DUANE
Duane's take
The marker tells it this way, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. Out in Houston County, there's a marker that carries one of the darker names you'll come across on a Texas roadside — the Edens-Madden Massacre. And the story it tells is one of those that doesn't let go easy.
This was the 1830s. The able-bodied men of the settlement were away — out fighting Indians. That left behind six or seven women, some young children, and four elderly men.
Most of them relatives. They were gathered at the home of John Edens, about two and a half miles southwest of where that marker stands today. Now, you can imagine the quiet of a place like that.
Women, children, old men. Waiting. The kind of waiting that sits heavy.
The Indians attacked. Several women were killed. And then the house was set on fire.
The four elderly men got out. A four-year-old boy named Balis Madden got out. A little girl got out too.
Two women — Mrs. James Madden and Mrs. Robert Madden — were wounded, but they survived.
As for the others? The marker says the Indians may have carried off some of the missing. And the fire, well, the fire burned several bodies.
There's one more name the marker gives us, and it deserves to be said clearly. A woman named Patsy — or Betsy — a Negro woman, went in among the chaos and rescued some of the survivors. The marker doesn't give her a last name.
It doesn't give her much. But it gives her that — and out here on a Texas back road, more than a hundred and thirty years later, that's the name that stays with you.
What the marker says
A famous tragedy of the 1830s. While able-bodied men where away fighting Indians, six or seven women, some young children, and four elderly men -- most of them relatives -- were at the home of John Edens (2.4 mi. SW of here). Indians attacked, killing several women and setting fire to the house. The men, 4-year-old Balis Madden, and a little girl escaped. Two wounded women, Mrs. James Madden and Mrs. Robert Madden, managed to survive. The Indians may have carried off some of the missing; the fire burned several bodies. Patsy, or Betsy, a Negro woman, rescued some of the survivors. (1971)