Just as soon as the Indian reached the crossing and plunged into the river, eight or nine of the rangers that had followed Banister on the high ground were in a position to shell the swimmer as he crossed. There were probably a hundred shots fired at him, but he finally disappeared in the brush on the south side of the river. Investigation of the place where he crossed showed the timber cut all to pieces but, strange to say, not a shot hit the Indian as far as we ever knew. We found a blanket where the savage had risen and shot at Banister and, measuring the ground, found that the ranger was just twelve short steps from the Indian when fired upon by the redskin. It was a miracle that Banister was not killed; the bullet, a .45 caliber, buried itself in some sacks of corn in a tent just back of him.
The next morning we found where ten or twelve Indians had waited under some large pecan trees while this scout slipped up to our camp to investigate and steal a horse. The trees were about four hundred yards from camp and on the opposite side of the river. Some of the rangers jokingly said those old braves must have thought this lone one stirred up hell at the ranger camp.
On account of the range cattle and horses along the Llano River, Lieutenant Reynolds lost some eight or ten hours the next morning before picking up the Indian trail. This gave the redskins ten or twelve hours start, as they were at our camp just at midnight. The trail passed out west between North and South Llano Rivers and followed a rough mountain country that made pursuit difficult and slow. We followed the savages five or six days and finally abandoned the trail near the head of Devil's River after a heavy rain.
While we had been active in rounding up the numerous outlaws and cattle thieves that infested Kimble County, we had not been able to clean up the mystery of the Peg Leg stage robbers, which had long baffled the best detectives, sheriffs, and rangers. Peg Leg was a small stage station on the San Saba in the midst of a rough and very mountainous country. Here the stage was repeatedly held up and as repeatedly the robbers escaped. The scene of the hold-up was many times examined and parties made determined efforts to trail the bandits but always without success, for the trail was quickly lost in the rough mountains. One of the features that proved particularly puzzling was the constant recurrence of an exceedingly small footprint at each robbery. These marks were so very small they convinced many observers that a woman from Fort McKavett or Fort Concho was operating with the bandit gang. Naturally the rangers were anxious to round up this group of outlaws and put a stop to their depredations.
In May, 1878, Sergeant Nevill made a scout up on the South Llano and captured Bill Alison, a son-in-law of old Jimmie Dublin, father of the bandit, Dick Dublin. Alison was wanted on several charges of cattle theft, and was taken to Austin for safekeeping. After remaining in the Travis County jail for nearly a year without being able to give bond, Alison became discouraged. He believed his brothers-in-law, the Dublins, were not aiding him to get bond and became bitter and resentful toward them. This antagonism finally led to the unveiling of the Peg Leg mystery.
In the spring of 1879 Dick Ware and myself took some prisoners to the Austin jail. Bill Alison saw us and called out to me. He and I had been cowboys together long before I became a ranger.
"Jim," said Alison, "you know I have been cooped up here in this jail for nearly a year. People who ought to be my friends have evidently abandoned me and I am not going to stand it any longer. I can put the Peg Leg stage robbers behind the bars, and I am going to do it."
Ware, who was something of a diplomat, said, "Hold on, Bill. If you have anything to confess we will get an order from the sheriff to take you to see General Jones so you can talk to him."
The general at once wrote a note to Dennis Corwin, sheriff of Travis County, and asked that he let Alison accompany us to his office. The sheriff turned his prisoner over to us and we took him to General Jones, who had a private interview with him for over an hour. What Alison confessed we did not know, but we returned him to the jail.
General Jones moved quickly, for the very next day a scout of rangers from Company "E" was sent back to Kimble County. I was just preparing to go west to El Paso with Colonel Baylor, so I missed this last and most important scout back into Kimble County. However, this final expedition was so successful I cannot omit it from a history of the rangers.