Texas Heritage, Volume 18, Number 3, Summer 2000 Page: 10
39 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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in addition to the prospering farming operation and the
store, Kilpatrick's border town proved to be a place where
fast money could be made. Pancho Villa fought a desperate
war in Chihuahua and found his armies land locked
from their constant demand for arms, ammunition, and
supplies. The United States became Villa's chief supplier
of weapons and ammunition. Rifle cartridges brought 50
cents to a dollar in exchange for cattle at $5 a head. Like
more than one Big Bend border merchant and cattleman
in those days, Kilpatrick sold guns and ammunition to Villa
in exchange for livestock stolen from the wealthy Terrazas
haciendas of Chihuahua. During one desperate battle in
San Antonio del Bravo in 1917, Chico Cano led a group
of Villistas against a contingent of Carranzista cavalry. The
fight lasted most of the day as Pat Greene, the postmaster
of Candelaria, watched from the flat roof of his adobe house
located next to Kilpatrick's store. The store was a beehive
of activity as both Villistas and Carranzistas stood side by
side in Kilpatrick's store buying guns and ammunition before
returning to the battle across the river. Late that afternoon,
the defeated Carranzistas fled to the Texas side and
the comparative safety of Candelaria. Although Kilpatrick
may have sold guns and bullets to the opponents of Pancho
Villa, he wrote of Candelaria being, "a Villista town."Matlack and J.J. Kilpatrick butted heads,
and a feud continued between the pair that
lasted well after the captain left Kilpatrick's
town in 1919. Describing the feud, Pat
Greene, postmaster of Candelaria recalled,
"It was like having two roosters in the same
barnyard." The quarrel had its beginnings
in Kilpatrick's pool hall where trouble frequently
broke out between intoxicated soldiers
and Mexicans. In a late night drunken
gunfight in February 1912, Constable Jim
Kilpatrick shot and killed a U.S. soldier.
Although indicted for murder, the young
Kilpatrick was never convicted of the
crime. But after this incident, the hostility
between the Kilpatricks and the U.S. military
only increased. J.J. Kilpatrick became
a thorn in the side of the military. He wrote
a number of inflammatory articles and letters
to newspapers such as the San Antonio
Express, the El Paso Times, and the Marfa
New Era criticizing the U.S. military and
particularly Captain Matlack. In addition,
J.J. Kilpatrick had a number of important
political connections at both the state and
federal levels. The El Paso Times published
Kilpatrick's writings for several years but
refused to print any more articles from him
after an El Paso County judge found himguilty of "carrying a pistol and shooting out
the lights of a bawdy house in the tenderloin
district" of El Paso.
J.J. Kilpatrick's business interests were
widespread, and his location on the Mexican
border brought him a more than a fair
degree of prosperity, sometimes at the expense
of being in trouble with the law. ForCandelaria Grabs National Attention
In August 1919 a series of events unfolded
that put Candelaria on the front
page of the New York Times and eventually
lead to the Big Bend being the focus of a
U. S. Senate investigation and a U.S. Army
court martial. Following the end of World
War I, U.S. Army air patrols flew the Rio
Grande for the first time. On August 10,The Eighth Cavalry band plays in front of Kilpatrick's store, circa 1917. Captain Matlack
stands in the center of the picture. Photo - Burton McKenzie.HERITAGE * 10 * SUMMER 2000
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Texas Historical Foundation. Texas Heritage, Volume 18, Number 3, Summer 2000, periodical, Summer 2000; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45389/m1/10/?rotate=90: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.