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From: "Sarah" <>
Subject: #11... Life & Times in Albuquerque, Texas
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 14:28:38 -0500


Not infrequently, good horses were ruined racing to and from a scene of
suffering. One medical doctor serving in the area was a Dr. Thompson. He
had come to Texas with Robert E. Lee and, upon the termination of his army
service, had married a Hatfield girl and had settled near Nockenut.(55)

Albuquerque was in existence from 1870 to 1883, probably the most turbulent
thirteen years in Texas history. The dark era of Reconstruction with the
"Iron Clad Oath" and an irresponsible police force, staffed with Union men
and Negroes, set off a chain reaction of lawlessness which Governor Oran M.
Roberts described in 1879, as "unprecedented in this country." (56) Although
petty theft was a rarity, crimes of violence, and robbery were commonplace.
Cattle rustling was indulged in by rich and poor alike. Stage holdups were
almost epidemical, and stolen horses numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
In 1876 Adjutant General William Steele compiled a list of three thousand
fugitives from justice. Vigilantes, often more ruthless than outlaws, formed
committees in almost every community, and lynch law prevailed when the
courts became jammed. (57)

Albuquerque's incident of violence most characteristic of the times occured
on May 17, 1873. It was on that day that Jack Helm attacked Jim Taylor with
a knife and was then shot and
killed by John Wesley Hardin, Taylor's friend. This slaying was one of a
series which constituted the Sutton-Taylor feud.

Although the feud was confined primarily to DeWitt County gang activity was
not unique in Albuquerque. Members of rival gangs often visited the town
trying to pick up information from the citizens, and frequently these
transients walked out of the mercantile store with merchandise which they
paid for on a subsequent visit. (58)

It is not definitely known what business Jack Helm had in Albuquerque during
May of 1873.

(55) Signed statement of Karon Smith, September 15, 1950 (MS. in the
Archives, University of Texas Library) .
(56) R. N. Richardson, Texas: The Lone Star State (New York, 1943), 333.
(57) Ibid, 33.
(58) Signed statement of John Gorden, August 15, 1950 (MS. in the Archives,
University of Texas Library).

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