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whether he was going on a trading expedition (purchase
of mules) offering D. half of the profits if he
would accompany him. D. accepted the proposition
& they set out from San Felipe to Austin together
the country between the two places being at that
time a wilderness. Of course, they had to camp
out every night. Desha murdered his friend
& benefactor in the night, a short distance from
San Antonio, robbed him of his money & returned
to San Felipe. He was pursued by some persons
from San Antonio, who arrived at San Felipe
about the time he did. He was arrested & put
under a strong guard, still passing by the assumed
name of Parker. He was recognized however
by a Gentleman from Kenty, who was well
acquainted with his father & family. & from the
striking resemblance of a highly respectable & worthy
brother, he was satisfied, it was Isaac B. Desha, &
proposed to take off his cravat & examine his neck
for a wound inflicted by himself while in prison,
in a real or pretended attempt to commit
suicide. D. immediately acknowledged his true name,
confessed that he had murdered & robbed Early &
in two or 3 days was a corpse!! A gentleman
who assisted in guarding him, informed me in
1827 or 8 that he was believed he destroyed himself
by taking poison, which he had concealed about his person.
There was something very remarkable in the
meeting of these wretched men, Desha & Early in a
distant land - men of honored parents, & both respectable,
until they became at a single plunge
murderers. One fell by the hand of the other & that
other doubtless by his own. The family of Desha is very
numerous & highly respectable, both in Kenky, and
Tennessee. The father of Isaac B. Desha (Genl.