LYNCH LAW IN TEXAS IN THE SIXTIES. By J. C. Terrell. "A LL nations have a patron saint, and t every State its heroes." The early settlers of Northwest Texas were not with out great men. I recall the names of Capt. Ephraim M. Daggett and Dr. Mansell Mat thews. Both were large men, each weigh ing about two hundred and seventy-five pounds. Both were intellectually great and were born leaders of men. Daggett was born in Canada, and came to the Republic of Texas in 1840. He was captain of a company of Texas volunteers in the Mexican war, and served with distinc tion. In 186 1 he voted for the ordinance of secession, which was carried in Tarrant County by a majority of only twenty-nine out of eight hundred votes polled. Dr. Mansell Matthews was a highly ed ucated physician, of courtly presence, a Christian preacher without a superior in all the Southland. He had been County Judge of Red River County, and President of the Board of Land Commissioners. He and Daggett belonged to the Masonic Chapter here, and were bosom friends. Matthews was a Union man, too outspoken for his per sonal safety. He was a veritable patriarch of the olden times and annually travelled with his family, some forty in number, in cluding slaves, camping out from Red River County to near Austin, some two hundred and fifty miles. There were no Indians and few fences to obstruct his march. He would return in the spring with the rising of grass, with flock and herd. He prac tised his profession, but seldom charged for services. His was a nomadic nature, and when on the move, his outfit was like a caravan of the great desert. People came from thirty miles to hear him expound the
Word, and receive his advice. He was not a politician; he loved the South, but made no secret of his Union sentiments. As sec tional hatred intensified, the Doctor's real trouble began. We then had a civil government in Texas, which existed only in name. The criminal law was as much in the hands of vigilance committees as was that of China in the hands of the Boxers; but I must say it was rarely abused. It would not do for the South to be torn by internecine dissen sions. She could not afford to guard Valandighams with troops needed at the front. The high vigilance committee court was held in Gainesville, Cook County, and Dr. Matthews was, by its capias, imprisoned there for trial, charged with treason to the Confederate States of America. The " overt act " clause concerning treason, in the State constitution, had been changed by legislative action by law of Dec. 14, 1863, making convictions easier by new definitions of the crime. The penalty was death, and few accused escaped. Over a score of his fellow-prisoners, no more guilty than him self, were hung near his prison on an elm tree. Daggett got word from Matthews, and obeying his "mark," appeared before the terrible tribunal in his behalf, told them that Matthews had committed no overt act of treason; that his heart was with the South, his mind with the North; that if they hung Matthews they must hang him too. Matthews was acquitted of the death pen alty, but punished by imprisonment for three days, and he was, by way of further punish ment, to receive no word of his acquittal during that time. Daggett was allowed to see the prisoner, but only in the presence
