The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963 Page: 341

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Diamond's Account of the Great Hanging

sion, immigration in a great measure ceased. And finally, upon
the suspension of the Overland, and the withdrawal of the coaches
and stock belonging to the Company, many of those who had
come to Texas under its auspices returned to the North, taking
with them their property and families.
But many of those who remained seemed to be restless and
adventurous in their dispositions, manifesting an unfriendly spirit
toward the older settlers. This produced its natural result, and
in a short time mutual distrust and dislike, criminations and
recriminations characterized the intercourse between the two
parties. And it may be truly said also that many who had resided
for several years in this section of the state, from the South as well
as the North, espoused the cause of theft, rapine and murder, and
became leaders and helpers in their wicked crusade against the
peace, the property and the lives of good citizens.
It would, therefore, be unjust as well as untrue, in fact, to
charge the crimes of the order to the population of any one section
of the country. The political sentiments of the immigrant from
the North, no doubt, had much to do in stimulating and urging
forward the daring and impulsive desperado from the South. The
bold denunciation of the act of secession by the Northern immi-
grants, also by a small class of the Southern people, was the foun-
dation upon which unscrupulous men bent on ruin and plunder
based their criminal conduct.
They used this political sentiment, openly advocated, as a
pretext for their movements, and instead of entertaining a mo-
ment's thought or care for the "Union," or its perpetuity, they
rejoiced that the general disturbance and confusion had given
them an opportunity to gratify their revenge against a neighbor
and sordid lust for plunder.
These two classes readily formed an alliance, offensive and
defensive and, as the sequel will show, began a regular system of
robbery, rapine and murder unparalleled in the history of this
country. It is no good or sound argument to say that they only
killed a few men in the course of their proceedings, and that,
therefore, the punishment of their crimes was too severe, too sum-
mary in character and too extensive.
It may be answered by the confessions of many of them as their

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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 66, July 1962 - April, 1963, periodical, 1963; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101196/m1/365/ocr/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.

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