unsolved mystery – Texas History Notebook

Legend of Indian Emily

There is a considerable amount of legend and folklore connected to the Fort Davis and Big Bend area. Whether it is fact or fiction, the tale of “Indian Emily” is an interesting one. The story supposedly originated in the mid to late 1800s at Fort Davis. According to the National Park Service, it first appeared in print in a 1919 book called “The Romance of Davis Mountains and Big Bend Country” written by Carlysle Raht. About ten years later, the story reappeared in a Texas newspaper and southwestern periodical with more detail. It was essentially the same narrative but with slight variations.

Lost Padre Mine

Paraphrasing Robert Louis Stevenson, there is something in a treasure that attaches itself to a man’s mind and won’t let it go. One of the persisting legends in West Texas is that of the Lost Padre Mine, or “La Mina del Padre.” Possible locations include southern New Mexico and the area around El Paso, Texas.

Bill Kelley’s Mine

This is a story of a legendary Big Bend area mine. It is sometimes referred to by other names in newspaper accounts, books and articles. Since Bill Kelley figures into the story, more recently it has been called “Bill Kelly’s Mine.” Mrs. Eugenia H. Chandley wrote about it in the March 22, 1939 edition of the Alpine, Texas Sul Ross Skyline. According to the legend, a young man named Bill Kelley was from the Black Seminoles in Coahuila, Mexico and told some of his relatives of finding a treasure on the Texas side of the Rio Grande. Kelley had told his employers, the Reagan brothers, of coming across an outcropping of stone that shined like gold, while he was holding a herd of horses for them. Kelley chipped off some of the rock, put it in his pack and relayed the news of his find to the Reagans.

Joan Robinson Hill

Joan Robinson HIll was thirty-eight years old at the time of her death on March 19, 1969. Her husband, Dr. John Robert Hill, was accused of her death. He was murdered by a masked assailant in 1972.

The Spikes Brothers Killings

The January 23, 1902 article was widely reported in United States newspapers that in New Mexico, three brothers had been ambushed while riding horseback on the way back to their homes. Dick and John Spikes were killed and Fred Spikes was badly wounded, but managed to make it to the home of a neighbor who helped him to obtain medical treatment. The Arkansas Gazette article shown below ended by stating that Fred Spikes said that he knew the attacking party but would give no names.