That "greased sock" quote has me wondering whether he used a rendered fat, or actual "Axle Grease" from Pennsylvania,....honest to God bitumen crude.
A common "remedy", as was kerosene.
I can sympathize with the folks who relieved him of his scalp, being somewhat disenchanted with the average "real estate" / property pimp type from the get go.
GTC
I'd bet that it was bear grease. Bears were very abundant in Texas in the early days of settlement, especially east of the Balcones fault. My old friends, Joe Truett and Dan Lay, titled their book about the natural history of eastern Texas, "The Land of Bears and Honey".
