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VAHistorical Anecdotes4Mysterious Dave’ Rudebaugh, part 2By Janice Dunnahoo Special to the Daily RecordFloll owing is the continuation of the story from last week about “Mysterious Dave” Rudebaugh. Last week’s story from the Philadelphia Times, dated May 10,1884, tells of the notorious “Mysterious Dave” Rudebaugh and a beautiful young lady who visited the jail he was in to help him escape. Dave Rudebaugh lived in New Mexico for a time, worked for John Chisum just six miles south of Roswell, and ran with Billy the Kid and his gang. Dave was described as “notorious,” which Oxford dictionary defines as: “famous or well known, typically for some bad quality or deed.”I will end this week with another short article from “The Rio Grande Republican,” Las Cruces, New Mexico, about how and where “Mysterious Dave” met his demise.Philadelphia Times May 10,1884THEESCAPEfitted it in the lock. Meanwhile, the sleeping man, who was the ranger on guard outside the jail, roused himself and springing to his feet cocked hisDuring all this time Mysterious Dave had not been idle. With some fine saws which the beautiful woman had brought him, and which he had managed to secrete in such a way that they were not discovered by the ranger who searched him, he cut off his shackles and then sawed out the heavy iron bars which protected the window of his cell. The night was very dark and when he had cut away the window bars he crept through the aperture into the jail yard. He heard the snores of rangers overhead and thought himself safe. The yard gate was locked, but the key hung on the inside. He groped his way across the yard, walking softly. Suddenly his feet struck on an object and stumbling he fell to the ground. The object moved and he knew that it was a man. Dave scrambled to his feet, ran toward the gate and seizing the keygun.“Halt!” he cried.Just then Dave succeeded in unlocking the gate and pushed it open. The ranger fired and the ball whistled past the outlaw's head.Hurry Dave, for the love of heaven! cried the woman outside.The ranger s shot alarmed his sleeping companions and they rushed out into the yard. “What's the matter? cried the corporal.“The prisoner has escapedI answered the guard, who had reached the gate.THE BEAUTIFUL WOMAN'SDEATHHe heard footsteps turning the corner of the jail yard and fired again. His companions joined him, and they ran around the jail firing rapidly. The fugitives reached the ponies andboth mounted. The rangers were now close at hand and their bullets flew about like hail. Suddenly a piercing scream and then a cry of pain rang out, and when the rangers hurried forward they found their beautiful visitor of the day before lying upon the ground with the gunshot wound through her lissome body. Dave was nowhere to be seen and they heard the thud ofhis pony's hoofs as he galloped down the Del Norte Road. Three of the rangers started in pursuit, but they never overtook him and he got safely across the Rio Grande. The supposed Mrs. Rudabaugh was lifted up and carried into the jail. One of the rangers hurried to the post for a surgeon, but before he returned the beautiful creature was dead. No one knew her and there were no papers found on her body to which to identify her. The tiny lace-bordered handkerchief in her pocket was marked in one corner with the name “Nita, and this was the only clue. She was buried under a big cottonwood at the head of Lympia Canyon and someone setup a rude stone to mark the grave, on which was scratched the name found on the handkerchiefAll these facts recurred to me as I chatted with Dave at the bar of the Cantina, and to satisfy my curiosity I ashed him a question:‘Dave, I said, was the beautiful woman who assisted you to escape from the Presidio jail and who was killed by the rangers really your wife?“Carajo! he cried, and his face darkened. “She was an angel of goodness and as brave as a lion. PoorNita“Was she your wife ?“Quien sabe, he said, and then abruptly changed the subject.Las Vegas Daily Optic Feb. 23,1886The Deeds of a Desperado (Tombstone Democrat)Dave Rudebaugh, who was recently killed at Parral, in the stateof Chihuahua, Mexico, was what might be called an “all around desperado. He was equally proficient in holding up a railroad train or stagecoach, or as occasion offered robbing a bank, “shooting up a frontier settlement, or running off stock. He indulged in these little peculiarities for a year or two in Arizona, and inasmuch as many of our old-timers doubtless remember him, some of them to their cost, the following sketch of the antecedents of Rudebaugh, communicated to the Democrat by one who knows, will prove of interest:Ten years ago, just after the Santa Fe railroad had invaded western Kansas, a train was “held up near Kinsley, and robbed of everything of value that it contained. Detective Hudgens got after the gang and soon had them all in Leavenworth penitentiary, with the exception of Dave Rudebaugh, who turned state's evidence. After that Dave became a desperado and was finally outlawed at Las Vegas for numerous othercrimes. In 1880 he became a member of the famous Billy, “the kid gang, which eventually got him into jail. He escaped the jail at Las Vegas and fled to Texas and then Arizona, where he “rustled with varying success for nearly two years, when he was driven out of the Apache country and struck for Old Mexico, where he became manager of the cattle interests in Chihuahua of the governor thereof. Dave continued to be a desperado, however and became engaged in his final difficulty in the ancient town of Parral. He finally shot two persons before the resulting “buzzing hail of gunfire caught him in a fatal spot and ended his life.The natives of Parral got up a proposition in honor of the event, and Dave's head, which had been severedfrom his body, was carried on a pole and exhibited about the streets.Historian Janice Dunnahoo can he reached at jdunna@hotmail.com.
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Roswell Daily Record
Roswell, New Mexico, US
Sun, Feb 05, 2023
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