USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 10
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In the spring of 1879 Mr. Tamme came to Las Vegas, located on the east side of the city and engaged in business here. It was largely through his influence that James Hamilton, the noted shoe merchant of St. Louis, built an opera house which he rented to Mr. Tamme, and which was called the Ward & Tamme Opera House. This was in 1882. In the fall of 1884 Mr. Tamme erected another opera house, which is a fine, substantial build- ing. This was done at the suggestion of Frederick Warde, the actor, and has been a valuable addition to amusement circles of the city. He also built one of the early business blocks here and has erected one of the finest residences in Las Vegas.
In his political views Mr. Tamme is in harmony with many of the principles of democracy, and vet is liberal. He always takes an active interest in public affairs concerning the progress and welfare of his city, and has been the champion of many movements for the general good. He was a member of the first city council of Las Vegas, elected in 1882, and also a member of the first city council of East Las Vegas in 1887. In 1897 he was chosen city clerk and has since filled that position with credit to himself and satisfaction to his constituents. In fact he has won high encomiums in all the various offices that he has filled.
Mr. Tamme was married in 1882 to Miss Emelie Schaeffer, a native of Lee's Summit, Missouri, and their children are: Eunice, who is a teacher in the schools of Las Vegas; Lawrence, and Emma. In the same year of his marriage Mr. Tamme was made a Mason in Las Vegas, and he now holds membership in Chapman lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M .; Las Vegas chapter No. 3, R. A. M., and Las Vegas commandery No. 2, K. T. He is also a clerk of the local camp of the Woodmen of the World.
D. C. Winters, a druggist of Las Vegas, who came to the Territory in 1880, was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, in 1854, and went to Colorado in 1873 at the age of nineteen years. His education was largely acquired in the school of experience. He was the first druggist in Trini-
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dad, Colorado, continuing in business there until coming to New Mexico, when he entered the employ of F. E. Herbert & Company, with whom he continued for a year. Later he was employed by M. R. Griswold, and in 1886 established his drug store, which is now the oldest business of the kind in the Territory under the guidance of one man. He was originally in partnership with William Frank, who sold his interest to E. G. Mur- phy, and after six or seven years Mr. Winters purchased Mr. Murphy's interest and has since been alone in business.
He was married in Trinidad, Colorado, in June, 1880, to Miss Marion A. Bloom, and they have three children: Marion, Ruth and Frank W. He has served four years as a member of the East Las Vegas school board and for two years was its president. He is now a trustee of the insane hospital at Las Vegas, and in 1904 was elected to the territorial council, so that he is the present incumbent in the office.
Robert L. M. Ross, deputy county treasurer and collector, Las Vegas, was born in Dungiven, County Derry, Ireland, June 18, 1856, and was educated at Foyle College, Londonderry, and Trinity College, Dublin. He came to America in 1877 and located in Boston, where he was employed as a clerk in a furniture establishment until 1880. That year he came to New Mexico and engaged in the cattle business in the eastern part of San Miguel county, his nearest postoffice being La Cinta. He was in the cattle business ten years. In 1891 he was appointed deputy probate clerk and recorder of San Miguel county, which position he filled a few months. Then he turned his attention to real estate and insurance in East Las Vegas, in which he was engaged for eight years. Again, in 1899 and 1900, he served as deputy county clerk and recorder, and in 1901 was appointed deputy treasurer and collector of the county by Eugenio Romero, who was elected to the office in 1900. He is strong politically to a marked degree because of his superior knowledge of the Spanish language and general knowledge of the customs and business methods of the Spanish-American people. He is uniformly courteous to all, and this, too, has been a strong factor in the making of his popularity.
Mr. Ross is prominent and active in both church and lodge; is a vestryman in St. Paul's church (Episcopal), and twice has been worship- ful master of Chapman Lodge No. 2. A. F. & A. M., of Las Vegas. In 1884, at Watrous, New Mexico, he married Miss Laura Shaver, of Califor- nia, and they have two children, Caroline and May.
. George A. Fleming, who at the organization of the Investment and Agency Corporation on the 20th of August, 1905, became manager of the business and maintains his residence in Las Vegas, was born in Chicago, Illinois, March 23, 1872. He attended the public schools of that city, and when his education was completed entered upon an active business career, occupying several clerical and office positions with important insurance agencies in Chicago until 1896. He then opened a general real estate and insurance business under the name of George A. Fleming & Company, continuing this with much success until 1899, when ill health forced him to seek a change of climate and he came to New Mexico.
Mr. Fleming greatly improved under the beneficial climatic conditions of Las Vegas and re-entered business life here as a lime manufacturer un- der the name of the Hot Springs Lime Company. While managing that enterprise he was also bookkeeper for James A. Dick and later for the Dunn
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Builders' Supply Company. He resigned the latter position to accept the office, of secretary and manager of the Crystal Ice & Cold Storage Com- pany of Las Vegas, manufacturers of artificial ice, thus serving until the Ist of January, 1903, when he went to Santa Fé to become chief clerk in the office of Hon. James Wallace Raynolds, secretary of the Territory. The legislature of 1903 created the office of assistant secretary of the Terri- tory, and to this Mr. Fleming was appointed, being the first incumbent in the position. He performed the duties of the office in excellent manner and established a record for painstaking energy and capability, but re- signed in order to return to Las Vegas and become manager of the In- vestment and Agency Corporation, organized on the 20th of April, 1905. He is peculiarly fitted, by reason of his varied and thorough business train- ing and by his general acquaintance throughout the Territory, for the duties of the new position.
On the 17th of June, 1903, Mr. Fleming was married to Miss Maude E. Woods, of Chicago. Their home soon became a popular resort in lead- ing social circles of Santa Fé, and already they have won many friends in Las Vegas, where Mr. Fleming was previously well known. When he left this city to go to the capital he was secretary of the Business Men's Protective Association, of which he had been one of the first and principal organizers. He was also secretary of the Montezuma Club, now known as the Commercial Club, of Las Vegas, and has recently been elected its treasurer. He takes an active interest in politics as a stanch and unfalter- ing advocate of Republican principles and is a member of the Presbyterian church.
Judge Henry S. Wooster, justice of the peace at Las Vegas, comes of an ancestry which in its lineal and collateral branches through many genera- tions has been distinctively American. He is a direct descendant of Daniel Wooster, who at an early day settled in Connecticut, having crossed the Atlantic from England. The judge was born in Tully, New York, April 20, 1820, and remained a resident of that state until 1840, when he went to Ohio, where he spent four years. The succeeding six years were passed in Wisconsin, and on the expiration of that period he went to California, re- maining on the Pacific coast for ten years. He then returned to Beloit, Wisconsin, and on leaving that place came to Las Vegas, where he con- ducted the Wooster House for six years, making it a leading hostelry of this city. In January, 1891, he was elected police judge and justice of the peace and has since continuously filled both positions, his decisions being strictly fair and impartial. His early political support was given the Whig party, and since its dissolution he has been a stalwart Republican.
Judge Wooster was married in Wisconsin to Miss Nancy Pierce, a native of Jefferson county, New York, whence she went to the Badger State in early life. Her father, Joseph Pierce, was a farmer of Wisconsin and was a member of the convention which framed the state constitution. Unto Judge and Mrs. Wooster were born the following named: Clarence A., of Atlanta, Georgia; Bennett P., of Santa Rosa, New Mexico, and Mary, the wife of George E. Johnson, of Missouri Valley, Iowa. The wife and mother departed this life in February, 1888.
For nearly thirty years Judge Wooster was an active member of the Masonic fraternity and was also affiliated with the Odd Fellows. He has
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now passed the eighty-fifth milestone on life's journey, and is a most respected and venerable citizen of Las Vegas.
John S. Clark, engaged in the insurance business at Las Vegas, where he arrived in 1883, was born in the county of Haywood, in Tennessee, October 29, 1858, and was educated in the public schools, but they were of a rather poor character on account of the war, which had crippled all edu- cational advancement as well as commercial and industrial progress. He came west to better his conditions, and was married in Tennessee twenty- six years ago, on the 22d of January. 1880, to Miss Nannie C. Watson. They have two children, Herbert W. and Lawrence D.
Mr. Clark arrived in Las Vegas in 1883. He was engaged in the restaurant business for a time, and was afterward for four years associated in the sheep business with Judge Mills and Governor Otero, while for four years he was coal oil inspector of the Territory. He entered the insurance business in December, 1904, and is thus engaged at the present time. He has also been prominent in political circles, serving as a member of the council of the Territory in 1904-5. He became chairman of the Republican central territorial committee in 1898, and has been a member of the com- mittee continuously since 1894. He belongs to the Commercial Club, to Chapman Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M., Royal Lodge No. 3, of Las Vegas, and is past high priest of the chapter. He also belongs to Las Vegas Com- mandery No. 2, K. T., of which he is past eminent commander, and he is a member of the Mystic Shrine at Albuquerque, while of the lodge of Elks of Las Vegas he is likewise a representative.
C. D. Boucher, who is engaged in the grocery business in Las Vegas, New Mexico, came to this Territory on a visit to his brother in February, 1883. and, being so well pleased with the country and the climate, decided to remain here. He obtained employment from the Santa Fe Railroad Company, with which he was connected in the capacity of conductor until 1898. That year he purchased the grocery business of L. H. Hofmeister in the old town of Las Vegas, conducted the store there successfully till August 1, 1903, when he removed to the new town, and here he has since continued to prosper.
Mr. Boucher was born in Bureau county, Illinois, near Mendota, and in the public schools of his native county received the foundation for his broader education which he obtained in the practical school of experience. From Illinois he went to Dakota. There he took claim to a tract of land, and while "proving up" on same conducted a grocery and drug business. He farmed his Dakota land until coming to New Mexico, as already stated. December 27. 1897, he had the misfortune to be in a wreck on the Cali- fornia Limited, at Hoehne, Colorado, where he sustained injuries which caused him to quit the railroad business.
At Raton, New Mexico, in 1888, Mr. Boucher married Miss Olive Olive of that place, and they have two children, Cecil and Roy. Mr. Boucher for years has heen prominent and active in Masonic circles. He is senior warden of Chapman Lodge No. 2 and eminent commander of Las Vegas Commandery No. 2.
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
TAOS COUNTY.
Taos is in the northern tier of counties, extending from about the center of the northern boundary line in a narrow formation, and covering an area of 2,300 square miles. Although the smallest county in the Ter- ritory, it is larger than Delaware and almost twice the size of Rhode Is- land. It has a population of about 11,000-substantially the same as that of Colfax, Dona Aña and Mora counties.
In a previous chapter it has already been shown how Taos was orig- inally the largest division of the Territory, and the steps by which it was reduced to its present limits. Its first boundaries, as defined by the act of January 9, 1852, which divided New Mexico into nine counties, were as follows: On the south, from the first house of the town of Embudo, on the upper side, where the canyon of Picuries terminates, drawing a direct line toward the south over the mountain of Bajillo at the town of Rin- cones, until it reaches the front of the last house of Las Trambas on the south side ; thence drawing a direct line toward the east dividing the moun- tains until it reaches the junction of the river Mora and Sapeyo, and thence to the boundary line of the Territory; from the above mentioned house of Embudo drawing a line toward the north over the mountains and divid- ing the Rio del Norte in the direction of the Tetilla de la Petaca ; thence taking a westward direction until it terminates with the boundary line of the Territory, and on the north by all the land belonging to the Terri- tory of New Mexico.
Records Open with Revolution .- The first existing records of Taos county, under the caption of "March term. 1847." begin as follows: "Be it remembered that on the nineteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and forty-seven, a revolution broke out in Don Fernandez de Taos, in the Territory of New Mexico, among the Mex- icans, in which many of the Americans in Fernandez were horribly mur- dered, besides the books, papers and property of this office were destroyed ; and also it is to be regretted that the lamented Cornelio Vigil, the late prefect, was one of the murdered, as well as the Governor of this Terri- tory. On the 25th day of February Vicente Martinez took the oath of office as prefect for the county of Taos. Monday, the first day of March, A. D. 1847, being the second regular term of holding this court (Vicente Martinez, prefect, presiding, and Robert Cary, clerk), the sheriff, Archa Metcalf, presented his bond as such, and also his bond as ex-officio col- lector."
Thereafter, the officers of Taos county, as shown by the records were as helow :
Sheriffs .- 1848, Richens S. Wootton : 1849. Abram Trigg: 1850, Henry F. Mink ; 1851. Julian Duran : 1852-3, Julian Lodu; 1854, Nestor Martinez; 1855-7, Ezra N. Depew; 1858-9, Gabriel Vigil; 1860, Juan Archuleta; 1861, Gabriel Lucero; 1862-3.
Festival Scene at Taos Pueblo
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Ancient Water Mill, Ranchos de Taos
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LOCAL HISTORIES
Francisco Sanchez; 1864-9, Aniceto Valdez; 1870-1, Julian Ledoux; 1872-5, Jose D. Quesnel; 1876, Guillermo Trujillo; 1877-8, Gabriel Lucero; 1879, Santiago F. Val- dez ; 1880, Juan de Dios Gonzales; 1881-2, Leandro Martinez; 1883-4, Guillermo Trujillo; 1885-6, Bonifacio Barron ; 1887-8, Lorenzo Lovato; 1889-90, Guillermo Tru- jillo; 1891-4, Caesario Garcia; 1895-6, Francisco Martinez y Martinez; 1897-8, Lui- ciano Trujillo (killed December 12, 1898, and Higenio Romero appointed to fill unexpired term) ; 1899-1900, Higenio Romero; 1901-4, Faustin Trujillo; 1905-6, Sil- viano Tucero.
Probate Clerks .- 1848-50, Elias T. Clark; 1851, Santiago de Valdez ; 1852-4, Santiago S. Valdez; 1855. Pedro Valdez; 1856, Inocencio Valdez : 1857-9, Pedro Val- dez ; 1860-1, Gabriel Vigil; 1862-71, Leandro Martinez; 1872-3, Inocencio Martinez ; 1874-5, Maximiano Romero; 1876, Santiago F. Valdez; 1877-8, Juan M. Montoya ; 1879, Vicente Mares; 1880, Guillermo Martinez; 1881-2, Vicente Mares; 1883-4, J. U. Shade; 1885-6, Juan B. Gonzales; 1887-8, D. M. Salazar : 1889-90, Enrique Gon- zales; 1891-2, Fred P. Miller ; 1893-4, Maximiano Romero; 1895-8. George P. Miller ; 1899-1900, Jesus M. Salazar (died March 10, 1900, and George P. Miller appointed to fill unexpired term) ; 1901-4, Tomas Martinez y Gonzales; 1905-6, Enrique Gonzales.
Prefects .- 1848, Vicente Martinez, Jose Maria Valdez; 1849-50, Jose Maria Val- dez ; 1851, Horace Long : 1852-4, Jose Maria Martinez; 1855, Jose Benito Mart- inez.
Probate Judges .- 1856, Horace Long; 1857-9, Juan de Jesus Valdez ; 1860-1, Pedro Valdez; 1862-3, Jose Maria Martinez; 1864-5, Juan Santistevan; 1866-7, Pedro Sanchez ; 1868-9, Juan Santistevan; 1870-1, Pedro Sanchez; 1872-3, Jose Romulo Martinez; 1874-5, Aniceto Valdez: 1876, Gabriel Lucero; 1877-80, Antonio Joseph ; 1881-2, Joseph Clouthier ; 1883-4, Cristobal Mares; 1885-6, Antonio Tircio Gallegos ; 1887-8, Manuel Valdez y Lobato; 1889-90, Juan D. Gonzales; 1891-2, Higenio Ro- mero; 1893-4, Gregorio Griego; 1895-6, Juan de Dios Martinez ; 1903-4, Lucas Do- minguez ; 1905-6, Manuel Garcia.
County Commissioners .- 1876, Juan Santistevan (chairman), Fred Mueller : 1877. Cristobal Mares (chairman), Pablo A. Sanchez, Albino Ortego; 1878, Cristobal Mares (chairman), Pablo A. Sanchez, Albino Ortego; 1870-80, Alejandro Martinez (chairman), Buenaventura Lovato, Severino Martinez; 1881-2, Manuel Valdez y Lovato (chairman), Ferdinand Meyer. Juan B. Gonzales; 1883-4, Alexander Gus- dorf (chairman), Joseph Clouthier, Manuel la Chacon; 1885-6, Gabino Ribera (chair- man), Manuel a Chacon, Felix Romero; 1887-8. Aloys Scheurich (chairman), Ju- lian A. Martinez, Santiago Abreuo; 1889-90, Aloys Scheurich (chairman), Francisco A. Montova, Higenio Romero; 1891-2, J. P. Rinker (chairman), Eleonor Trujillo, Manuel Griego; 1893-4, J. Eulogio Rael (chairman), Manuel Gregario Vigil, Delfino Martinez ; 1895-6, Aloys Scheurich (chairman), Juan N. Vallejos, Miguel Antonio Romero; 1897-8, Aloys Scheurich (chairman), Miguel Antonio Gonzales, Rafael Gonzales : 1899-1900, W. M. Adair (chairman), Francisco B. Rael, Jose de Jesus Cordova : 1901-2, J. M. Beall (chairman), Gregorio Leyba, Alexander Gusdorf ; 1903-4, Higinio Romero (chairman), Manuel a Chacon, Alexander Gusdorf; 1905-6, Alexander Gusdorf (chairman), Manuel a Chacon, Jose A. Lopez.
The Turbulent Taos Valley .- The valley of Taos, with its two great Pueblos, the old town of Fernando de Taos and the still more ancient settlement known as Ranchos de Taos, is one of the most fascinating and historical points in the entire West. Taos was for many years following the American occupation, the chief political storm-center of the Territory. The presence there of such men as Charles Bent, the first Governor (whose death in the revolution of 1847 is among the first events officially recorded in the county) ; Colonel Christopher ("Kit") Carson, the famous scout and guide; Colonel Cerean St. Vrain, the well known merchant; "Don Carlos" Beaubien, one of the original proprietors of the notorious Max- well land grant and first Chief Justice of New Mexico; Father Martinez, demagogue, traitor, conspirator against peace and as great a rascal as ever remained unhung in New Mexico, whether viewed from a political or moral standpoint-such as these gave the community a position in Ter-
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ritorial affairs equal to that of Santa Fé, the capital. The halo of romance and the glamour of tragedy with which it became invested in the early days, though somewhat dimmed during the more peaceful years that have fol- lowed, still surround the name of Taos, and always will.
Among the Americans and other foreigners who became the pioneer white settlers of Taos and the valley near by, besides those mentioned, were Theodore Mignault, who was manager of Bent & St. Vrain's store, and afterward a partner of Marceline St. Vrain, a nephew of the Colonel; Henry Green, a West Point graduate and formerly an officer in the regular army; Jesse Turley, a Missourian, who established a trading post there; James Herbert Quinn, who organized several scouting parties in times of trouble : Theodore Weedon, or Wheaton, a lawyer who came from Mis- souri in 1846; Charles Hardt, who also migrated from that state in 1846, and had a ranch near town; "Squire" Hardt, who was engaged in the overland trade for several years; Webster, a merchant and miller, who became very wealthy ; the three Buedners-Solomon, Samson and Joseph- who had a general merchandise business; Frederick Mueller, who married a daughter of Charles H. Beaubien, and "Uncle Dick" Woolton.
The erection of the church at Fernando de Taos was begun in 1796, but the edifice was not completed until 1806. The ancient church at the Pueblo, which was ruined during the bombardment of 1847, was at one time the headquarters of the Roman Catholic diocese.
While the present village of Fernando de Taos, the county seat, has been the scene of crimes innumerable and the hotbed of most of the early conspiracies against the American government, few criminals of note have made that town their headquarters since the establishment of peaceful conditions following the Civil War. One notorious character, however, made such a record there that the closing incident in his career deserves a permanent place in the historic literature of New Mexico. "Colonel" Thomas Means, a surveyor by profession, came to the Territory soon after the inauguration of civil government by the Americans. He lived in Colfax county for some time, and for years was more or less identified with the tragic episodes which marked the early history of the infamous Maxwell land grant. He finally settled down in Taos, where he made life one con- tinuous round of misery for all who were forced into contact with him. He exhibited an insolence and obstreperous disposition that constantly precipitated him into trouble until he became such a nuisance to the more peaceably inclined inhabitants as to render drastic measures necessary. He would not only grossly insult and frequently attack anybody who came within his reach, but beat his wife so badly on innumerable occasions that her life was despaired of. Finding that appeals to courts of justice were of no avail, in 1868 a number of citizens decided to organize that common frontier institution known as a Vigilance Committee and put an end to "Colonel" Means and all his meanness. After an unusually ag- gravating outbreak on his part. following a pointed warning as to what his fate would be, he was taken from his home to the old court house and hanged from a beam in the ceiling in front of the judge's bench. The day following was one of general rejoicing that the community had been summarily rid of one of its most disagreeable and dangerous factors. Thus ended the career of one of the most widely known, and at one time one of the most influential, men of northern New Mexico.
Ancient Church, Ranchos de Taos
Church Interior, Ranchos de Taos
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An episode which for a time threatened the peace of Taos county, and by some was regarded as a possible cause of a repetition of the bloody scenes of 1847, occurred at Fernando de Taos in December, 1898. On the twelfth of that month, which is celebrated by the native inhabitants as Saint Guadalupe Day, in honor of one of their most honored patron saints, practically all the Mexican inhabitants of Taos and the surrounding coun- try, most of whom are members of the order of Penitentes, were parading the streets of the village carrying an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Two young men who were strangers to the scene, and who were not aware of its significance nor of the custom of the superstitious Penitentes-Bert Phillips, the famous Indian painter, and Mr. Myers-stood upon the side- walk watching the procession. An official who accompanied the procession stepped up to them and ordered them in Spanish to remove their hats out of respect to the saint. As they did not understand the Spanish tongue they did not comply with the request, whereupon the constable, or deputy sheriff, attempted to pull their hats off. At this Myers promptly knocked the officer down. Soon afterward both Phillips and Myers were arrested and placed in the wretched building which served the purposes of a jail. Bail was immediately offered for their release pending a hearing, but the sheriff, Luciano Trujillo, who in the meantime had been drinking heavily and had become ugly, refused to accept bail, declaring that the two men must stay in jail and freeze to death, for all he cared. Later, however, he consented to allow them their freedom on bail.
Early that evening Trujillo, who had been making dire threats against Phillips, Myers and Americans in general, entered a saloon where a num- ber of Americans were congregated. Among them was a youth named Albert Gifford, aged nineteen, who had armed himself with a revolver in anticipation of trouble. Most of the Americans present had similarly pre- pared themselves for protection, for it was generally believed that Trujillo intended to kill upon the slightest provocation. Hardly had the drunken sheriff entered the room than somebody fired a shot. In an instant the room was a blaze of pistol shots, and when the smoke cleared Trujillo was found dead.
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