Part 4, Note 38

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Colorado County Deed Records, Book G, pp. 152, 154, 183. See also Dewees, Letters from an Early Settler of Texas, p. 307, wherein he comments, in a "letter" dated January 3, 1850, "The Germans and Americans seem to keep themselves aloof from each other." A probably false story about Muckleroy and his slaves is still sometimes heard in the north part of the county. The story goes that Muckleroy was so proud of a new rifle that he had just purchased that he bet a man, to whom he had been bragging about it, that with it he could shoot one of his slaves off his roof, which was at a considerable distance. The man, the story goes on, took the bet, and Muckleroy killed the slave with one shot. Moral considerations notwithstanding, it is difficult to imagine Muckleroy picking so valuable a target for his test when he might have easily picked some inanimate object. The story is probably indicative of the attitude that Muckleroy's German contemporaries had toward both him and toward slavery.