A Texas Missionary.                            55
Rev. Ygnacio Montes de Oca, the present Bishop of San
Luis Potosi, and placed in a more becoming locality.
CHAPTER IH.
Between Two Fires. Bagdad. Oblate Fathers
In Matamoros. A Hold up. Quick Justice
Another Hold up. No Money For You.
StageRobbery. Remarkable Conversions.
We now enter upon a troubled period on both sides
of the Rio Grande river. On the American side the
whole country was in commotion; on the Mexican side,
three or four parties contended for the mastery, and the
Oblate Fathers were between two fires. This period
lasted from 1861 to 1866. Bagdad, a mushroom city,
near the mouth of the Rio Grande, in the State of
Tamaulipas, Mexico, became during the Civil War in
the United States a place of great importance to block-
ade runners, who from this point carried on a lucrative
trade with Western Texas. Many families, especially
from New Orleans, flocked to this place, from which
during that time most of the cotton of the Southern
States was exported.
During this same period Matamoras increased in
population to 60,000, and Brownsville with Cameron
County, to over 25,000.
Four Oblates, Fathers Olivier, Clos, Vignolle and
Jaffres, were the Pastors of Matamoros and of the coun-
try around within a radius of thirty miles. At that time
Brownsville, scarcely one mile distant from Matamoros,
was in charge of a large community of Oblates, who, for
this reason, were able to go to the assistance of their
brother Priests on the Mexican side of the river when
necessary. The writer of these lines was wont to visit
Bagdad from time to time, in order to assist the Priests
of Matamoros.