The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 24, July 1920 - April, 1921 Page: 301
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Some Precedents of the Pershing Expedition ito Mexico, 301
be relied upon, Mexican authorities, of smaller caliber assumed the
same attitude.20
The number of cattle carried off by the raiders was alleged to
be enormous. In southwestern Texas cattle raising was followed
on a very large scale during this period, ranches comprising from
ten to two hundred thousand acres and stocked with from fifty
to seventy-five thousand head not being uncommon. Horse rais-
ing was likewise engaged in to a considerable extent along the
lower Rio Grande, and on a much larger scale farther to the north-
west. The raids of the thieves threatened to destroy these im-
portant industries. During the nine years between 1866 and
1875 the number of stock between the Nueces and the Rio Grande
and south of Laredo decreased almost 80 per cent. A federal
grand jury convened in Texas in the spring of 1872 reckoned that
there had been stolen from this section since the close of the Civil
War an average of five thousand cattle per month.21 The records
for the customs house at Brownsville during this period were said
to show that twenty-five per cent of the hides exported from Mex-
ico into Texas at this point bore brands of Texan stock raisers,
while another twenty-five 'per cent gave evidence of having been
altered or otherwise defaced. From this it was judged that a
great many of them were stolen from Texas.22
While the main object of the raiders who crossed over into the
Rio Grande-Nueces region was the theft of cattle, they were in-
evitably led into the perpetration of even worse outrages. Travel-
ers who chanced to meet them and individuals who were thought
likely to give out incriminating information were murdered; thou-
sands of dollars in money, merchandise, and other property were
taken; towns were raided; postoffices and customs houses were
looted; and numerous public officials were killed. In fact, be-
tween 1875 and 1877 the situation in this section amounted to a
reign of terror.23
Depredations committed by Mexican Indians in the region
above Laredo and westward to the borders of Arizona were re-
ported to be equally bad, and it was declared that Arizona was
"Ibid., No. 343, 44 Cong., 1 Sess. (Ser. 1709), p. lff.
21Ibid., App., pp. 78-79, 92, 97-100, 115, passim.
22House Emec. Doe. No. 39, 42 Cong. 3 Sess. (Ser. 1565), p. 20.
2"For the conditions during this period, see Ho. Rept. No. 701, 45 Cong.,
2 Sess. (Ser. 1824), and a document bound with the same entitled,
"Texas Frontier Troubles."
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 24, July 1920 - April, 1921, periodical, 1921; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101078/m1/307/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.