Col. Kinney soon afterwards turned up at Corpus Christi, Texas. His career thenceforth has become a portion of the history of that State, of the Mexican War, and of Central America.
Among the motley crowd who were gathered at Peru in 1838 was a man named A. H. Miller. His usual cognomen was "Old Kentuck." He dressed in the full splendor of a five-year-gone-by fashion, wore high top boots of brilliant colors, drawn over his pantaloons, with tassels pendant nearly to the scrupulously polished bottoms, and ruffle shirts which the drippings of frequent potations soon soiled, and was generally superbly mounted, the trappings of his horse being gaudy as those of a Field Marshal. He was of Herculean frame--over six feet in height--and always went armed with a brace of revolvers, one on each side, their hilts protruding ostentatiously in sight, a ponderous Bowie knife down his back, a dagger in his belt, and a pocket pistol in his right breeches-pocket which he christened "little Betsey," and upon which was inscribed, "hark from the tombs"--in short he was a complete moving arsenal. Upon the slightest provocation, he would assume the most belligerent attitude and diabolical frown, set his teeth in menacing rigidity, and fumble among his tools, which sent forth certain ominous little clicks. Many was the eye that quailed and cheek that blanched before this personification of rage and power. At length some of the "boys" bethought themselves of the old adage about barking dogs, and concluded to try his mettle. The result was that he displayed the white feather and turned tails to, as the saying is, amid the jeers and taunts of the by-standers. From that moment his prestige was gone, and ever afterwards he "roared as gently as a sucking dove." Those who had quailed before his wrath took ample revenge by bullying him upon every occasion.
The most noticeable places in the neighborhood are Starved Rock, Deer Park and the Sulphur Springs. The following account of the first of these is from Perkin's Annals.
Starved Rock, near the foot of the rapids of the Illinois, is a perpendicular mass of lime and sand stone washed by the current at its base and elevated one hundred and fifty feet. The diameter of its surface is about one hundred feet, with a slope extending to the adjoining bluff from which alone it is accessible.