It chanced that, at this
time, there was a company of forty trappers and hunters from Kentucky,
with their rifles, who had made their head-quarters at the Pueblo; and
these, together with the Americans and Englishmen in the place, who
were between twenty and thirty in number, took possession of the town,
and waiting a reasonable time, proceeded to try the man according to
the forms in their own country. A judge and jury were appointed, and
he was tried, convicted, sentenced to be shot, and carried out
before the town, with his eyes blindfolded. The names of all the men
were then put into a hat and each one pledging himself to perform
his duty, twelve names were drawn out, and the men took their stations
with their rifles, and, firing at the word, laid him dead. He was
decently buried, and the place was restored quietly to the proper
authorities. A general, with titles enough for an hidalgo, was at
San Gabriel, and issued a proclamation as long as the
fore-top-bowline, threatening destruction to the rebels, but never
stirred from his fort; for forty Kentucky hunters, with their
rifles, were a match for a whole regiment of hungry, drawling, lazy
half-breeds.
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