Brite ranch

Brite Ranch Raid

Contents

Raid [ edit ]

Brite Ranch was like other ranches in south Texas, it was as much of a small town as a cattle operation. The ranch was owned by Lucas Charles Brite and located in the Big Bend region, between the town of Marfa and the Rio Grande, fifteen miles east of the river. Since it was Christmas morning, most of the locals were away, except the ranch foreman T. T. Van Neill, his family, and one or two Mexican-American families. It was just after dawn when the raid began, Van's father, Sam, was the only one awake. He was sitting down drinking coffee when all of a sudden about forty-five armed Mexicans galloped into the ranch complex. Sam knew immediately who the Mexicans were so he ran to his son's room, equipped himself with a rifle, and took a well aimed shot at who he thought was the leader. Sam killed the man so the others returned fire on the house. By that time, Van was awake and joined in the fight. Mrs. Van Neill attempted to alarm the police but the raiders cut the telephone lines. The skirmish lasted for a while before the raiders realized they had little chance of getting into the Neill house without significant losses. They then captured a pair of ranch hands, one of whom, Jose Sanchez, was sent to the house to warn the Neills that if they continued to resist, both he and the other ranch hand would be shot. Van and his father were prepared to continue the fight but Mrs. Neill convinced her husband to give the Mexicans the keys to Lucas Brite's general store and avoid further confrontation. Van agreed, so instead of trying to break into the house, the raiders spent their time robbing the general store of clothes, food and money. They also gathered up all the best horses at the ranch and took them too. While this was going on, the unsuspecting postman. Mickey Welch, arrived at the store in his wagon with two Mexican passengers. The raiders captured all three of the men, shot the two passengers and hung Welch inside the store. [ 6 ]

That night the Neills were hosting a Christmas dinner party for some of their friends. The raiders occupied the ranch for several hours so when Reverend H. M. Bandy and his family arrived from Marfa to have dinner with the Neills, Van had to send a young Mexican boy out to tell the raiders not to shoot them. The raiders let the reverend and his family go to the Neill's house and when they got out of their wagon Bandy delivered a quick prayer and then armed himself with a rifle to help defend the ranch. According to Ronnie C. Tyler, author of The Big Bend: A History of the Last Texas Frontier, there were other dinner guests already at the ranch but they escaped somehow and went to get help. The rancher James L. Cobb, who lived three miles outside of the ranch complex, heard the gunfire so he drove towards the sound to investigate the situation. Cobb stopped a short distance away from the ranch and saw the Mexicans robbing the store. He then got back into his car and drove twelve miles to the nearest telephone and called Lucas Brite, who was at his home in Marfa. Brite informed the local sheriff and he went even further by alerting the 8th Cavalry, which was stationed in the area. Shortly thereafter, a large posse and some cavalrymen assembled in vehicles to drive to Brite Ranch. They almost caught up with the raiders but the Mexicans quickly mounted up and rode south across the Candelaria Rim, where the Americans could not follow. [ 6 ]

Aftermath [ edit ]

On the next day, Colonel George Langhorne launched a punitive expedition into Mexico with the intention of capturing or killing the raiders and returning stolen property. Langhorne borrowed some horses from the ranchers for his men, who arrived in vehicles, and after joining up with reinforcements from Ruidosa. the expedition crossed the Rio Grande into Chihuahua at a ford called Los Fresnos. Altogether, the expedition included two troops of 8th Cavalry, approximately 200 soldiers, and several men from the posse. Langhorne caught up with twenty-nine [ 7 ] raiders just across the Rio Grande in San Bernardino Canyon, near Pilares. During the running battle that followed, the cavalrymen killed ten of the Mexicans and recovered some of the stolen property, including several horses, most of which had to be shot because they had been ridden too hard and would die anyway if taken back across the border. Only one soldier was wounded. Meanwhile, the citizens in the Big Bend region were outraged about the raid and the murders of Mickey Welch and his passengers on Christmas Day. Some citizens formed a committee to disarm and keep watch on the Mexican population in the area but the Texas Ranger company of Captain Monroe Fox went even further. At around midnight on January 27, 1918, a force of rangers and 8th Cavalry soldiers surrounded the village of Porvenir, located on the Rio Grande across the border from a Mexican village. A search of the town then commenced and while the soldiers were looking through houses, the rangers gathered up fifteen men and took them too a nearby hill where they were executed. The Porvenir Massacre was later investigated in 1919, during a federal investigation of misconduct among the Texas Rangers, but nobody was ever charged for the crime. After the raid and the subsequent punitive expedition, Lucas Brite built a small fort to house Texas Rangers and protect the ranch but it was never needed. [ 6 ]

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BRITE RANCH RAID

BRITE RANCH RAID . The ranch of Lucas Charles Brite qv. at Capote Peak in western Presidio County, was attacked by about forty-five Mexicans, possibly supporters of Francisco (Pancho) Villa. on Christmas Day 1917. The raid was well planned. The attackers cut the ranch's telephone lines to prevent any call for help. They chose a holiday, when most of the ranch workers were away and the Brites were at their Marfa home. The family of T. T. Van Neill, ranch foreman, was at the ranch. The first awareness of the assault came when the foreman's father saw riders dismounting in the yard and scattering for cover. He fired on the evident leader of the attackers, and a gunfight developed between the Neills and the raiders. The bandits captured two ranch workers and sent one, Jose Sanchez, to tell the Neills that the other would be killed if they did not surrender. The Neills knew they were outnumbered and gave the raiders the key to Brite's Store to appease them. After looting the store of clothes, canned goods, and cash, the raiders rounded up the best horses and stole all the ranch's saddles. During the looting of the store, postman Mickey Welch arrived at the ranch in his mail stage with two Mexican passengers. The robbers shot the passengers and hanged Welch in the store.

The bandits stayed at the ranch several hours and were still there when Rev. H. M. Bandy and his family arrived at the ranch to visit the Neills. The raiders allowed the Bandys to reach the Neill home, where the reverend led a prayer and took up a rifle to defend the ranch. The Bandys and the Neills were rescued eventually when a large number of armed neighbors and soldiers arrived in automobiles. James L. Cobb, a neighbor of the Brites, had heard the shots and investigated without being detected. Cobb then drove twelve miles to telephone Luke Brite in Marfa. Brite called Col. George Langhorne of the Eighth Cavalry for help. Although a large posse arrived in automobiles, the raiders escaped down the rimrock, where cars could not follow. Langhorne's soldiers borrowed horses from local ranchers and joined the troops from Ruidosa in pursuit of the robbers. On the morning of December 26 the raiders crossed the Rio Grande at the Los Fresnos ford into Mexico. Later that day some 200 members of troops M and G of the Eighth Cavalry crossed at the same point and pursued them. The American forces engaged in a running fight with about fifteen of the raiders and killed ten of them in a canyon not far from Pilares, Chihuahua. They recovered some of the stolen goods, but most of the horses were lost or in such poor condition that they had to be shot. The other raiders escaped into the mountains. Only one United States soldier, Private John F. Kelly, was wounded in the conflict. Fiske and his men returned to Texas with the recovered property that evening.

El Paso Times . December 27, 1917, January 4, 1918. Noel Leonard Keith, The Brites of Capote (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1950). Virginia Madison, The Big Bend Country of Texas (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1955; rev. ed. New York: October House, 1968). Ronnie C. Tyler, The Big Bend (Washington: National Park Service, 1975). U. S. Senate, Investigation of Mexican Affairs: Preliminary Reports and Hearings (66th Cong. 2d Sess.; 2 vols. Washington: GPO, 1920). Harry Warren Papers, Archives of the Big Bend, Sul Ross State University.

BRITE, LUCAS CHARLES II

BRITE, LUCAS CHARLES II (1860–1941). Luke Brite, pioneer Presidio County rancher and philanthropist, son of Lucas Charles and Nancy Caroline (Carr) Brite, was born in Caldwell County, Texas, on July 29, 1860. He had two brothers and a sister. Their father died when Brite was three years old, and while still a boy he began working on ranches in La Salle and Frio counties. In 1879 he went to work in Coleman and Tom Green counties with his brother Robert. In 1885 Robert Brite died, and Luke trailed a small herd of 166 cattle from Frio County to Capote Peak in Presidio County. After spending several years camped alone in the pristine wilderness, he had a substantial ranch. He married schoolteacher Edward (Eddie) McMinn Anderson on June 24, 1896, in Schell City, Missouri. The couple lived on the ranch at Capote Peak the first six years of their marriage and in 1902 moved into Marfa. They had a son and a daughter.

Brite developed a ranch of 125,000 acres in Presidio County and became the breeder of champion Herefords. By March 1920 he had managed to ship 1,000 bulls of his own breeding for each of the preceding fourteen years. His cattle-breeding received several honors. He took greatest pride in the Cudahy Trophy for Grand Champion Carload of Feeder Cattle, which he won in 1922 and 1925. In 1918 he helped to organize the Highland Hereford Breeders Association in Marfa. That same year he was elected president of the Panhandle and Southwestern Stockmen's Association. He became president of the American National Live Stock Association in 1927. In July 1928 Brite helped organize the Highland Fair Association in Presidio County and served as chairman of the livestock committee.

The Brites were devoted members of the First Christian Church in Marfa, which they joined in August 1897, when Addison Clark held a meeting and organized the church. In 1911 and in 1914 the Brites gave a total of nearly $60,000 to establish the Chair of English Bible and to build the Bible College building at Texas Christian University. Luke Brite became chairman of the board of trustees of Brite College of the Bible at TCU in 1926.

In 1941 in El Paso he was stricken with appendicitis. He died from complications from surgery on September 4, 1941. After her husband's death, Eddie Brite served the remainder of his term on the board of trustees of Brite College. She was the first woman to serve on that board. In 1942 she was received as an honorary member of the Beta Iota chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, a national educational society. She was given a life membership in the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs in 1945. In 1948 TCU awarded her an honorary doctor of laws degree.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Noel Leonard Keith, The Brites of Capote (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1950). Cecilia Thompson, History of Marfa and Presidio County, 1535–1946 (2 vols. Austin: Nortex, 1985). Vertical Files, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin. Clayton W. Williams, Texas' Last Frontier: Fort Stockton and the Trans-Pecos, 1861–1895 (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1982).

Recommended Reviews

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