The Meeker herald., 1900-12-01
BEN WILLIAMS NERVE
Durins the Course of an Eventual Life 1t
Has Never Failed Him.

Has Never Failed Him.
Ben Williams, deputy sheriff at Dona
Ana, New Mexico, Is an interesting per-
sOn. He is a little man with a very
red face, a lemon colored mustache
and white teeth, which he shows con-
tinually in IL goOd-natured smile. Thir-
ty-nine years old-ninetcen Of them
spent In the office of sheriff-keen wit
ted, interchangeable. hard rider. dead
ly pistol shot. jolly companion and 9
terror of evil-doers, with a price on
his own tow head offered by the Mex
Jean government.
At one time the little deputy was in
high favor with the powers In Chihua-
hua. He had rendered the Mexlcans
important service in what he calls
..sOlne of their own little family trOu-
bles," but his sense of justice was too
high and led him into an adventure
that they talk of in Cuidad Jaurez to
) this day every time they show WIS.,
itor over the jail.
lhe first version that l heard of the
: story was that friend of Ben's had
GAsen unfortunately compelled to kill
kyp or three Mcxicdns, whereupOn the
!3hthorities tyrannically arrested him,
cried him and condemned him to be
shot. When Ben got word Of this lit
was over In the Garillas, eighty-five
miles AWAY and two days to the eXecu
ton. He at once jumped on his horse
and rode with loose rein and bloody
spur to FL Paso, where he arrived
somewhere about midnight Early next
morning he hired n hack, drove across
the bridge and entered the Jail, where
he obtained permission to see the
doomed man. When he came out he
had a pistol in each hand and his
friend was with him, also with pistol
in each hand. They fired into the regi.
ment of Mexican soldiers that was on
guard, and the regiment scattered like
sheep. Before they could recover Will
liams had put his friend inside the
hack, kicked the driver on the seat and
put the lash to the startled horses,
which dashed madly across the bridge
spanning the Rio Grande, through an
other guard. and in few minutes
were pulled up with heaving fianks OH
American territory.
l asked the deputy II this was true,
and he laughed. NO" he said, mot al
together. guess 1 know what you
are talking about, though. 1t was this
way: There was man named Boil
ton-he wasn't any friend of mine, but
knew him and l was on the ground
when it happened. SO came to take
sort of interest in him.
Him and another man named Cayitt
had a dispute over some mining prop
.erty that they were both interested in
and there was bad blood between them.
but finally they met In JuareZ and
their lawyers thought they We're going
to get the thing compromised some
way. They did get the papers made
out and seemed peaceable enough when
one of the lawyers and me went into
a saloon to take drink. We hadn't
hardly got in there when we heard
shots, and running ont we found Cayitt
dropped with his gun beside him, and
Bolton shooting at the Mexican police,
who had come up. OF course, l saw
that there was only one way for the
thing to end, considering how many
there was Of them, and SO went up to
Bolton and told him the best thing he
could do would be to surrender to me.
He said he would II saw that he was
protected. 1 told him would. so he
gave me his gun, and kept the crowd
on and got him to the jail.
Now, 1 saw that Cavitt had drawed
his gun. don't remember whether
any shots were fired out of It, but II
there wasn't 1t wasn't his fault
know, too, that he had made threats of
settling Bolton; but those Mexicnns
took Bolton and threw him into jail
and kept him there for year. They
was bleeding him. that's all there was
about it.
II used to go and see him once In
awhile, and one day told him that the
best thing he could do was to get out
of Jail and then make himself hard to
-catch. But the trouble WIS to do 1t.
/ knew their game was to keep him
until they got the last cent he had
and then take him out and shoot him.
and there wasn't any sense in pulling
the thing OFF.
well, this is what did: went over
to Fort Bliss and got four or five OF
the musicians there to come over with
me and visit the Jail. didn't tell
them what / was going to do. because
thought I could work the racket bet
ter without, but 1 got one of their
uniforms and wig and false mus
tache and started out. l had a man l
knew could trust waiting for me close
to the Jail with hack and l rode my
horse.
II used to have pass to go in and
anywhere about the jail that 1 wanted
to- but they had got suspicious of me
and had withdrawn it, so l had to bribe
one of the secretaries to forge one for
me and put the official seal on it. 1t
did just as well rs the real thing. We
went in. and of course there was quite
n party of us. and we struggled out
and the guard couldn't watch us all.
\ finally l took one of the boys with me
land went ia to see Bolton and got him
into the uniform and wig and walked
out with him, just tiimfiammed them,
that was all. One musician In uniform
went in with me and two came out.
but they hadn't kept track of the num-
Der.
1.-The officer OF the guard came up
as We were coming out and l stopped
and talked to him awhile and let Bolton
90 on Ii the guard had batted an