LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 39, 15 July 1874, Page 3

LITERATURE.

THE DANGEROUS CLASSES ‘OUT WEST.’ (ontinvrd. Although it was self-defence which originated this organisation, yet it can easily be seen how likely it is to be abused, and, accordingly, we find the complaints of it bitter and loud. The papers declaim most energetically against the monstrous anomaly of a body of armed men in private pay, under no recognised authority, riding in all directions, seizing and confiscating under no control but, their own will. At a small town called Loma Parda, four or five of these men rode into the plaza one evening, and demanded the surrender of a 1 bunch of cattle which had recently arrived. The inhabitants, however, declared that these were the property of honest and respectable dealers, who had receipts for them, and so refused to give them up ; the horsemen departed, threatening to return with reinforcements. They were as good as their word, for at least forty of them entered the little hamlet, and proceeded to seize the cattle. Several of the principal inhabitants came to protest against this ; but the cavalry shot two of them dead upon the spot—the postmaster, who was an American, named Seaman, being one of those killed—the rest of the villagers, being in no degree strong enough to cope with such a force, keeping within their houses until the cattle were taken away and the men gone. The sequel is this : some of the gang who went about at complete liberty everywhere else, were afterwards taken in the Loma Parda district, and confined in the gaol at Las Vegas, which is a much stronger building than most of the frontier jails, its weakest point being, that the jailer has only twenty dollars per month, paid in depreciated county warrants. Of course they all escaped, and mow go about as openly as any men can do, taking care, no doubt, to avoid Las Vegas. Escapes, under all kinds of circumstances, from American jails arc very common, n the border, the jails are the poorest mockery of the name, and any boy could cut his way out of them ; while in some towns they have none at all. For a long while our city was in this latter position, and we really had no place to put our malefactors. Great inconvenience arose from this, as would be the case anywhere, but in the United States even murder itself is a bailable offence, and a man sentenced to take his trial for this crime is allowed to go to his own town or neighborhood, to see if he can obtain the sureties. When there is no jail in the place, he walks about under care of an armed man, who is with him night and day ; but this is a very poor substitute for a gaol. At last, however, we built a prison, a very small place, but enviably strong. The cells were very small, only six feet across, lighted by a small slit in the wall, which, again, was secured by iron bars ; and these orifices were unglazcd, and not the slightest provision made for warming the cells —in a country where I have seen the thermometer twenty below the zero, or showing fifty-two degrees of frost, after sunrise. But there were no lavatories, or closets, or any similar accommodations for the prisoners ; so the jailer was perpetually letting some one or other out of the building, and then from this it easily grew to allowing them to stop a little when they were out, until at last the prisoners sat at the door and smoked, or chewed, and chatted with the same case and nonchalance as their custodian himself. Yet they were not in for trivial offences ; one, who was kept ironed, had committed a very savage murder ; another wasthemost desperate ruffian in the place, and had struck a man whose back was turned towards him, so tremendous a blow with a poker, as not only to fracture the skull terribly, but actually to bend the weapon. He was held to hail in fifteen thousand dollars and the more prudent part of the inhabitants were for hanging him while they had him in their power, so as to make sure. The third man was in for selling whisky to the Indians ; a very grave offence, for which the minimum penalty is a year’s imprisonment; and as scarcely any other crime is likely to lead to such bad results, the punishment is not too great; but this man was a Mexican, and, so far as I could see, none but Mexicans were arrested for this offence. To return to our prison. The jailer, who was much better paid than the official previously quoted, was removed for intoxication, and a temporary deputy appointed. This latter was a mason, who could earn much more when at his trade than by keeping jail, but as times were dull,he was willing to take charge pro tern. Hearing of a job, however, he undertook it, leaving the care of the jail and its inmates to a youth about eighteen. This young fellow could not refuse the liberty to his charges that they had previously enjoyed, and while I lie man in custody for the poker assault was at the door, his ‘ Mexican wife’ rode up on a fast

horse ; she got off ; the two pushed the unlucky youth into the jail ; and the culprit mounted the pony and rode safely away. Two days after, the Mexican, on being let out, made a dash, although on foot, and got clean away also. The third man, being heavily ironed, could not avail himself of these chances. Then another jailer was appointed : perhaps this was the most extraordinary feature of all, for he was a man waiting to take his trial for murder, or attemptto murder : I cannot remember which it was ; but he was out on heavy bail ; and the appointment of such a character to such a post is an incident which in a romance wsuld be looked upon as a monstrous exaggeration. It must be evident, from what I have already written, that one of the worst features which mark the western frontier is the absence of, or paralysis of legal power. Not uncommonly a sort of inquiry is held, when a deed ot violence is committed, but this is generally known and felt to be a mere keeping up a form, and the issue can be predicted with the utmost certainty beforehand. This is said of very high tribunals, and, in short, no man has ever yet been hanged for murder, by process of law, in New Mexico. The following instance is a pretty strong case in point. I have alluded to a man who was concerned in the murder of the postmaster at Loma Parda, and of the two men who had stolen horses, and, as may be supposed, he was one of the most dangerous neighbours, lie and about thirty others came into the town one night, on their way to the Texan border, as part of ‘ Hitson’s Cavalry ;’ and this man, who was known by the soubriquet of 1 Dump,’ was particular in his inquiries on the next morning after a man named Willis, with whom he said he had an account to settle ; and it was known that some halfyear before these two had spoken very harshly of each other. In the course of the morning they met at a saloon, Dump being armed, while Willis was defenceless ; they quarrelled, Dump forcing the quarrel upon the other ; and Willis seized him, to prevent him drawing his pitol ; in this he was unsuccessful, for Dump shot him below the temple, cutting some great artery, so that the blood came out with a jet, and he died directly. This took place within a few yards of my house, I may remark. That afternoon, an inquiry was held before our justice. The room was filled with the partisans and comrades of the accused, and the evidence given was of the most extraordinary character. The jus!ice was much bewildered, and sent a note to an ex-judge, who happened to be passing through the town, to know if the evidence was admissablc; The answer was as clear as need be : 1 It is just as great a crime to kill a bad man as a good one.’ Yet what could the justice do? What can a man do in the midst of a savage rabble armed to the teeth, and against nearly every one of whom some bloody crime can be charged ? And what can a man do in a place where, in the midst of a trial for murder, a proposal is made to ‘ take a drink,’ as it was hero, and the prisoner, the counsel —there were two for the prisoner, one being the tavern-keeper (no one dared to prosecute)—the witnesses, the audience, everybody but the justice, went off in a body to liquor up ? Let my readers think how they would relish such a slate of society. I need not explain that this man ‘ Dump’ was one of the worst class of desperadoes ; and even since the manslaughter of Willis, which took place so recently as July 1872, he has attempted murder in our little town, having fired at two unarmed men there on new year’s day last. At the time of the inquiry before the justice which I have just described, I had the control of a small newspaper published in the town, and I gave the particulars of the manslaughter, and the result of the examination, being careful, however, not to provoke enmity by any strong remarks. But this did not suffice. The mere fact of my daring to report what had happened was enough, when the ‘roughs’ wished silence to be kept, and 1 was threatened with the vengeance of this hardened homicide. It is not at all safe to act as a censor of morals in the West, for positions elsewhere considered privileged confer no protection there. I remember that in Montana, only a couple of years back, a ruffian stalked into a chapel, and in the presence of the congregation, and in the midst of the service, shot the minister dead in his pulpit, on account of some real or fancied rebuke formerly given, and then as is usually the case, got off unmolested. The most prominent editor in Denver, whose handsome daily paper would vie with the best English ones, has found, too, that it is not safer to speak your mind than it was in Martin Chuzzlcwit’s days. In 18(50 a negro named Stark being murdered by a man named Harrison, the gentleman in question spoke very plainly on the subject, and, in consequence, a raid in broad daylight was made on his office. A mob of drunken ruffians burst in and seized him, and dragged him off to where Harrison was sitting in a drinking saloon, with the intent that the latter should inflict due punishment on the editor. Harrison, however, who was sober enough to know that a great stir would certainly follow the killing of so prominent a citizen, and that he himself would as certainly be held responsible, assisted the prisoner to escape. When this became known, the crowd went back to the office, determined that an example should be made, and that they would execute their own decrees. The office was by this time guarded and barricaded, yet one fellow, in a fit of bravado, rode right up to it, and fired two shots at random into the window ; a shot in return wounded him, and he rode off, yelling and brandishing his weapon, until a gentleman, yet resident in the district, brought him to the ground with a more effectual bullet. (To he continued.)