Almost all of the first log cabins were built around the the town square in the midst of heavy post oak timber. At the time Stephenville was the farthest west of Euro-American settlement “on the waters of the Brazos,” located on an old bison trail that ran from present Brownwood to Fort Worth, and beyond, now highway 377. Game was plentiful with bison within three miles of town and there were fish and large alligators in the Bosque River. (no kidding about the alligators, they were hunted out in just a couple of years, but they came back upstream during floods until the dams were built at Waco in the 1920s) The peaceful relations with Jose Maria’s Anadarkos established by the Black family, only lasted a couple of years. There was an incident that was responsible of a period of violent attacks by the Comanches. The Anadarkos, who lived on a Reservation near Fort Belknap, were permitted to hunt near Stephenville. They were friendly with the immigrants but, fierce enemies of the Comanches and usually protected the settlements from Comanche attacks. Red Jack was an Anadarko known to Stephenville residents as a decent man who never touched alcohol until the fall of 1857, when he left his rifle and bow at a pair of post oaks at the present TSU dining hall and rode into the Stephenville village. For some reason, Red Jack bought a fifty-cent bottle of whiskey and became so drunk that he was asked to leave town. On his way back to his gear, he saw a log cabin and decided to try to ride his horse inside. No one was home except a terrified and sick mother and her sixteen-year old son. The boy snapped the capped but unloaded revolver chamber at Red Jack. Stupefied by drink, the Indian panicked and pulled a knife, causing the boy to load a live round and shoot him. Red Jack remained on his horse , falling off dead before reaching the tree and his gear, which wasn’t found for two more years. Because of the fearful Anadarko reputation as fighters, the terrified residents laid his body in state, in a store for as long as the smell allowed before burying him at the present location of the highway 377 bridge to Fort Worth. Jose Maria and one hundred warriors showed up in Stephenville, and while being offered food, they listened to the story and left. The Anadarkos withdrew their protection and a month later, Comanche attacks began. The raids lasted from 1857 to 1859, were carried out by Northern Comanches, with probably a few from the Texas Reservation joining them.