Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1907-05-25
Captain Simpson S o n
Tells of Santa Fe
Fifty Years Ago
CAPITAL THEN ARMY POST
Veteran Indian FighterKnew
Kit Carson and Other Cele-
brities of Border Days.

SANTA FC lIdo CuduSCu
since | came here fifty-four years
ago." remarked Captain Smith Fl.
Simpson of Taos, while in the city re-
Gently. He was sitting in hs room
on the second floor of the Hotel
Claire gazing meditatiyely out OF a
window into the Plaza.
Fifty years ago there was not a
single tree in the Plaza he continued
after moments reflection. Come
to think of it there was row of trees
in front of the Old Palace but they
have long since been cut down. San
ia Fe was military post then and
the Plaza was used as a parade
ground. Many is the time have seen
guard mounted there. A big flag staff
stood where the monument now stands
in the center of the Plaza.
"The Exchange Hotel was in the
heydey Of its existence half CEN
tury ago and it was the headquarters
for all of the Americans. The Amer
leans for hundreds of miles around
would make pilgrimage to Santa Fe
at least once year and they always
put up at the Exchange. There were
not any brick, stone or frame build
ings in the town at that time. All of
the buildings were adobe. That was
the only material available. The
Plaza was surrounded by stores much
as it is now but they were all one
story affairs with porches in front.
when ! came here there was only
one American woman in the place.
She was the wife of Frank Green, the
proprietor of the Exchange. The sec
ond American woman who arrived
shortly after did was Mrs Nichols,
wife of Major w. A. Nichols, who was
adjutant general of the military de-
partment of New Mexico. Santa Fe
had a miscellaneous assortment of
population in those days. The town
was wide open and money was plen-
tiful and was spent freely. Every man
packed siX-shooter as part of his
daily garb, but shooting scrapes were
not very frequent.
Knew Kit Carson.
Il was acquainted with many of the
plainsmen and mountaineers who
came here in the early days and are
now known only to tradition. Kit Car.
son was a familiar figure on the
streets knew him well and went on
hunting and trapping expeditions with
him and other mountaineers. | re-
member well when Kit Carson headed
an expedition that started from here
against the Navajo Indians who We're
then very troublesome. The Navahos
had been going on the warpath about
every fall and making peace in the
spring until their crops were har-
vested They held the regular sol
diers in contempt and when the troop
ers went after them would either
sneak away or hide in ambush.
Kit Carson taught them lesson
though, which they never forgot
When he and his little band invaded
the Navajo country there were no
bugle calls or drum beats to give
warning of their coming. There
wasn't any monkey business and they
whipped the redskins to standstill.
The Navahos had all the fighting they
wanted and they have been one of the
most peaceable tribes ever since.'
The Passing Of "BiIIy the Kid"
Captain Simpson is familiar with the
blood-curdling deeds of Billy the
Kid" the notorious desperate whose
career of crime was brought to close
by "Pat' Garret, who was then sheriff
of Lincoln County. The captain knew
the young outlaw when the latter was
a. waiter in a restaurant here and lived
with his brother on San Francisco
Street.
"'Billy the Kid was the worst kind
Of a coward" Captain Simpson de-
clared with feeling. HE used to kill
his victims in cold blood and then
brag how he got the drop on them
Your real desperate prided himself
upon his prowess with a six-shooter
He would tell man whom he had
sworn to kill that the next time they
met to come a shooting Billy the
Kid got just what he deserved, only
he ought toshave got 1t sooner"