In The Dallas Morning News of about June 6, 1936, our attention was called to an article by that distinguished young friend of mine, Rex W. Strickland. Formerly I had conversed with Mr. Strickland along the lines of early settlement in this section of the country and in particular of the capture by the Indians of the son of Gabriel Martin. In his article headed "INDIANS KILL COUNTY JUDGE" he related the killing of Gabriel Martin as taken from the files of the Arkansas Gazette.

"Gabriel Martin was killed by the Indians while hunting on the north side of Red River in May, 1834. His son, Matthew Wright Martin, a 9-year-old boy, was carried into captivity, from which he was rescued by General Dodge some months later."

Without any effort to pick a quarrel with my friend, Mr. Strickland, or even the records of Gen. Dodge, I want to say that Matthew Martin, the son of Gabriel Martin, was stolen away from the Indians by the faithful old slave, old Negro Hardy, and brought home to his mother by that faithful old slave. I have seen the home building upon a plat of ground that was given by Matthew Martin's mother to old Hardy, the Negro slave, together with his freedom for life as a reward for returning her son to her. This reminds me of a joke an old Negro once told about when he emphatically denied a proposition by others who claimed to be witnesses to a fact. This old Negro, throwing his shoulders back, holding his head high and in defiance of all testimony stood