Mrs. Mose Hurley

The Exciting Chase of Mrs. Mose Hurley

Mose Hurley had gone to a ranger camp about one mile from his home, which was on Green's Creek, about thirteen miles west of Stephensville. Mrs. Hurley was about six miles away from home and riding a race horse called 'Baldy.' She saw several horses down the road and being suspicious, turned and started the other way. About that second, several Indians dashed out of the brush toward her, and the exciting race for life began. But Mrs. Hurley was too fast for them. She dashed down the road at lightning speed, and soon safely reached her home, or the home of a neighbor. When her husband arrived, a short time afterwards, she related her experience. Whereupon he again returned to the ranger camp, and informed the scouts of the presence of the savages. The rangers were soon on the trail of the Indians, who were overtaken after they had gone three or four miles; and in the fight that followed, several of their number killed.

Accounts differ concerning this episode. Two reports state that Mrs. Hurley's horse was stolen after she jumped from her steed and ran in to the house, and that this animal was recovered during the fighting or shortly afterwards. Nevertheless, old 'Baldy,' the race-horse, remained a favorite in the Hurley family for several years afterwards.

Note: Author personally interviewed and was furnished with a written account of this episode by W.H. Fooshe, a nephew of Mr. and Mrs. Mose Hurley, Ike Roberts, W.C. McGough, Mrs. Sarah Jane Keith, and others who lived in Erath County at the time.

The above story is from the book, The West Texas Frontier, by Joseph Carroll McConnell.