The McArdle Notebooks > Dawn at the Alamo
Reuben M. Potter to McArdle, February 24, 1881
Page 2 of 3
they have already been mentioned in print; and
I would rather spare the memory of poor Howell
my reflection, not on his silly dispatch, but on the
character of his flitting, which I now detail
rather reservedly. He was an intimate friend
of mine, and a lavish friend to all Texians
in distress, passing for richer than he really was,
& having as I soon found many ideas that were
quite divergent from mine; & as I at length
learned, having more generosity than integrity.
It was I think nearly a year after I left Mat-
amoros that he borrowed a large sum from
a Mexican Shylock, and tride [tried] to make a G.T.T. [Gone to Texas]
of himself; but the borrowed ounces of gold went into the ponchos
of banditti and all the pounds of flesh he had
to pledge into the maws of wolf & ravin [raven].
Yet so genial & generous had he always been
that he met with more pity than Shylock.
In one of my articles in the Magazine of
American History I narrated in full the case
of the San Patricio Prisoners and referred to
the escape of Karnes & Teal as containing
interesting incidents which would make the
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Reuben M. Potter to McArdle, February 24, 1881, The McArdle Notebooks, Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.