The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 31, July 1927 - April, 1928 Page: 341
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A History of the J A Ranch
A great many criminals were arrested each year by the cattlemen
before the law came. They would, according to Colonel Good-
night, forward these criminals from one ranch to another until
they got them to New Mexico, or they would forward them by the
same process eastward until they got them to the settlements where
there was organized law. How well they did their task is proved
by the fact that there were very few men killed for their money
or goods during the settlement of the Panhandle.2 Colonel Good-
night gave the writer the following account of all the men whom
he remembered being murdered in the Panhandle in the early days:
The murder of the two sheep men on the Palo Duro occurred in
January or February, 1877, at a spring in the bluff about half way
between Canyon City and the Falls on the Harding Ranch, where
the sheep herders had prepared to settle. We afterwards learned
their names were Casner. They seemed to have come in from
Arizona with about fifteen or sixteen hundred sheep of very good
quality, a small bunch of cattle, five or six mules, wagon and camp
outfit. Besides, this equipage, they seemed to have had consider-
able gold, amounting to six or eight hundred dollars as we
learned from the best information. The murderer was a Mexi-
can by the name of Salazar who held out at Tascosa with his
brother-in-law whose name was Nicolas Martinez. At this time,
what few people had settled at Tascosa all seemed to know that
Salazar was an outlaw and murderer. By this time there had been
started what was known as "Robbers' Roost," on the Canadian
River, in the rough and broken country just below what was after-
wards the L X Ranch. This robbers' ranch was headed by a
white man whose name I have forgotten, who was undoubtedly
backed and aided by one of the military officers at Fort Elliott,
which officer was afterwards court-martialed for his connection
with the robbers' roost and was tried at Fort Lyon, Colorado, but for
the want of evidence was acquitted. I passed through Fort Lyon
at the time of the trial, but did not know of it, and had my evidence
been obtained at this time, he would, no doubt, have been found
guilty. This same white man who headed the robbers' ranch, was
run from Fort Sumner the year before for crime; I knew of him
there.
Salazar had, undoubtedly, left Tascosa intending to commit this
murder and get the sheep and property, as he took with him a
young boy, sixteen or seventeen years of age, who was from a very
good family. He probably intended to use him to help carry the
sheep across to the rendezvous. When they came to the sheep camp,
2Colonel Goodnight says that there were at least fifty men killed for
their money or goods during the settlement of Colorado.341
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 31, July 1927 - April, 1928, periodical, 1928; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101088/m1/365/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.