Mrs. Alexander and her daughters, Mrs. W.C. (Nancy) Wachter, were
alone at their home on the south prong of the Guadalupe, about thirteen
miles southwest of Ingram. John J. Alexander had gone to Spring Creek,
in Gillespie County, about forty miles to the northeast. W.C. Wachter
had driven an ox-team pulling a load of shingles to Fredericksburg.
The shingles had been made out of the beautiful cypress timber that
grew along the Guadalupe. C. Alexander, a son of Mrs. Mary Alexander,
and a negro were about one-half mile away, making shingles under a bluff.
The day was February 2, 1868. The dogs were charging so Mrs. Wachter
went to the door with a smoothing iron. When an Indian appeared, she
knocked him down with her weapon, and fled. Mrs. Mary Alexander ran
a different direction, and the Indians killed her when she left the
house. Mrs. W.C. Wachter had only gone a short distance toward her
brother, when she too was shot in the shoulder, causing her to fall
behind a log, where she lay until the Indians were gone. No doubt, the
savages thought she had been slain. She then jumped up and hurried to
her brother, C. Alexander and the Negro, both of whom were poorly armed.
They rushed to the home of Leinweiber, where only women and children
were found. From here they went to the home of Fritz Tegner. When relief
returned, the Alexander home was a heaping pile of ashes, and the body
of Mrs. Mary Alexander lay on a cold winter ground, badly burned.
Note: Author interviewed a daughter of Mrs. W.C. Wachter, Lafayette
Nichols, and others who lived in that section of the state at the time.