Tales from the Morgue

1932: Vernon L. Sullivan Visions Franklins As Potential El Paso Showplace

02/22/1932

By Charles P. Miller

A mountain recreation park, with sparkling running water, magnificent scenery and cool climate, with in a half hour’s drive of downtown El Paso – is more than an idle dream, it is a potential reality, Vernon L. Sullivan, El Paso consulting engineer, believes.

McKelligon canyon, located in the Franklins and scene of recent construction work of the county, furnishes the possibility for such a park, he says.

While McKelligon canyon proper furnishes more or less drab scenery, the 20 or more side canyons are filled with points of beauty.

NATURAL CHARM

Natural stone archways, springs, mountain ferns, odd geological formations, all are to be found in the tributaries of McKelligon.

Standing on a pinnacle of a peak in “Falls” canyon, which converges into McKelligon canyon near the loop in the new road, Sullivan yesterday painted a most enticing picture of what could be done in improving the natural beauty of the surrounding territory.

“Down there, a small stream could be created to flow through a grass covered valley,” he said, pointing to the bottom of the canyon. “After a year or so cottonwoods, or other kinds of native trees could be grown successfully. The stream could be created by placing a series of small dams above the spring up there,” he added, singling out a tiny basin of water high up on one of the bluffs in the canyon.

AMPLE WATER

“The rainfall in the mountains is greater than downtown and one series of small dams would retain enough water to feed a small stream throughout the year.

“Picnic tables could be placed in the valley for those who do not care to climb to the higher altitudes. Other tables, of course, could be placed up here to accommodate those who are of adventuresome spirit.

“The same plans could be carried out in many of the other canyons.”

Along with the construction of the canyon road and flood control fills, the county workers have cleared out trails in most of the canyons, but there still remains plenty of exploration work that could be done.

FEW HAVE BEAUTY

In some of the McKelligon tributaries, beautiful sights which have met few eyes could be opened to the public in general by the construction of safe trails and the clearing of parking space near the mouths of the arroyos.

Perhaps the most beautiful canyon is “Red Rock,” named for its gigantic red rock bluffs. To the right of this canyon is “Falls” canyon, where the water falls for some time after each rain over a solid rock bluff some 50 feet high. “Rainbow” canyon, further up McKelligon canyon, and to the right, is a beautiful arroyo, drawing its name from a natural rock-arch forming a perfect rainbow on the skyline.

One of the first canyons, on the right, is “Granite” canyon, named for its huge red granite boulders.

Just above “Granite is “Ancon” canyon, named for its large natural alcove surrounded by smooth rock walls, and capped off with a huge boulder, upon which one may obtain a few a view of El Paso’s residential district, the lower valley and the Hueco mountains in the distance.

200 FEET SPECTACLE

Two thousand feet above the city, in “Ancon” canyon, an outdoor theater production might be staged, Sullivan said. The alcove forms a perfect amphitheater, capable of caring for thousands of people. Here, too Sullivan said, picnic tables could be placed advantageously.

Exploring McKelligon canyon and its side canyon has been a hobby of Sullivan’s for the last 12 years. Each Sunday he seeks out new places and new sights, “which he hopes eventually will be equipped so that others may enjoy the same beauties. One of the places of which he is particularly proud is “Box” canyon, almost inaccessible at the present time. On three sides the rectangular canyon is boxed in with bluffs of stone almost a hundred feet high.

Cool, refreshing breezes fill all of the beauty places during the summer, he said.

LOWER TEMPERATURES

“The temperature goes down about one degree for each 250-foot rise in elevation, giving the higher points climate from five to ten degrees lower than in the downtown district,” he said.

Sullivan believes that various civic organizations and the city should become interested in the possibilities of the potential close-in recreation grounds.

“We can make that territory one of the finest parks in the country,” Sullivan said. “Phoenix and Albuquerque both are catering to winter and summer tourist, and both cities are prospering even during these times, largely because of tourist traffic. McKelligon park would be a great improvement for tourist to not only visit El Paso, but also to make the city their winter and summer stopping place.”

1931: SEE BUSINESS ASSET FROM POPPYPLANTS

05/15/1931

 

SEE BUSINESS ASSET FROM POPPY PLANTS

Chamber of Commerce Heads Approve Campaign

PROPOSE ADVERTISING

L E. Saunders Says Slopes Covered With Flowers To Bring Tourists

El Paso business men see a business asset as well as beauty In a Mt. Franklin with poppy covered slopes.

L. E. Saunders, president of the Chamber of the Commerce, said he is "strong" for the Herald-Post campaign to broadcast poppy seed over the barren mesas and foothills of Mt Franklin.

"It could be advertised, and would attract many visitors, just as Carlsbad Cavern does, or the bluebonnets of east Texas.

"I have seen the poppies north of town on the Newman road, and I believe it would be a great thing to have these poppy fields on a larger scale."

"It would be hard to estimate the value of these poppies, if they covered a large area around El Paso," said E. H. Simons, secretary-manager of the Chamber of Commerce.

"I also would like to protest against calling them California poppies. California gets enough advertising.

"If a new name is needed why not call them Texas poppies? Simons pointed out the attraction the poppies would have for visitors, and said completion of the campaign would be a great advance in civic development

Suggestion to sow the mountain sides with poppy seed was made by W. G. Roe. The Herald-Post will accept donations in any amount to the poppy fund, and turn the money over to a committee which will supervise the planting.

1931: Poppy Fund Passes the $100 Mark

1962: Blooming Poppies Cover East Side of Mt. Franklin Foothills

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1975: El Pasoan Michael Shea killed in Vietnam evacuation effort

April 30, 1975

First Lt. Michael Shea of El Paso was one of two helicopter pilots killed during the American evacuation of Vietnam yesterday.

Clarence J. Shea, father of Michael, today was unable to speak about his tragedy. But one of the son's high school coaches gave a little background.

 Coach Bob Kirtley said, "Michael Shea was a natural “leader."

 He added that Parkland High - school where Shea graduated in 1988 needed leaders back in the 1960's.

 Shea was a leader on the athletic field, participating in football, baseball, basketball; and track. "I had the most confidence in Mike in anything he did," Kirtley said. 

 May 1, 1975

City Council's session was led off by remarks by Mayor Don Henderson on the ending of the Vietnam War and the personal tragedies that have touched the lives of Americans and South Vietnam citizens. He drew special attention to the death of El Paso Marine 1st Lt. Michael Shea, one of the last two American to perish in the conflict.

May 23, 1975

VFW Ceremony To Honor Shea

V.F.W. Post 6388 Madrid McLaughlin in Ysleta have dedicated their installation of officers ceremony to be held Sunday, at the Post Home in memory of Lt. Michael Shea who was one of-the-last two Americans killed in Vietnam.

A special memorial service will be held on Monday at the Post Home during a flag raising ceremony by Boy Scout Troop 81.

December 18, 1975

HUSBAND HONORED—Mrs. Michael Shea, widow of the late Lt. Michael Shea, an El Paso Marine who was one of the last U.S. servicemen killed in Vietnam, admires the Navy medal that was presented to her husband posthumously in ceremonies today. Marine Major John Butler of the El Paso Marine reserve presented the medal and read letters from Navy officials. Mrs. Shea's sons, Matthew, three and Mark. 18 months look on.

 

1969: Oryx Transplanted in NM

October 8, 1969

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE. N.M. - Any hunter can learn to shoot an African oryx (gemsbok), but it lakes a passle of special skills to move a herd.

This was demonstrated by personnel from the New Mexico Game and Fish Department who transplanted seven of the sleek, fawn-colored animals from the game farm near Redrock, N.M., to a wildlife area within the boundaries of White Sands Missile Range.

IN THIS STEP of the State's exotic animal experimental program, the animals were carted by trailer approximately 300 miles and released in a area near the WSMR western boundary, about 100 miles from headquarters, which closely resembles the oryx's native

habitat of South Africa.

The action began Tuesday (Sept. 30) when the animals were rounded up from an eight-section pasture at the farm northwest of Lordsburg.

The corralling of the fleet and fierce antelope-type animal is no small job. In addition to brains needed to out-guess the wily beast and a swift stride to stay clear of its sharp pointed horns, the men have to use ingenuity to lure the animals into the corral or use a tranquilizing gun.

TWELVE ORYX were corralled and ready for loading into trailers. But, that little job was easier said than done. With one gate damaged from ramming heads, the other corral gate on the eight-foot high predator-proof wire fence gave away and seven of the animals took off.

Finally, five animals, a yearling bull and four cows, were hauled in a trailer over the precarious road to the range site, along with two cows that were brought from the Albuquerque zoo in a second trailer.

Getting the oryx from the trailers proved almost as much a chore as loading them. Unlike "olives in the bottle," the last oryx was just as difficult to unload as the first had been.

With six men—three on each side of a rope wrapped around the animal's horns pulling while two or three others prodded and pounded on the trailer side, each animal was literally dragged from the trailer, then with a bound was lost in the brush.

THE FULL GROWN oryx bull weights between 650 and 750 pounds, all muscle covered by its fawn coat with black markings that look like highwater marks on a ship hull.

The oryx eats marginal forage and can go as long as eight months without water. Supplementary feeding is not necessary ever, during winter months.

William Huey, chief of Game Management, Game and Fish Department, and assistant chief, Walter Snyder, both of Santa Fe, were in charge of the oryx transplant. Assisting were department personnel from Redrock, Deming, Silver City, Albuquerque and Las Cruces.

THE FIRST ORYX were brought to the state in 1962 by Dr. Hibben and placed in the Albuquerque zoo. Any imported animals to a zoo must remain there. Only their offspring may be moved to open areas. It was offspring from the Albuquerque zoo animals that were taken to the Game Pasture at Redrock and these offspring were brought to the WSMR range.

The transplant on the missile range marks the first release of animals in the current exotic program on any site other than the Redrock pasture. The release could be a milestone in the program to establish non-native game population in the state.

1967: Hudspeth Boasts 50 Progressive Years

09/03/1967

 

On Saturday, Hudspeth County will look back into 50 years of Western history, 50 years of Western tradition and 50 years of progress and still see an old piece of Americana long vanished from many parts of the United States.

The 50th anniversary of Hudspeth County, formed in 1917 by an act of the 35th Texas Legislature, will bring the 4,000 and some odd residents of the county to the steps of the historic county seat Courthouse at Sierra Blanca, 84 miles east of El Paso, for a gala program and barbecue dinner beginning at 4 p.m.

On the side of the old adobe Courthouse, still in use as the County seat, a plaque honors the Texas Legislature which gave birth to the county and also to Claude B. Hudspeth, the district’s congressman who was instrumental in legislatively forming the county and separating it from its parent – El Paso County.

From the County seat, separated by low, rolling plains dotted everywhere by sagebrush, the other communities of Hudspeth include Dell City, Fort Hancock, McNary, tiny Allamore, abandoned Nulo and Finley, Esperanza, and famous Indian Hot Wells.

Much of the same terrain covered by the modern farmer and rancher of Hudspeth on jeep and truck was covered by the early Spanish explorers who tracked in the area in search of riches. The same area was the stomping grounds for the marauding Indian tribes who came from as far north as Canada. This is the same area where the first federal troops in the 1850’s built lonely outposts at old Ft. Quitman and at Ft. Hancock.

The early settlers in the county where sheep herders who came into the area before 1850. Reports of the Hudspeth County Historical survey Committee state that those first settlers in the area herded sheep in what is now known as “Frenchmen’s Canyon,” It was not until the coming of the railroad that these sheep men begin to disappear.

It was the Texas and Pacific, the Southern Pacific and the late entry of the Rock Island railroads that spelled the future of Hudspeth.

The Old Butterfield Stage line from the Sacramentos in the north and the Eagle Peak stage run to the south were easily bypassed, when the mighty railroads first laid track into what seemed like virtually dangerous Indian territory.

The prevalence of five mountain ranges (Sierra Diablos, Rim Rock, Finley Mountains, Quitman Mountains, Eagle Mountains) encouraged extensive mining activity which dotted much of the early Hudspeth scene around 1900.

A talc mine at Allamore, still in operation, and the old Bonanza mine, west of Sierra Blanca, brought operations that were staffed by up to 400 laborers. They searched for silver, zinc and copper but found only hardship and depredation.

TOURIST NOW SPEED BY

However, more to the present are the efforts which have restored old Ft. Quitman and Indian Hot Springs to attract many of the tourist who whiz by on Interstate 10 unaware of the historic importance of the area.

Members of the Hudspeth county Historical committee have organized themselves to wipe out this ignorance. They have made plans, in conjunction with the Texas Historical survey Committee, to mark some 20 historic points prominent in Hudspeth county history.

Many mementos of the County’s history are maintained in a fabulous collection of Hudspeth county Sheriff E.A. “Doggie” Wright. His listing in the Texas museum Directory is an indication of the amount of work he has put into his collection.

Sheriff Wright’s photographs represent the preservation of frontier Hudspeth. His picture of the early ranchers who were Hudspeth’s first county officials is a sharp contrast to the ranchers who are fewer now yet own larger sections of land.

The gradual trend toward big ranches and the elimination of railroad section houses and water stations have steadily lowered the county’s population from what it was in the early ‘20s. Present population is centered mainly in the rich and fertile farm lands in the Dell City area and also along the lower Rio Grande Valley consisting of Fort Hancock, McNary, Esperanza and Acala.

Thus the third largest county in Texas with over 4,500 sections of land (640 acres per section) faces the future with strange optimism, and a hope for increased attention from tourists to bolster its agriculturally based economy.

SEEK HISTORIC SITE STATUES

The planned establishment of Victorio Canyon as a historic site to rival the Grand Canyon of the Colorado is being pushed by Wright and other committee members.

Close cooperation has been accomplished by the society and the State of Texas, the T&P Railroad and the University of Texas system. The latter three are the three largest land owners in the county.

Each of the above three groups hold on the average of 300,000 acres each. They have, however, leased the land to many area ranchers.

Such close cooperation has resulted in plans by the Texas Historical Society in developing a route to extend the old Presidio National Park. A dream perhaps, but a dream that belongs to the Hudspeth County residents.

The establishment of this road, first supported by John B. Sheppard, former president of the state Historical Society, would bring plans for improvement of the county to 2-3 completion.

The main obstacle to progress today by the County is the presence of non-resident owners. Many ranches have only a token amount of ranch hands to keep the spread in good shape for owners who often live outside the County.

It has been ranchers like V.J. McAdoo, W.W. Schussler, Ted Frederick and Henry Wilbark, a few Sierra Blanca ranchers, who hold the key to the economic future of Hudspeth County.

DELL CITY HAS BOOM

Another boom to the county’s economy has been the flourishing of Dell City which, with its 40,000 acres of fertile land, has brought new investment into the area. This is exemplified by the establishment of a new Price’s Dairy complex and feeding pens and the introduction of El Paso Neutral GasCo. pipelines through the Cornudas station, 20 miles south of Dell City.

The growth of Dell City, however, did not begin until late in 1948 when the discovery of abundant water in the northern part of the County gave the town the largest population in the county. It is the center for vegetable, alfalfa, cattle and cotton production.

As the county’s only incorporated city, Dell City is the stepping stone to famous Salt Flats, some 17 miles south. In the past wagons hooked onto other wagons made the trek to the salt beds. Much of the scenery of the northern part of Hudspeth County was a by-product of the vast wagon traffic to the salt formations.

Mule drivers, guiding these large wagon trains, often took mesquite seeds to feed the animals. As they fed along the way, seeds were strewn aside producing a landscape of mesquite bushes a sharp contract to the low, rolling grassy plains the area once had.

These mule drivers and early ranchers were the rough breed of men who had to carve out an existence in this virgin land. Much of the rugged individualism has remained but the attitude is different. Almost all residents are imbued with a sense of history, a sense of what their region has played in history of the State and of the Country.

UNOFFICIAL HISTORIAN

Sheriff Wright, known as “Doggie” to all county residents, is the unofficial historian of the county. His wife is the secretary-treasurer of the historical committee.

Leo Threadgill, curio shop owner in McNary, 20 miles south of Sierra Blanca, is a part time museum curator who has crammed every conceivable old time artifact into his small store. Known affectionately in the territory as “Leo’s junk,” the collection includes fossils, pistols, rock collection and every type of western paraphernalia.

Threadgill and Tommy Powell, owner of the replica of historic Ft. Quitman, have a friendly rivalry in the collection of old weapons.

Threagill says he has more than 100 guns he would sell for around $3,500 but Powell said that he will wait for December until the price goes down.

Mrs. Joe Neeley, widow of one of the county’s earliest settlers, lives in the rugged country in the Lower Valley.

Her family was one of the first of the Dell City area before it ever became a town. From their 1907 Dell City farm they have moved south to a few miles outside the small community of Esperanza where the family has lived for the past 50 years.

Mrs. Neeley’s son, Tom, is the County judge and an area rancher. He has also seen the southern part of the county flourish though it has decline somewhat the past few years, because of the decrease in Rio Grande runoff. Gone are the days thousands of laborers were used to reap the rich and full cotton harvest of the Lower Valley.

Dependence upon well water has brought a slight drawback for the water contains some salt.

TO DEVLOP WELLS

Yet the Hudspeth dwellers also face the future with “rugged optimism’ as those who staff the famous Indian Hot Wells which are tucked 24 miles south of Sierra Blanca, deep into the Quitman Mountains.

R.V. Langston, manger of the hot-water resort, has supervised a recent $125,000 rebuilding job of the long abandoned mineral well. Now, with additional funds supplied by new owner H.L. Hunt, noted Texas multi-millionaire, plans are in the making for a new swank two-level, 50-unit hotel, forming an oasis in the mountains.

With this new investment in the south, residents and area ranchers have pressed for additional roads linking Presidio with the resort area looping into Sierra Blanca to West Texas’ newest vacation resort.

In Hudspeth County your neighbor is not across the street or around the corner. He is either across the plains or around the mountain. But the ties are closer than if they lived on the same block. Although miles of mountains and rolling plains separate family and friends, Hudspeth residents have developed a spirit – “County spirit.”

1965: Crusty John Prather To Be Buried on Ranch

February 13, 1965

Old John Prather will be buried tomorrow on the ranch that he refused to surrender to the Army – with the Army’s blessing.

His daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Hart Gaba of El Paso, got permission to bury the pioneer cattleman at a spot he himself selected before his death. It is a few feet from the ranch headquarters house on the Army’s McGregor Missile Range.

Mr. Prather died yesterday – not at his ranch as he had wished but at the home of Mrs. Daisy Speers at Boles Acres, six miles south of Alamogordo, N.M. He was 91 and individualistic to the end, but death came quietly.

In 1957 Old John stood off Ft. Bliss troops, who wanted to evict him, with a rifle.

Today, Maj. Gen. Tom V. Stayton, Ft. Bliss commander, was on record with the statement: “I am very sorry to hear of Mr. Prather’s death. He was a great pioneer of the West. Certainly we have no objection to his burial there. How could we?”

Funeral services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at the Mullins-Hamilton Funeral Home, Alamogordo. The body then will be taken to the ranch southeast of Alamogordo which is now part of McGregor Range.

The Gabas already have fenced off a plot, 25 by 50 feet for the old rancher’s private cemetery. The site is about 80 miles northeast of El Paso on the 40-section ranch that Old John defended with his rifle against Ft. Bliss troops in 1957. He had been ranching there since the turn of the century, and he vowed he would never leave or turn it over to flying missiles, which he called “contraptions” that the Government “brought out here just to try to scare me.”

The Army, wanting his 40 sections for McGregor Range, backed off when Old John threatened to shoot. An uneasy truce and litigation ensued.

Finally the Government sent Old John a check for $106,000 for his ranch. He fired it back. The Government placed the check in an Albuquerque bank and it is still there uncashed.

The Army moved its missiles in. Old John refused to move out. He refused to move his cattle out, “come missiles, hell or high water.”

Sen. Clinton P. Anderson of New Mexico got a bill passed in Congress allowing Prather to live out his lifetime on a 15-acre reservation on the ranch. The old rancher continued to graze his herds. “I’ve never moved out a single cow,” he would say. “I’ve been here 53 years,” he said in 1959, “and I’m going to die here.”

But in March of 1953 the rugged old cowman got pneumonia, becoming desperately ill. His daughter, Mrs. Connie Gaba, and Mr. Gaba were living at the ranch house the. “He didn’t want to leave for a hospital,” Mr. Gaba recalled. “He said he wanted to die in front of the fireplace there in the house.”

Mr. Gaba picked him up in his arms and took him to an Alamogordo hospital. The old man was never the same again. He became semi-paralyzed and return to the ranch was out of the question. The Gabas placed him with Mrs. Speers, who provided tender care until his peaceful death at 8 a.m. yesterday. “He just went to sleep after breakfast,” she said.

Death halted plans for a court hearing to act on a plea by Prather’s son, Tom Prather of La Mesa, N.M., that the old rancher be declared incompetent and he himself named guardian. This was opposed by Mrs. Gaba.

Old John left a will naming a neighboring rancher, Don Potter, as executor. It will go to probate and the estate will be divided.

And tomorrow the family united in respect and sorrow, will join with friends and neighbors in a farewell to Old John Prather, who will rest forever on the ranch he loved.

1957: John Prather Loads Guns, Awaits Next Move

08/07/1957

Bill Montgomery
El Paso Times -

Deputies Fail To Get Rancher Off Range Area

Prather’s Ranch, N.M. – John Prather loaded up his 30-30 Winchester and .38 automatic pistol late Tuesday to face up to a new day’s battle with the U.S. deputy marshals he refused to let take him off his ranch.

Meanwhile, two Ft. Bliss colonels, and five military policemen were reported ready to join the marshals at daylight. The later news leaked out after newsmen’s automobiles finally were allowed through roadblocks after being sealed inside the vast McGregor guided missile range by Army roadblocks.

Presence of Col. H.T. Baughn, Ft. Bliss judge advocate and Col. Allison T. Leland, base provost marshal, seemed to put a question mark on an earlier Ft. Bliss official statement that the Prather eviction was “entirely up to the court.”

U.S. District Judge Waldo Rogers in Albuquerque Tuesday morning issued a writ of assistance which deputies of U.S. Marshal George Beach were supposed to use to force the fighting rancher from his home.

But it didn’t work. The deputies failed to lay a hand on the 82-year-old Prather, who warned if they ever touched him he would fight until they killed him. Col. Baughn, who also was at the ranch Tuesday afternoon, told newsmen late Tuesday that he was coming back at dawn and would bring the military policemen with him, but failed to say for what purpose.

Soldiers at Roadblock – Regular soldiers manned roadblocks in the area Tuesday. “I’m going to stay here, dead or alive,” Prather said with the same rugged determination which has held off the U.S. Army for taking his range home for two years.

The judge’s order – apparently anticipated by the U.S. marshal who ordered three deputies into Alamogordo Monday night – came as a flat turnabout. Judge Rodgers was quoted Monday as saying he “had serious doubts” about whether he had done the right thing in giving Prather’s land to the Army, because it appeared the Army might not need it.

Prather met the three marshals, accompanied by a pistol-packing line rider, after spending Tuesday morning out salting his cattle and checking the big well pumps. He was away from the house when he met the quartet and did not have a firearm. He had a pocketknife in his pocket, however, and kept a hand on it throughout his two-hour interview with the marshals.

The deputy marshals were Dave Frescas, Roswell, N.M., J. Demetiro de la O and Mike Gonzales, both of Albuquerque. All of them obviously viewed their position with discomfort and on one occasion, a marshal said: “Do you think I’d be here if I could keep from it?”

Southwest Air Rangers flew National Broadcasting Co. Representative Lawrence Smith and Herald-Post Reporter Don Knoles to the scene about 3:30 p.m. Pilot Lloyd Hamilton did a fine job of hauling out reporters and photographic film through turbulent thunderstorm activity.

Rotation System – After the deputies left, reporters set up a rotation system to protect each other in order to leave someone at the ranch day and night in case the officials slipped back in after the press had left.

Attitude toward reporters was markedly chilled at the time this reporter arrived at 2 p.m., but warned somewhat before the marshals left. Officers repeatedly asked how this reporter had been enabled to reach the ranch, sealed by roadblocks on all main roads.

The Ft. Bliss staff judge advocate, Col. H.T. Baughn and Corps of Engineers Civilian Representative John Cobb put in an appearance and were asked by Deputy De la O whether the roadblocks were still in effect.

Col. Baughn interpreted this as meaning the marshals did not want reporters in the vicinity and told this reporter that De la O wanted him to leave. “The general could keep you from coming out here at any time or from ever going on the post at Ft. Bliss if he wanted to,” the colonel said.

“But he doesn’t want to. I am just telling you that the marshal has asked you to go and that, after all, you have no right in here. De la O said that he had not requested that the reporter leave and that he had only asked the colonel if the road blocks still were in place. “I don’t care if you stay or not,” he said.

No other incidents arose, but Reporter Rick Raphael of the Alamogordo Daily News said he had to drive by way of Cloudcroft and Pinon, N.M. – about 23 miles farther than the most direct route – to avoid roadblocks coming in and was help up a long time going out.

Deputies Frescas and De la O left about 3:30 p.m., after the second batch of reporters arrived, and returned about and hour later – apparently with instructions from somebody. Then all three deputies and a government-paid range rider who had come with them left the place.

While confronting the quartet for about three hours, the crusty rancher repeatedly warned them not to put a hand on him and none did. “By damn, if I had a job where some judge could tell me to go out and kill a man, I’d quit it before I’d kill him if he was in the right like I am.” Prather told the deputies in general.

“We don’t want to kill nobody,” a marshal said defensively. Throughout his interview with the marshals, the tough, outspoken rancher took care to keep any of them from getting behind him, and kept on his feet except for the last few minutes.

About 3:20 p.m., Mrs. Mary Toy, Prather’s housekeeper, served coffee for a reporter and Deputy Marshal Frescas, Prather then sat on a cottonwood stump, making Frescas take a chair with arms on it and facing a direction where he could watch the other two officers.

Frescas said he enjoyed the coffee. Prather said: “I’m glad you do, sir. I want to be friends with everybody. Why don’t you go tell that judge that I’m not going to leave and its time for him to back down and change that court order?”

Prather had no coffee, explaining: “They say every man who works cattle has to smoke cigarettes and drink coffee, but I never cared for either one and never used either one. Guess that’s because I’m so ign ‘r’ nt.”

Prather, who also flaunts cattle-country tradition by wearing ankle top laced shoes instead of cowboy boots, referred repeatedly to Judge Rogers turnabout. “How in the world can a judge who admits he has doubts it order a man to leave his home that he has worked all his life to build for his family?”

Neither Prather’s son, Tom, nor his daughter, Mrs. Hart Gaba, was given advance notice of the Army intent to evict their father. Mrs. Gaba, who lives at 1521 Likins Drive, learned of the situation about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and went to her father’s side immediately, accompanied by her husband.

Relatives Gather – Tom Prather, Anthony, N.M., farmer-rancher, presumably notified by his sister, also was expected to hasten to the ranch. “My brother, Owen, was down the other day when they were supposed to come and try to move me and didn’t come,” Prather said, “but he didn’t know to come today. There’d have been lots of folks around to back me up if they’d known the Army was lookin’ for a showdown.”

The word for reinforcements went out Tuesday night. A mob of Prather’s closely-knit clansmen and other well-wishers was expected for Wednesday’s session, unless they are kept away by the cordon of Ft. Bliss troops rimming the ranch.

Col. Baughn, whom Prather refers to as “Col. Bull,” and Cobb, tagged “Smilin’ Johnny” by the rancher, left soon after the first reporter arrived at the ranch Tuesday. “Smilin” Johnny has plumb wore his smile out a-tryin’ to talk me into sellin’ my birthright,” Prather said in reference to the Corps of Engineers representative who failed to crack a smile all day.

“I sure hate that,” Prather continued, “I’ll swear, they hired old Johnny to smile and be a nice feeler to help ‘em along with takin’ over all the county and he sure is a nice feller, by damn. I hope he’ll get to where he can smile again and keep his job.

Obviously fatigued by his long stand-up session with the marshals, Prather nevertheless hefted a six-inch by one-foot by five-foot block of wood and carried it for a reporter to use as a base for his jack in changing a flat tire.

“I’m stout enough that they’ll never haul me to town in a car alive,” he said. “I’ll guarantee you that.” Never, throughout the long and rugged day did the indomitable rancher waiver from his stand that he would die rather than leave or be moved.

“I’d like to live a while yet,” he told the solemn-faced peace officers, “but I’m not moving, by damn, and if it’s time for me to die I’m ready. Let’s get on with it.” At one point the nearly-blind rancher – who used to shoot crows off fenceposts from a moving automobile with a pistol – issued a direct challenge to one of the marshals for a personal shoot-out in the finest Old West tradition.

“Just let me get my gun and we’ll square off and have at it,” he said. “I’m ready any time you are.” The marshal, already bemoaning their fate at being assigned to the job, wanted no part of it.