WPA Elerdo Chavez
Writer: Edith L. Crawford,
Carrizozo N. Mex
JUL 7 – 1938
PIONEER STORY
As told by Elerdo Chavez, Carrizozo, N. M.
I was born in 1880 at Las Chozos
New Mexico, which is located
seven miles southeast of the town of Lincoln and have lived all
my life in Lincoln County.
My father Cleto Chavez was born April 26, 1845, in Socorro Texas which was just
below Franklin Texas (which is now known as El Paso Texas.)
His father died when he was six months old and his mother when he was twelve
years old. He was left to make his own way early in life. He went to Franklin
Texas and earned his living as best he could doing odd jobs. One day he met a
man by the name of George Neblett who owned and operated a saw mill on the
Mescalero Indian Reservation. He had freighted some lumber to Franklin by ox teams. He offered Father a job
to work around the mill at ten dollars per month and his keep. He also taught
him to speak English. This was in 1870. Father went back to Mescalero with Mr.
Neblett, traveling by ox team. They were always on the lookout for Indians in
those days as they were always going on the war path. At night when they
stopped to camp they formed a circle with the wagons and put the oxen inside
the circle. The men folks slept inside the circle and one or more of the men
kept watch during the night. Father said that they did not see an Indian on the
whole trip beck to Mescalero. One day after arriving at the mill Mr. Neblett
put Father on a horse and told him to ride just as fast as he could to Tularosa
New Mexico
and warn the settlers that the Indians had gone on the war path and were headed
for Tularosa. Father said that he rode as fast as the horse could go all the
way. Just before he got to Tularosa he met Marino Ruiz riding horseback. He was
going up on the mountain side to cut some wood. Father told him that the
Indians were coming and to turn back. He paid no attention to him but went on
up the road. About the time Father reached Tularosa he heard the Indians giving
their war whoop and he knew that they had killed Marino Ruiz and sure enough
they found his body the next day. On this same trip Father saw Benito Montoya
coming on horseback but he was too far away to be warned. Benito heard the
Indians coming tho'' and he rode into some Tule grass which grew awfully rank
and was tall enough to hide him and his horse and the Indians passed him by.
Benito told me this some story years after it happened and he remembered seeing
my father on his way to Tularosa. (This same Benito Montoya was one of the
jurors when Billy the Kid was tried at Mesilla New Mexico for the killing of Sheriff
Brady.) The people of Tularosa had built barricades to protect themselves from
the Indians. They dug deep trenches and would fight from these trenches. They
fought the Indians off on this occasion without much loss. When the Indians
went on the war path they always left the reservation. Mr. Neblett was a fine
upright man and never had any trouble with the Indians. He sold his saw mill to
A. N. Blazer in 1873 and it was later called Blazer's Mill.
Mr. Neblett, his wife and son were
killed on the east side of the Organ
Mountains. They were on
their way to Old Mesilla to locate. They all three had been shot and their
bodies left where they fell. The only thing missing was the team and until this
day no one has ever known who murdered the Neblett family. Father had left the
employ of Mr. Neblett in March 1872 and moved to Picacho, New Mexico
where he worked on the farm of William Casey and tended the horses and cattle.
In October 1872 he left Casey and went to work for Jack Price who owned a farm
at Picacho. In October 1874 Father married Prudencia Miranda and they moved to
Las Chozos, where Father took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres. He
farmed and raised cattle and horses. He was living at Las Chozos during the Lincoln
County
war but he took no part in it. He and Jose Miranda his father in law used to
laugh and say that when they were with Murphy and Dolan they were for them and
when they were with McSween they were for McSween but they never were involved
in any way in the war. My Mother was born May 10, 1855 in a small town called
Acacio in Socorro County
and came to Lincoln County
with her parents in 1862. They come in a wagon drawn by oxen by way of the Gallinas Mountains and while crossing the
mountains they met a band of Indians. It was just about night and at this time
there were about fifteen wagons in the train, as each day other wagons met and
traveled on with the Mirandas. When they sighted the Indians the wagon train
stopped and made camp for the night. They formed a circle with the wagons and
put the families and all the stock inside the circle, and prepared to give the
Indians a battle. The Indians had stopped on the mountain side and were watching
the people in the wagons. They did not attack at once and there was a fellow in
the crowd by the name of Juan Lucero who could understand and speak some
Indian, so he went out to within hollering distance of the Indians and asked
them if they were ready to fight and the Indian chief replied that they did not
went to fight then but would be back the next day at noon to fight. The wagon
train laid over in this camp for four days waiting for the Indians to come back
but they never did show up, so the wagon train went on their way to Lincoln
New Mexico. They traveled very
slowly and some of the men folks rode ahead of the wagons and some behind, to
protect the train from the Indians in case they were in the mountains waiting
for them. They never saw any more Indians and arrived safe and sound in Lincoln.
It took about two weeks to make this trip by ox team from Socorro to Lincoln
New Mexico. Jose Miranda and his
family went on to Las Chozos, seven miles east of Lincoln
and took up a homestead. He went to farming and raised horses and cattle, but
during 1865 the Indians got so bad they would come into the fields where Jose
was plowing with oxen and unyoke the oxen and drive them away, and they stole
all of his horses and cattle. After the Indians were quieted down the
Government paid Jose Miranda (my grandfather) for all of the horses and cattle
that the Indians had stolen from him. These incidents were told to me by my
father and mother. I was a very small boy at the time.
Jack Gillman and David Warner were
drinking and they went to a house of ill fame and were raising a rough house.
Some one went to Juan Martinez who was the constable at that time, and told him
to go to this house and stop the rough stuff. He walked up to the door and
called Jack Gillman who came to the door. Juan told him he was under arrest for
disturbing the peace. Gillman said, "All right Juan, any thing you say is
all right with me." About this time David Warner came up and said to
Gillman, "Don't you surrender to him, you don't have to obey any orders
from him." Juan Martinez reached for his gun and so did David Warner. Both
fired at the same time and both fell to the floor mortally wounded and died in
a few minutes. Gillman was so scared at the out come that he made a dash for
the river and hid in some brush. The people of the town were so mad about the
killing of the two men that they formed a posse and went to hunt for Gillman
and when they found him some one in the posse shot him on sight. Later they
found that Martinez had shot Warner and Warner
had shot Martinez
and that they had killed an innocent man when they shot Gillman but it was too
late then. My father died in Carrizozo
New Mexico,
November 1, 1932 at the age of eighty seven years. My mother is eighty three
years old and is living with one of her grand daughters in San Francisco California.
I have served as Probate judge in Lincoln
County
for eight years and have been Justice of the Peace in Carrizozo for four years.
Narrator: Elerdo Chavez, Carrizozo,
New Mexico, Aged 58 years.
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