Stories of Hidden Gold Linger Still at Old Pugh Ranch
POSTED BY: CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM JULY 31, 2020 My friend John Koenig recently sent me a clipping from the Refugio Timely Remarks of September 4, 1941, which I am including below in its entirety. I am adding additional information [in brackets in red] from an article, “The Mexican and Indian Raid of ‘78,” that appeared in The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association in 1902. Freer, Texas.- The recent court case in McMullen county for possession of 734 acres of land out of the Pugh ranch, 25 miles from Freer, was a dry one in all its legal terms, but to know about the Pugh ranch is to hear stories of Indian and bandit raids, hidden gold and early pioneer life which is anything but dull. James Thomas Pugh settled on his 3,000-acre ranch in 1900. It was 50 miles from the nearest town of San Diego. Here for a few brief years, he herded wild mustangs into blind traps or up blocked canyons until they were captured and their wild free life over. Before 1900, he had captured m