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Chapter 5 Rampant Lawlessness
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65 C H A P T E R F I V E Rampant Lawlessness A S Helm, Bell, and their men disposed of the Choates, Captain Smith was carrying out his orders from General Reynolds. Once he reached the town of San Patricio, he found that people were greatly excited. Someone told Smith that Jack Helm had moved to “Round Lake” with at least two dozen men. When Smith and his escort reached the place, they questioned Helm, who produced several military documents, along with items from the courts, to prove his authority. In addition to representing the military, he was also a Lavaca County Deputy Sheriff, and he produced evidence of that, too. According to his orders, Helm had permission to issue summons if he needed help. He had the power to arrest any “suspicious” men and known members of the Taylor ring. He had the authority to disarm any men carrying shotguns and revolvers and to use the weapons to arm his citizen soldiers. As he looked about Helm’s camp, Smith noted that he and his escort were not the only troopers there. He saw four members of the Fourth United States Cavalry, one being Sergeant Peyton, the other three being privates. They had come from the post at Helena to assist Helm’s force and to find and join Joe Tumlinson’s men. Clearly, the military and civilian officials remained confused about chain of command and authority. Incredibly, Smith had not known that Helm was acting within the law. That Smith had been suspicious of Helm and Bell represented a breakdown of communication. The next morning the Helm contingent, now numbering about forty men, went into San Patricio, where Captain Smith began questioning anyone who had knowledge of the Taylors’ whereabouts. Smith also sent a small detachment to Choate’s ranch, about sixteen miles from town, to question anyone remaining there. The detachment returned the next day with Henry Choate and William Cashion who had hidden during the battle there. Smith 66 C HAPTE R 5 wrote superiors that the Taylors had to be defeated and that while Helm and Tumlinson’s forces were often brutal, they were in the process of ridding the area of “thieves and murderers [the Taylor band].” While Smith was looking for members of the ring, Bell took to the field again. When he was in Helena on August 8, 1869, he learned that some of the Taylors were hiding in the chaparral about thirty miles north of town. Before pursuing them, Bell wrote a superior, saying that he, Helm, and Tumlinson were apparently effective. While they had not captured or killed that many Taylor men, Bell asserted that a general stampede of criminals was taking place; they were running to other parts of the state or to Mexico to avoid arrest or death. He reported that he already knew that various members of the Taylor ring could be found in Bell, Milam, Washington, Karnes, and Lafayette counties, in addition to DeWitt and Gonzales counties. Bell said he had led a raid on the Taylors’ camp in Karnes but could not corral any raiders because leaders Hays and Doughboy changed their locations so often they were hard to track. As well, Bell commented on Helm and Tumlinson. They had now recruited about one hundred men, including some troopers from the post of Helena, and were sweeping DeWitt and adjacent counties, mainly looking for cattle rustlers and horse thieves, whereas military authorities had told Bell to concentrate on murderers and others who committed violent crimes. By early August, Helm and Tumlinson’s forces had killed eleven and wounded four supposed thieves. Bell averred that Helm, Tumlinson, and their forces had not killed even “one honest man.” Still somewhat critical, Bell wished that the two lawmen and the posses would concentrate more on felons with capital offenses lodged against them. Meanwhile, the people of Lavaca County became desperate. According to petitioners, horse thieves and robbers virtually held the county hostage. They asked that the military give Jack Helm the authority to pursue and to arrest renegades wherever found, even if outside the county. More than thirty-five men signed their request in the hope of relief. In an August report, Bell wrote about the Peace brothers, who had murdered Sheriff Jacobs, and about their comrades who were supposed to assassinate Helm, Tumlinson, and Cox. In July Helm found and arrested the Peace brothers, but they escaped on the trail, rode...