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protectors. The quantity of morphine proved insufficient, but the guard was sufficiently impaired to enable eighteen of the men to escape. Eleven of them were overtaken by the guard and shot, and the others were pursued into the mountains.[72] Dimitt was not among the escapees, having been confined with three or four others, including Stout, apart from the main body of prisoners.[73] Captain Chaffind sent word that he would forgive those who had escaped, if they would return; otherwise, he would have Dimitt shot. This statement was made in the presence of Dimitt, who, no doubt, had been worrying much about what would happen to him at Mexico City. As soon as Dimitt saw that he was unobserved, he took a large dose of laudanum and committed suicide.[74] 72. D. W. Smith to Daniel Webster, Matamoros, Sept. 26, 1841, (no. 178), in Consular Dispatches (Matamoros), ms., microfilm. 73. Mariano Arista to Daniel W. Smith, Monterey, Oct. 25, 1841, copy in D. W. Smith to Daniel Webster, Matamoros, Nov. 5, 1841, (no. 179), in Consular Dispatches (Matamoros), ms., microfilm. 74. James T. DeShields, Border Wars of Texas: being an Authentic and Popular Account, in Chronological Order, of the Long and Bitter Conflict Waged between Savage Indian Tribes and the Pioneer Settlers of Texas, p. 366; H. Yoakum, History of Texas from Its First Settlement in 1685 to Its Annexation to the United States in 1846, II, 319-320; Thomas Pratt to Pakenham, Jan. 30, 1841 [1842], in English-Mexican Diplomatic Correspondence, 1841-1842, Public Records Office, London, England. Grover reported in his "Minutes of Adventure from June 1841," p. 34 (Feb. 25, 1842): "Demit took poison and died at Ague Nueve." An editorial in the Telegraph and Texas Register, Dec. 8, 1841, discredits the rumors of suicide, stating that prisoners who had returned from Mexico generally concurred in the opinion that Dimitt was basely murdered. |