650 
[April 23, 1910. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
neighbor before she could get help. The whole 
country roundabout was stirred as never before 
over this audacious and wanton murder. After 
rendering all possible aid, a posse was or¬ 
ganized. 
It was an earnest band of silent men who, in 
the presence of the weeping widow and over the 
body of the dead, swore vengeance against the 
murderers and promised not to return until 
this band was no more. Getting together a 
few days’ rations and with their best horses, 
they set out on their undertaking, not knowing 
what fate awaited them. They found no diffi¬ 
culty in tracing the band, but reaching the river 
late in the evening, thought it best to camp on 
the east bank rather than risk a conflict in the 
dark on the other side. Their horses were 
staked out, and after a brief meal the men lay 
down, having detailed a man to watch. About 
three o’clock in the morning the man on watch 
aroused the sleepers, saying that unless he was 
deceived, the river was rising. This was found 
to be the fact, and as crossing the Brazos was 
no little item, they were compelled to wait the 
coming of the dawn before attempting the 
crossing. There was no alternative for them, 
and tying their effects on their shoulders, they 
pushed into the river, and as their horses came 
to swimming water, each man slid off and 
caught hold of his horse’s tail, and in this way, 
without being an encumbrance to their animals, 
they crossed in good order. They at once took 
up the trail, and had not gone far before they 
discovered in a small body of timber where the 
enemy had camped during the night. The 
smouldering embers indicated that the campers 
had made an early departure and were several 
hours in advance. Here the band had sepa¬ 
rated, the cattle drifting down the Brazos and 
the horses taking a course up the Paluxy. The 
conclusion reached was that confederates had 
met them and were making toward the Bosque 
River country with the cows, while the main 
party with the horses was going up the Paluxy 
with the intention of getting to the Palo Pinto 
Mountains. 
At a small settlement where now is located 
Glenrose, it was learned that during the night 
riders had passed, though they were not very 
accurately described. About noon a cowboy 
gave the party the information that a band of 
men with a number of horses had been seen 
skirting the valleys and avoiding the roads and 
trails, and that they were some three hours in 
advance. Knowing the value of time and that 
perhaps their last chance would come before 
another night, the pursuers pressed on, realizing 
that they were coming to the enemies’ signal 
mountain. They thought'that at this point a 
stop would be made, and so they planned to 
surround the robbers. 
Part of the company therefore made a circuit, 
taking the hills to the south, the other party 
going straight up the valley, so as to be dis¬ 
covered by the outlaws and to hold their at¬ 
tention, while the other party came on them 
from the other side unawares. On coming in 
sight of the signal point, they had not traveled 
far in the open before a rising cloud of black 
smoke was seen over the tower on the hill, and 
the party in view knew they had been seen, 
and that there would be a concentration of the 
scattered band who had stopped, as was 
thought. So soon as the signal went up there 
were signs of life in the valleys round about 
and a gathering of the grazing stock into a 
place of security. As best they could discern 
about six men appeared on the scene after the 
signal had been given. Even at a distance they 
could see that a fight was evident; the thought 
of being taken alive never entered the mind of 
an early cow thief. They had been outlawed so 
long and the struggling settler had been robbed 
so often that justice was usually meted out to 
them on the spot. 
The detaining party made quick movement 
to the west, in order to keep the enemy from 
retreating to the mountains if they should try 
to. The robbers had gathered their stolen ani¬ 
mals at a point between the signal mountain 
and the stream. This gave them a decided ad¬ 
vantage over the men whom they supposed they 
must reckon with. Behind their place of gather¬ 
ing, a deep ravine bordered closely with scrub 
timbers, came down from the wooded ridge 
to the south, and under this cover it was sup¬ 
posed the detouring party would finally come on 
the enemy. In order that their attention might 
be completely given to the men in front, random 
shots were fired toward the enemy, though the 
distance rendered such action harmless. But 
this had its effect, for the robbers at once took 
safer positions and fired some shots, proving 
that they had better guns, for one ball passed 
close to one of the pursuers. 
The attaching party had not waited long 
until they saw from a slight eminence beyond 
the enemy a hat raised on the barrel of a rifle. 
This was their signal to be ready for action, 
and the men in front deliberately rode down 
the open valley, approaching the enemy at the 
nearest point. Coming within range, they 
opened fire, when the enemy passed behind a 
low embankment, apparently intending to. fire 
upon them from cover. This was the oppor¬ 
tunity for the men in the rear, and they took it. 
There was a crash of arms and two robbers fell 
from their horses, another was thrown by his 
mount and then a panic seized the animals, 
there w T as a plunging and breaking away from 
fastenings and in a few moments the fight was 
over. Four of the gang were killed outright, 
while two were allowed to give up and were 
subsequently turned over to the officers of the 
law. The captives asked for the privilege of 
burying their dead comrades, one of whom was 
Jacob Arnold, the leader of this notorious band. 
The captors allowed them to bury their dead 
and assisted in the work. , 
A few years later my father, who was one 
of the early settlers in the valley of the Paluxy, 
was digging a scalding pit on the banks of this 
stream at a point near to this battle place, when 
he dug up the skeleton of one of these men. 
The boots had not been removed, and this ex¬ 
humation renewed the story of the tragedy and 
final disposition of this once notorious band 
of outlaws. The mountain with the rude rocky 
tower stands to-day as a silent monument over¬ 
looking the place where the dust of these men 
reposes. 
Not Passenger Pigeon’s Nest. 
The accompanying illustration is of a nest of 
a mourning dove sent in by express in response 
to the offer of an award instead of “informa¬ 
tion of location” of an undisturbed nest of a 
passenger pigeon. 
Fortunately for all concerned this is not a 
pigeon’s nest, but if it had been the fact that 
it has been disturbed would have destroyed all 
right of claim of the finder to any awards of¬ 
fered. 
A paper disc, the size of a pigeon’s egg, has 
been inserted in the nest for comparison. The 
much larger egg will be a valuable means of 
distinguishing between the two species. 
A passenger pigeon’s egg measures 1.50 by 
1.02 inch. Mourning dove’s egg measures 1.15 
by .80 inch. Roughly the pigeon’s egg is i l / 2 , 
the dove’s 1 inch in length. 
Most people who have read about these offers 
no doubt understand the English which Dr. 
Hodge has written on the subject. Some evi¬ 
dently do not. Therefore, we repeat what has 
been said before. 
Persons who are interested in trying to gain 
the awards offered for information about an un¬ 
disturbed nest of a passenger pigeon should try 
to remember that those who have offered these 
money rewards have offered them under certain 
conditions. 
The prizes are offered for information of loca¬ 
tion of an undisturbed nest of a passenger pig¬ 
eon, not for the nest of a passenger pigeon, but 
for information as to where such a nest is; the 
nest occupied by the birds and with the structure 
and contents untouched. Anyone who makes the 
mistake of disturbing the pigeon’s nest or alarm¬ 
ing the birds so that they will desert it, of course 
loses all chance of gaining the reward he is after. 
In the case reported, last week the person who 
thought he had found the pigeon’s nest took it 
