New Mexico's Elfego Baca (1865-1945) earned a place in Southwestern legend in 1884 as a young deputy of Socorro County.
In the town of Frisco he held off a gang of rioting cowboys for thirty-six hours, killed four of the gang, wounded eight others, and walked away without a scratch. But there was more to Baca than this sensational and celebrated incident.
He rose in his accidental profession of law enforcement to a political career that lasted half a century. He served as sheriff of Socorro County, practiced law, operated a detective agency ("Discreet Shadowing Done," his business card read), published a Spanish language newspaper, La Opinion Publica, became associated with the Victoriano Huerta movement in the Mexican Revolution, and engaged in real estate and mining speculation.
"Ball, a history professor at Arkansas State University, presents a factual and full account of one of the Southwest's most extraordinary figures." (Abilene Reporter-News)
"...readers who are particularly interested in the outlaws and the lawmen of the southwest, Ball's works are the definitive sources on this subject for the late 19th and 20th centuries. An example is this monograph on a notable lawman of the New Mexico Territory." (The Tombstone Epitaph).
ISBN 0-87404-223-2, paper, $15.00
6X9, 146 pg., photos, map, biblio., index
To order, write: Texas Western Press, University of Texas
at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968-0633--or use the Texas Western Press toll-free
number (for ordering only): (800) 488-3789--or order by
e-mail