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1974 San Antonio Light Woolford's Tales — Panchita Jasso folklore on Delaware Street

Sam Woolford’s Woolford’s Tales column retells Mama Panchita Amalla Jasso folklore (born Nuevo Laredo, 20 November 1880, nearly 94 in 1974) as narrated by her son Chris, who lives with her on Delaware Street — Lipan Apache “automatic dish washing” story set on a Mexican ranch c. 1901.

Transcription

Woolford’s Tales: Folklore Story to Remember — By SAM WOOLFORD

Talked in Hand Signs

Mama Panchita Amalla Jasso was born in Nuevo Laredo on November 20, 1880. Her son Chris, who lives with her on Delaware Street, tells how she befriended four Apache families near a ranch southwest of Nuevo Laredo around 1901 — communicating in hand signs and broken Spanish, sharing cheese, corn bread, and piloncillo, and lending a metate. Uncle Pancho, a blacksmith and bull trainer, owned a large bull horn used to signal for help.

Dropped a Fat Deer

The “automatic dish washing machine” Panchita had in 1901, Chris explained, was two Lipan Apache maidens who, on hearing Uncle Pancho’s bull horn, would ride to the ranch and wash and put away every dish left outside before Rurales or other visitors arrived — Lipan Apaches who had been quartered at the Alamo Mission but ran away, distinct from Mescalero or White Mountain bands.

[Column continues with ranch, revolution, and family oral-history detail in two columns.]

Source

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