As he prepared for the day he thought over what he should do. First on his list was to go and see who the people were living in the houses on the property and see what the situation was with them.
He was not in a hurry and he found himself there around nine in the morning.
There were five houses. All could be considered shacks by the people in any neighborhood Paul had ever resided in during his lifetime. They were small, simple and constructed from a wide variety of building materials. Most had tin corrugated roofs, one had a shingled roof. There were two old vehicles, one was pickup, rusting and incomplete as they perched wheeless on cinder blocks.
There were chicken coops behind three of the houses and several dogs looked suspiciously at Paul while keeping their distance and barking. No people were in evidence.
There was a medium sized barn, very weathered but functional and a small corral. A large vegetable garden was a short distance away from the buildings.
Paul stopped at the first house. He knocked on the door which opened slowly and revealed a small, elderly woman before him.
He introduced himself. “My name is Paul Hewlett. I am the owner of this property. Can you tell me something about yourself and the people who live here?”
Her eyes widened and she said “No hablo Ingles senor.”
Paul spoke Spanish fairly well, “Como esta? Me llamo Paul Hewlett. Soy el patron de este propidad. Como se llama usted senora?”
She spoke slowly and economically and told him that her name was maria Rosales and she lived her along with three other families and an old man. She told him that she had lived here more than forty years since she moved her with her husband and small child. “My husband, may he rest with God, then worked for the old patron when the place was a great rancho with many cattle and many vaqueros.”
WNWN Chap. V pg 2.
“Who was the old patron?” asked Paul. “Please tell me what you can about him and why you people are here.”
She invited him into her humble home. It was Spartan, clean and comfortable. A faded picture of JFK hung on the wall alongside a wooden crucifix.
She offered him coffee which he gladly accepted. She began telling him her story, warming to him somewhat and no longer exhibiting her earlier suspicion.
“The old patron was named Serafio De La Rosa. His great great grandfather had obtained one of the original Spanish land grants when this land was extremely sparse in population and no permanent Indian or European settlement existed between San Antonio and Matamoros. He fought Apaches, Comanches. He joined up with the Americanos against Santa Anna and was able to keep his land.”
“My husband Manuel had been a top cowboy and spent his life working with cattle.”
She said when the old patron died his eldest son Fito took over. Fito was a bad man. He was a drunkard and beat his wife and abused his children. He cared nothing for the ranch. He treated his hands badly. He had learned nothing about business. Soon he gambled away much of his inheritance. His wife and family left him and much of his hired help had quit. He had a bad temper and often got in fights.
Things had become very bad on the rancho. Many cattle had become sick and died. The wages had been cut and rarely were paid on time or in full. Maria and the other women grew most of their food in their jardines but it was hard to pick up the spirits of the men who endured the constant abuse that Fito sent their way.
Maria had been a very pretty woman when she was young and once Manuel had struck Fito when he had made an insulting and offensive remark about Maria. Before that Fito had many times
WNWN chap V pg. 3
been seen leering at her. Manuel was ready to quit but Fito had apologized and Maria had said she wanted to stay.
One day when the men were working in the pastures Fito came to Maria’s house. He was drunk and was not wearing his shirt. Maria tried to tell him to leave but he forced his way in. His breath smelled of mescal and he grabbed her, tearing her clothes and throwing her on the bed. She screamed but he laughed as he assaulted her. She resisted but he struck her and threatened her child so she sobbingly submitted. When he left he threw down a few coins and called her a whore.
A woman from one of the neighboring houses had seen Fito enter the house and had heard the commotion. She came over as soon as Fito had gone and tried to comfort the distraught Maria. When her daughter returned from school another neighbor took her into her home and fixed her dinner and told her her mother was ill.
Manuel’s return was not well handled. When he found out what had happened he fell into a rage. None could restrain him and took his rifle and went to the ranch house where Fito lived. Fito saw him coming and locked the heavy oak door.
Manuel screamed at him, exhorting him to come out and face him like a man. When Fito would not he unleashed a stream of screaming curses and threatened to burn down the house.
Finally, the front door opened, slowly and Fito called out to Manuel and told him to come in and get him. Manuel immediately rushed up on the porch steps without caution and was met full on in the front by a shotgun blast which killed him instantly and drove his disfigured body backwards, out into the yard.
The other men had followed Manuel but they were still some distance down the road when they heard the blast. Being unarmed they were afraid to go near the ranch house. There was some confusion about what they should do. Finally Juan decided to take
WNWN chap V pg 4
the ranch truck and go into Las Vacas and find a telephone to call the Sheriff’s Department. Everyone else locked themselves into their homes.
It was eighteen miles each way to Las Vacas but after a seeming eternity Juan returned. He was followed by two cars from the Sheriff’s Department. The Sheriff’s cars went to the ranch house and there they found Fito, now dressed and considerably sobered up. Fito greeted them in front of his house. Manuel’s body still lay there where he had fallen.
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