Latest / Six Years with the Texas Rangers, 1875 to 1881 / 023 - Fruits of Ranger Service

Transcript

023 - Fruits of Ranger Service · Six Years with the Texas Rangers, 1875 to 1881

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty two of six Years with the Texas Rangers.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Read by John Brandon. Six Years
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: with the Texas Rangers eighteen seventy five to eighteen eighty
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: one by James B. Gillette, Chapter twenty two, Fruits of
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Rangers service. Early in the spring of eighteen eighty one,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the old town of El Paso awoke out of her
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: ripbend winkles sleep to find that four Grand Trunk railroad
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: lines Santa Fe, Southern Pacific g H and SSAY, and
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the Texas and Pacific were rapidly building toward her and
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: were certain to enter the town by the end of
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the year. Situated as it was, many hundreds of miles
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: from any other two, it was a foregone conclusion that
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: El Paso at the making of a great city and
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: was a fine field for investment bankers, merchants, capitalists, real
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: estate dealers, cattlemen, miners, railroad men, gamblers, saloon keepers, and
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: sporting people of both sexes flocked to the town. They
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: came in buggies, hacks, wagons, horseback, and even a foot
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: There was not half enough hotel accommodations to go around,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: so people just slept in eight at any old place.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: El Paso Street, the only business thoroughfare at that time,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: was flooded with crowds at night. There was not enough
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: room for people to walk on the sidewalks, and they
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: filled the streets. To me, it looked just like a
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: miniature midway at a world's fair. A saloon was opened
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: on almost every corner of the town, with many in between.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Each drinking place had a gambling house attached, where the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: crowds played faroe bank, matty, roulette, chacaluck, stud poker at
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: every gambling game on the calendar. If one wished a
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: seat at the gaming tables, he had to come early
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: or he could not get within thirty feet of them.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Two variety theaters, the Coliseum operated by the Manning Brothers,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the largest in the Southwest, and Jack Doyle's, were quickly opened.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: An election was called in El Paso and the city
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: was duly incorporated and a mayor and board of aldermen installed.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: George Campbell was elected city marshall and given one assistant,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Bill Johnson, the new marshal had come to El Paso
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: from Young County, Texas, where he had been a deputy sheriff.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Campbell had done some good detective work and was a
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: fairly good and efficient officer, but his assistant was much
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: below ordinary. The city marshal soon found that with but
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: one man to aid him, he had the biggest kind
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: of a job on his hands, with something doing every hour.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: In the twenty four Campbell decided he was not getting
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: enough pay for the work he had to do and
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: asked the city council for a raise in his salary,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: but the council refused it. The Marshal at once resigned
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: and left Bill Johnson to hold the town. Campbell was
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: very friendly with the sporting element in El Paso, especially
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: with the Manning brothers, who were running two saloons and
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: a big variety theater. Campbell and his friends decided to
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: use strategy to force the council to increase his salary
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: and plan to shoot up the town, thinking this would
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: cause the city fathers to reinstate Campbell in his old
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: position with a substantial increase in pay. At two o'clock
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: one morning, the town was shot up. Some three or
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: four hundred shots being fired promiscuously and with no attempt
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: to make arrests. The following morning, Mayor Magoffin sent a
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: hurry call to Captain Baylor at Isletta and asked that
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: a detachment of Texas Rangers be sent to El Paso
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: to help police the town. At that time, I had
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: not severed my connection with the Rangers, so I was
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: ordered to make a detail of five rangers, issue them
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: fifteen days rations, and have them reported once to the
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: mayor of El Paso. The peace loving citizens of the
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: town welcomed the rangers, secured nice quarters for them, and
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: furnished the detachment with a stove on which to cook
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: its meals. The Rangers had been in El Paso on
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: police duty about a week when there appeared in the
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: town from New Mexico, the famous Dallas Staudenmire. The newcomer
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: was sixty two inches in height, a blonde, and weighed
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty five pounds. Stottenmeyer had a compelling
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: personality and had been a Confederate soldier, having served with
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: General Joe Johnston at Greensboro, North Carolina. Mister Stoddenmeyer applied
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: to the mayor and city Council for the position of
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: city Marshal. He presented good references and was duly appointed
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Town Marshal. George Campbell now saw his chances for reinstatement
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: as an officer in al Paso go glimmering. Marshall Staddenmyer
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: called on Bill Johnson for the keys of the city jail,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: but the latter refused to surrender them. Thereupon Staudenmyer seized
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: the recalciltrant assistant, shook him up, and took the keys
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: from his pocket, thereby making his first enemy in al Passo.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: About ten days after the new marshal had been un installed,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: it was reported in El Paso that two Mexican boys
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: had been found murdered some ten or twelve miles from
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: town on the Rio Grande. The rangers stationed in the
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: city went out to the ranch to investigate. The bodies
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: were brought to El Paso and a coroner's inquest was
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: held in a room fronting on El Paso Street. Johnny Hale,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: manager of Manning's Little Ranch, was summoned to appear before
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: the coroner, and it was believed by the rangers that
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Hale and an ex ranger named Lenn Peterson had committed
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: the double murder. The inquest, being held in such a
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: public place, attracted a crowd of onlookers. Besides the Rangers,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Marshall Stadenmyer, ex Marshall Campbell, and Bill Johnson were present.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: A man named Gus Kremkah acted as interpreter. The trial
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: dragged along until the noon hour, and the proceedings were
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: yearned for dinner. The rangers went at once to their
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: quarters to prepare their meal, though there was still a
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: crowd standing about the scene of the inquest. Kremka came
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: out of the room and was accosted by John Hale,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: who had become offended at the way the interpreter had
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: interpreted the evidence. After a few hot words, Hale quickly
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: pulled his pistol and shot Kremka through the head, killing
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: him instantly. Marshall Stattenmeyer ran up shot at Hale, but
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: missing him, killed a Mexican bystander. At the second shot
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: from the Marshal's pistol, John Hale fell dead. George Campbell
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: had pulled his pistol and was backing off across the
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: street when Staudenmeyer suddenly turned and shot him down. Four
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: men were thus killed almost within the twinkling of an eye.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Stottenmeyer was held blameless by the better class of citizens
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: for the part he had played, but a certain sporting element,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: mostly friends of Campbell, was highly indignant at Marshall Staddenmeyer
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: for killing Campbell and declared the latter had been murdered.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: The Manning brothers were especially bitter against the marshal, as
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: he had killed their ranch foreman Hale and their friend Campbell.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: This feeling against Marshall Staudenmeyer never subsided, and just a
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: little more than a year after Dallas Stoddenmeyer were shot
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: and killed in a street fight by Jim and Doctor Manning,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: within fifty feet of the spot where Staudenmeyer himself had
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: killed the three men the year before. The friends of
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: George Campbell now sought to take the life of Marshall Stottenmeyer,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: and they used as their instrument Bill Johnson, a man
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: almost simple mentally. The plotters furnished Johnson with plenty of
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: free whiskey, and when they had made him drunk, they
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: told him Staudenmeyer had no right to catch him in
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: the column and shake him as if he were a
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: curR dog. Johnson finally agreed to kill the Marshal. Armed
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: with a double barrel shotgun, the tool of the plotters
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: took up a position one night behind a pile of
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: bricks in San Antonio Street, where it enters Al Paso
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: and lay in wait for his intended victim. Marshall Staudenmier
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: was then down at Neil Newland's Acme Saloon, and it
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: was well known he would soon make his round up
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: the street. Shortly afterward he was seen coming, and when
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: he had approached within twenty five feet of the brick pile,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Bill Johnson rose to his feet and fired both barrels
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: of his shotgun on steady with drink. Johnson's fire went
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: over the Marshal's head and left him unharmed. The Marshal
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: pulled his pistol and with lightning rapidity, phil Johnson's body
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: full of holes. At the same moment, Campbell friends, posted
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: on the opposite side of the street, opened fire on
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Staudenmeyer and slightly wounded him in one foot, but the
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Marshal charged his attackers and single handed put them to flight.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: From this day, Marshall Staudenmeier had the ruffs of El
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Paso eating out of his hand. It was no longer
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: any necessity for the Rangers to help him police the town,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: and they were withdrawn. Staudenmeyer's presence on the streets was
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: a guarantee of order and good government. He was a
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: good man for the class of people he had to
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: deal with. Yet he knew there were those in El
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Paso that were his bitter enemies and always on the
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: alert for a chance to take his life. This caused
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: him to drink, and when under the influence of liquor,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: he became mean and overbearing to some of his most
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: ardent supporters, so much so that by the spring of
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty two he was asked to resign. In a
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: dramatic and fiery speech, Stotdenmeyer presented his resignation and declared
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: that he had not been treated fairly by the city
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: council and that he could straddle them all immediately. On
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: leaving the Rangers, as narrated at the close of the
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: preceding chapter, I accepted a position of captain of Guards
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: on the Santa Fe Railroad under my friend Captain Thatcher.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: I did not long remain in the railroad's employ and
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: after a few months I resigned my position there to
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: become assistant City Marshal under mister Staudenmyer. Upon the resignation
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: of mister Staudenmyer, I was appointed City Marshal of al Paso.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Upon my appointment, the ex Marshal walked over, took me
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: by the hand, and said, young man, I congratulate you
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: on being elected City Marshall, and at the same time
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: I wish to warn you that you have more than
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: a man sized job on your hands. Staudenmeyer at once
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: secured the appointment as United States Deputy Marshal of the
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Western District of Texas, with headquarters at al Paso. Staudenmeyer
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: always treated me with the greatest consideration and courtesy, and
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: gave me trouble on only one occasion. I reproduced here
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: a clipping from the al Paso paper of the time.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Last Thursday night, a shooting scrape in which ex Marshall
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Staudenmeyer and ex Deputy Page played the leading parts, occurred
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: at the Acme Saloon. It seems that early in the
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: evening Page had a misunderstanding with Billy Bell. Stautenmeyer acted
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: as a peacemaker in the matter. In doing so, he
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: carried Page to Doyle's Concert Hall, where the two remained
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: an hour or so and got more or less intoxicated.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: About midnight, they returned to the Acme and soon got
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: into a quarrel. Staudenmeyer drew his pistol and fired at Page.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: The latter, however, knocked the weapon upward and the ball
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: went into the ceiling. Page then wrenched the pistol from Staudenmeyer,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: and the latter drew a second pistol, and the two
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: combatants were about to perforate each other when Marshal Gillette
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: appeared on the premises with a double barrel shotgun and
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: corral to both of them. They were taken before court
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: the following morning and found twenty five dollars each, and
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Staudenmeiyer was placed under bond in the sum of two
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: hundred fifty dollars to keep the peace. My election to
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the marshal Ship of hel Paso I attributed solely to
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: my training as a ranger and to the notoriety my
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: kidnapping of Bacca out of Mexico had given me, so
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: that the marshal ship of the town was one of
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: the direct fruits of my rangers service. I was an
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: officer of El Paso for several years. Not long after
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: my acceptance of the Marshall ship, Captain C. L. Neville,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: with whom I had served in Lieutenant Reynold's company, resigned
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: his ranger command and became sheriff and tax collector of
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Presidio County, Texas. The Marfa country was now seen to
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: be a very promising cattle section, so Captain Neville and
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: myself formed a partnership and embarked in the cattle business.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: This did not in the least interfere with our duties
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: as sheriff and marshall, respectively, and we soon built up
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: a nice little herd of cattle. In the spring of
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty five, General Gaino and sons of Dallas, Texas
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: formed a company known as the Estada Land and Cattle Company.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: The new concern arranged to open a big ranch in
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Brewster County, and General Gano wrote to Captain Neville asking
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: him please to secure a good cattleman as ranch manager
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: for the new company. Nevill at once wrote me and
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: advised me to accept this position. In his letter, he
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: jokingly remarked, Jim, you have had a court cup of
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: bullets shot at you. While a ranger in Marshall, and
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: now that you have a chance to quit and get
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: something less hazardous, I advise you to do it. Besides,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: you will be near our own little ranch and can
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: see your own cattle from time to time. I consider
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: the proposition seriously, and on the first day of April
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty five, I resigned from the police force of
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: El Paso and became a cowboy again. In accepting the
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Marshall ship, I reaped the fruits of my ranger service,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: and now, in resigning from that position, I completely severed
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: all my connection with the ranger force and all that
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: it had brought me. Henceforth, my ranger days and ranger
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: service were to be but a memory, albeit the most
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: happy and cherished one of my life. I was manager
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: of the Estada Land and Cattle Company's ranch for nearly
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: six years, and during that period the herd increased from
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: six to thirty thousand head. When I resigned the ranch managership,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: it was that I might attend to my own ranch interests,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: which had also grown in that period. Though to day
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I own a large and prosperous ranch in the Marfa Country,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: and though my business interests are many and varied. I
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: still cherished the memory of my Ranger days, and I
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: am never too busy to see an old Ranger comrade
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: and relive with him those six adventurous, happy and thrilling
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: years I was a member of the Frontier Battalion of
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: the Texas Rangers. The end end of Chapter twenty two.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: End of six Years with the Texas Rangers eighteen seventy
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: five to eighteen eighty one by James B. Gillette