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Show LEADING FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN HISTORY 1880 TO 1912 d11 In the election of 1890 the last named as coroner, who was also ex-officio chief Fé. By virtue of the incorporating of occurred about this time, the office of as the duties of chief of police were now of police of the city of coroner beperformed to the bar by the supreme court of Indiana, and in the following December was admitted in New Mexico. Returning to New Mexico, he settled at Silver City. He was appointed district attorney, in 1889, by the president of the legislative council, pursuant to an act that year. He was elected council of the twenty-ninth andof thirtieth legislative assemblies to the legislative in 1890 and 1892. About half past eight o’clock in the evening of February 5, 1891, while attend- ing a meeting of one of the committees of the council, held in the office of T. B. Catron, at that time in the Griffin building on the corner of Palace and Washington avenues, Mr. Ancheta was shot in the neck and left shoulder with charge of buck-shot fired from the street through a window, which he was leaning. The persons who fired the shots were mounted against and made good their escape in the darkness. A shot from a rifle was also fired through the window, passing close to head of one of the members of the committee Standing in the middle of the the room. Thomas B. Catron was standing facing a desk, almost immediately in front of Mr. Ancheta and the window. Upon the desk was piled a large stack of legal papers; two of the buck-shot struck these papers and Mr. Catron escaped injury. No motive for the shooting of Ancheta could ever be discovered. It was believed at the time that it was the intention to assassinate Mr. Catron. Large sums of money were expended in employ!n8 detectives in a fruitless endeavor to apprehend the would-be assassins. MT. Ancheta recovered from his wounds. years afterward, ment under oath, made by José Amado Several a te Martinez, at the time of from the attempte murder friendly to and a confidant of the conspirators, it was definitely ascéeT” tained that the design was peace officers of Santa capture the scoundrels, to murder Mr. Catron and not Mr. Ancheta. Fé county made no effort whatever, at the time, Mr. Ancheta died at Silver City, N. M., in 1898. : to The challenge was accepted, Pere * a5 in. el ge oe ery ~ ee ee PE Sa AP eS ED EN Nl UNS,5 a” Lr m7. ~~ BG epeeerhe fe » er Sars a Sle Sin. a, Pn eed a] Pee he eee a aeig. ere tare oD a large crowd following the principals. In the fight which ensued Gallegos was killed. This unfortunate affair was the beginning of the most deplorable series of murders, assassinations and tragedies ever registered in the annals of the territory of New Mexico.*?® The principa l — mS Fran- | and a Gallegos #9 Immediately after the killing of Gallegos, Gonzales y Borrego was taken ta the county jail where he was put in irons. About midnight, Sheriff Chavez, who had been out of the city at the time of the killing, came to the jail and assaulted Gonzales y Borrego in a brutal manner. At the hearing before the Justice of the peace he was released upon bail. Among :other witnesses relied upon by Borrego, in hig plea of self-defense, was Faustin Ortiz. Some time afterward Ortiz mysteriously disappeared, and after a lapse of considerable time his body, covered with wounds, was uncovered in the sands of the arroyo Mas- carenos, near the point where the arroyo is crossed by the track of the Denver and Rio Grande railroad in the city of Santa Fé. It was charged and believed by many that Ortiz had been murdered on account of his having championed the cause of Borrego; that he was induced to visit the office of the justice of the Peace, in the county jail building, on the pretext of examining some furniture ne a view of purchasing; that while there he was set upon by Juan Ortiz, the Justice of the peace, Eustaquio Padilla and others, all deputy sheriffs, and murdered; that Subsequently his body was removed in the night-time and buried w1 the sands of the arroyo. These facts were testified to by José Amado artinez in a trial before Chief Justice Thomas Smith in which Eustaquio Padilla was charged with the murder of Ortiz. Padilla was acquitted. At the first term of the district court held in Santa Fé county, after the murder of Ortiz, the grand jury returned indictments against a number of very prominent Persons, including Sheriff Chavez, charging them with the murder of Ortiz and ir nccessories thereto. These indictments were all quashed for the reason that = Jury returning them was summoned under the jury act of 1889, it being held a the jury was not a jury of the vicinage. Laws of 1889, ch. 96, sec. 4, p. “7, Thereafter, although brought before the grand jury summoned under the act of the subsequent legislature, no indictments were returned for the murder a Ortiz. The mother of Ortiz was insistent in her demands that the murderers : her son be punished; finally an indictment against Juan Ortiz was returned ; “Was tried and acquitted. ‘On the 29th of May, 1892, while going from the = cisco Gonzales y Borrego. had been chosen the city of Santa Santa Fé, which came of no value, Sylvestre ae friends were street to fight the matter out. ee) 2 and others of his strong Awa pe ee adherents was the most power- eae ae a he het oe @ Pikeeet eeCpa teae va er ee bar ea ee a ee eke sfs*s political Among PS -aie er be. ee eee 2 at oa a 2-2 ae ere ee noe A o> act. er tae ee tee ee PD ih AO 9 o roe Por or ee eee Sa a Ce ee ee ee I I geen 2 A gene en reed te+ ee ane Ot oer ee ee ee eerba) eee ee ee ee oe ee ee IO Oe eeem AO Ee as ee we ee eee ware ae 5ene Ba ee eae ae PP Pt ean PS = Oe SE ~ Thereafter Chavez ful political personality in the county. ee ce made sheriff of the county. en The national ee ae IP nA 1885, Martinez was the sheriff of Santa Fé county. administration now being democratic, Martinez was appointed United States marshal; Chavez, who had been chief deputy, was by an appointee of the mayor of the city. Gonzales y Borrego, considering himself imposed upon and not being able to obtain another office from his party friends, sent his resignation to the board of county commissioners. The board declined to accept it and the matter was held in abeyance for some time. Meanwhile, still much dissatisfied, he appealed to Thomas B. Catron for advice and openly declared himself to be republican in his politics. Mr. Catron advised him not to resign his position as coroner. He thereupo n asked to withdraw his resignation, but the county board forthwit h accepted it and named Sylvestre Gallegos in his place. Bitter personal and political differences resulted. Ata public dance, given at a hall on San Francisco street, in the capital, shortly afterward, hot words were had between these two men. Gallegos invited Borrego into the i a lars for the capture and conviction of the guilty persons was unanimously passed. Although every effort was made for the apprehension of the persons who perpetrated this outrage, it was never known, until after the statute of limitations had run, who were the guilty individuals. Control of the county and city of Santa Fé had been lost to the leaders of the republican party for several years. The success of the opposition was directly traceable to the popularity and influence of two prominent men, Romulo Martinez and Francisco Chavez. In or ord ~ 510 |