The Mexican Cemetery
near Helena, Texas

One the road to Panna Maria, you'll pass a cemetery on your right. This small, but well-populated cemetery had a poignant founding.

Three year-old Christobal Guerra Jr. was bringing water to his father while he was plowing a field for the landowner. Somehow his presence frightened the animals pulling the plow and the boy was trampled to death in front of his father.

The boy was buried where he died and the landlowner donated the site for a cemetery. Over the years it more and more graves were added. The migrant workers from Mexico who worked on the ranches and farms of Karnes County and had the misfortune of dying far from home at least had a way to be together in death.

The photo above shows a shed erected in memory of the child. The complete story is told in a newspaper article from the Victoria Advocate that someone has mounted under glass in the open shed.

© John Troesser
Our thanks to Mike Parker of Apex, N.C. for corrections to this page. - Editor