them to accompany
him in his search for the murderers.

Hobbs and his men cheerfully accepted the invitation, and in about
four days met the band of cut-throats on the broad Trail, they little
dreaming that the government had taken a hand in the matter. The band
tried to escape by flight, but Hobbs shot the doctor's horse from under
him, and a soldier killed another member of the band, when the remainder
surrendered.

The money, about twelve or fifteen thousand dollars,[24] was all
recovered, and the murderers taken to St. Louis, where some were hung
and some imprisoned, the doctor escaping the death penalty by turning
state's evidence. His sentence was incarceration in the penitentiary,
from which he was pardoned after remaining there two years. Hobbs met
the doctor some years after in San Francisco. He was then leading an
honest life, publishing a newspaper, and begged his captor not to expose
him.

The money taken from the robbers was placed in charge of Colonel
Owens, a friend of the Chavez family and a leading Santa Fe trader. He
continued on to the river, purchased a stock of goods, and sent back the
caravan to Santa Fe in charge of Doctor Conley of Boonville, Missouri.

Arriving at his destination, the widow of the deceased Chavez employed
the good doctor to sell the goods and take the sole supervision of her
immense business interests, and there is a touch of romance attached to
the terrible Kansas tragedy, which lies in the fact that the doctor in
about two years married the rich widow, and lived very happily for about
a decade, dying then on one of the large estates in New Mexico, which he
had acquired by his fortunate union with the amiable Mexican lady.

CHAPTER VII. MEXICO DECLARES WAR.

Mexico declared war against the United States in April, 1846. In the
following May, Congress passed an act authorizing the President to call
into the field fifty thousand volunteers, designed to operate against
Mexico at three distinct points, and consisting of the Southern Wing,
or the Army of Occupation, the Army of the Centre, and the Army of the
West, the latter to direct its march upon the city of Santa Fe. The
original plan was, however, somewhat changed, and General Kearney, who
commanded the Army of the West, divided his forces into three separate
commands. The first he led in person to the Pacific coast. One thousand
volunteers, under command of Colonel A. W. Doniphan, were to make a
descent upon t