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February 28, 1955Off theBeatenPathByHOWARD BRYANA mule-drasvn wagon hauling four chained prisoners and escorted by heavily armpd posse men on horseback rolled into Las Vegas one December afternoon in 1830 and citizens of the town began hunting some rope for a necktie, party.”The prisoners, seated in the back of the wagon, were Billy the Kid and three of his campadres, captured a day or so before ht Stinking Springs. They were to be put aboard a railroad train at Las Vegas and taken to Santa Fe.Sheriff Pat Garrett, leader of the posse, saw the angry looks on the faces of the Las Vegas citizens and feared there would be a lynching. He ordered the wagon driver to whip the mules full speed to the town jail.It wasn’t Billy the Kid whom the Las Vegans wanted to hang, however.They were concerned only with the prisoner seated next to the Kid in the wagon, a bearded man with a slouch hat pulled down over bis face in an effort to escape detection by the crowd. His name wts Dave Rudabaugh.Later, when the prisoners were put aboard the train, the mob gathered at the depot, shouting: We want Rudabaugh.” But the train pulled out and the mob was left with an empty noose.Dave Rucbbaugh, who is generally considered to have been the most desperate of all New Mexico desperadoes, was about as xm popular in Las Vegas as a man could be. A posse had chased •him out of town eight months before after he and a companion named John Allen had attempted to free Joshua J. Webb from the Las Vegas jaii.The two men entered the jailon April 2, 1880, and one ofthem shot and killed the jailer,*Antonio Lino Vatdez, The killing proved to be- unnecessary, however, as Webb refused to leave his cell when given the chance.Rudabaugh and Allen left town in a hack with a posse after them but they managed to outdistance their pursuers. Rudabaugh then joined up with Billy the Kid, and Allen disappeared inlo Texas.Dave Rudabaug'n, said to have been the only man Billy the Kid really feared, was of medium build and weight and light complexion. They say he might have been handsome if he had hnd any regard for his personal appearance. But his clothes were ragged and didn’t fif him, he was always in need of a shave, and he seldom bothered even to wash his face and hands.Born in Missouri and reared in Texas, lie began his careerkept on rustling cattle on the side.* • *Rudabaugh’5 life came to a dramatic close on Feb. 18, 1886, in the tough little mining town of Parra I in southern Chihuahua. lie had made himself extremely unpopular among the natives there because of his insolence, drunkenness and bragging,One night, while,drinking and playing cards in a small cantina, he got a liUle trigger-happy and two Parral residents soon were lying dead on the floor. F. Stanley, in his book “Desperadoes of New Mexico,” gives a vivid description of what followed.Rudabaugh walked out of the cantina a short while after the killings and found that his horse, which he had tied outside, Ii;id disappeared. He began walking up the dark and deserted street, and found lhal it was barricaded. He knew then that a trap had been sel for him.The outlaw could see nobody in Lhl* darkness, but he was sur-SlfE at tli batliill crime long before he was of rounded on all sides. He stoodvoting age. He specialized In rustling cattle and holding up stage coaches and trains. Wyatt Earp, marshal at Dodge City who once chased him all over Texas without catching him,- referred lo him later as about the most notorious outlaw.* hi the range country.* * #Rudabaugh was the leader of a group of bandits who held up and robbed a passenger train near Kinsley, Kan. When arrested a short while later by Marshal Bat Mas Person, he voluntarily led law officers lo his men in their secret camp, turned state's evidence by testifying against them, and went free while his pals went lo Leavenworth. This didn't add to his popularity.Rudabaugh drifted inlo Iras Vegas in 1879. He tended bar there and was associated with the La3 Vegas police rorce. In his spare time he held up stage coaches and rustled cattle.After being chased out of Las Vegas, he rode with Billy the Kid until their capture at Stink-ink Springs. He was convicted ot Santa Fc in February, 1881, on a federal charge of train robbery, then was faker, lo Las Vegas to be tried for the murder of the jailer.Rudabaugh languished in the Las Vegas jail until Dec. 3, 1881. when he and some o.her prisoners escaped through a hoi* they dug in Ihe wall. Rudabaugh, inci deni ally, escaped from every jail in which he was placed.The outlaw went to Arizona where he held up rr.ore stage coaches, rusllcd more cattle and escaped from more jails. When things got too hot for him there, he rode down into Mexico and got a job managing a ranch for the governor of Chihuahua. Healon in the street, his six shooter in his hand, calling to those2 N OnThr serve of Crc pany Id ex Mexic props; day.TheMontoSantahidden around him to “come out and fight.”Shattering gunfire suddenly echoed through the street from the direction of Ihe barricade, from windows and. roof tops. Rudabaugh ' crumpled to the Be Jen. ground and died with a curse on his Ups.The citizens of Parral came out into the street carrying torches. They cut off the dead outlaw’s head, put it on a pole,,and paraded with it in a torch-jlight procession through the negotistreets. numbsThe procession ended at a small cemetery, where Ruda-baugh’s remains were thrown into a shallow grave, covered over and forgotten.The by Tc Owen CrowrCro’MexicRockhounds to MeetThe Albuquerque Rockhounds will meet Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Geology Building at the University. A swap session will be held. The public is invited to attend.andpropciOwe regisb curiae prlnr wh ich will I tlonalEditor Heads ClubPORT ALES, Feb. 28 Gordon K. Greaves, editor of the Portales Daily News, lias been elected, president of the Portales; Rotary Club. His term starts July 1.ClTTUS LIZPeople ore lodged by Ihe company they keep, and girls by how fote they keep ?L
Newspaper Details
Albuquerque Tribune
Albuquerque, New Mexico, US
Mon, Feb 28, 1955
Page 21
Full Page
Clipped by
Kokomo-Howard C.
IN, USA 04 Apr 2022
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