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I read your piece on the Porvenir Massacre with great interest. You see my great-grandfather was Federico Villalba (1858-1933) who, at the time of the killings, had a Warrant of Authority from the Texas Rangers. Federico's 20,000 acre Rancho Barras was located in Burro Mesa. When word got back to him about this horrific tragedy, he sent his son, Jorge to investigate. Jorge returned with an account of the atrocity los rinches committed. In protest, Federico immediately resigned his Warrant. I have written a book about my great-grandfather and his family that should be on the shelves in late July/early August. It is titled Federico Villaba's Texas, A Mexican Pioneer's Life in the Big Bend, 2008, Iron Mountain Press.
My book also contains the account of his son's, Jacobo and Jorge's involvement in the shooting deaths of Aubrey "Jack", and Winslow Coffman in Study Butte in 1923, and the murder of Jacobo by Delfi "Det" Walker in 1931. Contrary to other published accounts of my great-uncle Jacobo's death, he was not shot by Joe Graham Barnett, a former Texas Ranger. It is true that Det Walker hired Barnett to kill Jacobo, but by Jonce Walker's own admission, Jacobo was killed as a trespasser on the Talley Ranch, though the circumstances and manner of his death are highly disputed.
Also, thank you for sharing the pictorial.
Juan Manuel Casas
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Porvenir, Texas is a tiny abandoned village located in northwest Presidio County that lies just across the Rio Grande from Pilares, Chihuahua. Porvenir means “future” in Spanish but there was no future in the cards for the some 140 people living there in 1918. Most of them barely scratched out a subsistence living by farming and raising goats. A number of the Porvenir inhabitants came to Texas to escape the terrible civil war that consumed Mexico that began in 1910. Census records indicate that some were U.S. citizens from west Texas towns who came to the isolated village to farm cotton. In those days before World War I, cotton prices were high and the Elephant Butte Dam in New Mexico had not yet been built. Good water was still flowing into the Presidio Valley and new cotton gins sprang up along the river in Presidio County. Hawkeye Townsen built a cotton gin in the village constructed from the cross ties of the Rio Grande Northern Railroad at Porvenir. Only the foundation and part of the cross tie walls of the cotton gin remains today. Porvenir had a school where Harry Warren taught a few students. Porvenir had no trading post or store, the closest place where the Porvenir populace could purchase supplies being a hard days ride on horseback at the Brite Ranch.
Not everyone was happy about the Porvenir cotton gin being built. Local ranchers saw the village as a haven for squatters on previously open rangeland and outlaws. On Christmas Day 1917, Mexican bandits raided the Brite Ranch, looted the store and killed Mickey Welch, the local mail carrier and two passengers riding in his horse drawn mail hack. Although there is little substantiation of Villa’s role in the Brite raid some said Pancho Villa had orchestrated the raid. Tension ran high along the border in the Big Bend as rumors of more impending raids circulated. In Marfa, about 200 ranchers gathered a few days after the Brite raid to meet with Texas Ranger Captain J.M. Fox. Fox commanded the eleven rangers of Company B headquarted in Marfa. As Fox searched for an appropriate response to the Brite raid, the Ranger captain’s attention focused on the bad reputation of the Porvenir Mexicans given him by the ranchers. The cattlemen agreed with Fox that Porvenir was a bandit nest that needed to be cleaned out.
In late January 1918, Captain Fox ordered a group of Company B Rangers to proceed to Porvenir. The Rangers were accompanied on their mission by a group of ranchers. On the afternoon of the twenty-seventh, the posse arrived at Camp Evetts, an Eighth Cavalry outpost not far from Porvenir where they got the men of Troop G to join them. The night was bitterly cold when the Americans surrounded Porvenir just after midnight on the twenty-eighth. The troopers awakened the sleeping Mexicans, assembled them and searched the village for weapons. Some of the cavalry troopers tried to reassure the frightened Mexicans as they huddled by a fire explaining that there were with the Rangers looking for bandits. The Rangers started separating the men from the women and children. Sensing danger, some of the women and children began to scream and cry pleading for the lives of the men. The Rangers selected 16 males between the ages of 12 and 72 and marched them off into the darkness to a rock bluff where all but one was shot to death.
Twelve-year-old Juan Flores, son of Longino Flores, watched in horror that night as his father and the other Porvenir victims were killed before his eyes. The little boy had been taken with the doomed captives to the bluff but had been separated from the group in time to save his life. Terrified at what he had witnessed, little Juan ran weeping to his father’s body that lay face down on the rocky ground. When the child turned the copse over, he discovered that in addition many terrible wounds his father had suffered, most of his face had been blown away. It left the boy with terrible memories that scarred him for life. Despondent over the loss of her husband, Juan’s mother later took her own life. Juan recalled in an interview done for a documentary film by Gode Davis in 2002 that in addition the Rangers, several ranchers and at least one soldier took an active part in the killings. He remembered a particular rancher who had planned the murders and went so far as to select the rock bluff where the victims were shot to death.
Early the next morning, an old Mexican woman crossed the river from Pilares and asked the American soldiers to load the Porvenir dead in a wagon so that they might be buried in Mexico. The soldiers loaded the bodies and permitted the old woman to take her grisly load to a cemetery near Pilares. The bodies were buried in a mass grave. A few days after the massacre, some soldiers from Camp Evetts came to Porvenir, then knocked down and burned the abandoned jacales the Porvenir Mexicans once called home. The community of Porvenir ceased to exist.
On Friday April 28, 2008 this writer, Chihuahua historian Glenn Willeford and a group of interested individuals went to Porvenir and the massacre site. The place lies on private property and one of the owners graciously allowed us to do our investigations. Not much remains in Porvenir today, only a couple of abandoned trailers and the foundation the cotton gin. In 2002, I had the privilege of going to Porvenir with Juan Flores and members of his family to film the Gode Davis documentary. It was then that Mr. Flores showed us the location of the massacre. That day we found some revealing evidence at the killing place, that being a fired U. S. Army 1914 30.06 rifle shell and a brass cased 12 ga. trench gun shell. The brass cased 12 ga. shotgun case likely came from a U. S. Army Winchester pump shotgun loaded with buckshot, later known as a riot gun. The military used brass cases in their shotguns since paper-cased shotgun shells could be rendered useless if they became wet. These are not cartridges used by bird or deer hunters, they are designed by the military to kill people.
Upon our most recent visit to the massacre site, we found even more ballistic evidence. First, I located a 30.06 rifle case head stamped “1 FA 09”. Glenn Willeford, former Sheriff of Upton County, Texas, believes this case was manufactured for the U. S. Army in 1909 at the Frankfort Arsenal in Frankfort, Kentucky. Further investigation at the site unearthed four .45 caliber bullets. The first appears to be a .45 cal. ACP bullet. The .45 ACP likely came from a U.S. military 1911 semi-automatic pistol. The three other fired bullets appear to be .45 cal. LC (commonly known as Long Colt). This is the round for the famous Colt .45 revolver commonly carried by Texas Rangers and many ranchers in 1918. One of the .45 bullets appears to have been modified. Some accounts of the massacre state that the Rangers used “dum dum” bullets causing terrible mutilation of the murder victums. A “dum dum” bullet is a one that has the round end of the bullet cut off or flattened to cause it to make a larger wound cavity when it strikes a human body. It should also be said that probably the described mutilation of the Porvenir victims could have been caused by the use of buckshot from U. S. Army trench guns. The multiple large buckshot balls, which are almost as large as, a .45 pistol bullet can cause terrible wounds.
It is my belief that the massacre site contains much more ballistic evidence. For this reason, the precise location of the site will not be disclosed to prevent it from being looted. I want to reiterate that both the massacre site and Porvenir lies on private property and trespassers are not welcome. For more details about the Porvenir massacre see “Little Known History Of The Texas Bend” available at www.rimrockpress.com. Below you will find photos of Hawkeye Townsen's Porvenir cotton gin and the shell casings and bullets found. Also thanks to Glenn Willeford for his contributions to this article. Glenn Justice
Copyright 2008 Rimrock Press All Rights Reserved. For permission to use contact editor@rimrockpress.com
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U.S. CAVALRY AND AIRMEN HUNT BANDITS
San Antonio Evening News-Tuesday-August 19, 1919. “American cavalrymen and airplanes crossed the border at Candelaria, Texas this morning at daybreak in pursuit of the Mexican bandits who kidnapped Lieutenants H. G. Peterson and Paul H. Davis, United States aviators, and to whom $15,000 ransom was paid last night before Peterson and Davis were released. Davis and Peterson are guiding the troops.”
“Maj. Gen. Joseph T. Dickman, commander of the Southern Department, left San Antonio at 1 o’clock today for Eagle Pass, and announced that he would be ready to go to Marfa, the headquarters of the Big Bend district in which Candelaria is located, if his services there are required. So far the movement into Mexico has been solely under the direction of Col. G.T. Langhorne, the commander at Marfa. No announcement had been received by Gen. Dickman that the troops had actually crossed the border when he left for the West.”
“At General Dickman’s office it was announced that nothing would be given out to the newspapers for publication on the movement across the border. From other sources it was learned that the order to go across the line immediately after Peterson and Davis were safe on this side were telegraphed to Col. Langhorne yesterday. Col. Langhorne assembled 200 cavalrymen from close by stations and had several big army trucks ready to make the dash as soon as it was known that Davis and Peterson were in the hands of the American officers.”
“At General Dickman’s office it was said the pursuit of the bandits was being conductd under the plan recently adoped to chase lawbreakers who were successful in getting back across the Mexican border.”
TROOPS WILL WITHDRAW WHEN BANDITS ARE CAPTURED
“While no announcement was made, it was indicated that as soon as the bandits are captured, the cavalry force and airplanes will be withdrawn.”
“A telegram was recievd at the headquarters of the Southern Department early this morning telling of the release of Peterson and Davis. Peterson was released shortly after midnight and it was about 2 o’clock this morning when Davis arrived at the point where he met the American officer.”
“As agreed upon by agents of the bandits, Capt. Leonard Matlock, of the 8th Cavalry left Candelaria shortly before midnight and went to a place three or four miles across the border on horseback. He deposited half of the $15,000 ransom, as per the contract and went away. He returned to the spot where he had deposited the money a few minutes later, and Lieut. Peterson was there waiting for him. He and Peterson then rode horseback to where the other American officers and soldiers were waiting.”
“Capt. Matlock then returned to the same place and shortly after 2 o’clock he galloped back to where the American officers and soldiers were waiting with Lieut. Davis riding behind him on the horse.”
“One telegram received a the headquarters of the Southern Department stated that Capt. Matlock did not deposit the last $7,500, as he had agreed to do, but that when he found Davis there, he simply pretended to deposit the money and fled from the scene with the rescued man.”
“Gen. Dickman did not understand this part of the telegram, and telegraphed instructions to Col. Langhorne to wire particulars. At Gen. Dickman’s office it was stated if Capt. Matlock had not paid over the last money to the bandits as he had agreed to do, the money would be paid, as the army would not be put in the light of having broken faith even with bandits. This statement was issued while United States soldiers were actually chaising the bandits.”
DAVIS AND PETERSON BOTH TREATED WELL BY THE BANDITS
“The money paid as ransom was supplied by contributions from cowboys and businessmen around Candelaria. The War Department has instructed Col. Langhorne to notify all those who contributed that they would be reimbursed as soon as the gold car arrive there. The bandits stated in their first communication offering to surrender the men that the money must be in gold coin. They were afraid the acceptance of currency would lead to their identification and arrests.”
“Peterson and Davis both say that they were well treated, according to a telegram received by Gen. Dickman today. They say they had plenty to eat and were subjected to no indignities.’
“They both believed they had fallen on the American side of the line, and are yet badly mixed as to their directions. It has been clearly established, according to the American army officers, however, that the plane fell Sunday afternoon near Las Vegas and Cuehlile, Mexico. This is about 35 miles below the border. Then the men wandered down the Conchos River, which was close to the point where they fell until they reached Falomir. They were captured near this place Wednesday after they had been without food or shelter three days and nights.”
“Peterson and Davis both thought they were captured near Valentine, Texas. They spoke of being taken into the mountains near them. They also spoke of passing near the railroad bridge. There is no bridge near Valentine. The only brindge in theat part of the country is over the Concho River near Falomir and it was decided that they were captured there and taken into the hills west of that place.”
“The two fliers were kept in the hills until Monday and then started on the way to the place near Candelaria where the bandits had agreed to deliver them upon the payment to the $15,000. They reached that place Monday night shortly after dark.”
“The airmen told the officers rescuing them that the leader of the bandit gang was a one-legged and one-armed Mexican who said he was educated in the United States and that he had been a railroad man in Kansas. He lost his arm and leg in a wreck in Kansas, he said.”
“There were about twenty men in the kidnapping party, according to Peterson, but he said the leader of the gang told him he had a bandit force of about sixty men.”
“The airplane was torn to pieces by the fall Sunday, according to information received here, and the telegram said the machine gun mounted on the pane was put out of commission. The messages received today did not state what happened to the plane to make it fall, but it is believed it was crippled during the violent storm which started soon after the men went out on the trip. If the belief of the army officials here is sustained by later telegrams Peterson and Davis went south while they believed they were going northwest.”
“This is explained by fliers who say that that frequently a plane may be heading a wind and seeming traveling 75 miles an hour in one direction when it is actually being blown at that speed in another direction.”
“Lieut. Davis, who was stationed at Kelly Field for some time, was sent from here to the border recently to do radio work. While at Kelly Field, he was engaged in installing radio on the planes. Before being assigned to that work, he was one of the assistant adjutants in the personnel department. He is also well known in San Antonio.”
For a detailed account of the kidnapping, ransom and the last American punitive expedition into Mexico see Little Known History Of The Texas Big Bend available at www.rimrockpress.com. Gj
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The Galveston Daily, May 27-1915. “A Texas ranger and a river guard have been ambushed and killed by Mexicans near Pilares, on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, according to official advices received today by Adjutant General Hutchings from Marfa, Texas. Ranger Winfield F. Hulen, brother of former Adjutant General John A. Hulen of Houston, and Joe Sitters, a river guard, are the victims of the ambush.”
“Ranger Hulen and River guard Sitters were killed on the morning of May 24. The bodies were not found until the evening of May 25, and both had been shot to pieces. They were in such condition that they could not be moved and they were buried at McGee Gulch, near the scene of the fight.”
“The information received by the adjutant general also stated that Ranger Eugene B. Bates was killed, but Bates later sent a telegram to Hutchings denying the report.”
“Governor Ferguson declined to discuss the subject further than to say he would make an investigation. The adjutant general was in conference with the governor during this morning.”
BROTHER HEARS OF SHOOTING
GENERAL JOHN A. HULEN SAYS TROUBLE HAS BEEN BREWING FOR SOME TIME ALONG THE TEXAS BORDER
Houston, Tex. May 26-1915 “General John A. Hulen, general freight and passenger agent of the Trinity & Brazos Valley Railroad, was apprised this morning of the death of his brother, a state ranger, at Pilares on the Mexican border, 600 miles west of Houston. Until three months ago Mr. Hilen resided in Houston.”
“According to information received today by General Hulen trouble has been brewing at the particular on the Rio Grande River for several days. Some smuggling has been going on and a few and a few days ago some Mexican soldiers crossed the river, raided a ranch on the Texas border and killed Pablo Jimenez, a naturalized citizen of the United States. It presumed that the trouble between the rangers and the Mexicans arose over this incident.”
BODY OF OFFICERS RIDDLED
REPORT FROM MARGA SHOW THAT BANDITS DESECRATED CORPSES AFTER AMERICANS HAD BEEN KILLED
SAN ANTONIO, TEX., MAY 26-1915 “A report from Marfa says that the bodies of Ranger Gene Hulen and River Guard Joe Sitters, who were killed by Mexican bandits, showed that the two officers had been literally shot to pieces and their heads crushed with rocks. The bodies were in such condition that they could not be brought to Marfa, but were interred on the McGee ranch. The Mexicans had robbed their victims of everything, even to their boots and coats, their saddlebags and horses. The official report of the band of of Mexicans numbering thirty-five and headed by a notorious outlaw, escaped into Mexico.”
Note: The McGee Ranch where Hulen and Sitters were buried is today’s Rancho Viejo located some 17 miles north of Candelaria. The bodies were later moved. Joe Sitters lies in the Valentine cemetery and I am not sure where Hulen's grave is located. Gj
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Oral Interview, Glenn Willeford With Dr. Gerald G. Raun Concerning Walter Prescott Webb’s The Texas Rangers: A Century of Frontier Defense (1935).
“I’m Glenn Willeford and this is the eighth of April 2008. We’re at the house of Dr. and Mrs. Gerald Raun in Alpine, Texas and I will be asking Dr. Raun a few questions, one of which I think is of great importance. First, Dr. Raun, what is your background at the University of Texas in Austin? What we’re referring to specifically is getting around to the point of you being at the home of Walter Prescott Webb one evening as a graduate student.”Raun: “I was a graduate student in biology a the University of Texas 1956 to 1961 and I do not exactly remember the occasion why there were a group of us, at Walter Prescott Webb’s home near the University of Texas in Austin, Bedichek was there…..”
Willeford: “That’s Roy Bedichek?”
Raun: “[Affirative] Perhaps he’s the reason we were there because he’s a naturalist.”
Willeford: “All right”.
Raun: “But, ah, somewhere in the conversation the question was asked Dr. Webb about his book on the Texas Rangers…..”
Willeford: “This would be the 1930’s…..”
Raun: “Yeah, the original. Well, its been reprinted, that’s the original 1930’s edition. He discussed it a little bit and said rather sadly that he was sorry that he had written it the way he did and that it desperately needed to be redone. And I think he was planning to re-do that when he was killed.”
Willeford: “Okay, and how was he killed?”
Raun: “In an automobile accident; I don’t remember the exact date, in the sixties I think.”
Willeford: “He and his wife, if I am not mistaken.”
Raun: “I believe that’s correct, I believe that’s correct, yeah.”
Willeford: “Do you remember how the subject came up that evening or was it in the afternoon?”
Raun: “I’m pretty sure it was afternoon but I don’t recall specifically who asked the question but somebody did bring up the subject of the book and asked him about it.”
Willeford: “Did he go into any other specifics why he thought he needed to revise it?”
Raun: “No, we changed the subject, or he did probably.”
Willeford: “Okay, that will end the interview. Thank you, I think this is a very important short interview.” [End].
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El Paso Herald January 19, 1915. Sierra Blanca, Texas. “The body of H. F. Boykin, who was killed by H. L. Robertson at an early hour Saturday morning, was interred in the Sierra Blanca cemetery at 2:30 p.m. Monday. The casket and grave were beautifully decorated with flowers. Relatives from elsewhere who attended the funeral were: Miss Ada Boykin, sister of the deceased from San Angelo, Texas ; Miss Florence Boykin, sister, El Paso, Texas: Mrs. T. C. Armstrong, sister, El Paso, Texas; C. Barren, San Angelo, Texas; Mrs. D. M. Logan, Colorado, Texas; Bert Humphris, Marfa, Texas.”
“Walter Sitters, who was fatally shot by Robertson at the same time, died about 5 p. m. Saturday evening and his body was shipped to his father’s home in Valentine, and was employed by the T. O. Ranch at the time of his death. Mr. Sitters, the father, arrived Saturday, expecting to take the wounded boy to the hospital in El Paso, but the son died just a few minutes before the train arrived.”
Many thanks to Doyle Phillips for the documents! Gj
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Glenn,
I am researching some family oral history which occurred in Presidio, likely in the summer of 1917. I am looking for a newspaper/official account of this event. Can you suggest some directions/web sites?
Regards,
Hugh Fletcher
hfletcher@yahoo.com
In the summer of 1917, Presidio County deputy sheriff John Fletcher Rawls, a rancher in the Casa Piedra area of Presidio County, Texas was wounded in a shootout in the Anaya Cafe on Main Street in Presidio , Texas. The gunmen were renegade members of the US Army who were protecting the border against Pancho Villa. Rawls, commissioned by Sheriff Ira Cline, of Presidio County, Texas was the only lawman in the immediate area and alone, challenged the band of seven armed men when he discovered them in a back room of the cafe with the waitresses who had been taken prisoner for sexual purposes. The waitresses were daughters of the owner, part of a family that had taken refuge in Presidio to avoid the revolution that was taking place in Northern Mexico, particularly in their home state of Chihuahua. When Rawls opened the door to the back room the shoot out began. Rawls tripped on the step to the room which was raised above the ground floor level of the main floor, and as the shooters ran past him, as he scrambled to get up off the floor, they unloaded their service pistols into him, escaping but leaving the girls unharmed. They were never identified or tried as their identities were never known. Somehow Rawls lived, although severely crippled. After a year of hospitalization with a huge amount of doctor bills, Rawls sold his ranch and moved to El Paso, Texas He died in Austin, Texas Dec 21, 1958. After the revolution, the Anaya family returned to their home in Chihuahua.
Hugh,
Suggest you check the El Paso Times index at the El Paso Public Library and also see the El Paso Time microfilm for summer of 1917. UTPB library in Odessa also has El Paso Times on microfilm. Also see vertical files at El Paso public library. Keep Googling the web, you might be surprised at what you find. Set up a Google email alert for your key words.Gj
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Between 1911 and 1923 West Texas gunman H. L. “Hod” Roberson killed more than a few men in Texas and in Mexico. Robertson first put on a Texas Ranger badge in 1911 when he joined Captain John Hughes’ A company in El Paso. Within months, Hod shot and killed a drunk Mexican at Calaro a village east of El Paso. Following the incident, the new ranger spent some time excelled to the Texas Panhandle. Captain Hughes liked Robertson, however and appointed him to sergeant of A Company in 1913. In 1914, Robertson and Ranger Ira Cline tried to serve a search warrant on Carlos Morales Wood, editor of a Spanish language newspaper in Valentine. Although the Rangers shot Wood dead in very suspicious circumstances they were acquitted in a murder trial the claiming the editor had pulled a pistol on them.
Roberson resigned from the Rangers in 1914 and became the foreman of the infamous T.O. Ranch of Chihuahua. Robertson led some dozen or so hired gunmen that ran roughshod over the huge border ranch. The T.O. hired guns controlled most of the border north of Candelaria to El Paso on the Mexican side terrorizing anyone who got in their way. Pancho Villa and his agents did considerable business with the T.O. Ranch bringing huge herds of stolen cattle and horses to the ranch to be brokered into Texas. About 1914, it is said General Villa personally ran Hod Robertson and his gunmen out of Mexico outside Ojinaga. Not long after that Robertson and some twenty of his men shot and killed Febronio Calanche and Rodrogo Barragan as they slept on the Texas riverbank at the Los Fresnos Crossing north of Candelaria. When Robertson shot and killed Walter Sitters, son of Texas Ranger Joe Sitters in 1915, another murder trial with the former ranger as a defendant ensued. Robertson claimed he had accidentally shot the young Walter Sitters after he got into a heated argument with Foote Boyington over a cattle count at the stock pens at Sierra Blanca. After an errant bullet killed Walter Sitters who was sitting innocently behind Boyington on a fence, Robertson pumped four rounds into Boyington killing him also. Roberson pleaded self-defense in the El Paso murder trial that ensued as a result. Robertson was found guilty and got a twenty-year sentence but got off when it turned out one of the juriors was proven to be a felon and the judge set aside the verdict.
But as the old saying goes, “he who lives by the gun, dies by the gun” came true for Hod Roberson. After the El Paso trial, Roberson took up work as a brand inspector in the Texas Panhandle. In 1923, Hod and another brand inspector by the name of Dave Allison were sitting on the porch of the Gaines Hotel in Seminole, Texas. They were in town to testify at the trial of two rustlers. The night before the trial, the rustlers attacked Roberson and Allison and killed both of the inspectors in a wild series of pistol shots and blasts from a shotgun. I am working on a chapter about Hod Roberson in the new manuscript.
Gj
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Hi Glenn,
What information can you give me about Dias y Ocho Army camp?
All I have is one paragraph from the Electric Coop article. Also the church on the Rio Grande. North of Porvenir.
Octaviano's place.
James Lopez
James,
Also known as Camp Evetts the Dias y Ocho U.S. Army was located at Soldier’s Springs not far from Porvenir. The camp was constructed from abandoned railroad ties salvaged from from the Rio Grande Northern Railroad that ran from Chispa to the coal mine near San Carlos. In 1918, Camp Evetts was home to Troop G of the Eighth Cavalry. In February of that year, a group of Texas Rangers and vigilantes came to Camp Evetts on their way to Porvenir where they massacred 15 men and boys before putting the village to the torch. By the fall of 1919, most of the upper Big Bend border cavalry outposts had been abandoned by the U.S. military. Although I know of the church or Octaviano's Place, don't know a lot about it. It lies at the crossing to Pilares. Pilares is shown on some old map's as a Spanish prison camp in the 1700's. Also, there was supposedly a gold mine located in the moutains outside Pilares about that time. Pilares Mexico is often confused with Pilares or Porvenir, Texas. The Handbook of Texas article confuses the two places. Part of the confusion comes from the fact that following the Porvenir massacre, the postmaster fled across the river to Mexico taking with him the Porvenir post mark stamp. For years after that, letters bearing Porvenir, Texas were actually postmarked in Pilares, Mexico. Gj
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Hello,
My name is McKenna Apodaca and I am the Great Great Grand Daughter of Ranger Joe Sitters. I am nine years old, and I have just finished reading a chapter about Joe Sitters in Mike Cox's book about Texas Rangers. My father and I decided to search my GG Grandfathers name and your site came up and to our surprise we saw his picture. Thank you for having it up there, and can you tell me where you found this great photo? I would like to get a copy myself. Thank you and take care.
Sincerely,
McKenna Apodaca
McKenna,
The photo of your grandfather was made sometime before 1913 on the steps of the Presidio County Courthouse in Marfa. It is the photo, third from the left at the top of my blog. Texas Ranger Joe Sitters is shown at the left of the photo with Jack Howard next, an unknown man and at the right, U. S. Customs inspector Luke Dowe. I got a copy of the photo from Marian Walker of Candelaria. Marian was Jack Howard’s daughter who along with her sister, Nell Howard owned and operated the Candelaria store for many years. In 1913, Sitters and Howard were ambushed near Porvenir, Texas. Jack Howard died from his wounds and your grandfather, Joe Sitters was shot in the head. He survived but was killed in another ambush on the Mexican border in 1914. My apologies for taking so long on this, I misplaced your email and only now found it. If you will email your mailing address, I will make you a high quality copy your grandfather’s picture and mail it to you. I am presently working on a chapter about Joe Sitters for my new book. Gj
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The Texas State Historical is packing up and leaving Austin and the University of Texas. After being very closely associated with UT Austin for more than a century, since 1897 to be exact, the TSHA has announced plans to move to the to the University of North Texas at Denton in the fall. THSA publishes the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, books on Texas history as well as The Handbook of Texas Online. UNT apparently offered the association an attractive package including renovations and about $200,000 a year for expenses to move north.
Check out the Handbook online at http://www.tshaonline.org/. In addition to the fine Handbook database you can search the back issues of the Quarterly at http://www.tshaonline.org/shqonline/index.html. The TSHA online links are another wonderful resource at http://www.tshaonline.org/about/links.html.
One wonders about the real story behind the TSHA move. Hopefully TSHA archives will remain in Austin. Gj
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Hello Mr. Justice,
Saw your website and decided to send you an email.
It’s possible we have crossed paths at the West Texas Historical Assoc. meetings?
Like yourself, I am also very interested in West Texas history.
Currently I am serving on the Board of Directors for WTHA, and teach US History part-time at Dallas Baptist University. At this years WTHA, 2007 meeting (Abilene) I planned to attend your session, however, I also had a paper to present during the same hour.
I have done quite a bit of research over the years in Jack/Young/ and Palo Pinto Counties, where my family settled during the frontier period. For some time I have wanted to publish my research. I have considered submitting my work to a regional University press, however I think the flexibility of self-publishing might be a better route.
I noticed you have published several books, (I have a copy of your
Revolution on the Rio Grande). If you don’t mind I have a few publishing questions for you.
I noticed you operate under the name of RimRock Press, a label that
promotes your work. I assume you contract the printing of your books independently and under the label of RimRock control the marketing and distribution?
The reason I ask – I have observed your site as a close model of what I would like to launch to promote my own research. I have secured the domain name of BRAZOSBOOKS.COM, which I plan to use as the main website to promote my work. I plan to find a source, which will print the books with my “Brazos Books” name, and I will then assume all marketing, sales, and management. I have heard LuLu.com is a possible source to accomplish this? So is this the arrangement you also use?
Any advice would be appreciated. I really like your website, you have obviously spent quite a bit of time creating it.
Best Regards,
Wes J. Sheffield
Wes,
Rimrock Press is my publishing company that I use to produce and market my books. I chose this approach some years ago after becoming frustrated with the attitudes and policies of commercial and university presses. I have used both and not had a positive experience with either. Generally commercial presses are simply not interested in publishing regional histories. And while University presses do publish most of our history books, they frequently have their own agendas and tend to only go to press with works done by writers associated with the university. No matter how fine your work, it’s not what you know but rather who you know in these circles. Another problem is the fact that these publishers want your work and your copyright but don’t want to pay for it. The same applies to historical associations who publish in their journals. After spending years researching and writing my books I feel my time is worth something more than the usual $1 per copy sold by these outfits.
Having said this, the world of self-publishing is not something most people will want to undertake. For one thing, there is absolutely no money to be made publishing history books. You will have to spend your money going to press and it will take years for you to see any return on your investment. There are numerous book manufactures who offer publishing services but few have much interest in doing regional histories. I use Bookmasters and have been well satisfied with their services. See http://www.bookmasters.com/.
Finally, once you have managed to produce a press ready book, you will be responsible for the marketing of your book and the world of book distributing is a snake pit. None of the big book stores such as Barnes and Noble or Borders or any of the others will buy books directly from the publishers. You must go through one of their “approved” distributors. These distributors are a very tight knit group and will do their best to squeeze you out of business before you even start. They will not take you books without heavy discounts and not even consider a publisher with only a few book offerings. Bookmasters will market your books for a monthly fee. The only market you will find for your history books, other than single copy internet sales, are local book stores who many times will only take your books on consignment and then not pay you. In short, if you want to make money writing books probably the best advice I can give is write trashy romance novels, not history books. Gj
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In going over my father’s library we found a stack of post-cards stuffed in a small binder. They were postcards of scenes of the conflict with Villa at Columbus and other locations. The cards are in fair condition. Not great, and show some gristly scenes as well
as scenes of troop trains etc.
Is there any interest in these postcards? It is very possible that
they are just a set of cards which were distributed widely and not very unique.
I can send scans of several if that would be of interest.
David Sims
David,
Today these postcards of the Mexican revolution are a little known but collectable glimpse into the horrors of that bloody civil war. While their monetary value has increased only slightly in the last few years, collectors do seek them out. During the years when they were produced and mainly marketed to U.S. soldiers stationed on the Mexican border, many thousands were sent home to families of these border guardians. Curiously the postcards seem to be more common in the states away from the border. You can find these postcards for sale on ebay but beware of overpricing and fakes. To learn more about these postcards I suggest you read “Border Fury: A Picture Postcard Record of Mexico’s Revolution and U.S. War Preparedness, 1919-1917” by Paul J. Vanderwood and Frank N. Samponaro published by University of New Mexico Press. Gj
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Mr. Fain, as Glenn Justice reminds us, more needs to be done on the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918 in the Big Bend region of Texas. At present, Dr. Paul Wright at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, may be the best resource for obtaining new information. Wright's research into birth and death records in the Big Bend region, taken largely from U. S. Manuscript Census data, reveals much.
As co-author of the recent (2006) book, Cemeteries and Funerary Practices in the Big Bend of Texas, 1850 to the Present, I admit that there is no "definitive work" on the subject, nor is there likely ever to be one; nonetheless, I believe mine and Dr. Gerald G. Raun's book comes a closer than anything to date.
While preparing to draft the text of Cemeteries I advertised in area newspapers for information as well as for people to come forward with information. A few did, but not so many as we would have liked; accordingly nothing was learned about Ben and Viola Pettus; other members of the Pettus family were not only mentioned but their deaths recorded, graves photographed and so forth. Additionally, I interviewed individuals in Marathon about the flu epidemic and other matters and the Ben Pettus's were never mentioned. I suspect those few months in the autumn of 1918 were such a horrid period in life that once it passed, most folk didn't wish to talk about it, or even to remember; after all, families were giving up their dead to passing wagoners for mass burial without funerary honors being rendered. Why? It was much safer to stay indoors. Under the circumstances it was not shameful to do so, either. Yet, in glancing back it may seem a sort of familial betrayal, i. e., something to be put behind.
Cemeteries and Funerary Practices in the Big Bend of Texas, 1850 to the Present does contain a story of self sacrifice in order to fulfill one's duty in caring for the sick. That is the story of Dr. Roy R. Longino, the city health officer and sole physician in Fort Stockton at the time (see pps. 62-3).
Has I known about the "influenza quarantine tent city" south of Marathon and Mrs. Viola Pettus's charitable nursing of the sick at great risk to herself it certainly would have been in the book. What a story! But nobody came forward with it. Que sera.
Glenn Willeford
Chihuahua City, Mexico
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Glenn -- I really like your blog. I am looking for background on a woman named Viola Pettus who is known locally as having been the "nurse" at the influenza quarantine tent city just south of Marathon during the 1918 outbreak of "Spanish flu". Her husband Ben was a well-known cowboy. Viola may have been one of those early frontier nurses that made up for lack of formal training with guts and compassion. A friend who is a nurse/researcher is interested in determining if there is enough available material to piece together the story of her sacrifice in 1918.
Any leads will be appreciated including pictures, records, letters, descendents, photos etc Ben and Viola appear on headstones in the Marathon cemetery - close to the dividing line between the Anglos and "Mexican" sections. There were a number of black "seminole" families in the Big Bend, none more remarkable than the one Viola and Ben formed.
Tyrus Fain
Tyrus,
Your friend has touched on a topic that very much needs to be done. The emerging threats of another influenza epidemic especially in the Big Bend is one that should be addressed. History always repeats itself. I suggest a start with some background reading on the flu epidemic in Texas. See the Handbook of Texas article on epidemic diseases at: http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/onl ... sme1.html. I think it a good idea to begin with the bibliography for the article. The Handbook also has two articles on Seminoles that have helpful bibliographies:
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/onl ... bms19.html
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/onl ... bmb18.html
The best single book I have on Seminoles in my library is: “The Five Civilized Tribes: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole” by Grant Foreman, University Of Oklahoma Press, 1934.
Narrowing the research specifically to Viola Pettus will be difficult but I do not mean to say impossible. Its just one of those topics that will take a lot of digging and that is the only way to determine if there is enough available material to piece the story together. I think I would do some digging in Marathon. Are there any Pettus family members living that might have some info about the story? You might need to do some oral history interviews with them. To find them try running a newspaper ad. Next I think I would check with the Archives Of The Big Bend at Sul Ross in Alpine. They might well have a file on this. Also be sure to look though the newspaper index of the Alpine Avalanche at the archive and spend some time with their extensive oral history collection. See: http://libit.sulross.edu/archives/.
Another suggestion is to go through the El Paso Times newspaper index at the El Paso Public Library. Perhaps the Barker Center For American History at U. T. in Austin will have some holdings. See: http://www.cah.utexas.edu/. And don’t forget to look at U. S. Census records for Marathon. You might be surprised at the population decline due to the epidemic.
One final suggestion, when I take on a project like this I always put together a list of search terms. This way when I start to dig for material, I have an idea of what I am looking for. Here is a suggested list for the topic: Viola Pettus, Ben Pettus, Spanish Influenza, Texas Seminole Indians, Big Bend Seminole Indians, Brewster County Influenza emidemic, Marathon Influenza epidemic, Brewster County Influenza and so on. As your research progresses add to your list. Hope this is helpful and good luck!
Gj
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Examples of ineptitude and injustices perpetrated by individual Texas Rangers (TR) as well as entire units are not uncommon throughout the history of Texas, even up the present day. UT historian W. P. Webb, generally considered an apologist for the TR service, criticized TR activities back to the 1870s during the "Cortinas War on the War Grande," in his The Texas Rangers:A Century of Frontier Defense (1935), 181-2.
The Mexican Revolution brought on another series of border problems that resulted in atrocities. The most well known of those are the well documented (i. e., state representative "Tony" Canales investigation) and photographed slaughters carried out by state rangers between Brownsville and Laredo.
The Big Bend region was not without its problems either, particularly following the "Santa Isabel Massacre" of nineteen American miners west of Chihuahua City (Jan. 10, 1916), the Pancho Villa raid on Columbis, NM, (March 10, 1916) and the raid by starving and desperate Mexican bandits on Glenn Spring, TX (May 1916). Later, on Christmas Day, 1917, the raid on Luke Brite's ranch on the high plain above the escarpment overlooking the Rio Grande valley west of Marfa brought on a near fever pitch of resentment and demands for "justice" among the Anglo population of the region. Both the US Army and TR service were called on to mete it out. The Army, it seems, acted with circumspection leaving the dirty work to the state militia, or TR service. And those boys went about it with a vengeance (See: Glenn Justice, Revolution on the Rio Grande: Mexican Raids and Army Pursuits 1916-1919). One cold night in January 1918 a squad of TR under the command of Capt. J. M. Fox, of Brownsville area fame,rounded up Porvenir, Texas, taking "fifteen men between the ages of sixteen and seventy-two and marched them off into the darkness to a rock bluff . . . where they unceremoniously shot the Mexicans to death"(Justice, 39). No evidence to qualify any arrests had been found so the TR acted as judge, jury and executioner. Problem solved. But what problem? Many of those killed were U.S. citizens.
Those were only the "main events" of the killing season. Murders by TR took place all around the region. One, for example, happened in broad-open daylight in downtown Marfa when Carlos Morales Wood, the Valentine, Texas-based editor of La Patria, a Spanish-language newspaper was gunned down by two TR. Both rangers involved later became Texas sheriffs. Ron Segura points out another episode when TR H. L. Robertson murdered one of Segura's relatives.
Glenn Willeford
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The Waco Tribune-Herald has reported that the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum is planning to commission the construction of a 70-foot tall Texas Ranger statue. It comes as no surprise that the statue will depict a white early twentieth century ranger standing guard with a gun at the museum near I-35 on the Brazos River. According to the Tribune-Herald, the huge statue will cost some $800,000 and supporters of the project have already pledged about half of the money. The statue by David Adickes is to be called “Watching Over Texas”. Byron Johnson, director of the museum said the statue would be more like the Statue of Liberty than Big Tex at Texas State Fair in Dallas that stands only 56 feet tall. No doubt the enormous ranger will suck in lots of tourists driving I-35. And Waco city officials hope the project will give the city a different image other than being the home of David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. Surely they won't forget the mask and what about Tonto? Hi ho Silver! Away!
Gj
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For a revealing insider’s look at modern west Texas lawmen be sure to read Glenn Willeford’s new 220 page book titled “Dirty Cop? The Rise and Fall of a Texas Sheriff”. Glenn Willeford is an American novelist and historian living today with his family in Chihuahua City, Mexico where he writes and teaches at the University of Chihuahua. Following a stint in the U.S. Army serving in the Vietnam War during the 1960’s, Willeford returned to his native Texas and for fifteen years worked as a peace officer before being elected sheriff of Upton County in 1984. Dirty Cop is an autobiographical narrative of Willeford’s career in law enforcement that came to an abrupt end in 1987 when he found himself charged with planting a bag of marijuana in a suspect’s home to justify a search warrant.
At the time, it seemed an open and shut case. But there is much more to the story and Willeford’s book delves deeply into his motives and the case that the public never fully understood. This is not the story of a lawman gone bad but it is the account of a concerned Texas sheriff who felt he needed to do the unthinkable in order to protect the citizens of his community. The author makes no apologies for what he did but rather seeks to make known the facts of the case leaving his readers wondering if they might not have done the same under similar circumstances. This is not your typical book glorifying lawmen; it is rather a gritty, revealing story, one that truly deserves to be fully told. Also included in the book are several insightful essays by the writer including two about Pancho Villa and the Mexican revolution.
Other books by Glenn Willeford include his novel, “Red Sky In Mourning” as well as “Cemeteries and Funerary Practices in the Big Bend of Texas, 1850 to Present” that he co-authored with Gerald G. Raun. Willeford is presently completing a second novel titled, “Passage to Lisbon”.
Glenn Willeford books are available at Front Street Books (http://www.fsbooks.com/) in Alpine and the Cactus Book Shop (Tel: 325-659-3788) in San Angelo.
Gj
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Hello, Glenn ~ I am trying to identify 2 unused real photo postcards (circa 1910) that feature beautiful horses ("Flambeau" on one, "Resultal" on the other) with their trainers. The horses' names and "T.O. Ranch" were handwritten on the negatives before the photos were developed (unidentified photographer). One horse appears to possibly be a quarter horse, but the other is much larger.
Do you have information on the T.O. Ranch that would indicate they had racehorses or show horses? Any further information on the T.O. would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time!
Lori Kimball
Lori,
I have no doubt the T. O. Ranch had race horses. For many years, the ranch was the principal broker of cattle and horses coming out of Mexico during the Mexican revolution. Pancho Villa kept his armies going by stripping the haciendas of Chihuahua of their vast herds. It has been estimated that between 1910 and 1920 some one-million head of cattle were sold across the Texas border many times for as little as $5 a head. The cattle and horses were often exchanged for guns and ammunition. When President Woodrow Wilson placed an arms embargo on Villa, the going rate for ammunition rose to $1 per round. Five shots for every cow but do not underestimate the quality of the livestock. An example of this is the Terrazas hacienda. The Terrazas were not only the largest landowners in Mexico but in all of Latin America. They had magnificent horses and some of the finest cattle of the day. For more on this search my blog archive for T. O. Ranch. Gj
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The Texas Historical Commission announced this week the $490.000 purchase of a letter supposedly written by Davy Crockett two months before he died at the Alamo. On Tuesday, Governor Rick Perry touted the letter as being an important piece of Texas history at a news conference. According to the THC, Crockett penned the letter upon his arrival in Texas less than two months before he died at the Alamo. But several experts have come forward to say the letter is a fake.
According to the Austin American Statesman, Everett Wilke, a private appraiser of historical documents, has said of the letter, “Its not that difficult to tell it is not real.”
Wilke compared the handwriting of the letter to genuine known Crockett documents held by East Carolina University and found that the handwriting and signature are not similar. In addition, other experts have pointed out that apparently someone corrected the spelling and grammar in the letter making it quite different from other known Crockett writings.
The THC has two months to verify the authenticity of the letter before the money is to be paid to Ray Simpson III of Simpson Galleries in Houston. Curiously, Simpson’s grandfather, William Simpson has been accused of being connected with the forgery of other historical documents in the past.
For more about the Crockett letter see: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/n ... etter.html
Gj
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H. O. (sic) Robertson is the person responsible for the murder of my grandfather, Rodrigo Barragan and his friend, Febronio Calanche. Robertson was a cold blooded killer, worked the border as a river rider, was deputized as a Texas Ranger and when his friend, Joe Sitter was killed, he took revenged by killing every Mexican he came in contact with, to include the above named and also my uncle Anestacio Segura.
I pray that someday, someone will publish the real truth of who these people really were. Recently the Texas Ranger Association put a headstone on Joe Sitter's grave in Valentine, TX to "honor" his service as a Texas Ranger. This story appeared in the Marfa big Bend Sentinel, you could probably contact Marfa paper and view in their archives.
Ron Segura
Ron,
You are not alone in your assessment of Texas Ranger Horace L. Robertson. Candelaria merchant and Justice of the Peace wrote the following account after investigating the murder of Barragan and Calanche in 1914.
“I have always felt sure it was Robertson who shot to death Barragan and Calanche or ordered it done. Robertson as he came up the river was still boss of the T. O. Ranch and the men with him were his cowboys and under his control. Anyway if he neither did the killing himself, nor ordered it done, he sanctioned, or acquiesced in and there is no use to deny it—the foul deed. The following are the known facts in the case.”
“Barragan and Calanche were hunting a lost bull in the dry pasture between our ranch and the river. Our ranch, at that time, was owned by Calanche."
(This ranch is today known as the Circle Dug Ranch see http://circledugranch.com/ for more. Be sure and click on the history link.)
Kilpatrick continued,"Robertson and his men camped on the edge of this dry pasture near the trail leading to Calanche’s ranch house the night of the same day the two Mexicans were hunting the lost bull. Two days later when Barragan and Calanche failed to show up, Mexican trackers went to hunt for them. Their trail was stuck and followed into Robertson’s camp. From the camp there were only two trails-one made by the main body of Robertson’s men going on up the river; the other made by three or four horsemen going up a small arroyo. Following this later trail the dead bodies of the two men were found. Upon the head of each were piled his saddle blanket, cartridge belt and gun.”
“The only possible interpretation of these facts is that Barragan and Calanche while on their way late in the evening to the latter’s ranch rode into Robertson’s camp when they were tied up,--the trackers declared there was evidence of this, until the next morning. After breakfast, the main body of the gang went on up the river. Two or three remained behind, took Barragan and Calanche six or seven hundred yards up the arroyo and shot them to death. The killers then-for there was their trail cut across (sic) and joined the main body.”
“Now, Robertson knew of Calanche, and that he did not have a spotless reputation among some of the stockmen, and he was not unaware that Calanche had once been indicted for the alleged theft of a calf. But doubtless he didn’t care to remember the old Mexican came clear (sic). This is why, I believe Robertson killed him, had him killed or consented to his killing. Barragan was shot merely because he was with Calanche, the once indicted calf stealer. Here Robertson was shown up in what seemed to be his true colors. All he wanted was some accusation, suspicion or former indictment and then he would rashly proceed either to manufacture evidence or to just kill the supposed thief. Yet no investigation was ever made of this most wanton and cruel slaying of three innocent Mexican citizens: Holy Jesus! And we call this a Christian land and one of law and order where God still reigns. Forty years ago before the fundamentalist church people struck Presidio County so outrageous an affair would have received serious attention. But now with her villages and towns full of school houses, places of worship and halls of justice, would be assassins and cold blooded murders go scot free.”
Kilpatrick felt very strongly about the murders and went so far as to appear before a Presidio County Grand Jury and as he put it “begged for an indictment” that never came.
Several years ago, members of the Calanche family from El Paso located the graves of Barragan and Calanche on the Texas side of the Rio Grande just up river a short distance from the Los Fresnos, Chihuahua crossing north of Candelaria in Presidio County.
I am at present working on a manuscript detailing these murders by Ranger Robertson. Robertson was later tried in El Paso for killing Joe Sitters son, Walter Sitters. A few years after the trial, Robertson was shot to death in the Texas Panhandle. The book will also have a chapter on Joe Sitters and his vendetta to kill Chico Cano, which ended in his own death in 1915. I share your frustration with the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame because they seem to do their best to glorify the bloody deeds of many of these old rangers.
Ron, are you also related to Leno Barragan of Candelaria? I also have found some interesting things about him and plan to include it in my forthcoming book titled, "More Little Known History Of The Texas Big Bend: Documented Chronicles Of Apaches, Comanches, Frontiersmen, Outlaws And Lawmen".
Gj
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I am researching my mysterious ancestor named Lewis Gardner. He was born c. 1810 SC, migrated to GA where he married, fathered children, and farmed. He then migrated to MS where he owned a farm. His wife divorced him and he went to Texas after the Civil War. Lewis lived in Houston County for a time and spent his last years in Johnson County, Texas.
He probably got remarried, but family lore says that Lewis had a reputation as a bad man and that he was later supposedly killed by horse thieves at a place pronounced 'Natchez' near Brownsville, Texas.
Do you know of a place pronounced 'Natchez' near Brownsville?
Would you know of any Brownsville newspapers from about 1865 - 1880?
Any note of a mysterious gunfighter named Lewis Gardner in south Texas?
He was said to have been involved in a gunfight near the King Ranch and was also said to have been ambushed and supposedly killed in a gunfight while transporting horses to Louisiana to be sold.
Their was also supposed to have been a postcard of him taken at Brownsville, Texas.
Thank you,
Corey Gardner
Corey,
I did a little digging on this one and here is what I found. Ancestry.com shows a Lewis Gardner, son of John Gardner born in 1810 in South Carolina. He died in 1880 in Dallas County, Texas. Not sure if this is your ancestor but might be. The Handbook of Texas has nothing on Nachez, Texas near Brownsville. I think you might want to spend some time doing research on this at the Barker Texas History Center at U.T. in Austin. Search their excellent vertical files and see what you find. The Barker Center also has the most complete collection of Texas Newspapers on microfilm available and should have Brownsville newspapers for that time period. Also, search King Ranch and see if you can’t find something about the gunfight. I know there are several books on the King Ranch but do not have any in my library. The Barker should have this also. Good luck and let us know what you find about your gunfighter of South Texas. Gj
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On Friday, August 24, 2007, 03:42 PM, Gary Owen wrote:
Since the last post, I have done a little more thinking about what I remember of those episodes. Senor Luna was a somewhat enigmatic chap, dis-appearing for long stretches, and then suddenly reappearing, often to the accompaniment of some level of stress for somebody. It was not like he just subsided into obscurity and went about his affairs un-noticed. You always noticed the presence of Senor Luna. I either never knew, or have forgotten, just how Senor Luna sustained himself. I know that he, being a dual citizen, spent some time across the river with his elderly mother.
It may be that he had other relatives elsewhere on this side of the river who looked after him for some of the time. I doubt he was periodically institutionalized--considering the grief that would have attended that. Senor Luna's troubles with Mexican officialdom reached a crisis one day, I believe in the early spring of '67. Some of us were at the B.P. office one day when the phone rang and it was the custom people down at the bridge calling us to get down there quickly.
They said that the Commandante of the Mexican Army garrison across the river had an American citizen in chains and that we had to take him off their hands or they were going to have to shoot him or something. I suppose it was the bit about an "American" citizen that threw me off, that plus the fact that many weeks had passed since the hotel encounter. I went down there expecting to see some crazed tourist who had gone berserk in Mexico somehow, and was being expelled. When we got to the border crossing, it was only a few minutes until some Mexican army vehicles came racing across the bridge and slid to a stop in the dirt.
Out of the back of one of them, they dragged a very disheveled and oddly subdued (though visibly enraged) Senor Luna, bound hand and foot in chains and manacles. The commandante had him unchained and said something to the effect that he was now our problem. We knew that we had to get him away quickly to avoid an unfortunate incident of some sort, but how to get him into a vehicle was not a simple matter. Someone, knowing his quirk about the Attorney General, told him that the AG already had heard about this and was coming to intercede ---personally, and that the meeting was arranged for the next day in Marfa and we were instructed to escort him there.
This was right up his alley, and we opened the rear door to put him in the back. That seemed to offend him, and he insisted that a guest of the AG was entitled to ride in front. With that a couple of the others got in the car, and away they went for the county tank in marfa 67 miles away. When they got there the trick was to get him in a cell, so they told him that the AG had instructed them to keep Senor Luna in a carefully guarded secure location until his arrival the following day.
That worked well enough and seemed to mollify him. Several weeks passed, and one evening I was standing on a street in greater downtown Presidio when Senor Luna appeared. It was apparent that he recognized me, as he made straight for me, and began inquiring as to my well being. He was without his crutch, so I expressed some pleasure at his recovery from his injury. We stood there as he talked, all the while I was hoping the subject of the Attorny General would not come up, fearing it might remind him of the recent deceptions that landed him in the slammer in Marfa.
In a few moments he strolled away, limping slightly into the gathering dusk of a Rio Grande spring evening. I never saw Senor Luna again. Shortly I found myself in the army, bound for southeast Asia, and when that was done other matters were such that I never went back until 20 years later just for a day. That short time I spent in the Big Bend area was the most formative time of my life. The land, the people, all of it, have lived in my memory more vividly than even the war. For these 40 years I have wondered what ever became of Senor Luna.
I am hoping that some other old Presidio hand will read this who knows and can pass it along to me. One amusing aside to all this. Some time later,after the army,I was watching the film"The Wild Bunch" with Ernest Borgnine and William Holden. When the Mexican General Mapache appeared I had the momentary idea that they had somehow wound up with the Commandante of the Ojinaga army garrison playing a bit part in thair movie, because he looked just like him. Probably that movie would be as near to what that time along the border was really like as we can get to today. An interesting mix of the old and the modern.
More later, G.Owen
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Archaeologists have long debated the question of how long Native Americans have been in Texas. Many theories abound. Some say the first native people arrived in present North America as long ago as 20,000 to 35,000 years. Other theories postulate that Clovis people came to North America across the frozen Bearing Strait about 10,000 years ago. The emerging archaeological evidence now suggests the presence of Native Americans in Texas as long ago as 15,000 to 20,000 years.
For more check out this link: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articl ... leID=35913
Gj
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Here is more from Gary Owen remembering his days in the 1960's with the Border Patrol. Gj
All this remembrance of Nate Fuller and my time in Presidio has made me think of many things I saw in that time 40 years ago.There were many interesting characters in residence in Presidio then,and I suppose that a certain amount of eccentricity would be a result of(requirement for?) living there for long.
Of all the odd souls I came to know there,one of the more memorable has to be "Senor Luna"I never knew if that was really his name,or merely a reflection of his frequent state of mind. My first awareness of Senor Luna came early on,when we were picking around outside Presidio doing a little sign cutting for any one heading out for the interior.We observed this really big footprint--I mean Shaquille O'neil big.The old hand observed- "Oh ,that's just Senor Luna,youll get to know him eventually".
Well,time went by and I gave it no more thought.Then one evening I was sitting at the Hotel Bar in Ojinaga enjoying a Tecate,and idly watching a "Lady of the Evening" plying her trade with a couple of guys from up north somewhere.It was cool weather then,and the door opened and in hobbles this very large individual wearing a greatcoat,and using a really stout wooden crutch.
He comes over and plops down on the stool next to me and with no introduction and only a few pleasantries,begins extolling the charms of "Maria Elena" across the way and inquires as to whether I would like an introduction.Not wishing to be impolite I replied that while her charms were indeed considerable(NOT)I thought she was profitably engaged for the evening,and that it would be rude to intrude upon the arrangements.Another time perhaps. That seemed to satisfy him and conversation turned briefly to more mundane matters.He spoke pretty good English,and at first all seemed normal.Then his conversation became increasingly erratic as he discussed his dis-satisfaction with his treatment at the hands of the local constabulary.After a few minutes he started spraying spittle and appeared increasingly angry.
I was starting to eye the door when he said something that let me know he was getting really unstable.He said he had to be in Presidio the next day for a meeting with the Attorney General!Now,I didn't know who exactly he had in mind,but I was pretty certain the the attorney general(Ramsey Clarke I think)didn't even know there was such a place as Presidio,let alone how to get there.The more he said the madder he seemed to get,and the more worried I got.Here was this huge person,red-eyed spitting mad,armed with a crutch that would have made a seviceable battering ram,and what's worse--between me and the door.
I was young and feisty in those days,but I knew there was no profit in argument with the likes of this guy.I told him that if the attorney general was due in Presidio the next day I had to immediately get back across the river and make preparations for his arrival----and with that I bolted out the door,and straight for the border.
The next day I recounted my strange encounter,and was told--"Well,you've finally made the acquaintance of "Senor Luna".It seemed that because of some accident of birth coupled with some peculiarity of immigration law,Senor Luna enjoyed dual citizenship.His elderly mother lived in Ojinaga.But Senor Luna came and went as he pleased.For some reason he was on really bad terms with the police in Mexico,and had evidently gotten the best of them at times.It got bad enough that they resolved that at the next outbreak they would just shoot him,which they did.Whether by design or lousy aim,they only succeeded in wounding him in the leg,hence the crutch. While Senor Luna appeared considerably irked by that,I got the impression that he was most peeved by what he consided to be the attorney general's inadequate concern for his grievance.
That was not my last encounter with Senor Luna.There was a further violent episode in Senor Luna's stormy relationship with officialdom that resulted in his forcible expulsion by the Mexican Army.That will wait for another installment in the Luna saga---more later. G.Owen
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This just came from Kirby Warnock about his Border Bandits film. Gj
Just a note that we've been invited to screen BORDER BANDITS at some
theaters in Texas in September. We'll be in Austin, San Antonio and Mission
September 13-15.
All details are on our Web site at www.borderbanditsmovie.com
I will be at every screening to take questions and comments from the
audience.
Come on out, and please bring your friends who don't believe this story.
They are the folks I want in the audience.
For a good idea of what takes place at these theater screenings, read Joe
Nick Patoski's account on his blog:
http://www.joenickp.com/notes/pivot/entry.php?id=24
Joe Nick is a former senior editor at Texas Monthly and has seen the good,
the bad and the ugly.
See you there!!!
"Ride to the sound of the guns, boys!"
KW
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Here is an email question from Rolando Romo
about Quanah Parker coming to the Big Bend to buy peyote.
I am a history graduate student at Texas A&M International University and I am working on a thesis of John Richard Parker, Uncle to Quanah Parker.
I came across an internet site in which you are quoting from historian, Barry Scobee. In the article, Scobee states that Quanah and two companions stayed at the Hotel Limpia in the Big Bend Area in 1894. They were looking for peyote.
John Richard Parker was visited by Quanah Parker and two companions at his ranch in Mexico. During his stay at the ranch, Quanah was given a potion that included peyote to assist curing him from a deep wound from a bull's gash. Quanah then went back to Cache, Oklahoma.
I would very much like to have as many details of Quanah's visit at Hotel Limpia in order to obtain more information. I have not been able to get a date or geographic place name for John Richard Parker's ranch in Mexico. I am following all possible leads. If you can be of any help, it would be appreciated.
Is there a museum or library that would have the guest registers for Hotel Olympia?
Thank you,
Rolando Romo
Rolando,
I got the information about Quanah in Fort Davis from a newspaper article clipping. Sadly, there the article is undated and I do not know what newspaper it came from. Presumable it was probably sometime in the 1920’s or 30’s. As for old Limpia Hotel registration books suggest you contact the Limpia Hotel. They might well have documation of Quanah’s visit. Also, you might want to check the Arhives of the Big Bend at Sul Ross State University, they have Scobee papers, see http://libit.sulross.edu/archives/. For more on Hotel Limpia see: http://www.hotellimpia.com/
Gj
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I just finished reading Joe Klein’s insightful book titled “Woody Guthrie: A Life” published by Dell Publishing. It is not a new work but simply the most definitive book I have found about the life the legendary folksong writer and political activist Woody Guthrie. Klein’s volume is more than a biography; it is a rich, well-written portrait to be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in Texas history as well as those wanting to better understand Guthrie’s tremendous influence on folk music.
In 1931, nineteen-year-old Woody packed his bags and set out from Oklahoma to Texas. He arrived in the panhandle oil boomtown of Pampa just in time for the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Since I was born and grew up in Pampa, I found the story of Woody’s life in my hometown fascinating. It is only in the last few years that Pampa has embraced Woody Guthrie. When I was growing up in Pampa during the 1950’s and 60’s Woody’s unequaled contributions to folk music were completely swept under the table because of his political leanings. These days Pampa celebrates Woody and that fact for a decade, Woody called Pampa home. Today, you can drive the Woody Guthrie Memorial Highway or take the Woody Guthrie walking tour in Pampa. You can hear musicians at the Woody Guthrie Folk Music Center of Pampa, Texas. A magnificent 150 foot long sculpture of Woody’s classic song “This Land Is Your Land” by Rusty Neef can be seen near the M. K. Brown Civic Auditorium.
For more on Woody and Pampa, check out these links:
http://www.pampachamber.com/woody_guthr ... g_tour.htm
http://www.woodyguthrie.org/biography/biography2.htm
http://www.woodyguthrie-pampatx.org/about.aspx
Gj
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The Dallas Morning News is reporting that the U.S. and Mexican governments are formulating a three-year plan to fight drug trafficking south of the border that involves a huge increase in funding. Presently U.S. aid to Mexico has been estimated to be about $40 million per year. The new strategy, known, as Plan Mexico, will increase U.S. aid dramatically to try to prevent what has been described as “Nuevo Larado-style violence” from spreading mainly along the Texas-Mexican border. Some of the money is to be spent providing Mexican law enforcement with high tech surveillance equipment to eavesdrop on drug traffickers and monitor airspace. To deal with corrupt police, Plan Mexico will fund the training of polygraph operators. One unnamed Mexican official has reportedly stated, “"How wide do we open the door to the Americans? That remains a very sore issue. This is not Colombia." Gj
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The twelve-mile border fence along the Rio Grande between El Paso and Juarez gets so many holes cut in it every day that Border Patrol fence crews stay busy. Every night Border Patrol agents note the new holes they have discovered so the four man fence repair crew will know where they will be needed. The repair crew, consisting of two Border Patrol agents and two National Guard engineers, fix between 15 to 20 holes in the fence every day. According to a Border Patrol supervisor, each hole in the fence means that three to five people have illegally entered the United States. Gj
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"In my comments on the photo in"Chronicles of the Big Bend",I referred to it as Company "B"in 1918,and it is so identified in the caption.I believe this to be an error,as I have the same photo from the Moody Texas ranger library identifying it as a photo of company "A"in 1918.They are all identified with Jerry Gray(Capt.)second from the left and Nathan Fuller fourth from the right.None of the other names are the same as those discharged by the Governor.This is evidently taken after the disbanding of Company "B"in June of that year. I have some enlistment records for N.N.Fuller indicating that he joined the Ranger service in on May 15,1916 in Company "B",J.M.fox,Captain.He was listed as being 27 years and 3 mos.of age.His next period of enlistment began on twe1th of July in 1918,and still in Company "B",but there is no signature on the form for the Captain or any other designation of the company.Next,there is a form signed by James A.Harley,Adjutant General,State of Texas commissioning Nathan N.Fuller as a private in the Texas Ranger Force,dated Sept.10,1918.The next enlistment record is dated June the 20th,1919 and signed Jerry Grey,CaptainCo."A".Captain Gray's remarks were that he was a good ranger.The final record is dated Aug.22,1922also signed by Jerry Grey,Capt;Co."A".I also have some payroll records dated sept.1917 which list Co."B" as consisting of: CaptainJ.M.Fox,Sgt.H.c.Trollinger,Pvts.A.G.Beard,N.N.Fuller,H.G.Holden,Boon Oliphant,and A.H.woelber.Barker,Herman Weaver and Cole must have become members between Sept 1917 and Jan. of 1918,as Oliphant was the only one listed as present then. It is evient that the fact was that Nate Fuller was not actually present during the Porvenir matter,and I have wrongly remembered his comment that the investigator insisted that he was .It is more likely that he insisted that Nate would have known who was given that C."B" was so small during that period.I suspect that his comment to the investigator was a reflection of his usual reticence,and desire not to implicate anyone in matters not personally known to him.I remember one conversation I had with him in which he remarked that he was several times contacted by magazine people(True West,Frontier Times,etc.) to get him to tell his story.He said he always refused,as he knew very well that he wouldn't recognize what actually got printed. The fact that he reenlisted in what was still being referred to as Co."B" in July of 1918,but with no Captain's signature evidently reflects the turmoil following the Porvenir massacre and the Govenor's actions in response."
Gary,
Think you are right, there seems to be no evidence that Fuller personally took part in the massacre but he must have known the details. Harris and Sadler show Fuller's service dates as a regular ranger from May 15, 1916 to Feb. 11, 1920. Gj
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I read your post about the passing of the last witness to the Porvenir massacre with great interest. My own life was touched in a small way by those tragic and desperate times. I was a border patrolman for a short time (1966-67) stationed in Presidio. I got to know an old Texas Ranger named Nate Fuller. It was not easy to get him to talk, but when he did it was always interesting. I remember once he told me about being questioned in regard to an incident that happened up the river one time,but cannot recall that he ever referred to it as "Porvenir ",but it was a long time ago. In reading all your posts I know that that was what he was talking about. It must have been the Canales Investigation that led to his being interviewed about the deaths of those men that night. I very distinctly remember that old Nate got somewhat agitated when talking about it and recall pretty much what he said. As I recall, he related it this way, and at times seemed to be reliving it: He said he was running a saloon at Shafter(evidently out of the Rangers) when someone pulled up in front in a model-t and got out with a typewriter. He said he was with the government and was there to find out what Nate knew about the incident of those men being shot that night. Nate said at first"I don't know nothing about it!" Then the investigator replied that he already knew full well that Nate was up there that night along with several other members of Company "B", along with some ranchers and soldiers. At that point Nate replied (and this stuck in my memory 40 years)"Well all I know is that some lead got to flying around that night, and those boys got in front of some of it!" Nate was 80 when I knew him, but he was still quick as a bird. I later learned that he died in '69 of complications following prostate surgery. There is a picture of Company "B" on page 33 of "Chronicles of the Big Bend".Nate is 4th from the right astride a black and white mount, wearing a bandolier and a Colt Peacemaker that appears to be nickel plated with a ivory grip. He looks to be someone you would do well not to get cross-threaded with too seriously. Even at 80 we could tell he wasn't someone to trifle with. I haven’t any access to the Canales Report, and don’t want to download 1600 pages on my computer. I was wondering if you might have any further knowledge the you could share concerning whether, and what, old Nate's actual history in regards to this might be. Nate Fuller is one of the most unforgettable characters ever to touch my life, and my brief personal experience in the Big Bend country was one of the formative events of all. I was drafted into the VietNam war, and subsequent events precluded my getting to live there anymore. I have come to the conclusion that there is a magic chemical in the earth in that land which, once ingested, forever transforms your innermost being and never lets go. It has haunted me all these years. I plan to go back in October of this year and revisit it all again. Regards, G. Owen
G. Owen,
Thanks for your comments. First I have seen about Ranger Fuller being present at Porvenir. In June 1918, Texas Governor Hobby disbanded Company B and fired A. C. Barker, Max Herman, Bud Weaver, Allen Cole and Boone Oliphant. Captain Fox resigned claiming he had been discharged for political reasons. None of the rangers faced criminal charges for the killings. If you haven’t read it, see my chapter on the massacre in “Little Known History Of The Texas Big Bend.” Also, Harris and Sadler write about the massacre in “The Texas Rangers And The Mexican Revolution.” They mention Ranger Fuller on page 489. Also be sure and see Robert M. Utley’s “Lone Star Lawmen” for more on the massacre.
Gj
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According to the Associated Press, some 1½ miles of recently constructed border barriers near Columbus, New Mexico will have to be removed because they were mistakenly placed on the Mexican side of the border. It could cost as much as $35 million to correct the mistake. In March, U.S. officials discovered that the mile and ½ section protruded between one to six feet into Mexican territory. Mexico is insisting the barriers be moved. Gj
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It seems that the fabled Yellow Rose of Texas may have actually existed and the story has some truth to it. At least according to Kent Biffle of the Dallas Morning News that is. For those not familiar with the story of the Yellow Rose, she was a “Mulatta girl” by the name of Emily who kept Santa Anna occupied in his tent when the Texans attacked at the battle of San Jacinto in April 1836. Biffle cites an unpublished and forgotten essay titled “Texas In 1842” written by an English travel writer by the name of William Bollaert. Bollaert who wrote, “The Battle of San jacinto was probably lost to the Mexicans, owning to the influence of a Mulatta Girl (Emily) belonging to Col. Morgan who was closeted in the tent with General Santa Anna, at the time the cry was made ‘the ememy, they come!’ and detained Santa Anna so long that order could not be restored readily again.” Gj
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January 5, 1947. El Paso Times. “Captain John R. Hughes, whose life as a Texas Ranger in the gun-toting days sounds like a movie scenario and earned him the title of “Border Boss” was found dead today at the age of 92 Tuesday night in Austin, Texas, a bullet through the roof of his mouth. Justice of the Peace Mace Thurman of Austin ruled in his inquest that the death was a suicide”.
“The body of the famous veteran of early day law enforcement was found in a garage at rear of his Austin home. A United Press dispatch said that Hughes ended his life with a .45 caliber Colt revolver, the type the Rangers packed in the pioneer days of the Southwest”.
“Hughes had been in poor health for some time, but last week he made a brief appearance in the House and the Senate where resolutions were adapted lauding his career. Hughes was well known through out west Texas and southern New Mexico for his work with the Rangers along the border. He was a tall, handsome man, a deadly shot and an excellent horseman”.
“In 1896, he was sent by the Texas governor to El Paso to stop the famous boxing match between Bob Fitzsimmons and Pete Maher. He seceded temporarily, but the fighters and their band took a train to Judge Roy Bean’s headquarters at Langtry, Texas, across the border where the fight was staged.”
Hughes could only watch the fight through his binoculars from Texas. The El Paso Times said it was the only time he failed to get his man. Captain John Hughes was the last of the old ranger captains before the desent of the force and its leadeship into the years of politics and corruption at the beginning of the new 20th century. John Hughes truely deserves to be well remembered. Gj
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Hello Mr Justice,
I am writing to you as a shot in the dark. I was told a story by and uncle years ago regarding my grandfather(Jose Valdez) and how he and his brother(Mercedes Valdez) were reunited after many years. They were separated after their mother's death and did not have knowledge of each other until they met as adults. Anyway, here is the story as I remember it.
My grandfather lived on a ranch on the border of TX/MEX in Chihuaha(probably in the Pilares area where my mom was born). There had been several cattle killed by a mountain lion so my grandfather, uncles and several other men set out to track and kill this lion. In the process, the lion was cornered inside a hole and the solution to get to him was that my grandfather would go in with a pistol to try and kill the lion. At about the halfway point one of the other men found another opening to the whole above where the original entrance was and preceded to drop a rock down the hole. This caused the lion to try and exit through the first hole running directly in the direction of my grandfather. As my grandfather stated to me, he had only one option and that was to lay as flat as possible and fired the pistol a couple of times as the lion passed over him. The shots proved to be on target, killing the lion.
Somehow, this story reached a man who wrote short stories of the West and published them in a little publication popular in those days. This particular publication was in circulation in Hawaii and read by my grandfather's brother. He did some research to verify that this was his brother. Mercedes had left Mexico and became fairly wealthy over the years. This whole thing lead him back to Mexico to see his brother(must have been late 50's). Mercedes brought my grandfather and his family to the U.S.(Van Horn) where he purchased a couple of lots and a house for my grandfather. Our family still owns this property with both my grandparents having passed away. My grandfather and his brother corresponded for years through letters that I would translate and write for my grandfather. The last letter we received was to let us know that Mercedes had passed away. Don't know if he left anything to my grandfather since we never heard from his family again.
Anyway, the whole reason I am contacting you is, that I have wanted to find this story or publication that brought the two brothers together. So any help you could provide would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Efrain Gonzales
Efrain,
I think you might be talking about True West or Old West Magazine. The University of Texas in Austin has a complete collection of these magazines.
See http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/00 ... 0055.html. Also, the Haley Memorial Library in Midland has many of these magazines, see http://www.haleylibrary.com/. I believe the Haley has a index of articles which should be most helpful. Good luck! Gj
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According to the Associated Press, some 200 miles of steel vehicle barriers resembling those built by the Nazis on the beaches of Normandy during World War II are being constructed in Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Park. The steel barriers are designed to block roads used by drug smugglers driving vehicles across the border. There are already some 80 miles of vehicle barriers currently in use along the U. S.-Mexican border.
Closer to home in Texas, the Border Patrol has informed Texas Parks and Wildlife that wildlife refuges in Starr, Hidalgo and Cameron counties will soon have approximately 82 miles of border fences because they are located on lands owned by the federal government. These areas include the Sabal Palm Audubon Center and the Santa Anna Wildlife Refuge. No studies of the impact on wildlife have been performed and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service was only given a few days to respond to the plans.
Reuters is reporting that U.S. Border Patrol Chief David Augilar said Wednesday that he expects the United States will have "operational control" of the U.S.-Mexican border by 2013. According to Augilar, there are presently plans to put up 370 miles of fence along the border. In addition, by the end of next year, the number of Border Patrol agents will increase from 13,500 to 18,300. Gj
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According to U.S. Border Patrol chief David Agular, a new high tech virtual wall will soon be operating along the U.S. Mexican border. The pricey new system manufactured by the Boeing Company will be composed of hundreds of interconnected 98 foot tall mobile towers that contain ground sensing radar, cameras, lights, data access points and radio communications equipment. The system of towers is known as SBI or the Secure Border Initiative and is designed to detect persons attempting to illegally enter the United States. Agular has said that the system is so effective that it will, “detect and classify more than 95 per cent of illegal entries within with the virtual wall”. On the Arizona border some 28 miles of the SBI system is scheduled to be in operation by the end of May. According to the Associated Press, SBIs should be in operation in New Mexico and parts of Texas within a year.
The SBI system will replace aging Viet Nam era ground sensor equipment that could be easily set off by livestock. The SBI system will transmit images and data to Border Patrol agents’ laptop computers hopefully eliminating troublesome false alarms. See http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/200 ... 4b_pr.html for a photo of one of the new towers. Gj
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Juan Bonilla Flores, the last living survivor of the Porvenir massacre, died at his home in Odessa, Texas Sunday, March 25th. 2007. Born June 25, 1905, Mr. Flores lived to the age of 101 years. The son of Longino and Juanita Flores, Juan grew up along the Texas-Mexican border in the Big Bend feeling equally at home in western Presidio County as well as in Chihuahua.
In 1913, Juan’s father, Longino, worked as foreman of a project to extend and widen an irrigation ditch from the Rio Grande to the Porvenir Ranch community. The prospect of farming and ginning cotton watered by the Rio Grande brought hopes of better times to the tiny remote village of Porvenir. Hawkeye Townsend constructed a cotton gin built from the timbers of the Rio Grande Northern Railroad at Porvenir. Harry Warren taught school in Porvenir. Longino Flores worked as a sharecropper and built a home for his family at Porvenir.
Porvenir is located on the Rio Grande, a short distance upriver from Pilares, Chihuahua in northwest Presidio County, Texas. Ironically, though the town’s name means future in Spanish, Porvenir offered no future to the some 140 Mexicans living there in 1918. They scratched out a subsistence living by farming and raising goats and cattle. Many of them came to Porvenir from Chihuahua to escape a bloody decade long civil war as Pancho Villa and his adversaries made death a common occurrence.
When he was 12 years old in January 1918, Juan Flores witnessed the execution- murder of his father and fourteen other Porvenir men and boys at the hands of Texas Rangers, troopers of the U. S. Eighth Cavalry and rancher vigilantes. It was a horror young Juan carried with him the rest of his life. He had terrible nightmares most of his life sometimes awaking his family with his screams in the night. For many years, Juan never told anyone about he had witnessed at Porvenir. Then, at the age of 95, Juan finally told his family about the massacre he had witnessed more than eighty years previous.
In 2000, Rhode Island documentary producer Gode Davis traveled to Texas with a production crew to at last film Juan telling his story of Porvenir and the massacre. Davis is producing a film titled, “American Lynching: A Strange And Bitter Fruit.” For more information on Gode Davis and “American Lynching”: http://www.newenglandfilm.com/news/arch ... davis.htm.
The American Lynching wesite is: http://www.americanlynching.com/main.html.
At this time, I had the great privilege of meeting Juan Flores and his family who graciously allowed me to sit in on the filming in Odessa at their home. The living room of Flores home in west Odessa was quickly transformed into a cramped, make shift television studio filled with television camera, sound and lighting equipment not to mention people. Quite a number of the Flores family members, many from out of town, attended and we all crowded together to hear and document what Juan Flores had to say.
The old gentleman came into the room and took a seat under the lights wearing a fine new cowboy hat dressed in his best. He spoke only in Spanish to the hushed listeners with a clear voice. He told of being led out of Porvenir in the middle of the night with his father and the others. According to Juan, Evans Means chose the place of execution. It was a logical site for a firing squad. It is located south of Porvenir and has a rocky hill forming a deadly trap from which no one could escape. None did. It is not the place Joyce Means has claimed as the murder site for years.
As Mr. Flores told the story, he kept his composure much better than his listeners. When he finished there was literally not a dry eye in the place including mine. He said he hoped that by telling the story his nightmares would go away. Hopefully he was able to spend his last years without being tormented any more.
After completing the taping in Odessa, we a traveled to Porvenir. Mr. Flores showed us where the village once stood and down the road the spot where the men were shot. All during the filming, a small Border Patrol flew what seemed to be endless circles over us. We had obviously set off their border sensors. Gode had previously called the Border Patrol in Marfa to notify them that we would be filming in Porvenir but only got a warning in response to not film any Border Patrol activities or our cameras and tapes would be confiscated. They also said we would be arrested if found driving on the river road at night and not to cross the river and return.
At the location of the killings, Mr. Flores sat in a lawn chair watching as everyone gave the place a though looking over. At the place, we found numerous spent casings, some on the surface. There were 1914 dated 30.06 casings but one find really stood out. It was a U. S. Army 1916 12 gauge brass cased trench gun case. This is not something a bird hunter use. It was designed by the U. S. Army to kill men, developed to clear trenches in World War I. The brass case was used to assure it would fire in the muddy trenches. Each round contained 00 buck shot and is also known as a riot gun.
Some accounts of the Porvenir massacre mention how mutilated the corpses were. One writer attributed the terrible wounds to the fact that the rangers used “dum dum” bullets or bullets that had been cut off at the end to make the front of the projectile flat and do more damage. Perhaps these severe wounds came from the use of trench guns by the cavalry troopers that night.
Although Corporal Robert F. Keil, an Eighth Cavalry trooper present the night of the Porvenir massacre states that the cavalry took no part in the massacre, this is disputed by Juan Flores. And the presence of U. S. Army ammunition the place where the Porvenir men were shot supports what Juan Flores said. Flores clearly implicates the participation of the U. S. Army in the killings a fact the Bob Keil spent most of his life trying to cover up.
It is certainly my hope and I am sure many others that one-day the Juan Flores story will be fully told. May he rest in peace and the Porvenir massacre not be forgotten. Gj
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Whatever happened to the town of Chisos, Texas, and the quicksilver mine? My grandfather used to work there about 1914-1920 or so. Are there any book on the area.
Thanks
George R Brown
George,
The Chisos Mining Company Camp was located at Terlingua in Brewster County. See http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/onl ... hnt13.html for a brief histoy. You will probably want to read Kenneth Baxter Ragsdale's fine book, "Quicksilver: Terlingua and the Chisos Mining Company" published by Texas A & M University Press. Terlingua is no longer a ghost town today being a poplular tourist attraction. Check out http://www.terlinguatx.com/. Gj
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I can’t tell you how many times I have driven by the Burro Lady in the Big Bend over the years. You would see here everywhere in the Big Bend along side the road with her burro and big hat. Sometimes she would be camped out but mostly always seemed to be on the move. I even remember seeing her along I-10 in El Paso once. She used to go upriver from Candelaria camping along the way in some very remote out of the way places. I never knew her name until today when I read that the Burro Lady is no more. Her name is Judy Ann Magers and she was 65 years old. The Border Patrol found Magers' body not far from Sierra Blanca Friday appairently not long after she had died. For more on the Burro Lady see: http://www.marfatx.com/uploadedfiles/burrolady2107.html
Gj
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In January 1918 a heavily armed group of Texas Rangers, ranchmen and members a troop of U.S. Cavalry descended upon the tiny community of Porvenir, Texas on the Mexican border in western Presidio County. After rounding up the inhabitants of the village and searching their homes, the vigilantes selected fifteen Mexican boys and men ranging in age from 16 to 72 years and marched them off into the darkness. A short distance from Porvenir, the prisoners were lined up against a rock bluff and shot to death. In Janu