Sheriff issues first wanted poster

By Carlos Armintor
The Facts
Published February 17, 2003

An attempted jail break by Brazoria County’s most infamous prisoner led to the issuance of the first wanted poster in the Republic of Texas.

In September 1836 Sheriff James Calder posted a wanted poster with a $200 reward at the office of a newspaper in Columbia for the capture of Bartolome Pages.

The fugitive had escaped from captivity. He was being held prisoner for plotting to help Mexican General Santa Anna escape from captivity.

However, it might have not been a real plot to help the defeated general escape, but a con artist’s scheme to scam him.

Ron Livingston, a member of the Brazoria County Historical Commission, said the reward poster was the first issued because the Republic of Texas had only recently formed.

“The republic had only come into being,” Livingston said. “They had their hands tied with winning the revolution. They just really didn’t have time to be issuing writs.”

When Santa Anna and the Mexican Army were defeated at the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836, the general became a prisoner of war. While some wanted him dead for tragedies at Goliad and the Alamo, others, including Texas General Sam Houston, wanted to use their position over him to negotiate a treaty with Mexico.

In May 1836, Santa Anna signed the Treaties of Velasco and he was allowed to return to Mexico. However, some had other ideas for the general. About 130 men met Santa Anna at the port of Velasco and prevented his departure.

Those wanting to see the fruits of the treaties, though, took Santa Anna to Velasco where he was held captive for his own protection.

This is where the general and some of his officers met their would-be liberator, wrote W. Thomas Taylor in his book, “The Plot of Bartolome Pages.”

Pages owned a wine shop where Santa Anna and some of his officers were being held captive. Ramon Martinez Caro, Santa Anna’s secretary, told Pages he might improve his lot, if he helped the general escape, Taylor wrote.

The Mexican government agreed to give Pages $4,500 to buy a boat. Pages went to the Mexican Consul in New Orleans in July 1836, got the money and bought a boat named the Passaic, Taylor wrote.

Santa Anna was later taken to the Orozimbo Plantation, about 12 miles north of Columbia, to be held captive. Pages traveled up the Brazos River and landed with the Passaic at Columbia in August 1836. Pages then went to Orozimbo as a visitor.

Here the story has a plot twist as Pages told Caro that he couldn’t help with the escape. Pages told Caro his boat had been taken away from him and the distance of the plantation from the shore made the escape impossible, Taylor wrote.

One of the captors overhead the conversation and took Pages into custody. Informed of the news, Santa Anna was concerned about his money, but the Texans were concerned about the Passaic. The boat was confiscated and its crew arrested.

Livingston said it is possible Pages was trying to rip off the Mexican government and got caught up in the scheme.

“He was a stranger to them,” Livingston said. “They weren’t just going to give him $5,000. They probably made someone go with him. Then when he got back, he had no choice.”

Pages was taken to Brazoria where he was supposed to go before Judge Benjamin Franklin on Sept. 9. However, he escaped the night before.

In the wanted poster, Pages was described as a native of Spain who spoke English very badly. He had a light complexion and black hair, was under 25 years old and blinked his eyes when put in fear, the reward poster said.

Pages was captured a short time later and taken to Velasco. In December 1836, he wrote to Sam Houston complaining of his treatment in captivity and asking for mercy.

“And for what is stated above, I beseech Your Excellency to please order (through your kind heart for those in misfortune) that I be given some relief in my imprisonment, because I doubt that I shall survive long if I continue in this situation,” Pages wrote.

Pages was eventually released, although there is no record of it. Livingston said little is known about Pages after he left the area.

“He is alleged to have gone to Mexico City,” Livingston said. “From there, he falls off the pages of history.”

However, one page that remains is a record of the first wanted poster issued in Texas after it gained its independence.