Texian Stomping Grounds Page: 71
162 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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RANCHO BUENA VISTA
Antonio did not reply, but went and duly sold the horse.
The buyer did not fare so well as Antonio had done. In a few
months, the owner appeared and claimed the animal. Antonio
Guerra was haled into court on the charge of selling stolen goods.
"But I had permission to sell him," he insisted. "This very
judge gave me permission to sell him."
"Yes," the judge replied, "but I thought the horse was yours."
"Well," Antonio replied with a twinkle in his eye, "I did
not need your permission to sell what is my own. But I did
need it to sell someone else's animal."
On another occasion, this same Antonio caused the women
folk at Buena Vista a very uncomfortable half-day. It was in
the early eighties when the Indian tales were still rife. Old Mar-
cos had not been dead so many years, killed by an Indian arrow,
and 'La Cautiva,' with her tales of Indian captives, was living
just over the way.
As was their custom, the women went out at daybreak one
morning to do the washing in La Becerra Creek. While they
were busily at work, Antonio conceived the notion of frightening
them. He got an old pair of chaps out of the horse shed. They
had fringes on them and were stiff with age. He put one leg
of the chivarras upon his head, and at a distance it looked like
a war bonnet. Carefully, he crawled among the underbrush across
the creek; suddenly, he poked his head out between two branches
in full sight and gave a blood-chilling yell. The startled women
got a glimpse of the fearful war bonnet and fled up the creek,
tearing through brush like mad.
It happened that there was a deep gulch a little way up the
creek, well hidden by the undergrowth. Into this the frightened
women plunged. It was ten or fifteen feet deep, but, luckily,
they broke no bones in their fall. There they lay, terrified for
their lives for hours.
Antonio immediately repented of what he had done and
began to call for them to come out of hiding, but in their terror
they mistook his voice for that of Indians, hot on their trail.
At length one of them recognized his voice, and they came back,
too shaken to be angry.
'Tia' Juana was the heroine of another humorous incident.71
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Texian Stomping Grounds (Book)
Collection containing sketches of post-war life in East Texas, including descriptions of early recreations and games, stories about Southern food and cooking, religious anecdotes, Negro folk tales, a first-hand account of a Negro folk play about the life of Christ, and other miscellaneous folklore. The index begins on page 159.
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Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964. Texian Stomping Grounds, book, 1941; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67663/m1/79/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.