USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume I > Part 17
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"The grand jurors for the district of New Mexico, on the part of the United States of America, on their oaths present that Antonio Maria Trujillo, of the county of Taos, in the Territory of New Mexico, being a citizen of the United States of America, but disregarding the duty of his allegiance to the government of the United States aforesaid, and wholly withdrawing the allegiance, duty and obedience which every true and faithful citizen of the said government and of right ought to bear to- ward the said government of the United States, on the 20th day of January, in the year 1847, and on divers other days, as well before as after, with force and arms, at the county aforesaid and territory aforesaid, together with divers other false traitors to the jurors aforesaid unknown, did then and there maliciously, wickedly and traitorously levy war against the government of the United States of America, and did then and there maliciously and traitorously endeavor and attempt to subvert the laws and constitution of the government, to the evil example of all others in like cases offending, and against the peace and dignity of the government of the United States. * * *
Trujillo was tried before Judge Houghton and found guilty. The sentence imposed by the court is worthy of a place in this connection, being the only sentence of the kind passed in the history of New Mexico. Ac- cording to the record filed March 16, 1847, by James M. Giddings, clerk of the district court, Judge Houghton addressed the convicted traitor as fol- lows :
"Antonio Maria Trujillo .- A jury of twelve citizens, after a patient and careful investigation, pending which all the safeguards of the law, managed by able and inde- fatigable counsel, have been afforded you, have found you guilty of the high crime of treason. What have you to say why the sentence of death should not be pro- nounced against you?
"Your age and gray hairs have excited the sympathy of both the court and the jury. Yet while each and all were not only willing but anxions that you should have every advantage placed at your disposal that their highly responsible duty under the law to their country would permit, yet have you been found guilty of the crime alleged to your charge. It would appear that old age has not brought you wisdom nor purity nor honesty of heart. While holding out the hand of friendship to those whom cir- cumstances have brought to rule over you, you have nourished bitterness and hatred in your heart. You have been found seconding the acts of a band of the most traitor- ous murderers that ever blackened with the recital of their deeds the annals of history.
"Not content with the peace and security in which you have lived under the pres- ent government, secure in all your personal rights as a citizen, in property, in person, and in your religion, you gave your name and influence to measures intended to effect universal murder and pillage, the overthrow of the government and one wide-spread scene of bloodshed in the land. For such foul crimes an enlightened and liberal jury have been compelled, from the evidence brought before them and by a sense of their stern but unmistakable duty, to find you guilty of treason against the government under which you are a citizen. And there only now remains to the court the painful duty of passing upon you the sentence of the law, which is that you be taken from hence to prison, there to remain until Friday, the 16th day of April next, and that at 2 o'clock in the afternoon of that day you be taken thence to the place of execution, and there be hanged by the neck till you are dead! dead! dead! And may the Al- mighty God have mercy on your soul."
Aloys Scheurich, now a retired citizen of Taos, New Mexico, was born in Unterfranken, Bavaria, Germany, May 12, 1836. In his youth he came to America, landing in New Orleans and thence going up the river to St. Louis, where, on the day of his arrival, May 16, 1853, at the
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age of seventeen, he enlisted in the Third Regiment of Infantry, United States Army. A few days later, as sergeant, he left with his command for Fort Union, to which place they walked and where they remained till January or February, 1855, when they were transferred to Fort Massa- chusetts to participate in the war against the Utes and the Apaches. While having headquarters at the latter fort he and a company of soldiers went as far north as Saquache as escort for a government train of provisions. Late in the summer of 1855 their headquarters were changed from Fort Massachusetts to Cantonment Burgwin, in Taos county, where Mr. Scheurich remained until he was honorably discharged in 1858. He was mustered out as a corporal. Most of the time, however, he acted as com- missary and quartermaster sergeant at Cantonment Burgwin.
From 1858 to 1868 his time was spent chiefly in freighting on the plains from Kansas City and Leavenworth to various points, and during this period he had frequent troubles with the Indians and made a narrow escape from being in the great fight at Walnut Creek, Kansas. All this time he was a close friend of the noted Kit Carson, attended him during his last illness at Fort Lyon in 1868, and when he died was the only one pres- ent, with the exception of Dr. Tilton of Philadelphia. It was Carson's request that Scheurich remain with him.
While in the army, in January, 1858, Mr. Scheurich bought a home in the south part of Taos, which has since been his residence, and during the period of ten years when he was engaged in freighting he was also in- terested in a general store in Taos, having as partner Charles L. Ritz, who conducted the business in his absence. Afterward he clerked for several years in different stores. He is now practically retired, giving some at- tention, however, to looking after his ranch near Taos, which he has owned since 1862 and where he raises grain and alfalfa.
Politically Mr. Scheurich is a Democrat and was for years a leader in local politics. The first office he filled was that of United States deputy collector of internal revenues, to which he was appointed by Charles Bloomer, collector at Santa Fé, under Lincoln, and which he soon after- ward resigned, because he could not make collections. Late in the '8os he was elected county commissioner, to which he was several times re-elected, and served three full terms and two unexpired terms, all of which time he was chairman of the board and practically had control during that time of the government of the countv.
May 31, 1865, Mr. Scheurich married Maria Teresina Bent, daughter of Charles Bent, first governor of New Mexico under American control, appointed by General Stephen W. Kearny. The children of this union are as follows: Charles A .. who married Nellie Gabel of Leavenworth, is now a merchant of Santa Fé: Adelina Lena Agnes; Albert Bent, who married Annie James, a native of Berlin, Germany, is engaged in mining at Kelly, Socorro county ; Dora, wife of J. Roval Berry of Taos; Mercedes, at home.
One of the celebrated and most widely known of the pioneers of the '3os was Richens Lacy Wootton, who was known throughout the southwest as "Dick Wootton," or "Dick Hooton," and during the later years of his life by the younger generation as "Uncle Dick." So closely identified was he with the early history of the Territory that an extended review of his life in New Mexico deserves a place in the annals of the Territory.
Born in Mecklenburg county, Virginia, on the 6th of May, 1816,
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Richens W. Wootton was a son of David C. Wootton, and in his boyhhood days was taken to Christian county, Kentucky. At the age of seventeen years he joined an uncle in Mississippi, working with him upon a cotton plantation until two years had passed, when, in 1836, he went to Inde- pendence, Missouri. At that time all the region lying between the Mis- souri river and New Mexico was known as Indian Territory. Ambitious traders and daring adventurers were beginning to establish trading posts at various points throughout the then comparatively unknown Mexican province. At Independence Mr. Wootton found a wagon train about ready to start for the trading post of Bent & St. Vrain, at Fort Bent, on the Arkansas-the most noted post in the west-and, applying for a position with the train, his services were accepted and he started on the long over- land trip westward, a journey made with military precision in those days. From Fort Bent the party moved from one Indian village to another until reaching a point some distance north of Fort Laramie, in Wyoming, where they spent the winter of 1836-37. On this trip young Wootton gathered fully twenty-five thousand dollars' worth of furs, which he turned over to his employers at Fort Bent. In the fall of 1838 he started out on one of the longest trapping expeditions ever made by Americans, a journey that required nearly two years for its completion. With a party of nineteen he started for the "Oregon country," trapping through Colorado, Utah, Wy- oming, Montana, Idaho and the valley of the Snake and Columbia rivers. They went as far north as Vancouver and returned through the district now known as Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Utah and Colo- rado. On this trip five members of the party met death at the hands of the Indians.
In the fall of 1840 Mr. Wootton visited Taos for the first time, and soon afterward took a contract to furnish the meat supply for Fort Bent, hunting buffaloes for this purpose, and finally established a buffalo farm, which he conducted successfully. This farm, which he started with about forty milch buffalo cows, was located on the site of the city of Pueblo. Many of the buffaloes which he raised were sold to showmen. In the winter of 1843-4 Mr. Wootton secured a license to trade with the Utes, and during the time that he continued in this business had many narrow escapes from death at the hands of the Indians. On one of his trading trips he was accompanied by the noted frontiersman, Bill Williams, after- ward a guide for General Fremont. During this time he made numerous trips into New Mexico and became familiar with the country and its in- habitants. Jim Baker, who was one of Fremont's scouts, was one of his companions in many of his trapping expeditions. When the news of the Taos uprising, in which Governor Charles Bent, head of the firm of Bent & St. Vrain, and many other Americans were killed, reached Mr. Wootton at his home at Pueblo, he and his companions, five in number, started across the country to render the troops such aid as was possible. Joining the army, they assisted in the attack on the pueblo and the church. After the battle was ended Mr. Wootton acted as marshal in making arrests under military authority.
Soon after the battle at Taos he joined the command of Colonel A. W. Doniphan, in his famous expedition, to act as guide and scout. The expedi- tion was headed for Chihuahua, but before reaching that city he was asked by Colonel Doniphan to carry some important dispatches to Santa Fé.
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He made the trip alone, at his own request, reaching Albuquerque in nine days, and traveling as much as possible in the mountains, in order to escape being observed by unfriendly eyes. From Santa Fé he proceeded to Taos, where he remained for several years, taking an active interest in its affairs. While there he took a contract to furnish beef to the troops stationed there. In the winter of 1847, in company with Kit Carson, Thomas Tobin, Joaquin Leroux and others, he joined the command of Colonel Greer, and started on a punitive expedition against the Utes, who had killed a stage load of white people at Whetstone Springs. In the fight that followed the Indians murdered Mrs. White, wife of a wealthy Missouri farmer whom they had killed a day or two before. After this conflict Mr. Wootton returned to Taos and a little later set out to act as guide to a party organized to rescue from the Indians a party of which L. B. Maxwell was a member. In March, 1848, Mr. Wootton joined an expedition against the Navajos, acted as guide and traveling as far west as Arizona in the command of Colonel Newby. Upon the return of this party to Taos on the 4th of July, they learned that during their absence the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had been signed, and thus the Mexican war was brought to an end.
Times were dull on the frontier for two or three years after the Mexi- can war, and for a while Mr. Wootton prospected in mineral wells. He and his companions had considerable trouble with the Indians, and he relates one incident where they were ambushed by the Utes, who had disguised themselves as a band of elk. During the winter of 1849-50 he traded with the Comanches for the first and last time, as he found the risk too great even to a man who loved adventure as he did. "The Comanches," he said, "never had even that small sense of honor which characterized the average western Indian. They never made a pledge or promise of any kind for which they had any regard whatever. When they made peace it was always for a purpose. It was either to save their own lives, when whipped and cornered, or to obtain something which they stood in need of, and every such peace was made to be broken at the very first opportunity that pre- sented itself."
In 1851 Mr. Wootton made his first trip east to St. Louis after going to the west, going for the purpose of laying in a stock of merchandise. He made the journey on horseback in a trifle over seven days, on a wager which he had made with Colonel Greer that he would beat him into St. Louis. The following year he made his first trip to the Pacific coast. Near Watrous he gathered together nine thousand head of sheep and started out with twenty-two men, fourteen Mexican sheep herders and eight discharged soldiers and teamsters, relying upon the latter to protect life and property and the former to herd and drive the sheep, which he intended for the California market. The party experienced much trouble with the Indians, particularly with the very troublesome Utes, who made several efforts to deprive him of his band of sheep. He passed through Salt Lake City, where he met Benjamin Holliday, the famous fighter and stage owner, and also made the acquaintance of Brigham Young. The trip to Sacramento occupied one hundred and seven days, and he arrived with the loss of but one hundred sheep. On liis return he traveled by way of San Francisco, thence by steamer to Los Angeles, and thence overland bv way of San Bernardino, Fort Yuma, the state of Sonora, Mexico, Tucson, the Jornado del Muerto and the Rio Grande valley to Taos, reach-
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ing home January 8, 1853, after a journey of thirty-three days from Los Angeles. He brought with him fourteen thousand dollars in gold and about thirty thousand dollars in drafts on St. Louis. In his memoirs Mr. Wootton says: "I don't know that people were any more honest in those days than they are now, but it is certain that there was a great deal less robbing and stealing going on. I have gone to sleep in a room where they kept a trunk full of silver dollars, and if it wouldn't sound like bragging I might tell you that I had done so a good many times myself, without ever dreaming of being robbed. I think the way we used to administer justice in those days had a great deal to do with the remarkable security of prop- erty. The fact is that stealing was not such a safe business in the early history of this country. There were no delays in the trial of cases, and no scoundrel ever escaped punishment on account of any error in the indict- ment or technicality of the law. We had just three grades of punish- ment for different classes of criminals. For minor offenses the punish- ment was thirty-nine lashes on the bare back of the offender. For the most serious offenses the punishment was death. Where the offender was a man whose criminal transactions could not be so clearly proven as to warrant the infliction of either the whipping or death penalty, but who was known to be a bad man generally, we notified him to leave the country, and he always found that the only safe thing to do was to go. We always had a jury, judge and counsel for the prosecution and defense. The judge would take his seat on a stump or log, or more frequently on the ground. Sometimes there were three members of a jury and sometimes a dozen or half a dozen. Our trials seldom lasted more than an hour or two, and the jury always brought in a verdict promptly. Sentence was then pronounced and promptly executed, no time being given for an appeal from the decision of the court. If whipping was the penalty to be inflicted, the rawhide was brought out, the culprit was tied to a tree or post, and some one of our num- ber who was thought to have a sufficient development of muscle, gave him the stipulated number of lashes. If the judgment of the court was that capital punishment should be inflicted, two men were selected to act as executioners. Two rifles, one of which was loaded, were handed to them, and the affair was soon ended. It is possible that judgment in these cases may sometimes have been hasty and now and then a mistake may have been made."
After his return from California, although his family remained at Taos until 1854, Mr. Wootton spent most of his time at the old fort on the Arkansas river, called the Pueblo. Near the mouth of the Huerfano, on the Arkansas river, he built a fort of logs, where, in July, 1854, he brought his wife and children. There he was afterward attacked by the Utes, and probably his entire family would have been killed or captured had not the Arapahoes in turn attacked the Utes. This trouble occurred during what is known as the Pueblo massacre. Though he was successful in his ranch- ing and his trading with the Indians, he found that it was "too tame an existence," and soon afterward, in 1856, he entered into partnership with Joseph Doyle for the freighting business from Kansas City to Fort Union, Albuquerque. While carrying government freight he made the acquaint- ance of many army officers, including General Albert Sidney Johnson, Gen- eral E. R. S. Canby and General Henry H. Sibley. Once he narrowly escaped death in a meeting on the part of his Mexican teamsters, and
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frequently had serious trouble with the Indians. His last trip, in 1858, was from Atchison to Salt Lake City, a distance of twelve hundred and twenty-five miles, and it required ninety-seven days to get through.
Upon his return from Utalı, Mr. Wootton determined to go back to "the States" and spend the rest of his life. He got no farther than Denver, however. There he engaged in trading, temporarily as he believed, but so great was his success that he entered general merchandising on a larger scale and remained there until 1862, when he located on a ranch on the Fountain river, nine miles above Pueblo. He erected the first cabins in Pueblo, living in one and conducting a grocery store in the other, and in the meantime farming extensively on the Fountain river. He had long had in mind the building of a stage road through Raton Pass and conducting it as a toll road. and in the winter of 1865 he applied to the legislatures of Colorado and New Mexico for charters authorizing its construction and maintenance. These charters were granted, and the following spring Mr. Wootton moved his family to the Pass and began the construction of the road, building twenty-seven miles of turnpike, which was a part of the new Santa Fé trail. This was the first toll road in the southwest. The stage company, the military authorities and the American freighters gave him no trouble when it came to the question of paying the toll, and the Indians he allowed to pass free of charge, but the native Mexicans did not take kindly to the idea, looking upon the tollgate as a scheme for robbery; but the road was a financial success up to the time it was paralleled by the Santa Fé Railroad, when Mr. Wootton turned his business over to that corporation.
In this connection it is interesting to note that the Mexican majority in the territorial legislature, in response to the popular native demand for the free use of its noted toll road, twice endeavored by enactment to put an end to the collection of toll. On February 1, 1872, the legislature passed an act declaring that "Any charter which may be held by one Richard Wootton * * * over any portion of the Trinidad and Raton Mountain road, running from Red river to the town of Trinidad in the Territory of Colorado, and passing by the house of said Richard Wootton, was not to be received as evidence of the existence nor as the charter of any corporation or company, and the said charter, or so-called charter, is hereby declared void and of no effect, and the said road is hereby declared to be a public road of this Territory and subject to the statutes concerning territorial or public roads." In spite of this legislation, Mr. Wootton continued to collect toll until the opening of the railroad in 1879, in defiance of the legislature, confidently feeling himself to be secure on account of the remateness of the seat of government.
When the stage company began running its coaches through by way of Trinidad, the Wootton place was made a stage station with hotel accom- modations, and the proprietor entertained guests of all stations in life from a vice-president of the United States down to stage robbers and horse thieves. The "knights of the road" would come by now and then, order a meal, eat it rapidly, pay for it and move on to the point where they had arranged to meet a stage that night. A daring and successful daylight robbery was perpetrated by two men when the east-bound stage was coming up the south side of the pass. That morning two well-dressed and some- what refined looking young men, well mounted, rode up to the house and
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ordered breakfast. Each had four pistols in his belt and a repeating rifle strapped to his side. They were courteous in their behavior and very polite to the waiters. When they had paid for their breakfast they rode leisurely up the mountain side. About half way down the New Mexican side of the mountain, where the canyon is very narrow and was then heavily wooded on both sides, they stopped and waited for the coach. When it appeared, lumbering up the road, they stepped suddenly from their am- bush, one on each side of the horses' heads, and commanded the driver and the four passengers to hold up their hands. While one robber stood guard the other secured the valuables in the treasure box and from the persons of the travelers and at once disappeared. The men who planned and executed this robbery were "Chuckle-luck" and "Magpie." They were killed soon after this occurrence by a member of their own gang named Stuard, who was tempted to the act probably by the reward of one thousand dollars which had been offered. Stuard loaded the dead robbers into a wagon and took them to Cimarron, where he turned them over to the authorities and received the reward.
On one occasion there were at Wootton's place at the same time a notorious horse thief and murderer-a half-breed Cherokee Indian called "Chunk"-and a noted desperado named Porter Stockton, who was hunting the half-breed. Chunk was afterward killed at the Clifton House, five miles below the site of Raton, by Clay Allison, who was one of the most notorious desperadoes of his day on the frontier. The half-breed is sup- posed to have killed Allison's brother a short time before. The two met at the Clifton House, and after a halfday's quarreling, during which time each endeavored "to get the drop" on the other, they went to dinner to- gether and cautiously sat down at the same table, facing each other. Allison laid his pistol beside his plate, while Chunk held his weapon at full cock in his lap. Barely had they become seated when the half-breed reached across the table and attempted to seize Allison's pistol with one hand, at the same time attempting to fire his own pistol with the other hand. Accord- ing to Mr. Wootton's account, his pistol struck the table and was discharged without injuring his enemy, and before he could shoot again Allison blew his brains out. Another account is given elsewhere in this history.
"Uncle Dick" Wootton spent all but two years of the remainder of his life at his home in Raton Pass. When his home was destroyed by fire in 1891, he removed to Trinidad, where his death occurred August 22, 1893. His wife was a daughter of Manuel Le Fevre, a French Canadian, who came to the southwest from St. Louis at an early date and became one of the best known traders in the country. She died in the fall of 1856, leaving four small children. Of these Richard L. Wootton, who is now engaged in the real estate business in Albuquerque, having for a partner Ben Myer, was born at Taos. in 1851, and is therefore one of the oldest native born English-speaking inhabitants of the Territory. During the early years of his life he accompanied his father, removing to Denver in 1858, and to Trinidad in 1866. From May, 1869, until 1872 he was engaged in the cattle business at the head of the Trinchero in Colfax county, and after- ward in Trinidad. He served as under sheriff, sheriff and assessor of Las Animas county, Colorado, and was a representative in the Colorado state legislature from 1889 until 1894, having been elected on the Democratic ticket. During his term as sheriff he was called upon to take into custody
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