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Pioneer 594 words
Raines, L.
WETHERELL,'S DEATH
Aug. 3, 1936
"This story was published once. I don't know what the name of the
magazine was that curried it but I know it was not a true account. I was
there when it happened and I also attended court afterward. The story
as I tell it is true to the last detail and you can write it as I tell it."
This is the introduction that Tom Fallon gave me to this story. He
was reared on the
of the cattle and
old cowboy of the
mountain and has taken an active part in the development
lumbering industries of this section. He is the typical
v;est whose type is rapidly being replaced by the rancher
who uses the automobile more than the horse.
"Me and this boy went to look for a stolen horse. It was the 22nd
of June, 191J. I was herding down near 6hado Pueblo Bonita. The horse
belonged to Dick
He and Finn
to the hogan and
Wetherell. An Indian stole the horse. It was a frame up.
found the horse in the flat and caught him. We rode u.
called. A sAuaw came out and said that the old man was
not there. I was sitting on ty horse and could look into the door of the
hogan. It was dark in there but I could see the old man lying on a blanket.
I told Finn. Bill Finn could talk Navajo and he called him out. Dick
Hanassi, the Indian, came out.
They talked. The Indian grabbed him by
the throat and Bill hit him over the
there a few minutes and I got off my
see if he was dead. He was not dead
head with his sixshooter. We sat
horse and turned the Indian over to
but was stunned by the blow. I was
not armed. Bill had only one round of cartridges for his gun. We rode
away driving the stolen horse with us. Soon an Indian, riding very rapidly,
*Mr. Tom Fallon told this tale. "c.etherell" as he spelled it appears in
other books as "Wetherill." Morgan, Elizabeth, "Brief Sketches of Regional
Tales of estern New Mexico," A. J. Thesis, New Mexico Normal University, 1935.
-2
passed us. Inother Indian rode up behind us and told me that three or
four hundred Indians were coming and that they were koing to kill some
one to avenge the blow that had been struck. I was riding for T. P. Tallard,
who was camped on the Escavada, and I had to ride back over the trail we
had just used. As I went back through, the Indians stopped me. They were
going to tie me up, but when they found I had no gun I was able to talk
them out of it. I rode on and saw Dick etherell and Tallard riding
dawn t hill. I turned so as to meet them. Tallard told me to ko on
and cut certain horses out of the herd that was being held until we got
the harses we wanted out. Tallard and me rode over to the herd and cut
out the horses he wanted. Wetherell left us and went on. As we started
back with the horses we met an Indian coming up the dug way. He told us
that there had been a fight and 'i.etherell had been killed. He would not
tell us where the body was. We began to look for him as we went on down
the road. We found him lying on the right hand side of the road. Both
thumbs had been shot off. He was shot over the left eye and through the
chest. It appeared that he had fallen from his horse when he was shot
through the chest and that an Indian had then walked up and shot him in
the head, leaving the powder burns on hjs face. Tallard rode over to Fort
Wingate after the soldiers and I went to the settlement if it could be
called that to protect three Mexican women, a widow and a school teacher
until the soldiers could arrive. I took the horses on to the ranch and
later went down to Los Lunas for the trial. Finn was fined and the Indian
who shot Wetherell was given ten years. I think he received a suspended
sentence."