Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 423 of 894
762 p., [172] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 30 cm.View a full description of this book.
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354
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
SAMUEL L. ALLEN,
HOUT ON.Samuel Louis, second son of Roland and Sarah
(Chapman) Allen was born in 1808, in the village
of Canasareaugh, Madison County, N. Y. He has
done much for Texas and the city in which he lives
and no man in Houston is more highly respected
and honored by his fellow-citizens. He has labored
through many years, during the progress of which he
has overcome many vicissitudes and has made of his
life a successful one in the broadest and truest sense
of the word. It is to be supposed that in such a long
career he met with trials and reverses and had his
periods of despondency and doubt. "Who," as a
wise philosopher has said, "that has lived long
enough in the world to know ' that man is born to
trouble as the sparks to fly upward,' but has felt a
sinking of spirit and prostration of energy, bodily
and mentally, before he has become acclimated, as
it were, to new and trying circumstances in which
God in His providence has placed him from time to
time?
When the strong can no longer boast of
their strength, nor the wise of their wisdom."
Such periods as these, however, were few and
far between with him and were scarcely more than
of momentary duration. Of a strong and clear intellectuality
and an enterprising, courageous and indomitabie
spirit, he rose to the necessities of each
emergency and by sheer force of resolution trampled
difficulties under foot and carried his plans into
final and successful execution.
An incident that occurred when he was three
years of age would seem to have indicated that he
was born to accomplish a mission of usefulness in
the world. The circumstances that attended it are
yet indelibly impressed upon the tablets of his memory.
An older boy, an apprentice to a tanner and
currier of the village, took him to a pasture in the
environments of the place and told him to remain
near the fence while he (the apprentice) went in
search of some horses his master had ordered him to
drive in and promised that when these were procured
they would have anice ride back to town. Thereupon
the thoughtless apprentice left the little fellow and
galloped off. An apple tree loaded with fruit was
near at hand. It forked close to the ground and
Sam had little trouble in climbing high enough
among the limbs to reach an apple. The field
belonged to John Denny, an educated Indian,
partly of white descent, a lawyer by profession,
and an excellent citizen. His residence was situated
on a hillside and commanded a view of the
pasture. His wife was a woman of ungovernable
temper and the vindictive and cruel nature of an
untamed savage, espied the child in the apple tree
and ran to the pasture, jerked him to the ground,
and with a blow knocked his teeth out, and then,
insane with fury, gathered stones with which she
continued to beat him until life had apparently left
his body. Then, fearing the consequences that
would accrue to her from the inhuman deed, she
laid the body in a fence-corner, hoping that someone
would discover it. She then made her way
back to her dwelling unobserved. These events
occurred in the forenoon. She returned to the
field at sundown, and further investigation convinced
her that the child was really dead, she
hastened to the village and reported that she bad
found a dead child in her field and that the indications
were that it had been kicked and trampled to
death by horses. No one suspected her guilt, and
the body was brought to the home of the parents,
where it was found that the spark of life yet
lingered in the mangled form. Medical skill and
careful nursing finally restored consciousness, and
then the little fellow told, with circumstantial
detail, all that had transpired. His parents and
the people of the village were horror-stricken at
the recital, deeply incensed and determined to have
fitting punishment inflicted upon the woman.
John Denny had been assiduous in his attentions
from the day the child had been brought home.
He was no less shocked by the disclosure than his
neighbors and told them that the woman was in
their hands to whip, torture, hang, or do with as
they pleased, and continued to devote himself to
the child, nursing him, amusing him and bringing
him every little gift in his power. His great kindness
to the boy and regard for the occurrence,
finally mollified the parents and community, and
out of regard for him nothing was done to the
woman.
Samuel was finally restored to health and at
twelve years of age was a fine, robust, manly boy.
At this age he was sent to school for three months
but was then taken home and put to work by bis
parents, who were in straitened circumstances,
had a large family to rear and educate and had
come to the conclusion that they could keep oolY
one of their children, the oldest, A. C. Allen, at
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A history of pioneers in Texas and their confrontations with local American Indians.
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Brown, John Henry. Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas, book, 1880~; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6725/m1/423/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.