Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-12-18
Morning Journal Bureau,
613 Munsey Building.

~
shot in the back M killed by a des'
perado Mexican sheepherder named
Jose Garcia. The crime was commit
ted fifty miles west of Flagstaff, Ari-
IONA. A party headed by the sheriff
Of Coconio county made a four-day
search for the trail of the Mexican
failed to find 1t and gave up the
hunt. The sheepmen induced young
Ralph Cameron. now delegate to the
house of representatives. in whom
they had vast confidence. to take up
the abandoned chase. Then started a
six-weeks pursuit of almost unpre-
cedented hardship that illustrates the
qualities of a man who brought to a
successful conclusion the twenty-five
year battle that the territory has
waged for statehood.
Cameron ook the trail six days af-
ter the crime had been committed.
He has a theory that a murderer al
ways goes back to his old home and
his own people. He cited the Charlton
case as a recent example of the truth
Of this theory. The crime was com
mitted west of Flagstaff, but New
Mexico, the original home of the
murderer, was to the east. The Mex
lean had to pass through that wild
which lay between Flagstaff and the
Grand Canyon of the Colorado to the
north.
Cameron set out to the north and
east, thus gaining many days. On the
great plain between w~aterholes he
abandoned his horse and circled on
foot in search of a trail. He picked
up the track of a hobnailed shoe,
where there are only Navajo Indians,
and knew that he was after his man.
He followed the trial for days, eat
ing occasionally at the camp of In
dams, and sleeping by night without
blankets on the ground. one night
he had gone to sleep in the sand in
a gully with his hat for a pillow. A
storm broke in the mountains above
him, and he awoke to find himself
floating down the gully and his hal
zone. Fol- days the rain poured. All
traces of a trail We're obliterated. lie
decided to hurry on to Albuquerque,
whittier he felt his quarry had gone.
He walked thirty miles to the rail-
Here he found that the fresh
cts had washed u bridges and put
a hundred miles of railroad out of
and made the streams inn
passable for a horse. He pushed on
afoot. ragged, h~atless, hungry. He
over spans that had been
bridges, but were now but
strings of rails that connected the
banks.
At the end Of five days he plunged
into Hell's Half Acre, at that time
a section of Albuquerque inhabited
by outlaw natives. He found a sheep |
herder whom he had known in Ari-
iona and who was an enemy of Garcia
- -, uNhs. NIAxrf,,a ha1 gnara I
the outlaw the night before. Cameron
spent a week searching Albuquerque
without success. He went to Las We
gas. The man he wanted had been
there also, and he found hat four
teen years before he he'd been mar
ried to a woman who lived in a set
thirty miles out of town. He
failed to find him there, however.
But he set a Dutchman to watch the
camp and continued his search, which
led through portions of Texas, much
of New Mexico, n particularly INTO
Gallinas Canyon. the lawless rendez-
vous of the worst gang Of d~esperadoes
the west has ever known. Here Cam
eron spent five days facing a fight
to the death If his mission was dis
covered and a no less delicate situa-
ton if he found his man.
Finally he received word from his
Dutchman hat Garcia had com into
the camp of his former wife, had
back home, as m~urderers al
ways do. Cameron picked up another
man who was said to be willing to
undertake anything from murder
for $25. lie surprised the camp
at daybreak, captured his man and
chained him to the hireling.
But in Las Vegas he encountered
a very delicate situation. 1t was at
just the time when the better element
making a determined stand
against the outlaws. but had not yet
its fight. That week ten Mexi-
bad men had been indicted and
the community was near civil war.
Cameron had lost even his commits
sion and warrant and was entirely
without requisition papers. But he
was determined on kidnapping his
prisoner into Arizona.
The train passed through at 3
o'clock. Cameron put his prisoner IN
a hack. the renegade still chained to
the hireling, and planned to each
the depot as the train was Just ready
to pun out. This he did successfully,
but, unfortunately, the engine had
broken down, and a delay of two hours
followed.
The Americans were drawn up on
one side of the tracks and the natives
IN the other. and all seemed ready for
battle royal. Cameron climbed on
Top of his hack with a double-barrel-
ID shotgun and declared that he
would shoot the legs off the first man
Who batted an eye. So he sat Tor
wo hours, made his bluff good and
sot away with his prisoner. y
But there was yet another Difficult 9
y ahead Of him. The news of his
uccess had reached Flagstaff. and
the sheepmen for "A hundred miles Z
-round were there to welcome him, j
nd, incidentally. 10 hang the prison I
n. But Cameron was determined {
nat the prisoner should be given a
rial So his hand was turned against
ne very men who had sent him on
ms mission. He was forced 10 protect ;
ne prisoner against his friends.
trough persuasion and the mainten-
nee Of q determined front he sue J
in this, and IN the n brought
us man to trial and conviction.
catching mUrderers is no difficult !
ASK. says Delegate Cameron. IF
murderer is given time To reflect :
pom his crime he Is unnerved by
NAT he has done. An officer Of the {
aW Is in little danger from the out [
IT h a outlaw is a mature man q
Is the boV - eighteen who is dam
+r9us- Rut they can all be gotten I
me officer goes ont with the de-
mihatinn not 70 return until the 2
:" - done Every job can b. carried !
y successful -cnmDletion. q