ArizonaRealCountry.com 45 April 2018 The Pony 2nd Hand Store We Collect & Deliver Your Merchandise FREE LOCAL DELIVERY AVAILABLE 662 W. Wickenburg Way Wickenburg • Open Monday–Saturday thepony2ndhandstore.com 928-231-2730 • 928-232-2019 We Carry Quality 2nd Hand & New Merchandise Your Home Furniture Supplies Store Specializing in Appliances Jane and Peter Kibble peter.kibble@hotmail.com Range Wars continued from page 39 deputies tumbled down off the roof. A deputy named Kearney stayed and fought. He stood his ground until bullets from the guns of Lee and Gililland knocked him off the roof. The others pulled the wounded Kearney into the wagon shed. Posse Pinned Down Lee and Gililland had Garrett and his men pinned down in the shed and had the upper hand. Garrett knew it. Garrett, bluffing, told Lee he better surrender. Lee laughed at him and told Garrett he knew he would kill him if he did. Lee told Garrett he and Gililland would not shoot if the posse pulled off. One by one, Garrett and his men ran from the shed for their horses. They left Kearney in the shed bleeding. Garrett later sent a section hand from the railroad to get Kearney and he was put on a train to Alamogordo. Kearney died of his wounds the day after he arrived in Alamogordo. A Grand Jury indicted Lee and Gililland for the killing of Deputy Kearney. Lee and Gililland remained fugitives for eight months. Oliver Lee and Winnie Rhode were married in San Antonio, Texas, during this period. Fall’s Maneuver A.B. Fall returned from the Spanish American War and came home with a plan. He wanted to cut a new county out of the eastern half of Dona Ana County and got Tom Catron, the New Mexico Republican boss to go along with the idea. So was the governor. The new county was formed and Governor Otero appointed Lee’s friend George Curry its first Sheriff. Included in the new county was the place where Albert Fountain and his son disappeared. The murder investigation had now shifted away from Garrett and was in the hands of the new county officials. Lee wrote a letter saying he would surrender to any Sheriff other than Garrett. Tom Tucker carried it from Lee’s place of hiding to Sheriff Curry. Curry made secret arrangements with the governor and Judge Parker for Lee and Gililland to surrender. Two men in work clothes got on the southbound Santa Fe for Alamogordo, the seat of the new county. On the train was Captain Hughes of the New Mexico Rangers with a prisoner in tow. They walked right past him. Pat Garrett was in the smoking car. They stayed clear of him but Garrett later walked down the aisle right past the two fugitives without recognizing them. Sheriff Curry met them in Alamogordo. There was no jail time in the new county seat so he took them to Socorro to await further orders from the court. Lee Gililland and McNew were now all in custody. McNew had been in jail in Las Cruces for a year awaiting trial. Politics, Public Opinion & Justice In 1899, the trials split New Mexico wide open. Every Republican was convinced that Oliver Lee was guilty as hell. Every Democrat was convinced he was innocent. Judge Parker decided to have the first trial of the men held in Silver City. The second was at the mining camp of Hillsboro. Tom Cantron himself came down from Santa Fe to assist the prosecution. He did so without charge because of his deep dislike for A.B. Fall, who was heading the defense. Lee and Gililland were acquitted to the cheers of the spectators. Fall had devastated the prosecution’s case and its witnesses. The other indictments were not brought to trial. The Fountain case was closed. Lee and his men were acquitted. Lee, McNew, and Gililland went back about their business. Tom Tucker was still with Lee, but he did not have the reputation for toughness the McNew and Gililland had earned, rightfully or wrongly, and was not involved in any further scrapes on the side of the Lee faction. With the Fountain matter closed, relative peace returned to southern New Mexico. Some thought the killing of Pat Garrett in 1908 was a hangover from the bitterness of the 1890’s that centered around the Fountain case. The only link to indicate that was likely was that Wayne W. Brazel had helped Oliver Lee by posting $10,000 bond, one of several who did so, for his release on the charges of killing Walter Good years earlier. Brazel was close to the Fall faction. He had confessed to shooting Garrett and was tried and acquitted of the killing. Like Fountain, Garrett’s killers are unknown to this day. The area around Tularosa and Las Cruces keep the secrets of history well. Albert B. Fall devastated the prosecution’s case and its witnesses