1 6 AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS. 



that this was the first formal burial of the " bloody shirt," and 

 the first acknowledged alliance between the sections. The 

 land-sharks were told in plain terms that further difficulties 

 would be settled with Winchesters and revolvers. These or- 

 ganizations soon made use of the safeguard of secrecy, and 

 formulated certain signs, grips, and passwords. These were 

 improved upon as time passed, until a ritual with three degrees 

 was adopted, together with a declaration of principles, constitu- 

 tions, and by-laws. 



The question of land-titles was not the only one that con- 

 fronted these pioneers. Cattle and horse thieves infested the 

 country and committed depredations continually, to the great 

 loss and annoyance of the people. A united action against these 

 outlaws was instituted through these organizations, and pushed 

 with vigor. One of the degrees of the Alliance, at that time, 

 consisted of a minute description of the methods of capturing 

 a horse-thief. It described the duties of the officer in pursuit, 

 and the farmer at whose house the thief might be stopping ; just 

 what the wife must do, how she must hold the candle so as to 

 guide the officer to the room of the thief, and at the same time 

 shield him from view ; the signals that could be given at certain 

 times, and the firing of a gun or revolver, or blowing a horn at 

 others, in order to caution and give information. Many a horse 

 and cattle thief has known to his sorrow how completely and 

 successfully the lesson of this degree has been acted upon. 



Of course it required some time to perfect the organization, 

 crude as it was. The first three clubs, as they were called, 

 were organized in Lampasas County ; the fourth club was organ- 

 ized in Hamilton County, joining Lampasas on the north, at 

 some point on Partridge Creek. This club took the name of 

 Partridge Creek Alliance, and is believed by many to have been 

 the first to adopt that name. It must be remembered that it 

 was purely an organization of farmers, and they being few in 

 numbers, and much scattered, its growth was necessarily slow. 

 Its effects were felt at once by the lawless, adventurous portion 

 of the community, being the first moral and material support 

 that the officers of the law could depend upon in that border 

 county. 



Captain L. S. Chavose seems to have been a prominent organ- 



