Rocky Ford enterprise., 1898-05-26

was in the shorifi's ofIlce. sent to Texas
for Captain Pat Garrett, celebrated as
the slayer of "Billy the KID" and ap-
pointed him sheriff. Garrets inrcdi-
ately began to investigate the cril"
He went about this work quietly Al,
go leisurely that citizens OF that To-
cality had begun to believe that tn;
mystery would never be unraveled and
the murderers arrested. More than
two years have elapsed since the Foun-
tains disappeared and since Pat Gar
rett took hold of the case A few days
ago the community of Las Cruces was
electrified and greatly wrought up over
the arrest Of w. NJ. McNew and Will
liam Carr, two prominent cattlemeD.
Both were arrested on bench warrants
charging them with the murder of Col
onel Fountain. The warrants were
served by Captain Garrett in person.
A posse of ten men, led by Deputy
Sheriff Meadows, left Immediately for
the Sacramento mountains, armed with
bench warrants for the arrest of Oliver
Lee and w. F. Gilliland. two widely
known cattlemen, charging them also
with the same murder. Lee and Gill
liland received notice In advance of
the coming of the posse and fled to
the mountains. The posse visited
their ranches, but returned empty
handed. While the posse was out
hunting for Lee and Gilliland another
bench warrant was placed in the hands
CT Sheriff Garrett and Tom Tucker. eX-
deputy sheriff of Santa Fe county, was
arrested and taken to Jail at Santa Fe.
charged with the murder Of Hypolyte
Vigil. who was killed while resisting
arrest by the officer. Vigil was ac
cused OF being one OF the five muir
derers of Frank Chavez at Santa Fe.
for which crime four men were hang
ed. Attorney T. B. Catron was accused
OF having instigated the Chavez mur-
der. He defended the murderers and
is today engaged In prosecuting the
parties charged with the Fountain
murder. The pestiferous politics of
the territory is so tangled up with the
case that the rancorous hatred long
engendered between the partisans is
likely to find vent at any moment and
result In further loss OF life.
When the case was called for the
preliminary trial the presiding Judge
demanded that every person present.
among the vast throng In the court
room, should retire and remove all
concealed weapons. The prosecuting
attorney called his attention to the
fart that many persons present were
heavily armed and requested that they
be disarmed. No one retired In re-
sponse to the judges request and no
further effort was made to compel the
men to remove their weapons. Three
companies of territorial militia have
been ordered by Governor Otero to re-
port to Captain Pat Garrett for the pur-
pose Of suppresslng r.oting and other
demonstrations in behalf OF the pris-
orers. The men on trial are popular
among large class OF persons who
thoroughly understand the handling OF
the six-shooter and hostilities may be
expected to break out at any moment.
Colonel Fountain. whose disappearance
ia one Of the most celebrated cases of
the southwest, went to New Mexico In
1861 with the California column" and
remained there after the war. He
married an Indian woman and raised
n family at Las Cruces. He took an
active part in the peculiar politics Of
the territory and arose to prominence
as an attorney. At one time he held
position in the customs service at El
Paso, but Jumped the town to evado
prosecution under twenty-nire indict-
ments found against him by the federal
grand jury. After settling In New
Mexico he associated himself with
Steve Elkins and Tom Catron at Me-
silla in the practice OF law. Captain
Pat Garrett has the reputation of being
cool-headed, fearless man and few
persons believe that he would have
taken any steps toward arresting the
suspects until he had accumulated sufii-
cient evidence to convict them.