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1800.]
ERA OF FILIBUSTERS.
35
"Having caused the nine prisoners to assemble in a
room in order to draw lots, so that one of them might
be executed, after they knelt I read the decree of his
Majesty the King. The prisoners agreed to throw dice,
and that the oldest of them should throw first, and that
the one who threw the smallest number should be
hanged. A drum, a crystal tumbler, and two dice were
brought, and I ordered the prisoners to kneel before the
drum and be blindfolded." Ephraim Blackburn threw
first, and to him fell the fatal number; two days after-
ward (November 11', 1807) he was hanged.*
' Louisiana Purchased by the United States.-In 1800
Spain secretly returned Louisiana to France. Napoleon,
being in great need of money, sold Louisiana, in 1803,
to the United States. Spain objected to this; and when
the Americans claimed all land east of the Rio G-rande
as a part of Louisiana,t she grew indignant.
Neutral Ground.-It soon seemed that war was cer-
tain, for Spain not only claimed Texas, but even wanted
to cross the Sabine and take a part of Louisiana. At last
the matter was peacefully arranged (October, 1806) by
making the land between the Sabine and the Arroyo
Hondo t neutral till the bboundary question should be set-
* What became of the other prisoners is not positively known; for Bean's many
adventures, see close of this era.
tWhen, in exchange for Tuscany, Spain ceded Louisiana to France it was
privately agreed that France should not sell the territory to the United States.
After the deed was done Spain stood too much in fear of Napoleon to maintain
a vigorous protest.
The Arroyo Hondo, a small tributary of Red River, is about seven-miles west
of Natchitoches between the rivers Mermento and Carcasien. (See map of Span
ish Texas.)
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Pennybacker, Anna J. Hardwicke. A new history of Texas for schools : also for general reading and for teachers preparing themselves for examination, book, 1895; Palestine, Tex.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2388/m1/49/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.