Billy Hunts the Cutthroats
After Gen. Zachary Taylor’s army advanced from Corpus Christi to the banks of the Rio Grande in March of 1846, Roswell Denton was awarded the sutlers contract at Fort Polk, which was situated where the Point Isabel lighthouse stands today. (Sutlers were merchants under contract to the Army who sold goods to the soldiers.) Realizing he needed more supplies, Denton sent an urgent message to his brother-in-law Patterson Rogers asking him to guide a train of goods to Taylor’s new encampment.
Over the next several days Denton heard of large groups of bandits that were prowling the road between Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande. Denton sent a new message warning Patterson of the danger and suggested he wait for a military escort. The warning came too late, however, as Patterson Rogers along with his sons William and Anderson had already left, leading a supply train to Taylor’s army. In all, the supply train included 15 men, three women, and four children when it left Corpus Christi during the third week in April, 1846.
April 25, 1846 dawned bright and there was a sense of destiny in the air. In Corpus Christi, celebrations were commencing at the news that the town had been selected as the county seat of the newly formed Nueces County. (No public officials were elected, however, and the incorporation was repealed. The town was not incorporated until February 16, 1852.)
About 100 miles to the south, Patterson Roger’s train was encamped at Paso Real on the Colorado (near today’s Harlingen) when they were surrounded by 50 or more bandits from Reynosa led by Juan Bali. After a promise they would be treated as prisoners of war, the party surrendered. Instantly the men were seized and stripped of their clothing and bound in pairs.
Unable to lift a hand in defense, the men were hauled atop the bluff where they each had their throats slit. The bodies were tumbled into the river below. Though he suffered a deep gash that severed his windpipe and stretched from ear to ear, young Billy Rogers was still alive when he was rolled into the water.
Slowly and in constant danger of being discovered he managed to untie the ropes that bound him to a corpse. More dead than alive, he managed to dig himself into a hole along the opposite bank. From here he was witness to the atrocities that followed. The women of the group were treated badly and lived for several hours before they too had their throats slit. Their bodies were as unceremoniously dumped into the Arroyo Colorado.
After the bandits left, loaded down with their booty, Billy wandered for days, naked, sunburned, bleeding, and covered in insect bites. He swallowed rainwater by lying on his back and ate whatever berries he could find and continued staggering south through the thick chaparral.
On the fourth day he came to a Mexican ranch about 40 miles from where the massacre took place. A young girl took him in and treated his wounds as best as she could but shortly after his arrival he was captured by Mexican soldiers and taken to Matamoros where he was thrown in jail. He would have died there had not one of Taylor’s junior officers, who heard of his plight, threatened to bombard Matamoros if he wasn’t freed. His gaping wound was treated by an army doctor and Gen. Taylor dispatched a ship solely to return him to Corpus Christi.
While he was recuperating, Rogers learned Spanish. Later he returned to marry the girl who nursed him back to health, Julia Corona. With his strength back Billy took a few supplies and slipped into the brush.
At the time, the story was that Billy Rogers was on the prowl, searching for the killers and, one by one, he found 20 and killed them by cutting their throats. The Texas Rangers hunted down the rest and within several years all (except for one) of the bandits that had been part of the Roger’s Massacre were summarily dispatched.
A slit throat became known as “Billy’s mark” along the border. The one bandit who survived had Billy’s revenge, wisely left the area, and lived to a ripe old age. But you can bet that every time he waited while his barber stropped a straight razor he must have certainly felt a slight twinge fear.
His revenge complete, Rogers settled in Corpus Christi where he was elected sheriff and later was elected to the Legislature. He bought the Palo Alto Ranch and, in 1869, sold his stock in the Palo Alto Hotel and used the proceeds to buy the newly built St. James Hotel. Rogers and a partner also built Market Hall to replace the old stalls; Rogers and his partner received rent from the markets while city offices occupied the second floor of the building. Later, Rogers bought a sheep ranch near San Diego.
In 1871, he built a new home at Chaparral and Cooper’s Alley, but before he could move in a fire destroyed the building. Rogers had a second home built exactly like the first, and then went about organizing the city’s first fire department, the Pioneer Fire Company.
William Long Rogers died on Dec. 17, 1877, at the age of 56, a full 31 years after his throat was cut on the banks of the Arroyo Colorado. Billy was buried in Bay View Cemetery. Many of his descendants still live in South Texas today.
