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022 - Last Scoutings · Six Years with the Texas Rangers, 1875 to 1881

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  Speaker 1: Chapter nineteen of Six Years with the Texas Rangers eighteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy five to eighteen eighty one. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read
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  Speaker 1: by Granville Penn. Six Years with the Texas Rangers eighteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy five to eighteen eighty one by James B. Gillette,
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  Speaker 1: Last Scoutings. During the summer of eighteen eighty one, Captain
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  Speaker 1: Baylor's company made several scouts out to the Sacramento and
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  Speaker 1: Guadalupe Mountains. These were reported to the Adjutan General as
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  Speaker 1: scouts after Indians, but there were no more Redskins in
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  Speaker 1: Texas for the Rangers had done their work effectively. These
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  Speaker 1: expeditions were therefore more in the nature of outings for
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  Speaker 1: the boys, and it was quite a pleasure to get
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  Speaker 1: away from camp in the hot Rio Grande Valley and
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  Speaker 1: scout in those high mountains covered with tall pine timber
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  Speaker 1: that teemed with game such as deer, bear and wild turkey.
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  Speaker 1: The plains between the Guadalupe Mountains and Letta contained hundreds
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  Speaker 1: of antelope, thus affording the Rangers the best of sport.
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  Speaker 1: Turning over the pages of my old scrap book, I
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  Speaker 1: find this little announcement taken from the al Paso Times.
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Baylor and twenty of his rangers have just returned
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  Speaker 1: from a scout in the Guadalupe Mountains in which they
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  Speaker 1: killed twenty five turkeys, fifteen deer, and two antelope. On
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  Speaker 1: one of these hunting expeditions, we had with us George Lloyd,
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  Speaker 1: who had been a ranger under Lieutenant Tes when his
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  Speaker 1: company was first mustered into service in al Paso County.
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  Speaker 1: We camped at Los Carnuvas, and here Lloyd had had
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  Speaker 1: an engagement with Indians. He went over the ground and
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  Speaker 1: gave us an interesting account of his fight. He said,
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  Speaker 1: there were but twelve men in the scout, including Lieutenant Tyes,
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  Speaker 1: in marching from Crow Springs to Lost Carnuvas, a distance
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  Speaker 1: of thirty miles. Six of the rangers were riding nearly
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  Speaker 1: a mile ahead of the others, and on approaching Lost Carnuvas,
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  Speaker 1: made for some tinahas water holes up in those mountains.
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  Speaker 1: They rode around a point of rocks and met face
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  Speaker 1: to face some ten or twelve Indians coming out from
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  Speaker 1: the water Indians and rangers were within forty feet before
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  Speaker 1: they discovered each other's presence, and pale face and redskin
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  Speaker 1: literally fell off their horses. The Indians seeking cover in
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  Speaker 1: the rocks above the trail, while five of the rangers
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  Speaker 1: turned a somersault into a friendly arroyo. A ranger said
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  Speaker 1: to be a Russian nobleman and niolist, was killed early
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  Speaker 1: in the fight and buried on the spot where he fell.
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  Speaker 1: A headboard was placed to mark the grave, but the
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  Speaker 1: Indians soon defaced it by hacking at it with their
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  Speaker 1: knives whenever they passed the spot. Though he could have
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  Speaker 1: had splendid cover, the Russians stood upright according to the
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  Speaker 1: etiquette prevailing among British officers in the trans vall and
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  Speaker 1: was shot through the brain. In dismounting, Lloyd held onto
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  Speaker 1: the end of a thirty foot stake rope that was
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  Speaker 1: tied around his horse's neck. Four of the dismounted scout
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  Speaker 1: wriggled their way down the creek and got away. In
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  Speaker 1: reloading his winds after shooting it empty, Lloyd unfortunately slipped
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  Speaker 1: a forty five Colt's pistol cartridge into the magazine of
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  Speaker 1: his forty four Winchester, and in attempting to throw a
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  Speaker 1: cartridge into his gun, it jammed, catching him in a
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  Speaker 1: serious predicament. However, taking his knife from his pocket, this
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  Speaker 1: fearless ranger coolly removed the screw that held the side
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  Speaker 1: plates of his Winchester. Together, took off the plates, removed
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  Speaker 1: the offending cartridge, replaced the plates, tightened up the screw,
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  Speaker 1: reloaded his gun, and began firing. It takes a man
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  Speaker 1: with iron nerve to do a thing like that, and
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  Speaker 1: you meet such a one, but once in a lifetime.
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  Speaker 1: Is it any wonder then that when I cast around
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  Speaker 1: for a man to go into Mexico with me to
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  Speaker 1: kidnap Baka, I selected Lloyd out of the twenty men
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  Speaker 1: in camp. Seeing that the Russian was dead and his
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  Speaker 1: companion's gone, Lloyd crawled back down the arroyo, pulling his
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  Speaker 1: horse along the bank above until he was out of danger.
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  Speaker 1: The five rangers' horses, knowing where the water was, went
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  Speaker 1: right up into the rocks, where they were captured Saddles,
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  Speaker 1: bridles and all by the Indians. The Redskins, as soon
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  Speaker 1: as Lloyd was gone, came out of hiding took the
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  Speaker 1: Russians Winchester and pistol and left. Lloyd was the only
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  Speaker 1: man of the six to save his horse for the Indians,
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  Speaker 1: with their needle guns high up in the rocks held
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  Speaker 1: to Tenantze and the remainder of his force at Bay.
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  Speaker 1: In the latter part of the summer of eighteen eighty one,
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  Speaker 1: Captain Baylor moved his company of rangers from Yusleta to
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  Speaker 1: a site three miles below El Paso. While camped there,
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  Speaker 1: the captain was warned by the sheriff of Tombstone, Arizona,
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  Speaker 1: to be on the lookout for four San Simone balley
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  Speaker 1: wrestlers supposed to be a part of Curly Bill's gang.
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  Speaker 1: The robber's names were given as Charlie and Frank Baker,
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  Speaker 1: Billy Morgan, and a fourth person supposed to be Curly
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  Speaker 1: Bill himself. These outlaws had stolen sixteen big work mules
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  Speaker 1: and four horses at a wood camp some twelve miles
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  Speaker 1: from Tombstone. They had also robbed a store and assaulting
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  Speaker 1: the proprietor with pistols, left him for dead. A five
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  Speaker 1: hundred dollars reward was offered for the capture of the
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  Speaker 1: desperadoes and the stolen stock the robbers trail led down
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  Speaker 1: into New Mexico, and it was believed Curly Bill and
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  Speaker 1: his gang were headed for Western Texas, where they would
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  Speaker 1: try to dispose of their stolen stock at some of
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  Speaker 1: the railroad grading camps near Ala Passo. Captain Baylor at
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  Speaker 1: once ordered me to take seven men and five days
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  Speaker 1: rations and scout up the Rio Grande to the fine
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  Speaker 1: of New Mexico for the bandit's trail, and if I
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  Speaker 1: found it, to follow it up. I worked up the
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  Speaker 1: river but found no trail. Neither could I learn anything
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  Speaker 1: about any strange men driving stock through the country. My
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  Speaker 1: time was nearly up, and I concluded to return to
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  Speaker 1: camp through a gap in the Franklin Mountains, some thirty
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  Speaker 1: or forty miles north of El Paso. We left the
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  Speaker 1: Rio Grande late in the evening, passed out through the gap,
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  Speaker 1: and made a dry camp on the plains east of
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  Speaker 1: the mountains. Early the following morning, we rode to a
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  Speaker 1: watering place known as Monday Springs and stopped for breakfast. Here,
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  Speaker 1: the boys discovered some horse and mule tracks. At first
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  Speaker 1: we thought nothing of this, supposing the trail had been
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  Speaker 1: made by some loose stock grazing near the water from
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  Speaker 1: Monday Springs. A dim road led along the east side
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  Speaker 1: of the mountains to El Paso, and we took this
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  Speaker 1: route home. Before we had traveled very far, we noticed
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  Speaker 1: that some of the stock was traveling the same road,
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  Speaker 1: though even then I never suspected that these tracks might
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  Speaker 1: be the trail of the bandits for whom we were scouting.
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  Speaker 1: Finally we came to footprints made by some men as
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  Speaker 1: they adjusted their saddles or tightened their packs. It here
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  Speaker 1: dawned upon me that the tracks might have been made
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  Speaker 1: by the parties we wanted. I thereupon followed the trail carefully,
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  Speaker 1: and it led me through what is today the most
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  Speaker 1: beautiful residential portion of the city of El Paso. The
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  Speaker 1: tracks led to a big campyard were now stands the
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  Speaker 1: five hundred thousand dollar Federal Building and post office. In
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  Speaker 1: the description of the stolen stock, we were told one
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  Speaker 1: of the mules carried a small Swiss stock bell. As
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  Speaker 1: I neared the wagon yard, I heard the tinkle of
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  Speaker 1: this bell and felt sure we had tracked our quarry.
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  Speaker 1: We dismounted, and, with our winchesters cocked and ready for action,
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  Speaker 1: our little party of rangers slipped quickly inside the large
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  Speaker 1: corral gate, and within ten feet of it we came
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  Speaker 1: upon three heavily armed men bending over a fire, cooking
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  Speaker 1: their breakfast. Their guns were leaning against the adobe fence
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  Speaker 1: near at hand, so the surprise was complete. The outlaws
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  Speaker 1: rose to their feet and attempted to get their guns,
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  Speaker 1: but my men held their cocked winchesters at their breasts.
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  Speaker 1: I told our captives that we were rangers, ordered to
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  Speaker 1: arrest them, and demanded their surrender. The robbers were undecided
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  Speaker 1: what to do. They were afraid to pull their pistols
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  Speaker 1: or seize their guns, yet they refused to hold up
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  Speaker 1: their hands. Finally, one of the Baker brothers turned slightly
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  Speaker 1: toward me and said they would rather be shot down
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  Speaker 1: and killed than give up surrender men death anyway. I
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  Speaker 1: thereupon answered that we had no desire to hurt them,
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  Speaker 1: but declared that the least attempt to pull a gun
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  Speaker 1: would mean instant death to them all, and again ordered
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  Speaker 1: them to raise their hands. They slowly obeyed. I stepped
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  Speaker 1: up to them, unbuckled their belts, and took their weapons in.
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  Speaker 1: Looking over their camp, I found four saddles in winchesters.
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  Speaker 1: But I had captured only three men. I mentioned this
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  Speaker 1: fact to the prisoners, and they laughingly said one of
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  Speaker 1: their number had stepped down town to get a package
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  Speaker 1: of coffee, had probably noticed our presence and let out.
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  Speaker 1: The two Baker boys and Billy Morgan were the men captured,
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  Speaker 1: and I asked if the missing man was Curly Bill himself.
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  Speaker 1: They replied it was not, but refused to tell who
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  Speaker 1: the fourth member of their party was, as we had
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  Speaker 1: no description of him, and he was on foot in
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  Speaker 1: a town full of armed men. We had no means
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  Speaker 1: of identifying him, and he was never captured. From the
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  Speaker 1: captured robbers we learned that they had run out of provisions,
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  Speaker 1: and for this reason they had not camped at Monday Springs.
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  Speaker 1: They had risen early and come into El Paso for breakfast.
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  Speaker 1: They declared it was a good thing for us that
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  Speaker 1: they had built their campfires so near the gate, for
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  Speaker 1: had they been thirty feet from it, they would have
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  Speaker 1: put up a fight. We should have remembered for a
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  Speaker 1: long time. I replied that the eight of us could
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  Speaker 1: have held our own no matter where they had camped.
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  Speaker 1: These robbers were held in our camp some ten days
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  Speaker 1: or more until the proper extradition papers could be had
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  Speaker 1: from the state capitol at Austin, as they refused to
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  Speaker 1: be taken back to Arizona without the proper authority. They
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  Speaker 1: owned horses, which they gave to some lawyers in Alpasso
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  Speaker 1: to prevent their being taken back to the scene of
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  Speaker 1: their crimes. We secured all the stolen stock, sixteen mules
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  Speaker 1: and four horses. The owners came and claimed them and
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  Speaker 1: paid the rangers two hundred dollars, and the Arizona sheriff
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  Speaker 1: paid a like amount for the capture of the rustlers.
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  Speaker 1: Our rangers became well acquainted with these thieves while we
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  Speaker 1: held them in our camp. The robbers admitted they were
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  Speaker 1: going under resumed names and said they were Texans, but
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  Speaker 1: refused to say from what part of the state they came.
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  Speaker 1: The three of them were taken back to Arizona, tried
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  Speaker 1: for assault to kill and the theft of the horses
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  Speaker 1: at Tombstone, and sent to the prison at Yuma for
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  Speaker 1: twenty five years. They frequently wrote to our boys from
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  Speaker 1: there and seemed to hold no grudge against us for
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  Speaker 1: capturing them. The scout to capture these men was the
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  Speaker 1: last one of importance I took part in, for my
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  Speaker 1: work with the Rangers was now growing toward its close.
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  Speaker 1: In the fall of eighteen eighty one, Captain Baylor received
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  Speaker 1: word from Israel, King of Cambray, New Mexico, that a
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  Speaker 1: band of thieves had stolen a bunch of cattle from him,
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  Speaker 1: and at last reports were headed toward al Paso with them.
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  Speaker 1: With a detail of four men, I was ordered to
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  Speaker 1: make a scout up the river and into the Canutios
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  Speaker 1: to intercept the rustlers. After traveling some ten miles up
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  Speaker 1: the Rio Grande, we crossed the river into New Mexico
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  Speaker 1: to get on more even ground. Some eighteen miles above
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  Speaker 1: al Paso, we found the trail of the stolen stock
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  Speaker 1: and followed it back across the Rio Grande into Texas.
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  Speaker 1: While working our way along the trail through almost impassable brush,
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  Speaker 1: we entered a small glade and came upon the stolen
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  Speaker 1: stock quietly grazing. On the opposite side of them, a
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  Speaker 1: Mexican with a winchester stood guard while his horse grazed nearby.
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  Speaker 1: The guard fired on us as he ran to his horse,
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  Speaker 1: and we were compelled to run around the cattle to
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  Speaker 1: get to the thief. We fired our guns as we ran,
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  Speaker 1: and this sudden noise frightened a loose pony, so the
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  Speaker 1: fugitive was unable to mount. He was then forced to
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  Speaker 1: dive into the brush on foot. Knowing we could make
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  Speaker 1: no headway through the heavy Tornea basque, we dismounted and
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  Speaker 1: charged it on foot. The fleeing Mexican undertook to run
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  Speaker 1: through a muddy sloth formed by backwater from the Rio Grande.
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  Speaker 1: Here he bogged, but extracting himself, he backed out the
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  Speaker 1: way he had entered and found safety in the friendly brush.
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  Speaker 1: And running to where he was last seen, we found
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  Speaker 1: his gun abandoned in the mud. Some twenty or thirty
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  Speaker 1: shots were fired at him, and while none found the mark,
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  Speaker 1: we captured his winchester, his pony, and thirty six head
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  Speaker 1: of stolen cattle, and gave him a scare that he
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  Speaker 1: will remember so long as he lives. The cattle will
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  Speaker 1: return to mister King, who kindly presented us with two
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  Speaker 1: hundred dollars for their recovery. We learned later that Frank Stevenson,
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  Speaker 1: a notorious wrestler who as rendezvous was in this Canyuatillo brush,
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  Speaker 1: had stolen these cattle and had left the Mexican in
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  Speaker 1: charge of them while he had gone into El Paso
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  Speaker 1: to effect their sale. As described in a previous chapter,
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  Speaker 1: I finally captured Stevenson and he was sent to the
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  Speaker 1: penitentiary for fifteen years for horse stealing. His capture and
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  Speaker 1: imprisonment broke up the Canyatillo gang, and today, forty years
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  Speaker 1: after his arrest, the upper Rio Grande Valley is almost
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  Speaker 1: an Eden on Earth, with its fine apple and peach orchards,
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  Speaker 1: its alfalfa fields, big dairy herds, and elegant homes. It
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  Speaker 1: is one of the beauty spots adjacent to the now
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  Speaker 1: fine city of El Paso. The Santa Fe Railroad traverses
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  Speaker 1: this valley and I sometimes travel over it. As I
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  Speaker 1: sit in an easy seat in the pullman and look
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  Speaker 1: out over the country, I always reflect on the past
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  Speaker 1: and wonder how many of its president inhabitants know what
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  Speaker 1: a wilderness and what a rendezvous it once was for
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  Speaker 1: all kinds of cutthroats, cattle thieves and murderers. While the
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  Speaker 1: Rangers were camped near al Paso during the fall of
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  Speaker 1: eighteen one, I met Captain Thatcher, then Division Superintendent of
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  Speaker 1: the Santa Fe Railroad, he told me, because of the
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  Speaker 1: stage and train robberies in New Mexico and Arizona, the
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  Speaker 1: railroad and the Wells Fargo Express companies feared that their
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  Speaker 1: trains would be held up near al Paso. To protect themselves,
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  Speaker 1: they had therefore decided to place armed guards of three
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  Speaker 1: men on the main line of the Santa Fe to
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  Speaker 1: run between Deming and Las Vegas, New Mexico, and a
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  Speaker 1: similar guard on the branch from al Paso, Texas to Rincon,
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  Speaker 1: New Mexico. Captain Thatcher had known me as a ranger,
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  Speaker 1: and my kidnapping of anafri obaca out of Mexico had
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  Speaker 1: won me no little notoriety, so he now offered me
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  Speaker 1: a position with the railroad company as captain of the guard,
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  Speaker 1: at a salary of one hundred and fifty dollars per month.
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  Speaker 1: I would be allowed to select my own men for
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  Speaker 1: guards and would be responsible for their acts. I requested
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  Speaker 1: time to consider the proposition. While the position as captain
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  Speaker 1: of the railroad guard might not be permanent, might not
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  Speaker 1: hold out more than six months, Yet the salary attack
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  Speaker 1: was exactly three times what I received from the state
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  Speaker 1: of Texas. As sergeant of rangers. I discussed Thatcher's offer
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  Speaker 1: with Captain Baylor, and finally prevailed upon him to give
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  Speaker 1: me my discharge. And on the twenty sixth of December
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  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty one, after serving the State of Texas as
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  Speaker 1: a ranger for six years and seven months, I laid
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  Speaker 1: down my Winchester with the satisfied consciousness that I had
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  Speaker 1: done my duty. Ever, my term of service embraced one
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  Speaker 1: of the happiest portions of my life, and recollections of
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  Speaker 1: my ranger days are among my most cherished memories, among
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  Speaker 1: my dearest possessions. Though preserved in an old scrap book,
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  Speaker 1: is my discharge. It reads, simply discharge. This is to
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  Speaker 1: certify that James B. Gillette, first sergeant of Captain George W.
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  Speaker 1: Baylor's Company A of the Frontier Battalion of the State
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  Speaker 1: of Texas, is hereby honorably discharged from the service of
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  Speaker 1: the State by reason of his own request. I take
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  Speaker 1: great pleasure in testifying to his uniform, good conduct, and
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  Speaker 1: gallant service in my company given at al Paso, Texas.
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  Speaker 1: This the twenty sixth day of December eighteen eighty one.
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  Speaker 1: George W. Baylor, Commanding company. The personnel of Captain Baylor's
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  Speaker 1: company changed rapidly, so that at the time of my
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  Speaker 1: discharge there was scarcely a man in the company that
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  Speaker 1: had served longer than six months. There was therefore no
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  Speaker 1: wrenching or straining of strong friendship ties when I left
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  Speaker 1: the command, save only for my leaving of Captain Baylor.
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  Speaker 1: To part from him did indeed make me feel sad.
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  Speaker 1: My farewell and departure was simple and unimpressive. I sat
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  Speaker 1: down with my comrades for a last ranger dinner of beans, bacon, bread,
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  Speaker 1: and black coffee. After the meal, I arose from the table,
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  Speaker 1: shook hands with Captain Baylor, and the boys, mounted my horse,
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  Speaker 1: and rode away from the ranger camp forever. Yet, though
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  Speaker 1: my term of actual service was over, and though I
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  Speaker 1: had garnered a host of memory reason experiences, I had
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  Speaker 1: not quite finished with the Rangers. I had not gathered
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  Speaker 1: all the fruits of my rangership. An appointment to the
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  Speaker 1: police force of El Paso, in the vicinity of which
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  Speaker 1: city I had so often scouted. End of Chapter nineteen