Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1896-02-05
NO TRACE OF COL. FOUNTAIN
All the Circumstances Surrounding
His Disappearance Point to
Murder Most Foul.
HIS BRIGHT LITTLE BOY WITH HIM
A Special from El Paso this Afternoon
Says Searching Party is on Trail of
the Rustlers-The Colonel and
His Boy Doubtless Dead.

the Rustlers The Colonel and
His Boy Doubtless Dead.
Judge s. B. Newcomb, of Las Cruces
arrived in the Capital city on the early
morning train from the south and sool
after breakfast was sought by New
MEXICAN scribe for the very latest par
ticulars touching the sudden disappear
ance of Col. Albert j. Fountain, on Sat
urday.
! Judge Newcomb adds deeply interest
Ing and thrilling details to the story
printed in these columns yesterday. II
appears that Col. Fountain was met BY
the mail carrier, about o'clock on Sat
urday afternoon, on the lonely road be.
tween Tularosa and Las Cruces. This
meeting occurred about forty miles out
from Las Cruces, and soon after the mail
carrier rode on toward Tularosa and Col
Fountain, accom- panied by his bright I
yearold son, Henry, drove away in the
direction of Las Cruces. That was the
last seen of either the colonel or his son
by friendly eyes.
MAIL CARRIERS ALARMING REPORT.
The mail carrier reports that when he
met and talked with Col. Fountain, the
latter expressed some anxiety and alarm
respecting the purposes of three horse
men whom he had several times noticed
suspiciously riding at distance from
him, sometimes on one side of the road
and sometimes on the other, and asked
the carrier if he had seen them and knew
who they were or what was their probable
| design.
The carrier replied that he had OBJ
served the three horsemen at a distance,
that they had seemed to avoid him ard
had also apparently avoided a ranch near
the road He urged Col. Fountain to turn
back with him and suggested that they
return to Las Cruces together in the
morning. But Col. Fountain, who was
we'll armed and had a good team, an
swered that urgent business required his
presence at home and that he must move
on.
The next day, as he was returning to
Las Cruces, the mail carrier saw appar-
emily the same three horsemen he had
noticed the day before riding toward Tu-
larosa, but they again avoided him, rid
ing across the plains toward the noun
tains. Further down the road he was
surprised to observe that Col. Fountains
buggy had
| ABRUPTLY TURNED OUT OF THE ROAD
and moved out on the plains toward the
Sacramento mountains. He alighted and
followed the tracks for some distance.
He distinctly recognized the footprints
of three horses, apparently ridden by men
on either side of the buggy and one fol-
loving the vehicle. There we're no signs
of struggle at that point,-except that in
one place. he noted that the colone's
team seemed to have given sudden
jump, as if under somebody's lash, and
the buggy had lurched to one side.
The carrier, filled with alarm for the
safety of Col. Fountain and his little boy,
rode as swiftly as possible to Las Cruces,
where, on hearing that the colonel had not
arrived at home, he related his startling
story and searching party of about
thirty resolute and we'll armed men was
quickly made up and started back to the
place described by the carrier.
This posse left Las Cruces on Sunday
night and returned the next evening,
bringing reports that greatly intensified
the general alarm and excitement pre-
vaiing among the people of all classes
pIsMANTLED BUGGY FOUND.
Members of this first searching party
reported that they haa discovered the
place where Col. Fountains buggy turned
out of the road; had noticed tracks in
dicating that his buggy had been ap-
preached on three sides by horsemen;
had followed the trail Of the buggy and
horsemen out on the plains toward the
m Mountains about ten miles, and had there
found the colonel's dismantled buggy
with some of his papers scattered around
on the ground. The horses, harness and
every other article of property were gone.
No living thing was in sight. The prints
of horses hoofs led off toward the noun
tains.
After the receipt of these disheartening
reports another posse of about fifty was
formed at Las Cruces and started out de-
termned to solve the dreadful mystery
before they returned. Nothing has since
been heard from this party.
Judge Newcomb's theory is that Col.
Fountain and his son were ambushed and
thus captured without being able to offer
resistance. This seems reasonable, as it
is known that he was prepared to fight
yield under ordinary circumstances with
out desperate struggle.
PARENTAL soLICITUDE.
1t is possible that the presence of his
little boy and his natural solicitude to
save the little one from harm caused him
to surrender without shooting, even if he
had chance to do so. All agree as to
Col. Fountains bravery and all theories
take this fact into account.
As there we're no signs of blood about
the buggy or Of an extraordinary struggle
position is that Col. Fountain and his
son were carried away on the horses of
their captors or on the backs of their own
horses. The absence of blood indicates
that neither was killed near the buggy,
but no doubt ia entertained that the
lips of Col. Fountain and bis son have
since been stilled forever by their cruel
and vengeful captors on the theory that
| "dead men tell no tales.' OF course there
could be no motive for numbering the
child except to put dangerous witness
out Of the way. Whether the bodies we're
buried in the mute sands of some deep
arroyo, or whether the bodies were carried
to the mountains and left to be torn and
eaten by savage wild beasts, or whether
any trace of them will ever be discovered
by distressed friends are at present mere
matters of conjecture. Only the dis
closures Of time can tell God grant that
THE DARK MYSTERY
that shrouds this awful, this hideous
this unspeakably cowardly crime may be
lifted, and that at least the fends incar.
nate who perpetrated it may be discov.
cred and punished in accordance with the
enormity of their offense.
STOCK THIEVES SUSPECTED.
!