neighbor and ally.
We cannot forbear particularly to thank Col. Mi-
guel Tigerina He has made two visits to the-hos-tile
camp on our "behalf being accompanied. on his
last one by Sir. -Latham and Mr. Manuel Treviiio
the Mexican Consul who has also acted with great
activity and zeal alike individually and officially.
On the last visit it is understood that a partial ar-
rangementwas''proposed by which perhaps at a fur-
ther loss of American honor and justice a stay can
he put io the threatened attack.
P. S Cortinas on Friday stopped the Laredo
mail opened it and abstracted a letter written by
Mr. Wm. Neale in answer to another informing him
of the killing of his son. Will the Government no-
tice this?
M Our paper lias not appeared on
its regular day of publication on account
of the serious disturbances of the pnblic
peace which have occupied the minds
and bodies of every man in our city in-
cluding all who are employed on the
Flag or connected therewith. X
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American Flag-- Extra! (Brownsville, Tex.), Ed. 1, Saturday, October 1, 1859, newspaper, October 1, 1859; Brownsville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth78143/m1/1/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.