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Posted on 03/09/2005 10:15:25 PM PST by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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He was by Billy the Kid's side when Sheriff William Brady was killed and when Alexander McSween's house was set on fire, yet little else is known about the one-time 'Regulator.'  Billy the Kid An uncomplicated explanation of the Lincoln County War is that it was a feud involving two competing groups, termed "rings," intent on monopolizing trade, politics and vast stretches of land in New Mexico Territory. One ring, known as "the House," was a firmly entrenched local commercial empire, so named because most of its business dealings were conducted out of a store that resembled a house, and because the name appealed to the men operating its various nefarious enterprises. The House, besides holding a monopoly on domestic trade, often fulfilled beef contracts for the military through purchasing beef stolen by a band of outlaws known as "the boys," and used this gang as enforcers when necessary. By all accounts, the passel of Irishmen associated with the House--originally led by Lawrence G. Murphy--was as ruthless a band of brigands as ever existed in American commerce, as ready to terminate their detractors and competitors as they were to fleece customers. Attempting to usurp the stranglehold of the House was John Henry Tunstall, a young man with cold, hard cash supplied by his father, a London businessman. By hook or crook, Tunstall was determined to be a success in America, and he came prepared with a bag of tricks that included a combination of Machiavellian tactics and pure capitalism. Tunstall was supported by an able captain, Alexander McSween, an attorney not overly concerned with business ethics and bent on making his own fortune. Through McSween, Tunstall met John Simpson Chisum, a legendary cattle baron with a finger in many pies, who was willing to invest in Tunstall's plans because they held the promise of securing the borders of his empire and ending the rustling that was cutting into his profits. The trio formed a loose association, wherein Tunstall would anchor the territory around Lincoln; Chisum would supply beef, funds, men and the force and integrity of his reputation; while McSween handled the legal affairs of the group. With the formation of this ring, the stage was set for a conflict, one that should have been waged on ledgers, but instead eroded into as bloody a fight as ever hit the Southwest.  Alexander McSween In the opening gambits, the Tunstall-Chisum group opened a bank and store to compete with the House. These economic challengers worked out agreements with the small farmers and ranchers, contracting for all livestock feed raised in Lincoln County. Then agreements were reached with various settlers that would provide Tunstall control of water rights--which in desert country provided the holder sway over pasture for miles around. As capitalism was practiced in Europe, such tactics would not have caused a ripple. But in the American West, economic advantage was largely a matter of forcing one's will on another, and the House quickly realized the danger of Tunstall's schemes and organized a resistance. Tunstall naively expected the battles to be fought in court, as economic wars were waged in Europe and Eastern America. He never dreamed that when his business acumen began to ruin his opponent that Murphy's forces would react so aggressively. By underestimating their resolve and methods, Tunstall wound up dead--shot to death on February 18, 1878, by a sheriff's "posse" composed of outlaws and minions of the House sent to attach livestock as bond for a lawsuit. Immediately after the posse had shot down Tunstall, Alexander McSween gathered around him a cadre of the toughest men he could find. Some were already on the Tunstall payroll, some were sent by Chisum and some joined because they had a grudge against the House--all were bad men to mess with. Among the group was a drifter known as Big Jim French.  John Simpson Chisum Exactly why Big Jim was in New Mexico Territory and how he managed to get involved in the Lincoln County War has never been clearly understood, but the evidence points very strongly to happenstance. Old-timer Frank Coe, who fought in the war, said in the 1870s that French had been a drifter from Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) who had begun working for Chisum. Coe added that he suspected Chisum had sent French along with several others to support the McSween faction. No other participant ever made a statement to explain French's presence. Chisum was known to purchase cattle and horses throughout Indian Territory and Texas to fulfill contracts, and some writers have asserted that in December 1877, Tunstall went with Chisum to purchase horses that were to be delivered to Chisum and held until Tunstall was ready for them. If such a buying trip did happen, it's possible that French was one of the riders hired to escort the herd and that he gained temporary employment with Chisum before being sent to Lincoln. The theory is plausible and fits the timing of French's entry into Lincoln. As to why the man got involved in the fighting, old-timers have hinted that McSween hired men to protect himself and his family. As French's movements during the war can be traced by following the movements of the McSweens, it's probable that French began his career in Lincoln as one of those paid bodyguards. It has also been speculated that McSween offered a bounty for the elimination of the men responsible for Tunstall's death. This bounty and the need for revenge seem to be the reasons the self-styled Regulators began operating in the area. French attached himself to this group. The two killings he participated in during the war were both rumored to be assassinations based on the promised bounty offered by McSween. French was probably in the dangerous game simply for the money.  John Henry Tunstall Florencio Chaves was a member of the Regulator posse that captured Frank Baker and Buck Morton, two of the men responsible for the murder of John Tunstall. After the posse captured the pair, according to Chaves, posse member Bill McCloskey aroused the ire and suspicion of several in the party because of his refusal to allow any harm to befall Baker and Morton. Chaves said that a plan was devised to kill McCloskey. It seems the Kid, Jim French and Fred Waite were riding ahead of the prisoners on March 9, 1878, while Doc Scurlock, McCloskey and Henry Brown were riding behind. Waite dropped back beside Scurlock and asked McCloskey, "How's the best way to kill those sons a bitches?" By insisting the pair be taken to the sheriff, McCloskey sealed his death warrant, because French immediately dropped back, placing his horse in McCloskey's path, effectively boxing him between Waite and Brown. Without a word, Brown pulled out his six-shooter and shot McCloskey, killing him instantly. The prisoners, according to Chaves, now knew for sure what was in store for them, so they tried to make a run for it and were shot to doll rags. Chaves' version makes more sense than the cover story that McCloskey was shot by the prisoners and Baker and Morton were shot trying to escape.  The second killing French participated in was a premeditated murder, for French and several others opened up from concealment, with Winchesters, on Sheriff Brady's party as it passed down the street of Lincoln on April Fool's Day. The excuse used to justify this act was that Brady was thought to be in cahoots with the House, and Deputy George Hindman was a part of the posse that had eliminated Tunstall less than two weeks earlier. During the fighting, Billy the Kid and French ran out to rifle the bodies of the victims, and each was wounded in the hip. French's injury was serious enough that he could not ride. He was given first aid by the Rev. Taylor F. Ealy. Clerk Sam Corbet, who had been one of Tunstall's staunchest supporters, then hid French beneath the floor of the Tunstall store while men searched the building.
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Good thing I'm not a "left-coast" wacko or I'd suit for false advertising. ;^)
We only have ones with squirrel themes, jokes for those folks who are bothered by squirrels at the bird feeder.
Nah . . . that's not me. I'm a "Wild Bird Center" Logo kind of guy.
I'll remember though and as soon as we have some of our own made up I'll holler.
Hurry! Summer's coming and you could get free advertising with a T-shirt on my Schwartzeneger upper body. Bravo Sierra!
Used to watch that show and had many fun times playing "Seahunt" in the bathtub and wading pool with my plastic frogmen
BOY ARE YOU OLD! :-)
The current governor is too busy running radio and television commercials touting "GRIP: Governor Richardson's Investment Program" in which the governor of New Mexico actually takes highway funds and spends them on highways.
Bankrolled by his rich Mexican mother, he became the first congressman in New Mexico's newly created Third District in 1982.
In fifteen years he made it number one in heroin overdose deaths nationwide.
Going to the UN in 1997, the special election brought in a "radical right-wing preacher" who voted for all four articles of impeachment, calling me December 1998 on the eve of Clinton's cruise missile Hail Mary to report the House would not delay another day.
Richardson went on to Energy, where the Albright agenda of helping China become a superpower was already in high gear thanks to Hazel O'Leary's putting classified documents in the hallways, giving U.S. News & World Report the two-page color graphic of the W-87, and removing the degrading color-coding of security badges to avoid reducing the ChiCom's self esteem.
Richardson returned after popular Republican Gary "Veto" Johnson was termlimited out to sweep into the Governor's Mansion my old boss described as a ramshackle attempt at territorial with byzantine plumbing.
Richardson never misses an opportunity to badmouth any move of the current administration, while airily papering over his own compadres' "successes", viz. the "agreed framework".
The New Mexico Legislature has followed the precedent set by the city councils of the capital city Santa Fe, and the largest city Albuquerque resolving to in no way cooperate with the INS/CIS.
Our friend who has had dealings with our illustrious governor reports there is a curious intertwining of Richardson's political rise and that of another governor of a third-world state, one who is in hospital hiding from Paula Jones, while the pants in the family clinks champagne with Kim Jong Il.
The Crisco Kid came in after the 1980 Penitentiary riot which killed 33 inmates, and during his term, Ricky Abeyta killed seven in the village of Chimayo.
Having in turn shot his wife, his wife's girlfriend and the girlfriend's boyfriend, that couple's six-month-old baby daughter, the girlfriend's brother, a Santa Fe County Sheriff's deputy, a New Mexico State policeman, Ricky Abeyta now gets three squares on the taxpayer's dime--
But the soup nazi Greer says no soup for Terri.
The Crisco Kid is headed for the POTUS Coral 2008, and his posse, including Bonnie Rodham, will backshoot anybody who gets in their way.
And they don't need no stinking pardon.
Damn Phil . . . that's intense.
LOL. Are you saying that wasn't you in those pictures you sent enjoying those new feeders?
Only if yer hiring ILLEGAL immigrants...MUD
Hitlery and the Crisco Kid. Geez, what a pair.
Will Do.
Almost as old as dirt. ;-)
Evening Phil Dragoo.
It burns me to no end when I hear commentators talking about how "good" Richardson is.
Never gonna happen, we don't speak espanol in our store.
Is it transferable or a post sample? If the former, you can get upwards of a hundred grand for it. Maybe $500,000. Machine gun freaks don't have much money, but they would be willing to sell the house and family farm for a machine like that!! Some would happily part with the wife and children, too!! Whatever!!
BTTT!!!!!!
I'd only get one if I could mount it on my SUV. It'd help make driving through rush hour easier. ;-)
If all business owners were as ethical as you, there would be no ILLEGAL Immigration crisis.
FReegards...MUD
Then it hit me like a ton of bricks - we've been at war for 30 years but just didn't realize it until 9-11.
Reading between the lines it sounds like the Dolan faction was aligned with Catron's Santa Fe Ring, since the Army commander was a buddy of Catron's. If so, McSween was REALLY fighting uphill.
As I recall, and I haven't gone back to check this, Governor Lew Wallace was so fed up with the lawlessness in New Mexico that he quit before his term was up and went back East. His time in Santa Fe couldn't have been too stressful, however, as he found time to write Ben Hur. :)
Yep. Sort of sad to think about that, a lot of people still won't admit it.
At least they wouldn't have jobs, the Libs would still give them "free" everything else. :-(
FReegards...MUD
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