The National tribune., 1899-08-31
TOWN OF LAS CRUCES.

TOWN OF LAS CRUCES.
The nearby town of Las Cruces was a
excitement; her citizens argued about it an
ranged themselves on one side or the Other
either deciding that these two men. who's
} names We're quickly suggested for tn
otfense, were guilty, or defending thei
Innocence. Now, this little town of Ney
Mexico looks as simple and grassy AM
) pleasant and law abiding as a town eve
looked; but the tales of its streets are tale
of anger, feuds, shots, galloping horses
Sheriff S posses, indictments, bribes. as
sassins, Judges, juries, and violent matter
of the sort.
Each citizen tells of himself the incest o
pastoral tales of herding cattle. mendlnt
fences. and digging gardens, and If he ha.
to admit killing, he always has an ex
planation that he was Deputy Sheriff, o.
that he was acquitted; but as the tales over
lap and one begins to piece out the entire
history of any difficulty, he begins to think
that the town has ranged itself and It's CUR
on one side or the other of many disputes
and taken an active part.
AS the men of one side are apt to be
| brothers-in-law, sofs-in-law or fathers-in-
law of each other, or of nearer kin, 1t some
| times looks very much like the troubles and
angers of feud. So much for the town
where all these people live who brought
their case to this far-away courthouse to
| ensure safe trial apart from the tense local
feeling on the subject.
A lawyer for the prosecution gets up and
! takes the facts of the three men, of the
tracks, of the pool of blood, of the old anger
between men of this town, and he weaves
rlble story of the crime of the prisoners.
Ihey had every reason in their guilty
hearts to fear this man. There were old
grudges to settle and new ones to fear.
They gave hint to their trusted friends
fIon !, fIlnIr
certain time-one brother-il law who has
come up from Texas, sends back for his
best gun. One day when the time is ripe,
they meet Col. Fountain on the lonely road,
murder him and his son, carry away the
bodies and hide them in the sand hills where
they know no man can seek the crime out.
and after such terrible afternoons work
go back to the village to live among their
peaceable, law abiding fellowmen, as
though the crime had never been. He has
the whole crime mapped out and points 1t
out-the trails, the blood pool, the nearby
ranches, tracks and all.
COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE
Up jumps another lawyer and first ex-
plains how the black-faced villainy, malice
and revenge lie on the other side, and then
in a smooth, drawing tone, which give
every word its full value and holds one to
the next, he tells another tale of that same
afternoon; how "the boys" as he affection
ately terms the prisoners, were at home on
their own hillsides planting grapes.
Many sturdy witnesses come forth and
testify that it is so, and the mother of one of
the prisoners, her cap quivering but not her
speech. tells of her boy being at home plant
ing grapes. The picture now is of the boys
representing the quiet, law-abiding element,
never having killed a man except in defense
or in prosecution of their bounden duties as
Deputy SherffS. 1t did seem as though
New Mexico has more Deputy Sheriffs and
Sheriffs in proportion to non-sherlf citizens
than Kentucky has Colonels to privates.
Were you armed at such and such
time?" asks an attorney of a witness.
"Yes, sir; was Deputy Sheriff, and armed
according to law" is theinvariable response.
The lawyer was gone, the defense ad-
mitted, no one knew where, perhaps 1t
would never be known; it may be he was
foully murdered, but the boys were plant
ing grapevines that day.
Through it all the prisoners sat quiet and
unworried. One testified and was always
ready to answer the sharpest cross ex-
aminations as courteoilsly as a man at an
afternoon tea-like him looking a little
bored-but never nervous or annoyed at
the questions dinned, prodded; sprung and
poked at him, never particularly interested,
and never telling anything.
The other prisoHer-a long legged, big
shouldered, blue-eyed boy, tilted back in
his chair until it reached that incest point
in its balancing that is so pleasant to mascu-
line repose, and dug his elbows into his
attorneys ribs, irphuge enjoyment, while
the prosecution sweated and ragged trying
to describe his black and complete ylllainy.
The attorneys also were often tilted back
tothe pleasantest poiseJ and the five of them
sat together sometimes, a most jovial, un-
worried lot of men. %"
DIFFERENT TYPES OF WITNESSES.
There were farriers, brought in to testi-
fly that horses hind feet are smaller than
their forefeet; there were doctors, who said
the blood was surely blood-it might be of
rabbit or horse or man; but if it were a
mans, he must have surely died, to lose
such lot.
There was a sullen Mexican, who denied
that his regular price for killing a negro
was $40, but that he had refused S25
apiece for killing one of the prisoners and
his counsel, because the job was worth
more than that.
There was a poor, helpless witness, who
got confused, and swore one way with one
breath and another with the next, losing
all hope of reward, and f1oundering in a
most miserable predicament, where neither
truth nor lies were profitable.
One big, burly witness, a friend of one
of the prisoners, who was on the stand to
explain why he was keeping in the vicinity
at the time of the crime, was asked if he
h,I ;,,y Iii