Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 September 1894 — A GREAT "GREASER,” [ARTICLE]

A GREAT "GREASER,”

Interest in the life, character and patriotic services of Gen. Santa Anna, of Mexico has recently been revived by the sale to a new owner, living in Texas, of the magnificent military saddle captured from that famous warrior after he had been unhoFsed in battle. The youth of our day know little of the career of that fiery revolutionist. No hero of the present century probably filled so many roles or acted out his part in better form than this semi-savage commander. He possessed all the qualities of Napoleon as a leader, but his field was limited and his ambition crushed by a vastly superior power before his plans had reached a culmination. He was the Mexican idol for twenty years, and no man has experienced the vicissitudes of fortune in alarger measure. Beginning as a revolutionist he be-

came a dictator, generalissimo, cas-* tle-storiner, serene highness, conspirator, abdicator, and finally anexile with a wooden lug, having lost a limb on the field of battle. Romance baa Tailed to cas t much of a halo about this bloody warriob who atone time threatened serious consequences to the United States. Had his plans materialized we would not have a cordon of States on the Pacific coast, neither would the magnii tude of Texas be an unsolved prob-? lem of the future. Mexico would have become a first class power that woyld have divided the interest of the world in the Western hemisphere and divided the honors of alleged republican government also. That Santa Anna was a patriot may well be doubted. History appears to establish the fact that he was very t industrious in “looking out for the main chance.” That he was brave, even to foolishness, is a well established fact. He therefore may well be regarded a very creditable product of the “Greaser” race and soil. As for his war saddle, which has just been transferred to a new owner, it is heavily mounted in gold, gorgeously embroidered, has a high horn bearing a lion’s head with silver eyes. All of its trappings are of the finest. It was captured by -Sam Houston from Santa Anna in a horseback combat in the heat of a ' terrific conflict while bullets whistled and cannon boomed.