Document text
/I-4 0 -ye
ict-r
alter Vleetwood Uale
As told to Sara Levy
I enlisted as a tate Ranger in 1.932 and served until
the end of rs. '-'-erguson's term in 1935. I vas in company
A, stationed at farfa, out in the Big Fiend Uountry, e
prives at the time. ry oEtptain was O. !gle Vauchan, and
P _ecos
out tarritory extended from the aAtes Aver to the !exico-
Texas state line.
One morning Captain Vaughan ordered Sob '11.1 and me out
to investigate some reports from ranchers who claimed that
they had recently lost a large number of he -d of stock. i74)1)
was to 67,o by residio and. I by ,andelarie. e were to meet
at 'lentin hat ni7ht.
'hen I .ot to Valentine, Jim eatherly and' his son
Harper, drove up in model -A, pickup Ford. 6im said he lived
on the Y-6 tinch, owned by a .7ten named -eans, in alo Pinto
Canyon about thirteen miles from the river. said he was
glad to see me because he needed an officer at his place.
oneone had stolen 700 head of t,Toats from his place the night
before. The fence 6,d been cut end the 7oats driven off.
said he had a good idea who had done it. Adjoining
his ranch yes lend orned by the Prieto family. Their briOk-
Page 2 ?ustler's Ambuscade
wall adobe house overlooked the road through the canyon,
the only road to Weetherbys. The Prietos had consistently
fought the weatherbyts for years, becaese they wanted to
buy 'eatherby's elace and eatherby refused.
The eatherby ranch was admirably located for bootleggers
and dope runners to use as an entrance to Texas. Thispers
ebong the border oonneoted the Prietos with such activities
but we had been unable to catch them in anything. ,7es did
know that they ere pretty anxious to get hold of weatherby's
lnnd.
told 6im that I'd be glad to co with them and track
dorn the rustlers; but that Iwas on another assignment and
had no authority to handle anything else. I promised, however,
to report the case as soon as I got beck to headquarters.
Sim and his son drove off. eoho' 1 had an uneasy feel-
ing all evening, and when -job oeme in, ee set around talking
for a spell as night came on.
f_Aiddenly, we saw a oar oeming in going like a bat out of
hell, _t pulled up at our lodging, and stopped.
Jim and Harper got out. They were out of breath and
seemed pretty excited.
-e"ve been ambushed," Sim shouted pointing to bullet
holes thromeh the top end body of the cer.
Page 3 Rustler's Ambuscade
"Just as we started by. the Prieto place," Harper
broke in, "someone opened up on us. "e3 thought they'd
get us Fure. But we got the oar turned around and beat
it back."
"Officer, said Sim, solemnly, -those pelates are
out to get us.Can't you help us out?" he pled.
Bob and I swiftly strapped on our guns, for we knew
that there was more to the matter than appeared on the
surface.
At that time the government of Presidio County was
almost entirely in the hands of Mexican offioials. Often
when we jailed suspeets, they 'would be on the streets be-
fore we got to torn. It was evident to us that unless we
acted :,,uictly, the Prietowould mur&,r f;eatherby and his
con and the state laws would never touch them.
clibed into the eetherby oar and bumped over the
county road. --)oon we entered Pinto :„;anyon. The vertical
pointed walls cast lorr; shadows on the road. we drove to
within a mile of the :)rieto plaoe, out our motor,
ind
entered.
The wind si(7,hed through the eroded canyon walls, new 14,
moaning, now rattling like the breathN, of a dyinc,.. man. A
coyote mourned somewhere down wind. .ut only the faint
night sounds close at hand came to our ears.
'Age 4 .s Bustler's Ambuseade
autiously we approached the house. There was no light.
'Votioning eatherby to the right corner of the house, Bob
to the left, and Harper to the rear, I stealthly approached
the door.
There was no soulid vAthW the house, my knuckles crashed
against the door breaking the silence and almost startling
me with the clamor.
faint light showed under the door.
Nuien es" called a soft Latin voice.
"Hale of the 3tnte ranger 7orce, "I called, "Open up."
'A.thin there was a hurried Conference in Axinish,
interarVosed with silibent hisses whenever a voice was raised.
I heard the voices, but mould distinguish none of the worts.
"Open up, "I celled again. "I want to talk to you
fellows."
Again there was silence. Then suddenly the light went
out and in the next second, the door was flung wide open.
Despite the darkness of the night, I made out Oregorio Prieto
standing just within the doorway and peering around.
.Abruptly the fire from a shotgun blazed through the
night. Instinctly, I dropped to the ground, seeing as I fell,
that 31rieto tied also fallen, and someone had draf7ged him into
the house. I heard a bolt drawn across the door before I
moved.
etreating to the right corner of the house, I saw Sim
reloading his shotgun. e talked for a few minutes end I told
Page 5 7ustler'a Ambusoade
him and Pob to keep the door covered, and I'd try to talk
the men inside the house into ooming out peacefully.
Again I went to the door, and began talking to the men
in the house. I begged them to surrender, to take the
wounded.man to town to a doctor. I promised them kind
treatment if they would come out of the house with their
hnnds up. ut I got no answers.
WAthin the house4,I could hear someone pacing from
one room to another. 4ack and forth he walked, stopping
oocasionally, nor coming near the front of the house,now
retreating.
In a flash it dawned on me what the footsteps meant,
omeone was peerin/7 out one window, and then another, in
hopes of discovering where I Stood and where the men with
me were. They were waiting for a chance to shoot.
Deakoning to 7'eatherby and burl to follow me, I
retreated aoross the road. e sat down on a pile of rooks
and talked for a few minutes.
Boys," I said, "we'll never get them like this. The
walls of that house must be a foot and e half thick. New,
ell you what let s do. eatherby and I will keep watch
while burl goes into town and gets ;Ilarlie."
Charlie was my regular partner and I had worked with him
before. I wns afraid to tackle the job with ,eatherby and
Purl because I did not know what kind of fighters they wil:re.
"age 6 .0 Rustler's Ambusoade
But I knew that Charlie Curry was true blue and could think
as fast as any man living.
Rua departed. neatherby and stretched out on the
rocks and Harper kept watch at the rear or the house.
It was the kind of a rlace.and the kind of a night that
made a man think of all the safe places in the world his
home, his wife, his mother, his church every thing that hed
ever meant security to him. The wind sighed weirdly, the
ni ht birds mourned, and the black shadows seemed to creep
across the canyon like furtive figures.
Just as daylight came, 7 if)atherby' and I noticed a Meximin
sheepherder drive his flock out of a ren down the road. lowly
he came into view and then to our surprise, we saw him turn
his sheep around and drive them book in the direction from
whiCh he had come. Again he approached us, and again he turned
the sheep back.
66-
Thei)-eatherby spoke, "Good lord, that fellow is just the
spot from which we were fired on last night. He's cowering
up the Mexicans tracker
-re sneaked up the road keeping ourselves screened from
the house. iben when we got close to the herder, I threw my
gun down on
"Lams arribas ordered curtly.
Up went his hands, and his eyes opened widely as he
looked at my badge.
Page 7 Rustler's Ambuscade
Meanwhile down the road I saw Burl and Oharlie approaoh.
ing. .Pushing the Mexioan along in front of me, I met them.
Charlie and I talkel things o'er's, and then decided to send the
Mexican into the house to see how bad Gregorio was hurt and to
see if he could not talk the men into surrendering.
i'he Lexican rent into the house. An hour passed. We .had
about decided that he was not coming back, when the door opened
and he peared.
"Him sick men," the sheepherder reported. But Priatos no
will surrender, They fight to the death."
At this, Cllarlie and I exchanged glances. It was not to
our liking to remelt here until the sheriff oould arouse his
deputies and manage for the Prietos to escape.
"'m going in," 1 said.
Charlie grinned. "Me too," he said.
cautiously -e arproaohed the door. This time a woman
answered our call. Gently we asked her to oven the door. To
our suprise, the outer door flew open, but just as we entered
a door on the left was -11.1okly slammed and bolted.
rushed to the door, but Charlie pushed me bac,„, He
was heavier than le, and firming his shoulders, he crashed
through the door. Before he had recovered his balance, Pedpo
Yrieto had a inchester on him.
Charlie shoute4 and just as the '::inchester leveled on
Charlie pull the trigger of my gun. Pablo fell dead.
swiftly we oheaked through the house. rregorio had died
from the blast of oim Etatherby's shotrlin.
0,10 lay dead in
Page 8 13ustlers Ambuscade
another room. In the kitohen cowered a Mexican woman holding
a baby and softly moaning. In another corner was a badly
frightened sheepherder.
e assured the woman that she would not be harmed and
induced her to make herself some coffee and drink it. Ttien, we
made a check on the weapons in the house. The place was virturally
an arsenal. J:here was one 30:30 inchester, one .12 gaugis
pump shotgun, one 56:08 bolt action government gun, end. all
these were fully loaded and forty-lit.ht shells for these guns
lay on a table in the front room.
Ooe Lunton was then sheriff of the county. He had numerous
deruties and most of them Inere rexioans. It was not long until
these deputies and their friends started pouring in.
Put Marne and i were prepared for them. Our kind treat-
ment of the wonan, was repaid. As each man or group of Mexioan
men approached the entrance to the house, Senora Prieto met the
men at the door.
"Buenos dies, seres," she greeted.
Lt4Ile tal?" they asked.
"Bueno," she replied, "pase."
"vanos arribas muchac'aos, commanded as each man passed
through the door into the house, ‘;harlie relieved him of his
guns. m the first four rexieans who arrived, v,e took three
guns.
Page 9 ustler's Ambuscade
AS soon as the dead men had been removed, Charlie and
T returned to Marfa. Apparently, and so far as we knew
the incident was closed. Ut as yet we had not dealt with the
!exican oounty officials.
ithin a month a grand jury was assembled and Charlie
and I were summoned to aripear before it. fte knew that we im
were beim- taken for a ride, so we agreed not -to tell a thing.
There is no law which Tin forge a man t testify against him.
self. ,;4o re spoke no word for ourselves and refused to
divulge our part in the affair.
ihe trial came up before Judge John 6utton, a fair minded
judiciary. The prosouting attorney wee -',oy neat, and he
was out to prove that Charlie and I were murdeir. Lesides that
threats were passed expound town that if ever we came out of the
trial free, relatives of the r'rietos were planning to kill us.
were acquitted of all charges against us, and there was
never any attemrt made ngainst our lives. ihe Prietos soon
removed themselves to 7Lexico, and law enforcers on the border
certainly were gl7id to see them go as that cleaned out one
nest of constant trouble.
In 1934 i was transferred to headquarters in Austin where
I served until the beginning of vernor Allred's term under
Cnptain D. aammer.