EL PASO. 153 
house), and about the same distance from the military 
post. A party of the Commission immediately volun- 
teered to go in pursuit. The best horses to be had 
were procured as soon as possible; and each. man, 
taking a rifle, a six-shooter, and a blanket, was in the 
saddle within two hours after the news of the robbery 
reached us. They soon fell on the robbers’ trail, which 
they followed for some distance towards the Waco 
Mountain, when it turned north-west. They continued 
on until the trail struck the Santa Fé road, when they 
gave up the pursuit and returned the next day. 
January 9th. The ox train left behind by Colonel 
McClellan arrived at San Eleazario to-day, having 
suffered severe hardships on the route. It left San 
Antonio, as I have before stated, with the main body 
of the Commission, on the 14th of October, and had _ 
therefore been nearly three months on the way. On 
the 8th of December a sad event took place, which 
resulted in the death of Mr. U. B. Wakeman, the 
wagon-master in charge of the train. The circum- 
stances as related to me are as follows: With the train 
there was a Captain Dobbins, formerly of the United 
States Army, who had been cashiered for some mis- 
conduct. This individual, being a personal friend of 
Colonel McClellan, induced the latter to give him 
employment as a kind of guide and hunter for his party ; 
to which arrangement, being unacquainted with the 
man’s history and character, I consented. On leaving 
the ox train behind, the Colonel directed Dobbins to 
remain with it. On the day alluded to, Mr. Wakeman 
Was occupied in hunting up the oxen, and did not 
return till late at night, when he found some parties . 
