In October of 1997, I received important information from Kulanu, an organization supporting crypto Jews, regarding Hispanic Jews in South Texas and obtained a copy of Dr. Carlos Montalvo Larralde’s doctoral dissertation entitled Chicano Jews in South Texas (Library of Congress, Microfiche 7906177). Published in 1978, it reveals a horrific history, one not taught in public schools.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Richard King and his family did everything in their power to cover up their crimes against Tejano Jewish communities in South Texas. Some say they destroyed the last semblance of Sephardic culture since their expulsion from Spain in 1492. To what extent are they responsible for destroying our culture? It’s difficult to summarize, because they have all the records and have been careful to suppress information on crimes committed by their ancestors. According to Robert W. Stephens and José Canales, a book detailing atrocities and critical of the King family was written in the 1940s or 1950s, but was purchased by the family and destroyed. The author also disappeared.

Perhaps the worst period in our history occurred between the 1870s and the 1920s. Supported by the state government, the Texas Rangers were originally mounted riflemen organized during the fight for Texas independence from Mexico. Assigned to protect Texans from Mexican raiders and Indians, they in time became semi-independent and were the law of the land. Racist politicians gave them the power to enforce the law according to their whims. Our people feared them for their brutality, which at times included flogging, torture and mutilation. The Rangers often arrested people in the middle of the night and condemned them without the benefit of a proper trial. Here is a quote from page 90 of our book:

Actually, to be a Ranger a man was chosen for his overbearing manner and his capacity for cruelty. The consequences of the Rangers’ barbarization [sic] had had a decisive significance for present-day Chicanos....

The Texas Rangers devastated much of the Chicano . . . Jewish culture, especially their records and religious items. Many Rangers were sympathetic to the Ku Klux Klan. As Captain Frank Hammer once said, ‘We don’t arrest our own kind.’

A New York Times editorial published on November 18, 1922 stated “the killing of Mexicans without provocation is so common as to pass almost unnoticed.”

Richard King supported the Texas Rangers and hired Ranger Sam Pickett and others to brutally force Hispanic ranchers away and get their lands, writes Robert W. Stephens in Texas Rangers Sketches, a privately published work (1972). Pickett, a handsome youth with deceptively sensitive eyes, slaughtered many innocent people.

Rangers Walter Durbin and Ben Lindsey were also King deputies, Stephens continues. By hiring them to wage a continuous war exterminating all Hispanics regardless of on what side of the border they lived, the King family expertly concealed their dirty deeds and kept the appearance of decent law-abiding citizens. They secured all witnesses or documents exposing their wrongdoings and ascertained that none of their accomplices wrote their memoirs.

As the King Ranch grew, so did Richard King’s power and soon he controlled most of South Texas, its politics and economy. Charles Stillman, Sam Belden and Mifflin Kenedy soon joined the land grab, writes O. Douglas Weeks, in “The Texas-Mexican and the Politics of South Texas,” from American Political and Social Science Review, August 1930.

Weeks quotes a February 6, 1975, letter from Robert W. Stephens to Carlos Larralde:

The ranch owners traditionally employed ex-Texas Rangers as protection men, then called ‘King Rangers,’ to cope with the numerous cattle thieves in that area . . . [and those] who dare stand against King’s abuses.

If Hispanics accidentally got lost within King land, they were murdered and buried in unmarked graves or simply tied and buried alive. This is documented in several Ismael Montalvo interviews (Brownsville Herald, May, September and October 1902 and May and November, 1910; Corpus Christi Weekly Caller, from El Porvenir or Brownsville, October, 1912). Many Mexicans fleeing the Revolution of 1910 and in route to Corpus Christi or San Antonio disappeared while in the King Ranch. This was still true during World War II, according to a Stephens letter to Carlos Larralde in 1976.

A fire of mysterious origin destroyed King family records during a federal government investigation of King family abuses in 1863. Another fire occurred in 1912.

When interviewed, King family employees gave favorable interviews about the family. Mexican records kept by the corrupt Porfírio Diaz government also proved favorable. The King family involvement with the Texas Mexican railway and the cattle industry no doubt greatly influenced the outcome of the investigation. In fact Diaz’s rurales patrolled the Mexican side of the border in spring of 1911 and aided tracking Tejano enemies of the Kings.

Racism in South Texas

Walter Prescott Webb, a noted Texas scholar and writer, was an avid racist. He headed the Southwestern Writers’ Conference and the Texas Institute of Letters. Caneles describes how this effectively negated any effort to investigate Tejano Jewish culture and studies in South Texas:

Walter Prescott Webb simply thought that minorities, especially Jews, should be living on another planet. I spoke to him about Latin Americans [Chicanos] of Texas and especially those of Jewish background. What I wanted to see was a study done on Latins in Texas with his approval. You see, his influence could have promoted a research center on Texan Latins. Instead it was like talking to a statue.

Webb ultimately must have had a guilty conscience and realized the harm he had done to the Tejano community. In an article in The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, January 1971, Llerena B. Friend quotes him:

The unfortunate fact is that the Mexicans were not as good at keeping records as were the people on this side . . . I have often wished that the Mexicans, or some one who had their confidence, [implying Hispanics weren’t able to record their own history], could have gone among them and got their stories of the raids and counter-raids. I am sure that these stories would take on a different color and tone.


Source:
http://www.cryptojews.com/Our_Secret_Heritage.htm

Originally Posted on April 5, 2005 at 02:55:15 AM by Jaime

Grandpa’s Champion

My grandpa said to me, as I was sitting on his knee,

“Let me tell you ‘bout Nate Champion’s Johnson County War.”

I said, “It was April ninth of ’92 and let me tell it back to you.

You see we’ve ridden down this well-worn trail before.”



Gramps said, “Giddyap!” So I began to recite his favorite …



Johnson County was my home,

where the buffalo once roamed,

open range where grass and water went for free.

Though the County was quite large,

wealthy ranchers soon took charge.

They wouldn’t leave a little spread like mine … for me.



I was an over-worked cowhand,

ropin’ mavericks for the brand,

of some British rancher this cowhand never saw.

Then one day the thought occurred,

I could build-up my own herd,

‘ceptin’ rustlin’ mavericks … was agin the law.



Us poor cowhands were out classed,

cuz big ranchers had laws passed,

makin’ wild mavericks their exclusive claim.

But I was saddle-tired, sore and stiff,

and gettin’ tired of what-if,

workin’ hard for someone else was not my game.



Legislatourist’s then took note,

even poor cowhands could vote,

they changed the law to give us all … an even break.

Wealthy ranchers didn’t care,

thought that their old laws were fair,

told each other they would remedy this mistake.



Wealthy ranchers’ war anticipation,

started “The Wyoming Stock Growers’ Association,”

large numbers gives more strength to fight the battle.

Then small ranchers like me and you,

started “The Northern Wyoming Farmers and Stock Grower’s Association Too,”

larger numbers gives more men for rustlin’ cattle.



Their Association put out a call,

for one roundup a year each Fall,

with a three thousand dollar “Bond” to put up a bid.

Our Association a call did bring,

for one roundup a year each Spring,

with a two-bit “Bond” as our members’ Bondin’ lid.



Wealthy ranchers then got sore,

hired an army to start the war,

they vowed to wipe out all us “rustlers” for good.

Tired of all our “rustlers” vexes,

they hired gunmen straight from Texas,

their “duty” these regulators understood.



Wealthy ranchers added a new twist,

they wrote out a got-to-get “Black List.”

Mine was one of more than seventy names included.

In the wealthy man’s tradition,

they listed all their competition,

the Texans though said squatters weren’t precluded.



April fifth without explanation,

an ominous train left Cheyenne’s station.

transportin’ their army out upon our “rustlers” trail.

Their well-armed army train,

hard to legitimately explain,

rumor had it Texans never feared our jail.



The plan of the absentee cowhustlers,

was to kill all squatters and us “rustlers”,

attack our town of Buffalo and the sheriff there as well.

Confiscate all our militia’s arms,

before our town could raise alarms,

cut telegraph lines so there’d be no one we could tell.



Nate Champion was our leader;

he was a local cattle feeder,

feedin’ ‘bout two hundred head that he had “found.”

KC was his small-ranch brand;

he was a Texan, a Top Cowhand,

but hired guns would run Nate Champion to ground.



Near KC Cabin the night train unloaded,

regulators on mounts exploded,

from what had become a well-armed, six-car train.

Surroundin’ KC cabin they silently crept,

as Champion’s cowhands snored and slept.

Killin’ Champion would signal a victorious campaign.



Cattlemen knew they must kill this leader,

this local “rustlin” cattle feeder,

first step … if their war was to be won.

Texas regulators knew,

only a “trained” army would do.

The final odds were fifty-two-to-one!



Two out-of-work visitin’ hands rose early,

stumbled to the creek feelin’ sorta knurly,

weren’t “Black Listed” so they both were soon let go.

Nate Champion’s pardner was Nick Ray,

he was the next man underway,

ambushed at the doorway while movin’ kinda slow.



Champion was strong, real tall and slender,

and now the cabin’s lone defender,

his pardner Ray crawled back and died there on the floor.

Champion kept the hired guns at bay,

throughout his last and longest day.

Texas regulators never fought a Champion before.



Oscar Flagg then chanced by in his wagon,

while listenin’ to his stepson’s braggin’.

Came under fire, but cut the team free and they fled.

Sheriff of Buffalo was warned,

and a local posse formed,

Flagg’s wagon though meant Champion was dead!



Worried how this daylong battle was draggin’,

Texans fueled Flagg’s vacant wagon,

planned to roll it on the cabin from above.

Once the wagon was fueled and fired,

one thing further was required,

downhill speed … gave it a big West Texas shove.



Dodgin’ through fire, smoke and haze,

they shot Nate as he fled the blaze,

that Cowboy got forty feet outside the door.

His death had cost ‘em an entire day,

which proved a truly-bad timin’ delay,

their plannin’ turned out to be West Texas poor.



The “rustlers” were warned by the attack,

at the Champion’s mountain shack,

though they rode to Champion’s rescue much too late.

Their gunned-down, handsome leader died,

while the law was on his side,

“rustlers” pent-up anger then turned to pure hate.



At the TA ranch … hired guns holed-in,

waitin’ for the battle to begin,

foreman Charley Ford gave regulators harbor.

The on-hold battle and standoff delays,

dragged along for four-long-days,

till big ranchers got aholt of Governor Barber.



Regulators picked battles one-sided and grifty,

but odds were now three hundred-to-fifty,

not a fight that Texas regulators choose.

Though not their strong desire,

they withheld their witherin’ fire,

if they started into shootin’ they might lose.



Governor pleaded with President Harrison,

to call out soldiers from his Garrison,

halt the “insurrection” with U.S. Federal Troops.

When the cavalry prevailed,

Texas hired guns were jailed,

crooked Judges started jumpin’ through their hoops.



Temporarily to the hoosegow they were evicted,

but none of the gunmen were convicted.

However, wild Wyoming was never quite the same.

Champion had drawn-in his last breath,

but ‘cause of his untimely death,

Johnson County was Wyoming’s lastin’ shame.



The estate he left was pret near zero;

Nate Champion’s legacy is as a hero,

while probably a small-ranch “rustler” like the rest.

That fateful day spent in KC cabin,

not knowin’ historically he was grabbin’,

his special place of fame in the Old Wild West.



“When I finished, Gramps was sleeping, but his history I’m keeping,

because when I get old I’ll still remember Gramps.

His stories are the best, about the True Life Wild West,

because he lived it with his fellow saddle tramps.”



Copyright 2002 David J. Dague






The main area of interest throughout my history… is History!

When I initially got hooked on writing Cowboy Poetry, I very

quickly ran out of familiar topics about which to write. I began

searching for new subjects to make the theme or focus of a poem.

“The Johnson County Cattle Wars” was presented in a series

called “FEUDS” on “The History Channel” last week and it

immediately rang my bell. As I said, I love history, not

“Hollywood History”, just plain and simple factual history.

The History Channel’s presentations that concern events familiar

to me are amazingly accurate. The information available on the

Internet is so contradictory; one has to be extremely careful.

There’s an old cowhand’s caution that applies to the

Internet, “Watch where you step!”



The two “Hands” that were in KC Cabin with Nick Ray and Nate

Champion were Bill Walker and Ben Jones or at least that’s

what I’ve read. I’ve also read that these two men were

out-of-work cowhands, out-of-work freighters and out-of-work trappers.

This information indicated to me that these two men were probably

out-of-work and nothing else, so attempting to be accurate;

they were described in the poem only as out-of-work hands.

They weren’t included in the History Channels presentation as I recall.

Their omission no doubt had more to do with limitations on airtime

than their importance to the story. They were both “Run-Off” into

the hills and hid out for years in fear of their lives because of

events they had witnessed.



I trust that “Grandpa’s Champion” accurately represents a one-sided

view of the events that took place in and around the Town of Buffalo

Wyoming in the spring of 1892. I tried to be as accurate as possible

with the information that’s used to portray these events and would

welcome receiving e-mails from anyone with contradictory views

or any other solid information on this interesting part of our western history.

Motion to Dismiss, State of Wyoming vs. Frank M. Canton, et al., Filed January 21, 1893.
box-folder
3/Item 4 Motion to Dismiss, State of Wyoming vs. Frank M. Canton, et al., Filed January 21, 1893.
(2 leaves) The trial was eventually set for January 1893 in Cheyenne, but it proved extremely difficult to find enough men to serve on the jury. Eventually, the disappearance of the two trappers who had witnessed the killing of Champion and Ray and the high financial cost of the trial to Johnson County led for the filing for dismissal of the case.

After Nate was dead it went to probate and A W Kenedy took control. They killed & oppressed the working man. Mexican or white they were afraid of competition. Just like they are afraid to let us shine now. It is called manipulation of Job opportunities. TWC is an expert. These names below just give us an idea of the circle of influence the the Power Rancher's used then threw away. Ever wonder why Mifflin was the only partner of Richard King that survived?

R E S O L U T I O N
1-1 WHEREAS, The city of Brownsville is celebrating the
1-2 sesquicentennial of its founding in 1848, and the Texas House of
1-3 Representatives is especially proud to recognize the legendary city
1-4 on this august occasion; and
1-5 WHEREAS, Intricately woven into the history of the Lone Star
1-6 State, Brownsville is Texas' southernmost city and the Rio Grande
1-7 Valley's largest city; the area surrounding it dates from the
1-8 colonial days of Imperial Spain, covering periods of exploration,
1-9 wars, revolutions, and infamous banditry; and
1-10 WHEREAS, First to arrive at this remote area on the Texas
1-11 coast were the Spanish explorers who found hundreds of native
1-12 Americans known as Coahuiltecans living there; they were followed
1-13 by colonizers and staunch families who came to tame the arid
1-14 wilderness: Alonzo de Leon in 1689, Jose de Escandon in 1746, and
1-15 Jose Salvador de la Garza in 1782; and
1-16 WHEREAS, For more than 300 years, the city has figured
1-17 prominently in the development of our state and five national
1-18 banners have flown over its settlements--Spain, Mexico, the
1-19 Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the
1-20 United States; and
1-21 WHEREAS, With its rich military, commercial, transportation,
1-22 and agricultural legacies contributing to the development of Texas
1-23 and the United States, Brownsville has become a vital international
1-24 seaport, airport, and railroad interchange point on the Mexican
2-1 border; and
2-2 WHEREAS, Originally settled as part of Matamoros, Mexico, in
2-3 the latter half of the 18th century, Brownsville was first
2-4 chartered as a United States city in 1848; General Zachary Taylor
2-5 established Fort Texas (renamed Fort Brown after the death of its
2-6 gallant commander, Major Jacob Brown) in 1846 to confirm the Rio
2-7 Grande as the national boundary after the Republic of Texas became
2-8 a state; that incident resulted in the Mexican War, and the first
2-9 battles were fought here: Thornton's Skirmish, the Battle of Palo
2-10 Alto, and the Battle of Resaca de la Palma; here General Taylor
2-11 launched his invasion of Mexico, which was followed immediately by
2-12 the organization of the city of Brownsville by Charles Stillman;
2-13 several existing buildings of Fort Brown are now part of Texas
2-14 Southmost Junior College; and
2-15 WHEREAS, During the Civil War, Brownsville was the only port
2-16 available to the Confederacy to ship its cotton in exchange for war
2-17 supplies and it became the center of action for international
2-18 intrigue; stationed in Point Isabel and Brazos Santiago, the Union
2-19 Army forced the Confederates to evacuate the city in 1863, and the
2-20 stored cotton was burned to keep it from the Union Army, which
2-21 resulted in destroying Fort Brown and part of the city; and
2-22 WHEREAS, Brownsville was the capital of Texas from November
2-23 1863 to July 1864, when Brigadier General Andrew Jackson Hamilton,
2-24 appointed military governor of Texas by President Abraham Lincoln,
2-25 occupied the city with Union troops; Confederates retook the city
2-26 in 1864 and maintained control, rebuffing the Union forces in the
2-27 final battle of the Civil War at the Palmito Ranch under the
3-1 command of John S. "RIP" Ford; at this time, the war had been over
3-2 for several weeks; and
3-3 WHEREAS, The cattle industry developed on the Spanish land
3-4 grants here and spread throughout the west at the end of the Civil
3-5 War; Brownsville was the southern terminus of the Chisholm Trail;
3-6 during that same period, large irrigation projects were started
3-7 that were the beginning of the rich agricultural business in the
3-8 valley; and
3-9 WHEREAS, From the beginning, Brownsville was a key commercial
3-10 center for South Texas and Northern Mexico; transportation was
3-11 always crucial to its development, and the area was served by
3-12 sailing ships, covered wagons, steamboats, railroads, deep-sea
3-13 ports, and the earliest major international airport; and
3-14 WHEREAS, Commissioned officers and future generals were
3-15 stationed in the city: Robert E. Lee, Philip Sheridan, Braxton
3-16 Bragg, Don Carlos Buell, Edmund Kirby-Smith, James Longstreet, John
3-17 B. Magruder, George Gordon Meade, John Pemberton, John F. Reynolds,
3-18 George H. Thomas, Joseph Hooker, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, George
3-19 B. McClellan, Irvin McDowell, John Pope, John Sedgwick, Hamilton
3-20 Bee, John Pershing, and others; future presidents of three nations
3-21 lived there: Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis,
3-22 Porfirio Diaz, Manuel Gonzalez, and Mariano Arista; and men who
3-23 would one day be governors: A. J. Hamilton, Lew Wallace, Edmund J.
3-24 Davis, and Juan Nepomuceno Cortina; and
3-25 WHEREAS, Here revolutions were planned and
3-26 supplied--revolutions that altered the future not only of the
3-27 United States and Mexico, but Europe as well; 49ers passed on their
4-1 way to the California gold rush, some remaining to help build the
4-2 city; and
4-3 WHEREAS, Men of vision came to find fame and fortune:
4-4 businessmen turned ranchers--Richard King, Mifflin Kenedy,
4-5 Francisco Yturria, John Young, John McAllen, Adolphus Glaevecke;
4-6 pioneers who became farmers, merchants, builders of ports and
4-7 railroads, and persons of special talents--Charles Stillman, Louis
4-8 Brulay, Manuel Alonso, Simon Celaya, Jose San Roman, Manuel
4-9 Trevino, J. H. Fernandez, Albert, Peter, Nicholas, and Joseph
4-10 Champion, A. P. Barreda, Adrian Ortiz, J. L. Putegnat, Samuel and
4-11 Jeremiah Galvan, Jacob Mussina, S. A. Belden, Frank S. North,
4-12 Humphrey E. Woodhouse, Juan S. Cross, Victoriano Fernandez, Joseph
4-13 Webb, Thomas Carson, Patrick Shannon, Henry Miller, Andres Pacheco,
4-14 Henry M. Field, William Neale, S. W. Brooks, Stephen Powers, John
4-15 S. "RIP" Ford, J. T. Canales, Morris Edelstein, James Wells, and
4-16 many others; and
4-17 WHEREAS, Women capable of carving civilization from the
4-18 cactus and chaparral came also: Maria Josefa Cavazos, Una Rutland
4-19 Neale, Henrietta Morse Chamberlain King, Theresa Clark Clearwater,
4-20 Nora Kelly, and Salome Balli; and
4-21 WHEREAS, Men and women of the cloth came to bring the word of
4-22 God into a wild frontier town: Father Jean Maurice Verdet, Father
4-23 Pierre Karalum, Reverend Hiram Chamberlain, Melinda Rankin, and
4-24 Father Pierre Parisot, and the sisters of the Incarnate Word and
4-25 Blessed Sacrament, Saint Clare, Saint Angel, Saint Ephrem, and
4-26 Saint Dominic established the first parochial school; and
4-27 WHEREAS, The future surgeon general of the United States,
5-1 William Crawford Gorgas, came to work and conquer yellow fever,
5-2 providing the key to the building of the Panama Canal; Lieutenant
5-3 Abner Doubleday, who helped give us baseball, served there twice;
5-4 during the birth of air transportation, Amelia Earhart, Charles
5-5 Lindbergh, Les Mauldin, Claire Chennault, Ira Eaker, William
5-6 "Billy" Mitchell, Juan Trippe, Howard Hughes, Eddie Rickenbacker,
5-7 Tom Braniff, and others; until World War II, the airport at
5-8 Brownsville was the busiest international airport in the United
5-9 States; and
5-10 WHEREAS, The names of countless men and women who are a part
5-11 of Brownsville's unique history and who gave of their own talents
5-12 will forever leave their mark on the city's illustrious past;
5-13 Brownsville's sesquicentennial celebration will honor these
5-14 individuals and their contributions not only to Texas, but also to
5-15 the nation; now, therefore, be it
5-16 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 75th Texas
5-17 Legislature hereby extend its deepest appreciation to the citizenry
5-18 of Brownsville and extend best wishes to them for a most glorious
5-19 sesquicentennial celebration in 1998; and, be it further
5-20 RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
5-21 prepared to commemorate this notable event as a token of highest
5-22 regard by the Texas House of Representatives for the city of
5-23 Brownsville and its people.
Oliveira
_______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 1027 was adopted by the House on May
30, 1997, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House

Desalojan la Torre Mayor
Unas 10 mil personas fueron evacuadas del inmueble porque la SSP encontró un artefacto presuntamente explosivo en su interior; piden ayuda a la sedena estalla torre mayor comando armado de yunque salgado macedonio destruye ciudad de mexico bomba atomica como
narco capama

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