The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 33, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 15, 2007 Page: 4 of 18
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4
The Clifton Record
Wednesday, August 15,2007
Marc's
Remarks
i
r.
tr
n
t
, \
By Marc Johnson
Surprise!
Surprise! Mid-
August rat
here in the
Heart of Texas,
and it’s already
gittin’ hot. In
fact, hotter’n a
road lizard. We
shore ‘nough been blessed with
a wet & mild summer so far.
Just now temps gittin’ up to-
ward a hunnerd plus. No rain
in the forecast fer the next sev-
eral days; just some mild
breezes what really hep; and hi-
temps we better git used to.
They gonna be here shore as
shootin’. Git ready.
Thank goodness that some of
the land-owners on 219 from
:
»;
‘nough was. In fact, she got the
whole schedule on the
I
Texas Tries To Take Revenge On New Mexico
On Aug. 14, 1842, the secre-
tary of war and marine gave a
mysterious Missourian every-
thing he wanted: a colonel’s
commission, the power to raise
a mercenary force and his
sealed orders.
Now it was all up to Charles
A. Warfield to take Texas’ re-
venge on New Mexico.
i Santa Fte Expedi-
tion had deepfy wounded Lone Star
pride. The tales of cruel mistreat-
ment the pitifUl Pioneers told fol-
lowing their mass release in March
1842 made retaliation a national
priority
Even more important than
saving face and appeasing pub-
This Week
In Tfexas
History
ByBartteHaito
lie opinion was the
gency to protect the inte
tional reputation of the young
Republic. European confidence
in the future of an independent
Tbxas was badly shaken by the
embarrassing Mure to make the
claim to New Mexico stick. Asa
result, bankers from London to
Brussels no longer regarded the
regime as a good credit risk.
To organize and lead the clan-
destine campaign, war secre-
tary George W Hockley chose a
frontiersman with many years
experience in New Mexico and
the Rocky Mountains. Charles
Warfield’s grand though unreal-
istic goal was the conquest of
New Mexico capped by the oc-
i of Santa Ffe.
t 800 fighters could
lie the Job, Warfield counted
on Texas and Arkansas to con-
tribute 300 each. The additional
200 he was confident of signing
up himself in his native Missouri
and at trading posts in the south-
ern Rockies.
Wrapping himself in the Lone
Star flag, a battle banner from
the recent Revolution, Warfield
attracted several hundred
would-be warriors to his cause.
Less interested in Texas expan-
improves the safety of folks
driving on it. Some of them
weeds along there is tall as a
car, plenty of room fer deer to
hide in. Looks to me lak some
of them folks would consider
baling it. Course, this year, most
folks seem to be makin’ plenty
of their own hay. If they can git
in to git it baled in spite of the
seeps cornin’ outta the ground.
I talked with TXDOT over to
Meridian & they say the con-
tractors are in the process of
gittin’ it done. We are on the
schedule. Seems it just so much
i- they can git done in a day. I
think J.B. “Digger”, Darden
one of the fust owners to git
5* theirs mowed. Some others
* seen how good his place looked
& begin to mow theirs. Thank
ya all.
Shelly Stuart and her “Low
< Dog Peed Co.” had their grand
opening last Sattidy, the 4th.
*!• The whole bunch of folks what
put on the RFD-TV program
J called “All Around Performance
r Horse Weekly” helped put this
£ deal together. Matt Wallace,
;! producer, & Scott Cobb, Sean
I; Koehler, & Neal Hughes were
• all there. I had the privilege to
;l meet Dr. Harry Anderson;
* come plumb to the Gap from
> Kansas. He gave a talk on
equine health. Then the Aussie
named Dale Molton gave a
clinic on horse training that
• lasted ’bout 2 hours. FUn to lis-
r-ten to this feller, even though all
' -pvy hosses done trained. He
r, .puts these clinics on all over the
> world. Last one was in Abilene
;! and they had 75 folks there. Had
£ about 35 show up here to the
Gap. Percentage wise; Gap
done better than Abilene. If’n
' y’all ain’t caught the TV show,
I* “All Around Performance
Horse Weekly”, it’s on the RFD-
_ TV channel on Thursdays at
«■; 3:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., and on
Sunday mornings at 7:30 a.m.
£> Catch it ifya can and wish these
folks from rat here in our neck
5 of the woods much luck in this
p program. Shelly tryin’ her best
jj to stock stuff that our formers
< and ranchers need in their day
P to day operations. Got good cof-
P fee early every morning too.
p Much knowledge traded here.
»; Ya might learn stuff ya difln’t
P even want to know. Come on
p down and help spread the word;
p good or bad.
P I mentioned couple of weeks
P ago that Bet wasn’t particularly
- interested in Cowboys pre-sea-
* son games. Wrong! She in-
P formed me that she shore
The Clifton Record
By Our Staff And Our Readers
Another Day In ... ?
Now I know why farmers
and ranchers don’t take naps.
If you dare to fall asleep,
you’re going to have an emer-
gency. I actually fell asleep on
the leather couch in the stu-
Rustic
Ramblings
By Dr. Gwm Ellis
dio late this afternoon. The
phone rang. Mrs. Conrad
called to tell us that we had
cows, a bull, and some calves
in a field that has NO FENCE
around it. This is the field on
a busy comer that someone
else leases from us. He had
already combined the wheat
that was there a few weeks or
a month ago, then sprayed it
with Roundup last week, so
it’s now all dry and brown.
Why any self respecting cow
would want to get into that is
beyond me, especially when
they have a ton of great graz-
ing everywhere else. Not only
did abodt eight or iu of them
go into a dead field, but they
slogged through the mud to do
it (usually cows don’t want to
work that hard), then walked all
the way across this huge area to
the bar ditch on the busy road
—and were almost IN the
road when we got there.
Some kind stranger drove
up, asked if we were the land-
owners, said he was coming
to find us. He got out of his car
to help if we needed him, but
when he saw we didn’t, he
left. We still don’t know his
name. (I love Clifton. Sir, who-
ever you are, thanks so very
much). As soon as we
stepped out of our trucks and
Zack yelled at the cattle, they
knew they were in trouble —
and headed right back across
the huge, dead, brown field —
and through the hole in the
fence from whence they came.
We had known there was a
weak spot in that fence since
the recent flooding, when the
creek swelled and went crash-
ing through. A bunch of logs
and debris piled up against the
fence where the water flows
from the pecan bottom. The
cattle just gave the fence a good
push and walked on through
(for no known reason. Appar-
ently they didn’t need one). We
were well aware the fence
needed attention, but had been
putting it off until things dried
up a bit. We hoped the cattle
wouldn’t bother going into a
dead field. Stupid us. Some-
where in the back of my mind,
it’s been nagging at me every
day. Need to fix that fence.
Need to fix that fence. I even
had it on my “to do” list. But
other things seemed more
pressing, and the thought of
working in all that water if we
didn’t have to kept us waiting
“just one more day.” This isn’t
the first time something like
this has happened. You’d think
we’d learn. You just can’t sec-
ond guess an animal. Murphy’s
Law: if cows can do a thing, before wqcan get down there
cows WILL do a thing. Especially about dawn to be sure things
a thing you don’t want them to do are secure. Then we’ll go buy
—and a thing that’s going to make
work for you —and wake you from
a rare, perfectly wonderful, much
needed little nap on a hot Monday
afternoon.
So we fixed the fence late this
afternoon. And we’ll do a bet-
ter job tomorrow with three
cattle panels. It’s a tough spot,
in the creek bed and all. While
we worked, I was standing in
water OVER my cute, pink rub-
ber boots, in a muddy, wet hole,
dripping with sweat. Both of us
had water in our boots and did
our shares of slipping and slid-
ing as we wrestled with T-
posts and barbed wire. Zack
had the added enjoyment of
using the T-post pounder as
he slipped and slid.
The only thing that would
have made it even more com-
plete and really added im-
mensely to the whole
experience would have been
swarms of mosquitoes. Why
there weren’t any is beyond
me. I guess sometimes you
just catch a break. There was
water standing everywhere.
By all rights, we should have
been inundated with the little
blood suckers. And we ran out
of the house so fast that we
left our fancy new mosquito
repelling device at home. (It
really works too. Ace sells
them, also Academy Sporting
Goods. And TSC sells some-
thing similar that works for
flies as well).
We’re disgustingly proud of
ourselves that we were able to
fix what we did (as well as we
did in somewhat difficult con-
ditions) before we lost the
light. I hope the cattle don’t go
through at this same place
again tomorrow morning —
those cow panels.
Just another day in para-
dise. And the funny thing (and
the wonderful thing) is that I
really mean it.
Gene Ellis, Ed.D is a
Bosque County resident who
returned to the family farm
after years of living in New
Orleans, New York, and
Florida. She is an artist who
holds a doctoral degree from
New York University and is
writing a book about the mi-
nor catastrophes of life.
sionism than a generous share of
the spoils offered by their future
commander, they promised to be
on hand for the invasion of New
Mexico.
Imagine Warfield’s surprise
when only 24 showed up on the
appointed day in March 1843!
Refusing to turn back, the crest-
Men colonel set out for the ren-
dezvous with the Texas column
set for late May. Then, thought
Warfield, he would have a real
army.
Although U.S. newspapers
later portrayed the adventurers
as a bunch of buccaneers, their
conduct was above reproach.
Detaining a party of traders only
to discover the travelers were
English and American instead of
Mexican, Warfield apologized for
the mistake and did not toudi an
ounce of their enormous load of
silver and gold.
While waiting for the reinforce-
ments, the colonel attacked a
New Mexican military outpost
killing five and capturing 18.
Warfield promptly freed the pris-
oners but held onto a bigger prize,
a herd of 72 horses.
Running from a second force
far too formidable to fight, the
expedition lost every horse, the
enemy’s and their own, and
ended up on foot Nevertheless,
they reached the rendezvous
right on time.
But the Texans never made it.
After hanging around for several
days, Warfield canceled the
cursed campaign and encour-
aged everybody to seek safety.
Meanwhile, Texas’ point man
in Washington, D.C. was trying to
minimize the diplomatic damage.
Isaac Van Zandt at first denied
any knowledge of the Warfield
Expedition and later assured the
secretary of state that the secret
mission posed no threat to Ameri-
can interests in the West.
The next news flash must have
caused Van Zandt to wonder why
he ever had gone into politics. On
April 10 in U.S. territory, an Albu-
querque businessman was
robbed and murdered by John
McDaniel, who claimed he
served as a captain under Col.
Warfield. Although his creden-
tials were dubious at best, hos-
tile reporters played up the crime
as an example of how blood-
thirsty Texans waged war.
Merdfulty unaware of his bad
mess, Warfield and a handful of
followers enlisted in another ex-
pedition bound for New Mexico.
The sight of Maior Jacob
Snivelyys 200 well-equipped
Texas troops revived their sag-
ging spirits and enthusiasm for
their original objective.
Warfield covered himself with
glory at Taos, where the vastly
inferior force virtually wiped out
the local militia. But co-com-
mander Snively opposed his plan
to march on Santa Fte and inad-
vertently set the stage for their
mutual defeat
The Texans were beaten not
on the battlefield but by a fickle
friend. Warfield and Snively
welcomed the arrival of the U.S.
army in the naive belief that the
soldiers had come to assist in
the armed annexation of New
Mexico. Not until they were
told to drop their weapons did
the Texans get the picture.
When Warfield grudgingly
;ave his word to go straight
ome, he expected the Ameri-
can officer in charge to return
the confiscated weapons. No
one in his right mind would
send men bare-handed into
Comanche country.
But that is exactly what hap-
pened. Through bund luck or
divine intervention, the de-
fenseless Texans survived the
perilous trek.
“Outlaws & Lawmen” -
“Best of This Week in Texas
History” Vol. VI is $10.95 plus
$3.25 postage and handling
from Bartee Haile, PO. Box 152,
Friendswood, TX 77549 or or-
der online at www.twith.com!
• ‘frigerator door. They playin’
Z the Colts on 8-9; Broncos on 8-
; 18; Texans on 8-25; & the Vi-
•. kings on 8-25. Then, their fust
2; regular season game is with the
Z- Giants on Sept., the 9th, and
me, or anybody else best not
< bother her. She gits serious
I; when them Cowboys is on; stay
•- outta the way & don’t sit close.
K Y’all seen the news ‘bout
J; them hi-dollar formers up there
5* around Dallas? Reckon any bf
our Garden Club Ladies could
K take any lessons from them.
S‘ Just kiddin’! Them suckers
S’ growin’ crops worth millions of
K dollars, within walkin’ distance
r of the DEA offices. Course they
Sj ain’t exactly legal. Seems it be
J* the 5 leaf plants called mari-
•; juana. Bunch of them drug
g dealers got to be a bunch of
K mad son-of-a-guns. Multi-mil-
lion dollar crop gonna be burnt
up; and not in cigarettes. Not
bought on the streets.
Do y’all eqjoy watchin’ birds?
s Ya got any feeders out fer‘em?
S You oughtta. We got 2 bird-seed
% feeders out and 2 hummingbird
t feeders. What a pleasure to
5 watch any time of the day; es-
5 pecially early mom, or late af-
temoon. I fill the seed feeders
< “bout every other day, but Bet
S’ fills the hummingbird feeders
f once, and sometimes, twice a
< day. Mucho sugar water, and it
< don’t got to be red. Folks usta
> think that. Them hummers is a
'f special hoot to watch. Bunch of
< ‘em gather up ‘round them
? feeders & then, here come the
“bulty” and try to run‘email off.
The Clifton Record
Serving Bosque County Since 1895
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by Progressive Media Communications, Inc., 310 West Fifth Street, Clifton, Texas 76634-1(11.
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Corrections,
Clarifications
In last week’s Clifton City
Council story, it was reported
that an ordinance was approved
regarding fence and latch speci-
fications around private swim-
ming pools. The ordinance was
not approved, nor was a motion
made to approve it.
We are very sorry for any incon-
venience this mgy have caused.
JT1JFWL* S Package Store]
Liquor-Beer-Wine
Hwy. 219 3.2 Miles East of Clifton
10 a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday
12 noon-9 p.m. Sunday
Prices Good
Through Aqflpst 2L 2007_
PHONE: 675-6308
'^Bombay Dry Gin
„5L„*35"
Self-Service Gasolines
SRyVodk!
Jose Cuervo
Especial
I Busch &
w« Busch Light
*16"
Kunde Cabernet $| 099
Ecco Domani
Pinot Grigio
Rattlesnake canyon.
Chardonnay $|*gg
Some of ‘em will scatter to the
big oak tree; then come back
purty quick
They are a fantastic bird to
watch, and listen to them wings
hum lak a bee in a jug. Some-
times they’ll git purty close to
ya head sittin’ out there. Some-
times they’ll see theirselves in
the reflective patio door. They
don’t know what to think of that;
bird in the mirror no respond.
What a bummer.
Even got several of them
Eurasian Doves come by. They
big and got a black ring ‘round
the back of their neck. No sea-
son on this bird; shoot ‘em at
will. They gittin’ to be way too
many of ‘em. White-wings are
another story; as well as them
smaller doves. Got several of
each of them stop by as well as
Blue-Jays, Mockingbirds, Scis-
sortails, and many, many Car-
dinals. Hard to believe they still
around. Purple Martins left
long time ago. Where they go?
We also got a coon what comes
up sorta late and eats the grain
what the birds has spilt. Also
got a couple of foxes that we see
might nigh every night providin’
round the yard. We sometimes
throw ‘em out some stale bread
and watch‘em gather it up, then,
head fer the mountain. Haven’t
seen any deer or turkey yet.
Mebbe they’ll come later.
I’m ‘bout sick of seein’ all the
mis-behaving young, purty, la-
dies in the news. Didn’t their
folks own no kinda tree they
could’ve got a switch off of when
they was young. They
should’ve.
See ya next week,
Marc at the Gap
Hi iH
||fflfSi
JDBC!
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Smith, W. Leon. The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 33, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 15, 2007, newspaper, August 15, 2007; Clifton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth790927/m1/4/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Nellie Pederson Civic Library.