Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - April - 2007 Issue
Texas and Outlaws from Maggie Lambeth Rare Books
Item 381 is a 1971 reprint of an 1853 book, but for those looking for as complete as possible a collection of Indian Captivities, this may have to do. There is only one known copy of the original, and that is held by the Huntington Library. The title is A Thrilling Narrative of the Sufferings of Mrs. Jane Adeline Wilson During Her Captivity Among the Comanche Indians. Mrs. Wilson and her family were traveling to California when some Indians relieved them of their cattle near El Paso. Well, one thing leads to another, and her husband and father-in-law did the same to some Indians, only to be pursued and shot dead for their efforts. The Indians returned Mrs. Wilson to El Paso, but she was captured by the Comanche as she retreated back to the east. She spent a month enduring unpleasantries among her captors before escaping, hiding out for several weeks, and finally being found by some New Mexico traders who delivered her to the army. Mrs. Wilson would later remarry and raise four children in relative peace, but she is best remembered for a very difficult time while she was still a 15-year-old bride. $50.
Item 141 ties together two remarkable men from another era in Texas. The book is Frank Dobie: Man and Friend, by Ralph Yarborough. Dobie was one of Texas' greatest writers about its heritage and rural life. Ralph Yarborough was a reformer and senator during the 1960s, when this book was published. Both had lived through the Depression and were dedicated to helping those who lacked money and power. They were as far removed from Texas politics of today as day is from night, but there was a day when liberal politicians actually won occasional statewide elections. It was an attempt to heal this split in the Texas Democratic Party, left represented by Yarborough, right by Governor John Connolly, that brought President John Kennedy to Dallas that fateful day in 1963. Connolly rode in the motorcade in Kennedy's car, Yarborough with LBJ. It cost JFK his life, but did not resolve the split. Yarborough's remembrances of Dobie is priced at $30.
Maggie Lambeth Rare Books may be found online at www.texanbooks.com, telephone 830-833-5252.
