Nicholas Galles and the 1885 “Geronimo Campaign”

Mark B. Thompson, III

Almost ten years before his death, the Santa Fe New Mexican ran a front page article about Nicholas Galles on June 21, 1902, with the banner “Men of the Hour in New Mexico.”  The article contained a long paragraph detailing his “five years” as a captain in the New Mexico Territorial Militia, the predecessor of the New Mexico National Guard, during the “Indian Troubles.” Surprisingly, the article did not mention his work in the 1885 campaign, probably the best documented of any of the Galles military experiences. Perhaps not surprisingly, this neglect of the 1885 events, not to mention the several other “errors and omissions,” were carried over into numerous obituaries after his death on December 5, 1911. Had Galles decided that “1885” was “no big deal?”  

N. Galles obit, 1911

On June 5, 1885, Galles wrote a letter* to New Mexico Territorial Governor, Edmund G. Ross, a former U.S. Senator from Kansas, later included in John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage for his part in the trial of Andrew Johnson for impeachment. This letter, accompanied by a petition signed by 36 willing volunteers, sought creation of a militia cavalry company for the Hillsboro area.  They did not get a cavalry appointment, but on June 10, 1885, Galles took the oath of office as a captain of Company G of the 1^st Infantry.  (I wonder if they nevertheless rode horses?) The muster roll for Company G shows that 40 men in addition to Galles were enrolled, including the once and future Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court, Frank W. Parker, as well as the soon to be convicted felon, Julian L. (“Junee”?) Fuller. The four documents referred to can be found in the New Mexico Territorial Archives, together with a report from Galles which accompanied the eventual request for payment.  

What prompted the June letter and what was the role of Company G in the 1885 campaign? Fortunately the original of the report was later read and “relied upon” in Washington, but the microfilm version is almost illegible. I believe we must turn to the historians, something we needed to do any way, to get the basic “facts.”  The writers on the Chiricahua Apache “wars” are legion, and I have relied primarily on one recent publication: Edwin R. Sweeney, From Cochise to Geronimo: The Chiricahua Apaches, 1874-1886 (Norman: U. of Okla. Press, 2010).  Sweeney does cite his sources in detail and each paragraph of his 580-page book is so crammed with facts that you almost have to outline each paragraph in order to have some confidence that you know what you just read. If not the last word on the subject, it certainly seemed like a good place to start.

Sweeney tells the 1885 story partly through the eyes of General George Crook of the U.S. Army. Sweeney, (p. 430), describes how on May 28, 1885, Crook left Prescott, Arizona to establish his field headquarters at Ft. Bayard, southeast of Silver City and west of Hillsboro, not knowing that Geronimo (and Chief Mangas) had left New Mexico for Mexico. Although the Galles letter to Gov. Ross is vague and general about the looming threat, it seems reasonable to assume that the prospective volunteers in Hillsboro were probably aware of Crook’s concerns and that Hillsboro might need to be defended. In fact, as described in detail by Sweeney, the focus of the story shifts to Mexico during the summer of 1885, but about September 5, 1885, it was determined that Geronimo was headed back into New Mexico (Sweeney p. 460).

At that point it was assumed that the Chiricahuas were probably headed to Ojo Caliente, north of Hillsboro, and the home of the Chihenne band before they were removed to the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona. The first sighting was apparently in the Cooke’s range, the southern part of the Mimbres Mountains, about September 9, 1885. At that point neither U.S. troops nor militia were following Geronimo (Sweeney p. 462).  On September 11, 1885, Geronimo’s men showed they were in fact traveling north when they attacked in several places, killing Brady Pollock near today's Pollock Canyon west of Lake Valley, then heading down Gavilan Canyon into the Mimbres drainage killing Martin McKinn and kidnapping his brother Santiago "Jimmy" McKinn. Geronimo then attacked further north in Gallinas Canyon, southeast of San Lorenzo.  (Today you can roughly follow this path, and the Mimbres River, by traveling north on State Highway 61.)  Finally, at least by September 12, 1885, the U.S. Cavalry from Ft. Bayard, militia from Hillsboro, and a small party of ranchers were in pursuit (Sweeney p. 464). Sweeney does not identify anyone in the militia from Hillsboro.

Sweeney says that Geronimo and his men spent the night of September 12, 1885, “near the confluence of Sapillo Creek and the Mimbres” (p. 464).  Given the route Geronimo was taking toward the northwest, Sweeney could have meant either the confluence of Sapillo Creek and the Gila, or another creek on the Mimbres. Sapillo Creek is on the Pacific side of the Continental Divide and drains to the Gila. In any event, Geronimo now realized that he needed to put some distance between himself  and the pursuers and by the evening of September 13, 1885, he had arrived at the Black Canyon, about eight miles southeast of the Gila Hot Springs. On Monday, September 14, 1885, the Apaches had reached the junction of Little Creek and the West Fork of the Gila.  According to Sweeney, the army and militia at that point gave up the chase (p. 464).

Geronimo and his men made it to Arizona by September 19, 1885, but by September 27 they were back in New Mexico, killing a merchant, A.L. Sabourne, at Cactus Flat, about five miles northwest of Buckhorn. (Today U.S. 180 runs through Buckhorn.) Apparently they camped in that area for about a week and Sweeney relates that “Geronimo’s party left for Mexico about October 6, 1885” (p. 471).  As we shall see, the period between the September 27 and October 6 is important for the Galles story, but Sweeney does not give any indication that Geronimo had moved east toward Hillsboro from Buckhorn during this period.   

Perhaps because Congress passed another pension provision for veterans (and widows) of the “Indian Wars” on March 4, 1917, the widow of Nicholas Galles, Harriett Stocker Galles, filed an application for a widow’s pension on January 12, 1918.  The application said that Galles had served in the territorial militia “in 1885 and perhaps 1886.”  This application was rejected on March 5, 1919, on the grounds that the “muster rolls in the State Archives fails to show the period of service.”  The records in Santa Fe were eventually found and apparently a request for “reconsideration” was filed with the federal authorities. A preliminary decision was made on August 29, 1923, indicating that the service was “pensionable if period of 30 days is shown.”  By November 13, 1923, it was determined that the period of service was only eight days, from September 30, 1885, through October 7, 1885, and a final decision rejecting the application was issued on  August 26, 1924. Harriett Galles filed yet another application in June of 1927, but it does not recite any additional facts.

Harriet Stocker Galles

The dates of September 30 through October 7 are consistent with a return of  Geronimo to New Mexico on September 27 and his leaving for Mexico on October 6. It would make sense that the militia was “activated” on the September 30 because of the possibility of Geronimo moving toward Hillsboro, but, as we know (or believe), he stayed to the southwest of Hillsboro and then soon moved on to Mexico. What about the period of September 12, 1885 and September 14, 1885, when the militia had joined in pursuit of Geronimo up the Mimbres, etc?  Was the militia, referred to by Sweeney, in fact Company G headed by Galles? As a matter of law, adding three or four days to the eight used for the pension application would have made no difference on the pension decision—it was still short of the required 30 days of service.

Even if the record had shown two-plus weeks of “active duty” during the 1885 campaign, Galles may have concluded that it was nothing to “brag about.” Sitting around and a few days chase on horseback obviously resulted in no encounter with Geronimo. Given the inclination of politicians to trumpet their “Indian Fighter” status, the absence of any mention of 1885 in the 1902 Santa Fe New Mexican article should give us pause.  I have not confirmed that Galles served five full years as a captain in the militia during the period 1877-1882, as alleged in the 1902 article. There is, however, evidence of his participation in encounters with the Chiricahuas in 1879 and 1881, both of which, with mistakes, etc., are recited in the 1902 article and the subsequent obituaries. Geronimo was, and still is, the big name in this genre, but Galles may have decided it was better not to embellish his limited involvement in the 1885 encounters.

*You can read the referenced 1885 letter to Ross is the book, Around Hillsboro.

This is Pinteresting -- Union Church and the NM History Museum

Perhaps next to the Sierra County Courthouse ruin, the Union Church is probably Hillsboro's most recognizable architectural landmark.  Its steeple is certainly the tallest manmade object in town.

The New Mexico History Museum, an active participant in Pinterest, recently posted this image on that web site. If you visit Pintrest, type "Kingston" in the search box, too.

Union Church, built 1892, on Elenora St. Hillsboro NM.
Palace of the Governors Photo Archives 067561.

It was taken by David Sullenberger in 1976.  While for some readers, that recent of a year may not seem long enough ago to be "historic," the image arguably offers a look of how the building appeared then, compared to now --- and there's not much difference.  And one can argue that that's a good thing for this grand brick building nestled high on Elenora Street.

The property was once owned by Justice Frank W. Parker. Perhaps we'll have a history of the Union Church some day soon. The Hillsboro Historical Society possesses historic deeds and organizational papers of the church, thanks the Rev. Russ Bowen, a current pastor.

If you hanker for something really historic, then you will appreciate this image from inside the Union Church.  Here again, doesn't look much different than it does now.  If you know who this preacher is, do let us know via the comments section found below each posting, or email me.  -- Craig Springer

Inside the Union Church in Hillsboro, New Mexico. These chairs are still used every Sunday for two services.  The clergy's name and photo date are unknown. Black Range Museum

So, what did Abner Tibbetts do for Hillsboro -- and New Mexico?

By Mark B. Thompson III

Even if you are a dedicated Hillsboro “history buff” you are probably saying to yourself, “never heard of him.”  But there they are, Abner Tibbetts and his wife Marian, in the 1880 census living in “Hillsborough” with Abner described as a “general merchant.”   

Still rings no bells?  The census taker, the lawyer Edward E. Furman, includes them in what looks like a boarding house given the number of persons, 29, including Furman himself, listed under one address. On the other hand, 29 people would require a pretty big house and none are listed as boarders or with some “relationship” to the first name at the address, George Perrault.  One other clue—also listed is Nicholas Galles, a partner of Perrault, and, like Tibbetts, a onetime resident of Minnesota.  Were they all living under one roof, and what was Abner Tibbetts doing in Hillsboro in June of 1880?

Abner Tibbetts, front-center, had an influence on Hillsboro history. El Paso Public Library Otis A. Aultman Collection

As befitting someone who just shows up in the 1880 census in Hillsboro, little appears to be known about the early life of Abner Tibbetts. I believe that he was born about 1823 in Penobscot County Maine, the son of Joseph and Sarah (Crane) Tibbetts and that he is found in their household in the 1850 census. He married Marian Lewis in Racine Wisconsin on March 31, 1852, and then moves further west to Wabasha County Minnesota in 1855. The 1857 Minnesota census does not list his occupation but the 1860 federal census for Wabasha County describes him as a “farmer.” During this time he apparently participates in the founding of Lake City in Wabasha County and The History of Wabasha County contains a rather vague description of his “political activities.”(1) In one way or another, it is through his political connections and activities that we can construct a biography of Tibbetts, revealing his relevance to Hillsboro history.

Coincidently with Tibbetts locating in Wabasha County, two Republican politicians settle in adjoining counties, Goodhue to the north and Winona to the south. In 1855, lawyers Warren Bristol and William Windom moved to Red Wing, Goodhue County and Winona, Winona County, respectively. Bristol had moved from Hennepin County (Minneapolis) and Windom from Ohio, and both had practiced law before moving to southeastern Minnesota. Bristol had served as a district attorney in Hennepin County and had been prominent in the founding of the Republican Party in Minnesota in 1854.(2) Red Wing is just up the road from Lake City and, if Tibbetts was inclined to Republican Party politics, he undoubtedly met Bristol “early on.” It is an association with Windom, however, which probably explains how Tibbetts obtained his first presidential judiciary appointment.(3) Windom, at age 31, was elected a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1858, a position he would hold for ten years. Undoubtedly at Windom’s suggestion, President Abraham Lincoln nominated Tibbetts to be the Register of Public Lands for the General Land Office at St. Peter, Minnesota and he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 27, 1861.

Nicholas Galles and George Perrault kept shop on Hillsboro's Main Street. Black Range Museum.

Tibbetts resigned his position in St. Peter on April 15, 1865, and was back in Lake City in time for the Minnesota census in June of that year.  Other than “farming,” we know little of his activity back in Wabasha County but on April 5, 1869, his nomination by President U.S. Grant to be Register of Public Lands, again at St. Peter, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate. During this tenure, the office was moved slightly further west to New Ulm in Brown County Minnesota. 

In the 1870 census, Abner and Marian, with daughter Jennie May, can be found just six houses from the William Galles family, including twelve year old Nicholas Galles. Therein lies a significant link to Hillsboro history. As we know, Abner and Marian will be even closer to Nick Galles in 1880 in Hillsboro, but first we need to consider some relevant connections of Tibbetts to New Mexico before 1880.

Perrault (l) and Galles inside their Hillsboro mercantile. Black Range Museum

A Register of Public Lands was appointed to a four-year term and served at the pleasure of the President. Tibbetts' second term would have ended in April of 1873.(4) In August of 1874, his daughter, Jennie May, married William Gregory Walz in Wabasha County, the Tibbetts home before the move to New Ulm. Walz was from Mankato, Minnesota, a town roughly half-way between Lake City and New Ulm. In the 1875 Minnesota census, Jennie and William, together with their son Harry born in April, are living with William’s parents in Mankato. Also listed at that address are Jennie’s parents, Abner and Marian Tibbetts. This may have given them a “base of operations,” but at least Abner appears to be “on the road.” His travels, in addition to his daughter’s marriage into the Walz family, are what may interest New Mexicans.

The April 4, 1875 edition of the Mesilla News related that the “Hon. A. Tibbetts and N. Galles from Lake City, Minnesota arrived in Mesilla in good health and spirits, and have decided to make their future home with us.”(5) In a letter from Mesilla dated March 23, 1875, Tibbetts wrote his son-in-law about his impressions of New Mexico. He did not mention Galles, but he did have some good news about Warren Bristol who had been in New Mexico as a territorial judge for three years.(6) We know that Nicholas Galles did stay in New Mexico, living first in Socorro, then Mesilla and eventually taking part in the founding of Hillsboro in northern Doña Ana County, but it is not clear that Tibbetts stayed at that time. We may surmise, however, that his mostly positive reports about New Mexico influenced the Walz family of Mankato, Minnesota, especially William’s younger siblings, Julia A. and Edgar A. Walz..

It is probably not surprising that most of what we know about Julia Walz is from a chapter devoted to her in a biography of her husband, Thomas B. Catron, perhaps the most powerful man in New Mexico from about 1870 to 1915. Supposedly Tom Catron met the then 18-year-old Julia Walz in Mesilla, New Mexico where she was teaching school in 1875.(7)

Mesilla in 1875? What a coincidence! Catron, originally from Missouri, had lived in Mesilla until 1869 when he was appointed Attorney General by the governor and had moved to Santa Fe. He was serving as the U.S. Attorney in 1875 and undoubtedly had business in Mesilla. According to the story, Julia returned to the Midwest to attend college but on April 28, 1877, she and Tom Catron were married in Mankato, Minnesota.

Edgar A. Walz, often referred to as “E.A.,” had just turned 18 on March 3, 1877, but, according to his memoir, he had left home in 1873 and worked for the Chicago & North West Ry. in St. Paul, Minnesota. Unfortunately, he does not describe how either he or sister Julia became interested in New Mexico.(8) He played a minor, if well-documented, role in the Lincoln County War, 1878-79, as the representative of his brother-in-law Tom Catron, who was a financial backer of the Dolan/Riley/Murphy faction.(9) After their marriage in 1880 in Mankato, Edgar brought his new bride, Louella, to New Mexico and their two children were born there, but Edgar mostly lived out his life in California. He clearly was a “jack of all trades,” and is credited with creating a company to help innkeepers deal with “deadbeats.” His company, originally the National Debtor Record Company, exists today as the Gelco Expense Management Company with headquarters in Minnesota.

Unfortunately, the end of the 1870s also came with significant disruption for the older brother, William Walz. He and Jennie May (Tibbetts) had their second child, also named Jennie, on February 27, 1877,  but then, on December 13, 1879, Jennie May (Tibbetts) Walz died in Mankato. Although I failed to determine whether his mother and father divorced or if his father had died, I found William’s children, Harry and Jennie, living with William’s mother in New Haven, Connecticut in 1880. Madeline Walz is listed in the 1880 census as “single,” not widowed or divorced. I have been unable to determine the location of William in 1880; he was not with his in-laws in Hillsboro, but that will change shortly.

In March of 1869, William Windom was appointed to fill an unexpired term in the U.S. Senate and he then was chosen by the Minnesota legislature to a full term in 1871. He was re-elected in 1877 and then, with the inauguration of President Garfield in March of 1881, he resigned his Senate seat and was confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury. The Treasury Department was responsible for the collection of customs at the U.S. borders and, of course, Windom’s good friend Abner Tibbetts was immediately nominated by President Garfield to be a Collector of Customs at El Paso, Texas. Tibbetts' nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 19, 1881, and thus ended his sojourn in Hillsboro, New Mexico. At some point during his time in El Paso, he followed what appears to be a fairly common practice in the West and gave himself a military title.(11) Tibbetts became “Colonel Tibbetts” and, as the circa 1883 photo of Tibbetts with several lawmen in El Paso shows, he looked like he had been “cast” for the part.

Having hitched his wagon to the Windom star, it was not surprising that Tibbetts would be affected by that star’s changing orbit. Windom only served as Treasury Secretary until November of 1881,(12) leaving to once again represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate. Windom shortly lost favor with the Minnesota politicians and was out of the Senate in 1883. He moved to New York City to practice law but also became involved in the railroad business.  Receiving an offer from Windom he could not refuse, Tibbetts, on February 21, 1884, submitted his resignation as Collector of Customs to take a position with the El Paso, St. Louis & Chicago R.R.Co.(13) The railroad company was involved in a major project which would link central Mexico to Topolavampo on the Pacific coast. On April 25, 1886, Tibbetts, now president of the railroad company, died of a heart attack while traveling with Senator Windom on a train near Fresnillo, Mexico.(14)

End of story? Of course not, at least not if you are interested in the legacy of Abner Tibbetts. His son-in-law, William Gregory Walz, followed Tibbetts to El Paso and worked for him in the customs office. William lived out his life in El Paso, remarrying and having several more children, who were joined at some point by their half-brother Harry Walz. William Walz died on July 5, 1913, and is buried in the Evergreen Alameda Cemetery in El Paso. Harry Walz, perhaps influenced by his uncle, Edgar A. Walz, ended up in California where he died on January 8, 1947, and is buried in the Los Angeles National Cemetery. Harry’s sister, Jennie, was in effect “adopted” by her aunt, Julia (Walz) Catron, and lived much of her early life in Santa Fe. Julia Catron died on November 8, 1909, in Santa Fe and Jennie (Walz) Turner died in San Bernadino, California on July 18, 1969.

So what is the answer to the question posed in the title? Perhaps the reader might say the answer is “nothing.” On some level it is hard to quibble with that answer, but a more nuanced answer might be justified. We know that Tibbetts brought Nicholas Galles to New Mexico in 1875 and Nicholas Galles made a decent contribution to the territory, including Hillsboro, before his death in 1911. It may not even rise to the level of a good hypothesis, but I strongly suspect that Tibbetts played a role in introducing Julia Walz to New Mexico and Thomas B. Catron. Catron served the prosecution in the infamous trial of Oliver Lee and Jim Gilliland in Hillsboro in 1899. As her page one obituary in The Santa Fe New Mexican, November 8, 1909, suggests, Julia Walz Catron made a significant contribution during her 32 years in that city. Julia is buried in the Catron mausoleum in the Fairview Cemetery on Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe.  

Sources

¹ History of Wabasha County (1884), p. 1291.
² See my essay on Warren Bristol on the website of the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library,

http://www.leg.state.mn.us/legdb/fulldetail.aspx?ID=11430

³ After Tibbetts’ death, it was widely reported that Windom had been a “student” of Tibbetts in Minnesota.  I question that story for two reasons.  First, they lived in different counties.  Secondly, Windom, according to his Congressional biography, had been admitted to the bar and commenced his legal career in Mount Vernon, Ohio in 1850.  It seems unlikely that he would have attended secondary school upon his move to Minnesota five years later. 
⁴ We do know that Tibbetts was still in New Ulm in 1872 because he wrote at least one letter calling attention to the difficulties arising from the natural disasters occurring in southwestern Minnesota.  See Gilbert C. Fite, ed., “Some Farmers’ Accounts of Hardship on the Frontier,” Minnesota History (Vol. 37, March 1961), p. 207.
⁵ This quote is from a “secondary source” but the essence of the story was “corroborated” by an article in a Minnesota newspaper six years later.  “Mr. Nicholas Galles went to New Mexico several years ago with Hon. Abner Tibbetts . . . .” (untitled) The New Ulm Review (Wed. Sept. 7, 1861), p. 3. I suppose Tibbetts might have become a Justice of the Peace or it is possible that he began referring to himself as a judge because of his duties at the land office.     
⁶ William Walz apparently made the letter available to a Mankato, Minnesota newspaper and it was then reprinted by a Lake City newspaper.  “New Mexico  As Seen By A Minnesotlan” (sic), The Lake City Leader (Thursday, May 13, 1875), p. 5.
⁷ Victor Westphall, Thomas Benton Catron and his era (Tucson: U. of Ariz. Press, 1973), p. 135.
⁸ Walz’s typewritten “Retrospection,” written in 1931, is in a “vertical file” at the Fray Angelico Chavez Library in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
⁹ See e.g., Robert M. Utley, High Noon In Lincoln: Violence of the Western Frontier (Albuquerque: U. of New Mexico Press, 1987), pp.28, 72, 131-136.
¹⁰ “New Ulm and Vicinity,” The New Ulm Review (Wed. Dec. 24, 1879), p. 3. 
¹¹ I have written about two other New Mexico politicians who gave themselves a military title, William Henry  Harrison Llewellyn and Lafayette Head.  I never found any evidence that either was commissioned a “major” as they claimed.  Llewellyn long after introducing himself as “Major Llewellyn” to the residents of Doña Ana County, was commissioned a Captain of a “Rough Rider” company in the Spanish-American War of 1898. He also at one time held the position of Judge Advocate General of the New Mexico Militia (National Guard) which carried the rank of Colonel.  Head, a private in the Missouri Volunteers when he mustered out in Santa Fe in 1847, was elected to the territorial senate (council) from Conejos in Taos County.  That part of Taos County became part of Colorado in 1861 and Head was elected as the first Lt. Governor of the State of Colorado in 1876.
¹² Windom would, however, return to the Treasury under President Benjamin Harrison in 1889.
¹³ “El Paso. Resignation of Col. Tibbetts—Washout and Delay of Trains,” The Fort Worth Gazette (Friday, Feb. 22, 1884), p. 2.
¹⁴ “A Noted Minnesotan,”  The St. Paul Daily Globe  (Monday, May 3, 1886), p. 4;  (untitled) The New Ulm Weekly Review (Wed. May 5, 1886), p. 5.

Judge Frank Wilson Parker: Frontier Lawyer, Political Warrior

By Mark Thompson

In May of 1885, thirty-six residents of the Hillsboro area in Sierra County petitioned the territorial governor and the adjutant general seeking the creation of a volunteer militia to fight an insurgency in their backyard, the threat of the Apaches led by Geronimo. The petition resulted in the establishment of Company G captained by one of the petitioners, Nicholas Galles. Among the petitioners receiving a noncommissioned officer position was a twenty-four year old lawyer from Michigan, F. W. Parker. Company G saw limited service, September 30 through October 7, 1885, and, unlike politicians who regularly touted their experience as "Indian fighter," Parker apparently downplayed the importance of the campaign. Frank Wilson Parker, however, went on to make his mark in New Mexico legal history, proving to be a courageous participant in the political wars.

F. W. Parker was born October 16, 1860, on a farm in Sturgis Township, St. Joseph County, located near Kalamazoo, Michigan and also bordering the State of Indiana on the south.  His grandfather, John Parker, and grandmother, Elizabeth (Leiser) Parker, were born in Pennsylvania but had moved to Michigan from New York shortly after the birth in 1829 of Frank’s father, James Wilson Parker. Frank’s mother was Maria Antoinette Thompson of Sturgis, Michigan who at age 15 was living in the John Parker household, indicating, perhaps, the early death of her parents. 

The biographical sketches, including remarks printed in the New Mexico Law Reports, indicate that Parker attended school in the town of Sturgis and at age eighteen entered the University of Michigan. One biographical sketch indicates that he took “a limited course in the ‘Academic Department,’” and another has him graduating from the “Ann Harbor” Law School. Although Parker is not mentioned in a compilation of graduates and ex-students of the University of Michigan Law School serving in the judiciary in the United States, the official school website includes Parker in the class of 1880.

The University of Michigan Law School, probably the premier public law school in the United States, was established in 1859, at a time when it was rare for lawyers to have any academic training in the law. In 1878, the only two requirements for admission to the Law Department were proof that the applicant had reached age eighteen and was of good moral character. Graduation with an LL.B. required only completion of the full two-year course and passing an “approved” examination, including a dissertation. I did not find the exact date for Parker’s completion of studies, or for his admission to the Michigan Bar, but in the federal census for July 1880, he is shown with the occupation “lawyer.”    

Possibly at the suggestion of a friend, in October of 1881, Parker moved from Michigan to Socorro, New Mexico. The next month, now 21 years of age, he was admitted to the Bar by the Second District Territorial Judge, Samuel C. Parks. With two years of academic study of the law and a year of practice in Michigan, Parker should have had no trouble gaining admission to the practice of law under the standard prevailing at the time. One fanciful biographical sketch says he was examined by a committee of the bar, but even if Judge Parks had some help in the process, Parker only needed to convince the judge that he knew enough law to be granted his license. In 1881, admission by one of the territorial judges was sufficient for all purposes. New Mexico did not limit the power of the individual judge and had no uniform standards for admission until 1909.

Sierra County Courthouse as seen from atop the George T. Miller home. Frank Parker practiced law here, and presided over the trial of Oliver Lee and Jim Gililland for the murder of 8-year-old Henry Fountain. Photo George T. Miller Collection Black Range Museum

Shortly after admission to the bar, Parker moved his practice to La Mesilla, and, with an intermediate stop in the emerging town of Kingston in 1882, by 1883 he had taken up residence in Hillsboro, where he practiced law for the next fourteen years. In addition to his brief stint in the territorial militia, he participated in Republican Party politics and he served a two-year term as Sierra County school superintendent, an elected position. By 1897, U.S. Presidents, in the absence of overriding political needs, were willing to appoint "local" lawyers to the territorial bench, and President McKinley picked Parker to succeed Judge Gideon Bantz on the Territorial Supreme Court and as judge for the Third District, with headquarters in Las Cruces.   

Territorial judges appointed by the President served as trial judges in their individual districts and as appellate judges sitting as the territorial supreme court. Although they were “federal judges” in that they were appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, they did not have lifetime tenure, i.e. they were not “Article Three Judges” under the U.S. Constitution. With a four-year appointment prescribed by the act creating the territory, they were characterized as “legislative” judges. Obviously politics played a large part in their appointment and reappointment, and some historians claim that they served at the “will of the President.” I have argued elsewhere that the Congress intended that judges have more independence than territorial executive branch officers appointed by the President, and consequently could not be removed on a whim except during the existence of a separate federal law, the so-called “Tenure of Office Act.”

Even if they had some tenuous hold on their seat, the judges were products of the political system and "political" lawsuits, including criminal prosecutions, were probably more common than we would like to think. To have the confidence of the parties and lawyers and to be considered honest and fair was no small task for a trial judge.  Perhaps overlooked, at least by those of us far removed from the fray, was the need for the personal courage required to administer justice under the circumstances. Just two months after assuming the bench on January 10, 1898, Frank Parker would be tested by involvement in what certainly would be considered one of the most "political" criminal cases in New Mexico history.  

On February 1, 1896, the prominent lawyer and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Albert J. Fountain, disappeared with his young son Henry somewhere between Lincoln and their home in La Mesilla and were presumed dead. Finally, in a long anticipated move, Sheriff Pat Garrett of Dona Ana County, on April 3, 1898, asked Judge Parker to issue arrest warrants for Oliver Lee, Jim Gililland and William McNew. Although the judge granted the application, it would be another thirteen months before he could get the case to trial. I have no intention of “retrying” the murder case, which would be something like “carrying History to Hillsboro,” but it would be interesting to see the case from the viewpoint of a new judge, something we are unfortunately prevented from doing in the absence of a memoir by a long retired judge.

Lawyer, and later Justice Frank W. Parker, walked through this east arch of the Sierra County Courthouse, this image taken in 2010. Photo Craig Springer

First, there is an apocryphal story that every new judge is warned that in a criminal case he should never sustain the prosecution objection to evidence tendered by the defense and, to the extent possible, always sustain the objections of the defense. The reason is simple—the judge does not want to give the defense grounds for overturning a conviction on appeal. Without even knowing Parker’s motivation, it is possible to answer the criticism that he acquiesced in all of the “demands” of the defense by just applying the apocryphal rule.

Secondly, the politics of the case was extreme. Even after Parker issued the warrants in April 1898, the political maneuvering continued apace, including the formation of Otero County to deprive Dona Ana County Sheriff Pat Garrett of jurisdiction. After the new county was created effective January 30, 1899, Oliver Lee surrendered in March 1899 to George Curry, a future governor and the newly appointed sheriff for Otero County. Parker was able to set the case for trial in May, after first granting a defense motion for a change of venue from Otero County to Hillsboro in Sierra County.

The fight on several levels, including in the legislature, was between Albert B. Fall of Las Cruces and Thomas B. Catron of Santa Fe, the men who would eventually be selected as the first U.S. Senators for the State of New Mexico. Fall represented Lee and Gililland, Catron was a special prosecutor aiding the district attorney, Richmond P. Barnes. It seems likely that Judge Parker knew most of what was “at stake” politically, but did he himself orchestrate the result?  Fall even accused him in closing arguments of being a part of the conspiracy to convict Oliver Lee, probably pure political theatre rather than a serious claim by the defense. At least the residents of Hillsboro and the spectators at the trial made it clear where they stood—upon the announcement of “not guilty,” “[t]he people cheered.”

Having been twice reappointed to the territorial bench, Parker in 1909 then presided over what many view as the sequel to the Lee/Gililland trial, the prosecution in Las Cruces of Wayne Brazel for the murder of Pat Garrett. Garrett had been killed in March of 1908 and Brazel had immediately "confessed" with a claim of self-defense to Dona Ana County Sheriff, Felipe Lucero. The case came on for trial on April 19, 1909, and was over with a “not guilty” verdict in one day. No cheering by the spectators this time, but several citizens found it necessary, in a letter to the Rio Grande Republican, to defend the result and Judge Parker, perhaps against a charge of local bias favoring the defendant: “The presiding judge of this court, while a resident of New Mexico, is an appointee of the president of the United States, is a federal judge and has held such position for several years.” Albert B. Fall had again served as defense counsel, with former district attorney Herbert B. Holt taking the defense lead at trial. The later public relations campaign, although including Governor Curry and several prominent citizens, appears to be clearly instigated by Fall.    

By defending Judge Parker, Fall may have sought to avoid the issue historians have considered more important, the quality of the prosecution. Unlike in the Lee/Gilliland case, the prosecution this time had no big name lawyers, although Attorney General James Hervey may have suggested that the A.G.’s office handle the case. Instead, the prosecution was conducted by twenty-seven year old Mark B. Thompson, admitted to the bar in January 1906 and appointed district attorney by Governor Hagerman in March of 1907.  But to claim youth and inexperience as an excuse for a prosecution conducted, according to some historians, with “appalling indifference and incompetence,” would be disingenuous. Governor Curry in his letter to A.B. Fall suggested that the Attorney General had said the evidence did not warrant conviction but that “the district attorney thought it best to let the case go before a jury . . . .” Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but probably the best the prosecutor was going to get. Thompson would eventually become Fall's personal attorney and work for Fall in the Teapot Dome Scandal.

The Las Cruces years were good to Judge Parker, including a second marriage, this time to Anna Davis of Iowa in 1904. The union  produced one child, Frank W. Jr., born in 1907. In 1910, he was a successful candidate for delegate from Dona Ana County to the Constitutional Convention, joining fellow Judge Clarence J. Roberts of Colfax County as one of the powerhouse lawyers at the convention. Parker, as chairman of the Judiciary Department Committee, is generally credited with achieving the agenda of the conservative, “railroad lawyers” in making sure that the first New Mexico Constitution had an elected judiciary. Parker then obtained the Republican nomination for one of the three Supreme Court positions and was elected to the initial court at the special election in 1911. Following the final act granting statehood, the signature of President Taft on January 6, 1912, Frank W. Parker began a twenty-year career on the New Mexico Supreme Court.

An appellate judge may be one step removed from the political cases, but Justice Parker could not avoid involvement in the fascinating political controversy between a district judge and an Albuquerque newspaper editor. Carl C. Magee as editor of the decidedly Republican Albuquerque Journal decided to take on the party establishment and in 1921 lost his control of the Journal but was able to continue his attacks as editor of the New Mexico State Tribune. Much of his ire was directed at the judiciary, especially Judge David Leahy of Las Vegas, but Judge Leahy saw an opening for revenge when Magee made a comparatively mild criticism of Chief Justice Frank Parker, suggesting that Parker had failed to see anything wrong in the way the clerk of the Supreme Court was handling court money. Judge Leahy charged Magee with criminal libel and of course obtained a guilty verdict from a Las Vegas jury.  That was followed by an attempt to disbar Magee’s attorney, former Supreme Court Justice Richard Hanna. Both of these cases resulted in Supreme Court action, first, affirming Governor Hinkle’s pardon of Magee and, second, resulting in a slap on the wrist for Hanna.    

Judge Leahy could not let go and in 1924 he convicted Magee of direct criminal contempt of court, i.e. contempt of Leahy himself. Magee was again pardoned by the governor, but the sheriff refused to release Magee resulting in a habeas corpus “original proceeding” in the Supreme Court. Having recused himself from sitting on the first two cases, Parker wrote the opinion in the habeas corpus action, holding that the governor’s constitutional pardon power extended to those guilty of direct criminal contempt. “Judges are human,” wrote Parker, and the governor’s pardon is “a reasonable check upon the exercise of a one-man power…which often must be exercised under the stress and sting of personal insult, sometimes depriving the judge of the ability to act wisely and judicially in such matters.”  

In what could be unprecedented, on January 11, 1928, the New Mexico Supreme Court paused to eulogize its still sitting Chief Justice on the thirtieth anniversary of his first appointment. Lawyer and State Senator, Herbert B. Holt, a long time friend, and once a court reporter for Parker, was recognized and no doubt "pleased the court" by his remarks. Judge Parker had many more years to contribute to New Mexico law and, upon his death, the court devoted even more space in the New Mexico Reports to honor him and his work on the court. Frank W. Parker died in Santa Fe on August 3, 1932, and was buried in the Fairview Cemetery on Cerrillos Road. Justice Parker was memorialized in the halls of the Supreme Court.

The Bureau of Public Health official certificate states that the cause of death was "cirrhosis of liver," but, as if anticipating the "objection of counsel," the physician added a question mark on next line! 

Mark Thompson, a former member of the New Mexico Bar, lives in Centennial Colorado.  He is the great grandson of Nicholas Galles and the grandson of Mark B. Thompson.