secluded as it was, became their main inlet to the town. It was a sheltered road, never traveled at night by whites, so the Indians claimed right of way, and all full moons brought moccasin tracks in abundance". Abduction of Simpson Children If Mount Bonnell was on an Indian trail into Austin, it was also a trail out, as illustrated in another story included in Wilbarger's book, Indian Depredations of Texas. In 1842, a Mrs. Simpson living on that very same street as Julia Lee Sinks, West Pecan, about three blocks west of Congress, had two children – a daughter 14, a son 12—abducted by Indians while the children were in the adjacent "valley" (Shoal Creek). Wilbarger says that at that time there were no houses there. The Indians "seized the children, mounted their horses and made off for the mountains going in the direction of Mt. Bonnell". A posse was raised and gave pursuit. Wilbarger then says "At one time the citizens came within sight of the redskins just before reaching Mt. Bonnell, but the Indians, after arriving at the place, passed on just beyond to the top of the mountain, which being rocky, the citizens lost the trail and were never able to find where the savages went down the mountain". The Simpson girl was killed, but the boy survived and was later "traded off to some Indian traders, who returned him to his mother". It is because the boy survived and was returned home that we know what happened after the posse lost the trail of the Indians on Mount Bonnell. From Mt. Bonnell they stopped at Spicewood Springs, "which is situated in the edge of the mountains". This is where the Simpson girl was killed. Spicewood Springs is located about 5 miles north of Mount Bonnell, at the present day intersections of Mopac Expressway and Spicewood Springs Road. Origin of the name Mount Bonnell is generally believed to have been named after early Texas newspaper publisher George W. Bonnell, who moved to Texas in 1836. George W. Bonnell was publisher of the local paper The Texas Sentinel and was prominent in early Texas and Travis County (Austin) affairs after the War for Independence. Though sources have long credited George Bonnell as the mountain's namesake, Albert Sidney Johnston may have named Mount Bonnell in present-day Austin for his friend and fellow West Point graduate Joseph Bonnell, who