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During the stay in New York, Jess Wright had another occasion to draw his pistols. Someone stole his hunting dogs from the hotel; so, he strapped on his pistols and stalked the thieves through the streets of New York. His method was simple. He whistled for the dogs as he walked up and down the side-walks. Finally, he whistled in front of a salon an heard the dogs answer. He pulled out both pistols and charged through the doors with both pistols pointed and demanded the return of his dogs. They were returned with little difficulty.

 

The passengers finally sailed for Brazil.  After a long, tedious journey, Jesse Wright and his family, as well as his infamous hounds,  found a home on the Rio Guamhanha in a jungle environment with wild animals and other undesirable company, along with some of the other Texans.   This was part of the original McMullen land grant.  Parson E. H. Quillin lived there, as did the Fielder brothers, the Greens, and the Beasleys.  Bachelor William Hargrove built a house on the river bank.

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After the falling apart of the McMullen colony (originally named "New Texas", later known as "Eldo-rado") , Jeff Wright, with the hounds, found himself moving to near the community of Americana to the town of Retiro about four miles from Santa Barbara.  Jesse's daughter, Ada Elizabeth Wright and two brothers were born there and the family flourished. Jesse raised rice and beans, made shoes and saddles and everyone was happy until Jesse's pistols got him into trouble again. He was a neighbor of one of the most successful and prosperous Confederados in that area, Mr. Harvey Hall. 

 

Mr. Hall was a wealthy plantation owner from Columbus, Georgia who in 1866 sold all his possessions and land for 10 cents to the dollar and moved to Brazil to start over.  Through hard work and perse-verance, he succeeded in creating a duplicate plantation and plantation home on the Capivari River, near Americana.  Crowning the estate was a spacious, typical Old South mansion, a restful respite for guests and travelers.  Mr. Hall became very successful, bringing in other fellow Georgians by news-paper advertisements, such as blacksmiths, house builders, furniture and wagon makers to join the colony there. 

 

One day in October, 1877, eleven years after he had come down to this strange land, he was shot dead by Jess Wright, the Texas Cowboy, in a field near his home.  There were no witnesses, but it was sur-mised that the shooting had followed an argument between the two men.  An apparent feud between the two men came to a climax over Hall's shooting one of the cowboy's mule who had wandered into Hall's  plantation  and was  trampling  the  cotton fields.  In a rage

Wright approached Hall and demanded satisfaction.  Within min-

utes Hall lay dead.

 

After saying a quick goodbye to his wife and family. Wright fled the colony.  Before nightfall a posse of Confederados an Brazilian State Guard came looking for him, but Wright had caught a ride on a pas-sing train  and was in the port city of Santos, one hundred miles away, by the next morning.  From there he caught a ship for New Orleans, safely out of reach.  However, he did not make it to New Or-leans, but was ensconced on the island Roserize for two years.  We do not know if he took his hounds with him. 

 

Both families were prominent.  The Wrights had their friends and the Halls had theirs, and the ugly incident marred relationships within the colony for years to come.  Things were especially bad for those who helped Mrs. Wright and the children go to Texas to join her fugitive husband, now employed as a lawman.  The belief was that Jess had learned to use his six-shooter too well during the Civil War. Charlie Hall, son of the deceased, planned to go to Texas and hunt down Mr. Wright and settle the score.  Cooler heads prevailed and he was dissuaded by his younger brother and the matter was even-tually dropped.

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 With her husband on the run, Jane Wright finally sold out and returned to Texas. She lived a total of 13 years at the Colony. Jesse eventually returned from South America. He bought a tract of land about 4 miles north of Alba, Texas and lived on it until his dealth 15 years later. The property has since been flooded by the building of Lake Fort Reservoir.

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Ada Elizabeth (Wright) Sanders' Story.  (Jesse's Daughter)

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April 12, 1955
 
     I will try and write a sketch of my life and of my father and mother, J. R. Wright and Susan Jane Garner Wright.  My father was so broken up after the Civil War,with the North whipping the South, that he sold out everything and went to South America.  Before he sold out he lived at Quitman, Texas.  He owned and operated a dry goods store.  

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and tied them with Seapor vines, a Brazilian name.  This was their house; it was called a shack.  (Just a room.)  My mother disliked to live in this place.  She could hear all kinds of wild animals, fowls, and poisonous snakes.  She was frightened all the time and she could not visit the other women as it was dangerous to go through the narrow trails that the men had cut through the wilderness.

 The men had to go 100 miles down the river to get provisions.  They had to go in canoes.  It would take a week for them to make the trip.  They would start on Monday morning and wouldn't get back until Saturday night.  The men would go and leave the women and children.  My mother would be so scared she would stand the pole door up before the opening and tie it up.  Just she and the three little boys, the oldest eight years old.  My mother was also afraid of storms and sometimes a bad cloud would come up in the night.  She would be so afraid she would wake the oldest boy and he would console her and help her to feel better.  On Saturday evening she would take her three children and sit on the river bank waiting and listening for the men to return.  They could hear the paddles a mile away.  They lived in this wilderness four years.  My father put out a large orange orchard.

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    They moved a long way from this place to Retiro, about four miles from Santa Barbara, Brazil.  Their house was a three room one covered with grass and dirt.  It had a dirt floor.  This is the place where I was born.  I had two brothers born at this place too.  My father raised beans and rice.  He made shoes and saddles.  I remember going through one cotton patch.  I was six years old at this time.  We lived one half mile from an old couple everyone called Uncle Johnnie and Aunt Margret Perkins.  They had an orange orchard that came up close to our house.  They also had sweet lemons, sour lemons, coffee trees and bananas growing there.

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     I had an aunt, my mother's sister, and my grandfather. They lived about eight miles from us.  I loved my aunt very dearly.  She would come visit us and I would go home with her.  I rode behind her on horseback.  I was about five years old.  My aunt lived close to a river. The water was so clear I could see the fish swimming in the water.  Close to my aunt's house on the river was a place where they would take the rice and have it hulled.  They had what was called a mangonel; it had a big marter.  They put the rice in and beat it with what was called a postle.  I would go there and look in and see them work-ing.  My mother lived at this place thirteen years. 

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  My father got into trouble and left with one of his sons.  They stayed on the Island of Roserize  **  for two years.

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     After two years my mother sold everything and came back to America with another family.  When we were leaving there we spent a week with my Aunt Kate and Grandfather, my mother's father.  He was old and when we left their house I remember my aunt and grandfather standing in the door.  My mot-her knew she would never see her father again.  She did not ever see either of them again.  My mother had five children: four boys and me, to make the trip back to Americawith her.  I never had a pair of shoes until I started to America.

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     We were twenty-one days on the ship which was counted a very quick trip at that time.  When we started we took the train at a small place and went by train to Rio de Janerio, Brazil.  We took the ship there.  When the ship docked at New York a ferry boat met the ship.  We rode the ferry boat to shore.  We took the train at New York and went to Wills Point, Texas.  My father's brother met us there.  We stayed at his house about a week and my uncle, Joe Wright, came after us.  He lived in Camp County.  We lived with them two years, until my father got back to America.  It was three months before my brother got back.  We moved two miles from Quitman, Texas.  We lived on my Uncle Ep Wright's farm

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      My grandfather, grandmother and one uncle were buried on my grandfather's farm.  At the last ac-count, a Mr. Gooslby owned the farm.  It was located seven miles from Winnsboro, Texas. 

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     We lived two years on a Mr. Lively's place and one year on a Miller place one and a half miles from Quitman.  Then my father bought some land four miles north of Alba, Texas.  It was all in woods with no house on it.  He cut and hewed logs and invited the neighbors to the house raising. We cooked for the men at my brother's house.  My brother was Will Wright.

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     My father lived on this place about fifteen years.  He died in October 1899.  He died on Friday morn-ing at 4:00 A. M. and my mother died the following Sunday night at 11:00 P. M.  There were seven chil-dren born to my father and mother;  I was the only girl.

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Brice Substation, Clarendon Texas                1955
       

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     I have written of my father's and mother's traveling and will try to write something of my life since I married. 
 
     I married J. H. Sanders in 1891.  A good man who died May 14, 1939.  There was born to us ten children.  One died in infancy;  raised nine to be grown and married.  I am visiting my oldest son, Elmer Sanders.  My home is in Wood County, Texas, where I make my home with my baby boy, Johnie Sanders, in Alba, Texas.  That is close to my husband's old home place.  I was born in 1873, makes me 82 years old.  I have one girl, Vera Sanders Hukill who lives at Grand Saline, Texas.  One boy lives at New London, Texas....David Sanders. One boy, Joe Sanders, lives close to me at Alba, Texas. One girl, Ada Sanders Morrison lives at Dallas, Texas.  One girl, Georgia Sanders McKay lives in my old home place.  One girl, Ruby Sanders Fitzgerald lives at Grapevine, Texas.  I have 31 grandchildren, 41 great grandchildren and 3 great great grandchildren.  I am writing this for Mr. & Mrs. Aubrey Sanders.
 
  Ada Sanders
 
  Alba, Texas

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