Hysterical Journey To Historic Places

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THREE RIVERS



Bronco Sue Yonkers wasn’t the only girl who made her mark on the country around Tularosa and White Okies. Susan Hummer was born on December 30, 1845 in Gettysburg, PA. She would have been 18 years old when the horrors of battle struck that little town and perhaps was a witness to it. If so, the Battle of Gettysburg was not the only battle she saw. In 1873 she married a lawyer named Alexander McSween. The happy couple moved to Lincoln, NM in 1875 and Alexander McSween went to work for the Murphy/Dolan Company. The Company as it was simply called held monopolistic control over most of the commercial ventures in Lincoln County. Some of The Company property was mortgaged to members of the notoriously corrupt Santa Fe Ring and the ring controlled Dolan’s business practices. Those practices were rotten to the core and McSween soon closed his connection to The Company and began representing the affairs of a rich English rancher named John Tunstall, who was every bit as ruthless in business as Dolan was. A bitter rivalry developed and when Tunstall was murdered by the Dolan faction on February 18, 1878 the bloody Lincoln County War erupted. The war culminated in a street fight in Lincoln in which Billy the Kid and other regulators were barricaded inside McSween’s home. When his house was set on fire McSween came out unarmed to surrender and was brutally murdered. Billy the Kid made a daring escape into the night. McSween and Tunstall are buried side by side behind the Tunstall Store in Lincoln just a few feet from where Billy ambushed and killed Sheriff Brady. The widow, Susan McSween, moved to White Oaks and started legal proceedings against Col Nathan Dudley who she held responsible for the death of her husband and the destruction of her home. A military board of inquiry exonerated Dudley, and her attorney Huston Chapman was murdered in Lincoln by Jesse Evans, one of Dolan’s men. After the flames of her vengeance cooled Susan married another lawyer named Barber and went into the ranching business at the upper end of Three Rivers Canyon. Under her guidance the ranch was hugely successful and she became known as the “Cattle Queen of New Mexico”. By far the big dog with the brass collar among the Three River ranchers was an Irishman named Pat Coghlan. He worked hard to build his ranch and eventually cast a wide loop through that whole area. He fell into the trap of thinking he was above the law, and that anything he did he could buy his way out of. Trouble started for Coghlan when he bought a herd of cattle from Billy the Kid that had been stolen from the LX Ranch in Texas. A range detective named Charlie Siringo, that little weasel, traced those cattle to Coghlan and brought charges against him. It wasn’t a big deal, Coghlan bought his way out of that mess, but it was the beginning of his downfall. His appetites were large and his ranch became over-mortgaged. When the notes came due Albert Bacon Fall, the rat lawyer, held them and forced Coghlan to sell out. Fall built a mansion out of Coghlan’s adobe, planted a few pecan trees around it, and hired competent men to run it. He set out to gain national prominence in the political arena. When Susan Barber decided to retire in 1902 Fall bought her ranch and she moved to White Oaks an extremely wealthy and well respected woman. She did many good things in the community and died there on January 3, 1931. Fall became Secretary of the Interior during the Warren G. Harding administration and tried to increase his own personal wealth by leasing the naval petroleum reserve at Teapot Dome in Wyoming to Sinclair and them. Albert Bacon Fall is the only cabinet official to ever be convicted and sentenced to prison. He got food poisoning and died during the appeal process and never served a day of his sentence.

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Photos

ALBERT BACON FALL'S RANCH
From Tularosa take Hwy 54 northward about 17 miles to Three Rivers. Stop in at the Indian store there for cold cherry cider and look at the magnicent art work on display. Turn east up Three Rivers Road about 2.5 miles. The Coghlan/Fall Ranch is visible to the south. Continue another 4.5 miles up the road until you come to a fork. The ruins of Susan Barbers rock ranch house is to the left. Stop and see the petroglyphs on your way back to the highway

Susan McSween Barber
From Three Rivers continue northward about 30 miles to County Road 349. It is about 3.5 miles past Carrizozo where the cherry cider is from. Turn right on the county road and follow it about 15 miles to White Oaks. You will get to the cemetery before you get to town.

J.W. BELL
Another notable citizen in White Oaks Cemetery.