[I have little doubt that the negro who figures in this legend is a
survival of the Moor, “Black Stephen,” who preceded Coronado’s gold
seeking expedition of 1541, though the real “Black Stephen” never
returned to Mexico to tell his tale.—Editor.]
This story was told me by a Mexican who said that he heard it from his
grandfather in Sonora, Mexico. It well represents the many legends that
cluster around the so-called Santa Anna Mountains and are believed in
by various inhabitants of that region. It is a tradition of the country
that the mountains and town are erroneously named; that they should be
called Santana instead of Santa Anna, it being believed that the Indian
chief often referred to as Santa Anna was really named Santana. He is
supposed to lie buried among the mountains in a cave stuffed with gold
from the San Saba mines. The Spanish had started with a few cart loads
of it on their way to St. Louis, when they were overtaken in a certain
mountain pass. This pass was frequently used by the Spanish at San
Saba, according to legend, in order to communicate with another fort at
what is now Colorado, Texas.
Years and years past while Mexico was still under Spanish rule, stories
came sifting down far into Mexico that somewhere in Colorado was a
great tribe of Indians with many sacks of gold in their tepees. Finally
a troop of cavalry was fitted out and sent north to explore, and if
there was gold to bring it back. Hardened raiders as they were, even
they had fear of such a long and wild adventure. At last they came into
the region where the tepees of gold were believed to be situated. They
made a swift attack, which was fiercely resisted, but all they found
was about fifty pounds of gold dust and gold nuggets.
The repulsed Indians rallied and made a counter attack. The Spanish
were driven back. They retreated slowly, in good order, steadily
followed by the Indians. At each attack upon their rear, the Indians
became fiercer, bolder, and stronger in numbers. The exhausted
Spaniards were losing hope of ever reaching the Rio Grande with their
lives, much less their treasure. A month after their assault on the
Indian village, they were camped for the night on a little creek not
far from what are now called the Santa Anna Mountains in Coleman
County. A lookout who had been dispatched in the late afternoon to make
observation from the nearest mountain had not returned. At dark all
fires were extinguished and the camp waited. Some time before midnight
the lookout dashed in to report that a large band of Indians was
advancing within a few miles. The commander of the expedition ordered
his men to entrench themselves as best they could and to maintain
silence. With them was a very strong negro who had acted as a kind of
guide. He was well able to dig a hole for the gold, and he was detailed
with some of the exhausted Spaniards to hide the treasure. They buried
it on top of a hill, under a flat rock on which they carved three M’s.
It is estimated that pure ore to the value of about ten thousand pesos
was buried.
The detail had barely returned to camp when the Indians began their
attack. They rushed the camp in overwhelming numbers. Only three
prisoners were taken, two Spaniards and the negro guide. The Spaniards
were burned at the stake at once. The negro was kept as a slave. He
alone lived to tell the tale.
Some years after his capture, broken and crazed from continual cruelty,
he escaped into Mexico. There he seemed always thinking of the death of
his troop, and the Mexicans shunned him as bad company except when some
raider wanted to get his tale of buried gold. He refused many times to
guide parties back to it. According to him, there was a curse on the
gold for whoever should find it. No one has ever found it, and if it
ever was buried in the Santa Anna Mountains, it is buried there yet.