Several Anglo witnesses to the massacre of fifteen men and children in Porvenir, for example, refused to stay quiet. Robert Keil was a young U.S. Army cavalryman stationed nearby who was tasked with helping the Texas Rangers round up the men of Porvenir for questioning about an incident in which a bank was robbed and three Anglos were killed. The Rangers then sent Keil and his fellow soldiers miles away. After the soldiers heard gunshots in the distance, their commander ordered them to return, where they discovered lifeless, mangled bodies and screaming women and children. Keil later wrote a memoir, published posthumously thanks to the efforts of his daughter, who recalled how the murder of people he regarded as friends tormented him for the rest of his life.

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