"AFTERWARD" (Fritz Graveyard, New Mexico. Many victims of the Lincoln County War buried here)"AFTERWARD"
Fritz Graveyard, New Mexico. Many victims of the Lincoln County War buried here
Conclusions parallel to these are expressed by no less a citizen than Andrew D. White, long United States Minister to Germany, who, in the course of an address at a prominent university of America, in the year 1906, made the following bold remarks:
"There is a well-defined criminal class in all of our cities; a class of men who make crime a profession. Deaths by violence are increasing rapidly. Our record is now larger than any other country of the world. The number of homicides that are punished by lynching exceeds the number punished by due process of law. There is nothing more nonsensical or ridiculous than the goody-goody talk about lynching. Much may be said in favor of Goldwin Smith's quotation, that 'there are communities in which lynch law is better than any other.'
"The pendulum has swung from extreme severity in the last century to extreme laxity in this century. There has sprung up a certainsentimental sympathy. In the word of a distinguished jurist, 'the taking of life for the highest crime after due process of law is the only taking of life which the American people condemn.'
"In the next year 9,000 people will be murdered. As I stand here to-day I tell you that 9,000 are doomed to death with all the cruelty of the criminal heart, and with no regard for home and families; and two-thirds will be due to the maudlin sentiment sometimes called mercy.
"I have no sympathy for the criminal. My sympathy is for those who will be murdered; for their families and for their children. This sham humanitarianism has become a stench. The cry now is for righteousness. The past generation has abolished human slavery. It is for the present to deal with the problems of the future, and among them this problem of crime."
Against doctrine of this sort none will protest but the politicians in power, under whose lax administration of a great trust there has arisen one of the saddest spectacles of human history, the decay of the great American principles of liberty and fair play. The criminalsof our city are bold, because they, if not ourselves, know of this decay. They, if not ourselves, know the weakness of that political system to which we have, in carelessness equaling that of the California miners of old—a carelessness based upon a madness of money equal to or surpassing that of the gold stampedes—delegated our sacred personal rights to live freely, to own property, and to protect each for himself his home.
[A]"The Wilderness Hunters." G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London.
[A]"The Wilderness Hunters." G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London.
[B]"The Story of the Cowboy," by E. Hough. D. Appleton & Co., New York.
[B]"The Story of the Cowboy," by E. Hough. D. Appleton & Co., New York.
[C]"Life and Adventures of Virgil A. Stewart." Harper and Brothers, New York. 1836.
[C]"Life and Adventures of Virgil A. Stewart." Harper and Brothers, New York. 1836.
[D]Tuthill: "History of California."
[D]Tuthill: "History of California."
[E]"The Story of the Cowboy," by E. Hough. D. Appleton & Co. New York.
[E]"The Story of the Cowboy," by E. Hough. D. Appleton & Co. New York.
[F]"The Story of the Cowboy." By E. Hough. D. Appleton & Co.
[F]"The Story of the Cowboy." By E. Hough. D. Appleton & Co.
[G]See "The Story of the Cowboy," by E. Hough. D. Appleton & Co.
[G]See "The Story of the Cowboy," by E. Hough. D. Appleton & Co.
[H]Captain Saturnino Baca was a friend of Kit Carson, an officer in the New Mexican Volunteers, and the second commanding officer of Fort Stanton. He came to Lincoln in 1865, and purchased of J. Trujillo the old stone tower, as part of what was then the Baca property, near the McSween residence. The Bacas were recognized as non-combatants, but were friendly to Major Murphy. Mrs. McSween and Mrs. Baca were bitter enemies, and it was commonly said that, as each side had a sheriff, each side had a woman. Bonifacio J. Baca, son of Captain and Mrs. Baca, was a protégé of Major Murphy, who sent him to Notre Dame University, Indiana, to be educated. "Bonnie" Baca was at different times clerk of the probate court, county assessor, deputy sheriff, etc., and was court interpreter under Judge Warren H. Bristol. He was teaching school at the time Sheriff Brady was shot, and from his refuge in the "round tower," a few feet distant, saw Brady fall. Captain Baca, wife and son, were after that closely watched by the men of the McSween faction, but managed to remain neutral and never became involved in the fighting, though Billy the Kid more than once threatened to kill young Baca.
[H]Captain Saturnino Baca was a friend of Kit Carson, an officer in the New Mexican Volunteers, and the second commanding officer of Fort Stanton. He came to Lincoln in 1865, and purchased of J. Trujillo the old stone tower, as part of what was then the Baca property, near the McSween residence. The Bacas were recognized as non-combatants, but were friendly to Major Murphy. Mrs. McSween and Mrs. Baca were bitter enemies, and it was commonly said that, as each side had a sheriff, each side had a woman. Bonifacio J. Baca, son of Captain and Mrs. Baca, was a protégé of Major Murphy, who sent him to Notre Dame University, Indiana, to be educated. "Bonnie" Baca was at different times clerk of the probate court, county assessor, deputy sheriff, etc., and was court interpreter under Judge Warren H. Bristol. He was teaching school at the time Sheriff Brady was shot, and from his refuge in the "round tower," a few feet distant, saw Brady fall. Captain Baca, wife and son, were after that closely watched by the men of the McSween faction, but managed to remain neutral and never became involved in the fighting, though Billy the Kid more than once threatened to kill young Baca.
[I]This man, Ed. Short, later came to a tragic end. A man of courage, as has been intimated, he had assisted in the capture of a member of the famous Dalton gang, one Dave Bryant, who had robbed a Rock Island express train, and was taking him to Wichita, Kansas, to jail. On the way Short had occasion to go into the smoker of the train, leaving the prisoner in charge of the express messenger, whom Short had furnished with a revolver. By some means Bryant became possessed of this revolver, held up the messenger, and was in the act of jumping from the swiftly moving train, when Short came out of the smoker. Catching sight of Short, Bryant fired and struck him, Short returning the fire, and both falling from the train together, dead.
[I]This man, Ed. Short, later came to a tragic end. A man of courage, as has been intimated, he had assisted in the capture of a member of the famous Dalton gang, one Dave Bryant, who had robbed a Rock Island express train, and was taking him to Wichita, Kansas, to jail. On the way Short had occasion to go into the smoker of the train, leaving the prisoner in charge of the express messenger, whom Short had furnished with a revolver. By some means Bryant became possessed of this revolver, held up the messenger, and was in the act of jumping from the swiftly moving train, when Short came out of the smoker. Catching sight of Short, Bryant fired and struck him, Short returning the fire, and both falling from the train together, dead.