The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 11, July 1907 - April, 1908 Page: 58
vii, 320 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
dim light that it was Major Degress speaking, and that a white
man and two negroes held guns leveled at them. The mayor in-
sisted on going out that way, when Major Degress said, "Mayor, I
have nothing against you; but I am ordered to let no person come
down these steps tonight, and if you take another step these men
will shoot you." The mayor replied, "Major Degress, you have
the advantage of me now, but I will see you again," and then he
and Denton went back up the steps. When the crowd heard and
saw what had happened, they made a rush to go down the steps.
The order was quickly given to the guard to keep them back.
Excited voices came from the crowd, asking the mayor, "Didn't
they say they would shoot you ?" He replied, "It makes no differ-
ence what they said to me. Keep them back, keep them back."
Hearing this, the crowd made another rush to go down, and were
checked only by the use of guns and clubs in the hands of the
Travis Rifles and police.
Another incident which occurred that night, and which came
near bringing on a collision was when an armed squad of Davis
followers advanced toward a cannon, which young Haralson, one
of the Tr~avis Rifles, was guarding. Haralson, who knew no fear,
brought his gun down on them and ordered them to halt. They
did so, and retreated at once to the Capitol.
As there was danger that the Davis men, whose situation was
desperate, and who had doubtless heard of President Grant's or-
der, would bring about a collision, and as it was an extremely cold
night, it was determined to spike the cannon and take all the Coke
guards up stairs. After the gun was effectively spiked and the
Coke men withdrawn, a Davis guard was placed in charge of it,
who tramped there in the cold until early next morning. Then
Major Degress, who was a fine artillery officer, appeared with a
squad of his men and with ammunition to load the gun, it is sup-
posed, with the intention of turning it on the upper portion of the
Capitol, for the purpose of compelling the Coke followers either
to surrender or abandon the building. Degress had the snow
cleaned off the gun and was preparing to load it, when he dis-
covered that it was spiked. He and his squad seemed thoroughly
disgusted, and retired to the basement of the Capitol, while the
Coke men, who had been watching them, laughed and jeered.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 11, July 1907 - April, 1908, periodical, 1908; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101045/m1/62/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.