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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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