I
Major, or Colonel, Jacob Snively (also spelled Schnively) led the kind
of life that inspires legend. [84] In 1843 he headed an expedition to
capture a great Mexican wagon train on its way from St. Louis to Santa
Fe; but he was balked in his design by United States troops, and his
men were disarmed in New Mexico and sent back to Texas. A quarter of a
century later, in 1867, he aided in raising a second expedition of
about one hundred men to go up the Rio Grande in search of gold reputed
to be inestimably plentiful. His base of organization was Williamson
County, and one would fain identify this Snively with the Snively of
Miss von Blittersdorf’s legend of Milam County, which adjoins
Williamson. It is known that Snively was at one time looking for the
old San Gabriel Mission, cornering on which he claimed thirty leagues
of land. [85] If he found the ruins, his nature would certainly have
provoked him to do a little treasure hunting. However, Colonel Snively
is said to have died in Arizona, a citizen of California. [86] A little
personal investigation among the records and oldest inhabitants of
Williamson and Milam counties would no doubt disclose interesting
information about Colonel Snively and probably establish a close
relationship between him and the Snively of Miss von Blittersdorf’s
legend. I regret that I have been unable to conduct such investigation.
From a veteran, more than eighty years old, of the Texas Rangers and of
the Civil War, the elder Mr. Burton of Austin, two legends connected
with Snively’s two respective expeditions have come to me.