Chapter 18

New Mexico Territory, July 1896

I took the train back to Goshen and picked up my horse. I headed directly to visit the kids, with my usual welcome. My first look at Sue was enough to convince me that I needed to get her a gun with more stopping power than the .32 she now had. She definitely needed something more like a .38! I would take care of that before I left this time.

So there would be no surprises, I told Sue and Ann that I thought that Sue should switch to a .38 and Ann should inherit the .32. Sue was agreeable, but Ann wanted to know, "Why do I need a pistol?"

My answer was, "Ann, what would you do to protect Sue or Bobby, if you had to?"

"Oh!" was all the answer I got or needed.

Suiting action to words, I went in to Goshen the next day and picked up a .38 for Sue with a belly holster. I took the gun, holster, and enough ammunition back home. I admonished Sue to practice drawing and shooting her new gun until she was comfortable with it. I also wanted her to teach Ann to shoot the .32 while I watched. I expected Sue to be a competent instructor, but I wanted to check to be sure. Everything worked out fine and Ann was well on her way to being able to contribute to protecting their home. I figured on getting Bobby a .32 next year.

I spent two weeks with the kids and then moved on, telling them that I expected to be back for Christmas.

I went back to saloon hopping, as was my usual practice. Nothing was found in Goshen or the next few towns I visited. But I finally got lucky. I heard of a freight line being hit on a fairly regular basis by hijackers. I thought to look into this because of my previous experience.

I dropped in on the manager of the freight line and discussed his problems and my proposed solutions. He was reluctant to hire me at first, saying that my price was too high. I suggested that he contact some of my previous employers to get some idea of my ability to produce results. He said he would and I promised to contact him again in a few days.

I spent a couple of days saloon-hopping and went back to the freight office. This time I was hired at my usual rate. I asked it there was a particular place where his wagons were hit, or was it a random sort of thing. He couldn't be very specific, but it did seem that there was one section where his wagons were hit more often. I said that I would check it out and get back to him.

I rode out to take a look at the place the manager mentioned as being the most common robbery location. I had to agree with the bandits: this place couldn't be better for a holdup if a road agent had designed it, himself. The road made a gentle rise from both directions into a cut between some large and small boulders. The cut in the crest of the hill was about a hundred feet long and studded with places for bandits to hide. Here was where I would ambush the ambushers.

I discussed my plan with the freight manager and he agreed to do as I wished. I then made the rounds of all the local saloons, acting as if I were a little tipsy and talking about the big shipment of whiskey to arrive in town on next Thursday. I figured that I could best get the word out through saloons, since I was certain that the robbers were not the typical Mexican bandits. Most freight shipments at this time were not high value items that any bandit could sell, rather they were the usual hardware and drygoods sold in a common general store. Therefore, I reasoned that this had to be a gang of thieves who had a regular outlet for their loot and were likely to pick up on my trap through saloon talk. Of course, the wagons would be carrying rocks instead of whiskey, but that was OK if the crooks didn't know about it.

My ambush was a little bit complicated since I expected to encounter about five bandits and I had no help. I wanted to get to the rocks and be in place before the bandits arrived. Furthermore, I wanted to be behind them in a good location to see them all. I didn't want to start shooting before they attacked the wagons, because I wanted to be sure that there were no innocent bystanders. The wagon drivers had been instructed to dive into cover as soon as they were approached so that they would be out of the line of fire. I was confident that I could take out five or six bandits if I had surprise on my side.

With all of this in mind, I arrived at the rocks before dawn. I had hidden my horse a safe distance away, out of sight. I expected a long wait, so I had along plenty of water and some food, as well as my rifle and extra ammunition. To be on the safe side, I took a piss before I climbed into position.

An hour or so later, five men rode up and positioned themselves among the rocks. I had guessed correctly in selecting my hiding place. The thieves had placed themselves about where I expected. Now, all any of us could do was wait. I was forced to remain alert, but the thieves were able to relax. They spent the waiting time smoking cigars and talking. Once in a while, one of them would take a short nap.

It was about four hours later when we saw the approaching wagon train. The wagons labored up the hill and stopped on the flat crest to rest the mules before continuing. At this point, one of the robbers shouted to the wagon train to stand fast. When they heard this, the two riding guards rode away as fast as they could, just as they had been ordered to do, and the drivers ducked under their seats.

This surprised the bandits, and gave me time to get off the first shots. At first, the bandits didn't know where the shots were coming from; they assumed the wagons. I got two of them before they realized their mistake.

While the other three were looking around for me, I managed to hit another one. This left two for me to deal with. They finally spotted me and thought to take me from two sides, but I was prepared for that. I quickly reloaded my rifle and pulled back a little to a new location. I dropped down so that they could not see me move; they were attacking the wrong location. The one to my right showed himself, first, and I took a shot at him and missed. The one on the left flinched at the unexpected sound of the shot and exposed enough of himself that I was able to wound him; I didn't kill him, but I did slow him down.

The bandit on my right decided that discretion was the order of the day and pulled out. I never got another shot at him. The one on my left surrendered, so I was left in a quandary: should I shoot him anyway or should I take him in to the marshal? I foolishly decided to make more work for myself and ordered him to throw aside his guns. I walked up to him after I saw a carbine and a pistol being tossed aside. When I reached the wounded man, he pulled out his hide-out pistol, but I shot him before he could get it pointed at me. Now I had four dead bandits to deal with.

None of the dead bandits was carrying anything of value, so I called to the wagon drivers to help me load them into the wagons. We got the four corpses loaded and headed into town. We did stop long enough to get rid of the rocks from the wagons. We tossed the rocks to the side of the road to make less work for the mules; that got us into town quicker.

None of the crooks were on a wanted list, so I just turned them over to the marshal and we returned to the freight office. After reporting in, I took the two drivers around to a saloon for a well-deserved drink.

I went back to the freight office for a further discussion with the manager. I knew that the robberies would not stop until the whole gang was caught, including the higher-ups. Therefore, I proposed that I continue working for the freight line, but change my tactics. This time, I suggested we not contest a robbery, but let it happen and follow the bandits to their contact. That way, we could eventually identify the whole gang. The manager was not too happy with letting more robberies happen, but he finally agreed that my plan was better than anything he could come up with.

For a while, I was busy with a very dull job. I followed the wagons as they moved from town to town, waiting for another robbery. This went on for two weeks and I was getting sick of it. Finally, another wagon train was robbed. The procedure was the same as before, just at a different location.

The riding guards were driven off and the drivers were forced out of their wagons. Some of the bandits assumed the role of drivers and the whole crew drove away.

I rode up to the drivers and saw that they were unharmed and had water; the mounted guards would report in and help would be sent to the drivers. Meanwhile, I continued to follow the wagons. They continued along the main road for a while, and then turned onto a side road that was so seldom used that I would not have noticed it, if I had not been looking for such a thing.

They used this road for about a mile and then cut off it onto hardpan. This was no problem for the mules. Except for the occasional rock, this might as well have been a top grade road. I had no trouble following them. The heavily loaded wagons left a distinct trail, if you knew what to look for. We continued on the hardpan for some time, but finally we came to some steep hills. The going was harder here, but the mules handled it. Not much farther on, the wagons pulled into a large cave.