Hysterical Journey To Historic Places

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ALBERT JENNINGS FOUNTAIN



Wherever there was an opportunity for graft in the Territory of New Mexico its civil authorities would soon pounce on it. They proudly called themselves the Santa Fe Ring and were the most corrupt group of men ever assembled. Corruption lead to lawlessness throughout the territory and events like the bloody Colfax County War and the Lincoln County War resulted. In opposition to them stood a few good men like Albert Jennings Fountain. He was born in 1838 on Staten Island and as a young man made his way to San Francisco where he became a lawyer and journalist. In 1860 he accompanied the William Walker Filibuster to Nicaragua as a correspondent for the Sacramento Union. Walker did not care for the tone of his writing and had him arrested and sentenced to death. Luckily Fountain escaped and made his way back to San Francisco. When the Civil War broke out he joined up with Company E, First California Infantry Regiment and was elected first sergeant. They all marched off to New Mexico with Col Carleton’s brigade to counter the rebel invasion. Company E was the lead element of the advance that fought Cochise at Apache Pass for possession of the precious water there. As the war rolled merrily along he was promoted to lieutenant, married a Mexican girl in Mesilla and started raising a family. He was honorably discharged in 1864 and immediately joined the First New Mexico Militia and returned to fighting Apaches. He got discharged again in 1865 after suffering near fatal wounds in an ambush and moved to El Paso where he worked for the government commission that disposed of former Confederate property. He was customs collector and an internal revenue agent, and won a seat as a Republican in the Texas State Senate where he pushed through a bill that reestablished the Texas Rangers. Texas Democrats figured him for a carpet bagger and a few of them challenged him to a duel and he had to kill one of them. In 1873 he moved back to Mesilla, opened a law office, became a probate judge, assistant prosecutor, and started a newspaper that was published in both English and Spanish. Albert Bacon Fall, up in Las Cruces, became a bitter personal and political rival. When Billy the Kid came to trial in Mesilla on charges of murder in the killing of Sheriff Brady Fountain was his defense attorney and Fall was the prosecutor. Fall won conviction but the trial wasn’t really about Billy the Kid’s guilt. It was about defeating Fountain. In 1888 Fountain defeated Fall in a run for the Territorial Legislature. Fall won the seat in the next election. The two men continued to publicly throw body punches at each other whenever they could. Fountain won the election for District Attorney and began his term in 1896 with a trip to Lincoln County to gather evidence on charges of cattle rustling against Oliver Lee. Lee was a Democrat and a supporter of Fall. As Fall and his 8 year old son Henry were returning from Lincoln with the warrants on Feb 1 they both mysteriously disappeared in the Chalk Hills near Oliver Lee’s ranch. The abandoned wagon was found and blood evidence pointed to murder. News of the murder of an 8 year old child had a sensational impact. The retired sheriff, Pat Garrett, was called upon to lead the investigation and it quickly led to Oliver Lee because of the warrants and the proximity to his ranch. Lee and a couple of his associates were charged with the murders, and defended by Fall after a change of venue to Hillsboro, but acquitted due to lack of evidence since no bodies were ever found. The Fountain disappearance has never been solved. Lee went on to become a valued member of his community. His ranch, south of Alamogordo, has become a State Park. Albert Fall eventually became Secretary of the Interior in the Harding Administration and got himself implicated in the Teapot Dome Scandal. He was convicted of illegally selling oil reserves and is the only Cabinet official to ever be sentenced to prison. He took sick and died before he got locked up though. Fall figured he was above the law and was ruthless enough to have planned the demise of Fountain, and probably did, but Fountain had successfully made many enemies. The photo shows the site in the Chalk Hills where Albert and Henry disappeared.

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Photos

ALBERT JENNINGS FOUNTAIN
Go southest from Alamogordo about 11.5 miles on Hwy 70 towards White Sands. Just past Hollomom Air Base turn south on road 260 forabout 7 miles to the Chalk Hills. Fountains wagon was found about a quarter mile south of the road through the pass on the west of the Chalk Hills.