From February 1889 until the summer of 1891 a clandestine organization of night riders known as Las Gorras Blancas cut the fences and burned the barns of ranchers enclosing the Las Vegas Land Grant commons and destroyed railroad ties and burned bridges in a related effort to disrupt the…
This is a first-hand account of the 1901 trial for the murder of Colonel Fountaine and his young son Henry. This interview was taken by Frances E. Totty as part of the Federal Writers' Project. The Project was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) under the New Deal. Interviews with…
In the Christmas Day pardon of Macario Leyba in 1907, Territorial New Mexico’s Governor George Curry explained that the custom of granting what he called “Holiday Pardons” to deserving inmates of the Territorial Penitentiary in Santa Fe had been found to have “excellent moral effect in that institution.” Gender,…
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Western History which has captured the imagination of the American people has been the problem of law enforcement. Seemingly, few aspects of this field remain to be covered. The colorful sheriffs and marshalls of Tombstone, Dodge City and Topeka have been duly enshrined…
In 1878, Lincoln County, New Mexico, was the scene of a ferocious war between the partisans of Lawrence C. Murphy, James J. Dolan and John H. Riley on one side and those of Alexander A. McSween and John S. Chisum on the other. New Mexico Historical Review July 1965,…
WPA Writers Project Interview with Elfego Baca By Janet Smith for the WPA Writer's Project "I never wanted to kill anybody," Elfego Baca told me, "but if a man had it in his mind to kill me, I made it my business to get him first." Elfego Baca belongs…
By Rick Hendricks Ulysses S. Grant once ran for governor of New Mexico. No, not that Ulysses S. Grant! The would-be governor was born Donald R. Waskey to Calvin and Margaret Waskey in Baltimore, Maryland, about 1938. Waskey apparently entered the Air Force and became a nuclear weapons mechanical…
By Malcolm Ebright Kirby Benedict (1811-1874) was born in Kent, Connecticut and grew up near the first law school established in the American colonies, the Litchfield Law School. He did not attend Litchfield, whose register of students included many prominent lawyers to be. Instead, Benedict studied law under John…
Banishment During the Spanish Period in New Mexico: The Case of Reymundo Baca Valencia By J. Richard Salazar On March 18, 1765, Antonia Martin, resident of the Puesto of Nuestra Senora de la Soledad del Rio Arriba (the present day community of Alcalde), appeared before Alcalde Mayor of Santa…
By Donald R. Moorman Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Western History that has captured the imagination of the American people has been the problem of law enforcement. Seemingly, few aspects of this field remain to be covered. The colorful sheriffs and marshals of Tombstone, Dodge City and Topeka…
