Deming graphic., May 06, 1903, Image 1

About Deming graphic. (Deming, N.M.) 1903-1948

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VOL.. I DEMING, LUNA COUNTY, JJ.'M., WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 1903. No. 8
LUNA COUNTY,
A Serial Story of III History, People, Stock, Mining and Commer
cial Industries, Railway Facilitiei and Educational Advantages.
PART 1.
Introduction.
The increased interest which is being I
exhibited by eastern people in thesouth
west and the numerous inquiries that !
annn..nl1..WrM..Vl thrnnHmut I
our territory as to the inducements
offered to settlers by this region we are
fully convinced that it will be of great
lienefit to our community to have a
thorough and 'accurate description of
our county written up and illustrated at
this time so that it can be distributed
through the east where these inquiries
originate.
It is our intention to have these
articles written by people who are
thoroughly posted on the various sub
jects and have them give the exact con
condition as they see them without ex
aggeration so that should any one be
" -
u.Uinm, horp nd Investí-
gate they would find conditions as re-
..nf,i ,.,i t l, ,ii.nn lintrd.
in- w,h nUnhWHn vim, rmd
for the sole purpose of bringing the ad -
Mfi.n, n....nt hfnv th
people who are looking for a location ,U
that we hiva undertaken this work. ' ?
mi rrnil,,FMu,.P,nnínítn:
" - d
In the early fa I of 18S1, eager eyes
were anxiously turned toward southern
New Mexico watching the progress of
railroad building, and guessing where
would be the junction of the two great a .mo uie west, an .loui.t as v .,..
trans-continental railways which WCre , tó where the big town waa to be waa after dy.ng with the same disease that
building toward the Golden Gate of the 8t"t rest- Swn arl t mechanic killed t.ilptn.
Pacific. In October of that year some- wua "usy erecting round houses, station Chas. H. Dane was the first post mas
t a trivno "tin ' nnd n!ird houses, railway tenements, putting ter and was succeeded by Cnness, who
the scoop with a few of the select. The
.Southern Pacific buifl'TS rvac'nd a
iioint just east of the Mimbres river
.i ii..,,.,.,...,.!, :) r
ilirw mi".- "oí. u. .. !-"""
Deming, made a short halt for some
reason; the knowing ones took the hint,
and in a day or two, or three at most,
the roarihg western town of "New Chi
cago" was a reality, with realty soar
ing skyward, though no title worth
mentioning was shown in the abstract.
Title is a consideration that troubles
boom town b lilders but little, a d it did
not these. Title was an after consider
ation to be tackled by the lawyers and
the future. The boomers ran their
street lines, set their lot stakes and
had Colt and Winchester documents to
hold the stakes in place. A city of
tenta sprang up like magic, and nearly
every "house" had for a door plate
"Lodging," "Beds," "Dance Hall"
"Club Room," "Saloon," principally
the latter. Business was booming and
the citizens of New Chicago were sure
"it is good to be here."
But a change came over the spirit of
their dreams. The A. T. & S. F.
railway had passed the east point of the
Cook's Peaks mountains and taken a
dip to the west that looked suspicious, j Simons, witi his lodging houe; Dan
when, by all accounts it should have Tucker and Billy Burns, Agent Corn
kept on directly south to the New Chi- j fort, Manager Bunton, Bud Styles and
cago. A delegation oi the leauing citi
zens went a little west to investigate,
and only three miles west f their prom
ising little town with the glorious fu
ture found men with transits and levels,
sticks like barbers' poles and little
flags not made for guidons, very busy.
A town waa being laid out and they
Deming After
NEW MEXICO
were not "in it.
Their report to the i
mass meeting at the future mutropoüa 1
whs parahzing.. But
Prizing.. But western town
JuiUera don t paralizo for long, and
?mt. nh U3t four . wt"-'k3 m the
l)lrtn 01 lne,p t0W"' V
Folded their ter.ts like the Anibs,
And as silently stole away, -j
and by night of the following day, j
about November 15, 1881, a city of can-
vas sprang into existence along the line j
of the S; P. right of way, with its busi-
ness center about where now stands j
theofficcof the El Paso and Southwest-'
ern railway, und resembling in many I
particulars as to arel, Lecture and lead-!
ing citizens the ex-tpwnof NewChi-
cago, A hewTown was born and "it
was christened Doming, in honor of
the family of one of the promoters of
the great S. P. system. True, the
. ....
oi Ueming pi oper was nearly
Quarter section soutli of this point, but
western towr.s like to be in the smoke
of the locomotives; the A. T. & S. F.
nad not yet made the junction, and it 'lied in office. D.Tucker and V
was yet a case of ,u;en labe wlH-rei-etbefii-sfcpwiceoÜkei-s, and
wuW m:,ku lh 'nd was
safa S f"r the time being,
Within a very short time after the i
o .... , ,. ... . . .. ...
o. i . mm uui;. to anu pausen ncyond this
point the A. T & S. F. made the june- j
tion, and although its surveyors and '
graders kept r.ght on across the S. P. :
,llownthc l" wel,:i: "witc'iing yards
three miles long were laid out; noon the
n"lliiomi! and commodious depot hotel j
was in course ot construction-then
..u. ....... i i .i i.. , .
the finest railroad b:iildi:vr bv-f.vcen
Kansas City and San Fraiici.-ico-Dem- By energy and perseverence he became
irrg, the uivision point for both roads; a leading citizen of the new town an.l
lay-over station for ull Pullman em- finally President of the two wor.U-wreck-ployes,
train crews and express nios-1 ed banks in the southwest,
sengers; everything indicated that hero j The first cmet was ,ocatl, , tho
the railroads wouhl make the great ! k ju8t , front of whereW j Wgm.
town of the southwest and -t was c, n((W ,vea It wag known as "Boot
surely good to be here. ( m M of fir8tcitiwn8 lo.
At the advent of the town the popu- there died wRhout removing their
lauon wua oi me usual wen assorted
kind-good, bad and not indifferent
for the indifferent don't come until the
town is established. The men who start
a town in the west are always one kind
or the other good or bad. Here were
Charles Roberts and Doc Gilpin, Bob
Campbell, Garrison, Jim Wilson,
Henry Hulgate, Jake Kaithel, Pat Mc
Geeney, John Galvin, C. H. Dane, Esi
dor and Harry F.eishman, Cap. Crouch,
Doc Kane, T. A. Carr, II. i. Olcott,
John Watson, Iiaynes, with the Blinn
Lumber Co. ; Gates and Jim Howe, Doc
Warren, D. C. LeRoy, the scout; Col.
McUrorty, Hale, Haas, A. H. Thomp
son, Kelly, the Randall Brothers,
his partner, Boone, Pap Case, Barney
Mii tin and about 5U0 others.
A little later on came Armstrong
with his big mercantile establishment,
and Walt Wilkinson for clerk; P. Allen
with dry goods and Newton Bolich
for clerk; John Quinn, with Gardener
and Gilíes; John Corbett with a soda
the Firt of 1889.
tH
wnter outfit; J., E. Curren with aj
wheel barrow load of typo with which '
he got out a lively little paper; Luird
a Kerrigan, A. Laird .and Tom Col-
I tins, W. Berg, Dr. Keefe and a j
host of otrcrs to numirous to!
nvntion, and' early in 18X3,1
I J. A. Lockhart Hob and John Hupper.
Imis Altman, Postmaster Caneas, Sig- (
I nor & Robinson, C. W. Greene, aQilild.
JPi 'njTingmv w 1 1 h
the Tribune: Thur-
man & Khephard with the Cabinet sa-
1 m; Steve Birchfield and hls"Bullhead"
John Worden and Andy Price, the Hop
kins family, J. A Mahoney and Dr.
Byron, C. Helleriin Judge Field ; -Aaron
Frost with his insurance portfolio,
Chambers the lawyer, Dra. Proctor and
MeChijisney, Julius Why and Ld Merz.
Charley Rorahr, J. E. Burchard and'
McLaughlin, H. C. Van Norman, who ,
built the first tyo -story hotel in ' the
park. Swede Nelson and his rough house
on Gold avenue, Julius Roseh and Otto j
Leupold, Sig.' Lindauer and Ed. Walters i
with the biggest mercantile house south
f Las Vegas, Bauchman, Kid Bowman
am many an other old timer that tfyis
0' timer can not think of.
' Judge Warren Bristol was our find
District Judge, and put up the first two
story residence in the town. Vermilion
. ...... T ... .
was ineiinu justice oi ine reace, anu
"Ut out Justice necording to a code of
his own making, Judge Rilea succeeded
m'n and suitel the'place so well tha
he
Jiljii'i
when
''us.ness was dull used to go gunning for :
each other, then every body else h.d out. ;
('llPln gunning one nfternoiin in i
'u) .,,.:.,. ...i.. i ik:
" "lm v-n ; ' w
''' mistake. The coroner had a job ;
lhal ni?ht and Gilpin was given an old ;
mer a burial in Boot H.I next mormng
held the office but a short time and i
was succeeded by J. P. Byron. Dane.!
at the bii-.h of Demin. was a Wells
l argo express agent and nan ins omee
in a box car alongside the S. P. track.
. i o n
foot wear. The formal inauguration of
thecemetry did lot occurfor some little
time after it had been decided to devote
the ground to burial purposes. The
first subject buried there was a China
man who had a misunderstanding with
a customer as to the payment of a meal,
but this was not considered suitable
material for the inauguration, and he
was planted without ceremony. Shortly
after this Andy Price killed a white
man and the event came off with great
cremony. Bob Campbell delivered the
funeral oration, Nell Gilpin lead the
singing, and the principal citizens of
the Park affliction to the town acted as
mourners. In 1887 or 188t(, this spot
was abandoned as a burial ground,
and most of the bodies were re
moved to the new cemetery east of
town; but many an unknown or unfor
gotten one still sleeps under the sod of
Boot Hill in graves unmarked and
locations obliterated.
No western town is fairly and fully
inaugurated in an up-to-date manner
without its vigilance committee, but
'this detail was neglected until 1883.
! About this time a man named Brown
made a killing in Tom Collins saloon,
about where the Lindauer mercantile
I establishment now stands, on Pine
j street, but before the committee could
get into shape Brown vanished and was
never seen in these parts after. Some
I thing, had to done, however, to keep
I the committee in working order, and
' when a long-haired gentlemen, who
came here without introduction inserted
j a knife between the ribs of one of our
. citizens, he was promptly taken in hand
; and escorted down to where the Merrill
lumber yard now stands, and with due
formality suspended from a telegraph
He was given a decent burial in Boot
Hill, all who took part in his taking off
officiatinur at the funeral. Walt Wil-
j kinson took charge of the funeral ob
I aequies. The man who waa cut did not
' die just then, but that made no differ-
K
Í9 7
sUi't'
Tí'
Interior Visw of J. A. Mihoney's F jmit iro S:-jre.
ence the . intention constitute i the
crime. The committee was so well sat
isfied with the job that no further busi
ness was attei. nited until 1.SÍM. Th"
goixl citizens ot Deming prop.-r a I
been, for quite a while, incensed at lh"
etfurts of a lot of adven tureiM t jun
the property in the park chimed by the
railroad companies. Thuatte -.i;t g ive
the town its first set buck -in fact, it
looked for a tima as thr.u i this was a
knock-out blow to our pvo-nerity. I
was de.dded to oust the u park ju n'
ers, and the executive commit tee got
together one evening to clean out the
park or lv.ivc a hot time. Some one on
the committee suggested that a confer
ence l.e had with Judge Bristol us to
the proponed proceeding and this v.t.
reluctantly agre.'d to. The judge 1.J-1
tened to the arguments of his viniiors.
and took a strictly legal view of tl e
matter. While admitting the r.e-e.s--ty
of doing something to avert the ca
lamity of incuring the displeasure of
he railroads, the propose I proee ling
was an extraordinary renunly not war
ranted by common law or the.ttattitennd
unfair in chancery, as the chances
were all against the accused. Tin
Judge did not say just this, b.it did i d
visB that only legal measures b' J'ollowiil
and believed that in tine the court
would settle the matter to the satisfac
tion of our people and the railroad.
So the matter was dripped. The com
mittee disbanded and r.eer reconvened.
(Continue i. )
PART II.
Business and Biographical Sketches)
Closely allied with the growth of the
county is the name of J. A. Mahoney,
who came to Deming in May 1S82 and
three years later went into the grocery
business at the corner of Gold Avenue
and Spruce streets, the sight of his .
present large establishment. Fourteen
years ago sold out his grocery business active, energetic nature Would not per
and opened up a hardware store and a mit of his remaining in idleness, any
short time afterwardj a stock of furni- length of time, nnd once more he
ture was added. These two depart- i started into his cflftsen occupation as
ments of his business in :reased steadily j editor and publisher of the Deming
as the town grew in size until now his ' Tribune. At that time there were two
place occupies the whole of the great 1 other papers in the town, but it was
block and during the. past year a j only a matter of 18 months until the
fine brick building was constructed in I Tribune absorbed the- Democrat and
the rear of the main building and fitted
up into an eleganr. set of "ndertaking
parlors entirely seperate from the main
store. In addition to these buildings
Mr. Mahoney has erected a block of
brick store buildings on the opxsile
side of Gold Avenue, and a brick office
building on Spruce Street which is just
being finished and will be one of the
neatest and most comfortable in the
town and is beginning the construction
of a large warehouse to meet the de
mands of his constantly growing trade
which now comprises heavy and light
hardware, pumps, all classes of sheet
iron work, and general furniture and
house furnishing supplies. Some years
ago Mr Mahoney built a beautiful sub
urban residence which is surrounded by
fine grounds and shade trees and is one
of the prettiest in this region, but it be
ing out some distance from town he
felt that it was too far away from his
business, so it was sold to Mr. Al Wat
kins some months ago and now Mr. Ma
honey has plans for a new home where
it will be more convenient to the
business part of town.
Edward Pennington was born in New
York City, where he lived until seven
years old, at which time he moved with
his parents to California. He remained
there until the Civil war broke out,
army and cerve I in ( !e. i;ti irter:-.i,isiers
department of (leiiend t'on';ei's b:-i-g.ide
in the Kecky n-.oi.ntaÍ!is i:ni on
the pl.iins U'inl lNSf'i. w'icii l.e was hon
o 'ably d; elurged from the service of
his run' ry. A ."hoi". l n af .! leav
iig ' he arm'- I'c - il l.) Little Rock.
A:1: ni.i:i i, a. 1 1 iu'g i'i :ie vs;u)er work
v." 1th the i,i lli l!'K''r i'i.ize1.'. , wh:re he
re:i i';ed fo il- years, goln.; from there
to l'i ri i niiL .. n l ie ;;une, .state
he was e m. loved for i iht years on the
Meraliofiha
tl ne he w.i ; e Í;
f lile I in the d
ii it. of Ar ri'
le.-.s l!;er. and
f r a slioj-i
hi"' ca iv to
pi.
;r-
e, I I Hi of which
in-d-.i-f. His health
a i I iii'lie.aUhv cli-
s ti 1 ".it his liasi-
un e ; n . west stop
i i i at L i't Veg is and
l)."ni;nc. Although his
ileal'
as verv li'i'if at that tine his
Edward Pennington.
shortly afterward the Headlight was
bought by Mr. Pennington and the two
consolidated under the name of the
Headlight, which he continued to pub
lish until 1Í8, at which time he sold
out and went to California for a visit,
remaining nearly a year. On his re
turn from California he was elected
secretary of Deming Land & Water
Co., which position he held for some
years after which he was employed as
book keeper for the Lindauer Mercan
tile Co., until, at the time Luna coun
ty was formed, he was appointed by
Governor Otero to the officejof assessor
for the new county and in January
last was elected, on the republican
ticket, Justice of the Peace for the
town of Deming, which honorable po
sition he now holds.
Dr. S. D. Swo is having rock haul
ed for the foundation of a fine brick
building at the corner of Gold avenue,
fronting on the railway. The building
will have thirteen rooms and is being
built with a special view to use either
as a lodging house or, in case he should
find that there is a demand for it a hos
pital and sanitarium. This building
will be an ornament to our town and is
only one of many which are now in
process of construction or planned for
the near future in our town.
. \n\n -i!. n--;..z r !' i,