The Old Southwest and a Few of Its Characters from Almagre Books
The Southwest, and further south, from Almagre Books.
By Michael Stillman
Almagre Books' List 59A offers a collection of books about the American Southwest, along with South and Central America. The official title is New Mexico, Texas, and the Southwest. Mexico and Latin America. You might wonder how a collection of this sort ended up in the hands of a Bloomington, Indiana, bookseller. So do I. However, it doesn't really matter. If you find books from this area of interest, and I admit to being partial to the American Southwest, Almagre has over 500 to offer. You should definitely take a look. Here are a few, with a focus on those in the English language (many of the texts offered are in Spanish).
Item 123 has the innocent enough heading Headquarters, Dept. of New Mexico, Fort Craig, N.M. March 13th, 1862. General Order No. 18. This is a series of court-martials of New Mexico Volunteers following the Battle of Valverde. Texian troops were proceeding north along the Rio Grande in New Mexico, hoping to capture much of the West for the Confederacy. Union forces at Fort Craig, under Colonel E.R.S. Canby, were initially successful in intercepting the invaders. However, the Confederates battled back, and the Union forces were forced to retreat. Col. Canby blamed the defeat on New Mexico Volunteers. It was charged that they fled, instead of supplying other forces with assistance. Others feel responsibility for the defeat should lay with Canby himself, and that the volunteers, mostly ethnic Mexicans, were an easy target. Those convicted in the court-martial were sentenced to be shot to death, but most sentences were reduced to ten years imprisonment. Meanwhile, the Texans skirted Fort Craig, overran Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and headed for Fort Union in northern New Mexico. There, Union troops and Colorado volunteers held them at bay until, supplies destroyed, the Confederates were forced to retreat all the way back to Texas. Confederate dreams for the West died. This 1862 official printing is priced at $950.
William Ruschenberger was a naval surgeon, writer and scientist who served 38 years in the U.S. Navy. Somehow along the way, he found time to write several books about his voyages. Item 102 is not one of his books, but a letter he wrote to Jean Jacques Smith back in the states while stationed with the "Independence" in Valparaiso, Chile. The date is February 27, 1855, and Ruschenberger was making his first visit to Chile after an absence of many years. He laments, "I have just returned from a walk on shore very sad, for I find none of my old friends among the Chilians; I ask for my old sweethearts, those I saw last some seventeen years since; they are all dead, or gone off as mothers and grand mothers...." It's just as well. Better to remember them as they were seventeen years ago. Ruschenberger points out that prices have skyrocketed since he left, attributing it to wealth obtained from the California Gold Rush. He also notes that the newspapers are saying the "Yankees" are seeking to annex the entire Pacific coast, "from California to Tierra del Fuego" (the southern tip of South America). The fears must have seemed real, as the U.S. had taken California and the American Southwest from Mexico only a few years before. In a positive development, he points out that the law now imposes a fifty cent fine on anyone caught urinating on the outside of a house. A few of our cities might take heed. Item 102. $500.
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The Old Southwest and a Few of Its Characters from Almagre Books
Wild West Judge David S. Terry.
Item 241 consists of two "Wanted" posters issued from the Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City in 1908. The first is headlined ESCAPED CONVICTS $200 REWARD! The escapees are Frank Coleman, age 18, and Frank Halstander, age 28. They escaped from a "trusty road gang" that proved not so trusty. Coleman was a burglar, Halstander a forger. The second poster is for E.L. Morris, age 51, also a forger. In better days, Morris was a ranchman and Army nurse. Morris carries the description, "Bad teeth, all about out; bullet wound in left shoulder, from front to back....left arm deformed; big scar on inside right arm at elbow; bullet wound through fleshy part of left hand; left leg deformed, big wound scar on left leg below knee; hair on both legs, breast hairy." So why is it they wanted him? $550.
Diario de Mexico was the first daily newspaper printed in Mexico. Item 373 consists of 123 consecutive issues, No. 213 through No. 335, May 1-August 1, 1806. The newspaper reports on news from several provincial towns, earthquakes, commodity prices, and reports from the poor houses that poor people without jobs will be sent to California to work on public works projects. Today, people will go to great lengths to secure public jobs in California without anyone forcing them. $1,000.
Item 521 is the Life of David S. Terry: Presenting an Authentic, Impartial and Vivid History of His Eventful Life and Tragic Death, by A.E. Wagstaff. Who was David Smith Terry? Terry was a Texan who came to California during the Gold Rush and, within a few years, was elected to the state Supreme Court. However, David Terry was a most injudicious judge. In 1855, while contesting an attempted "arrest" by the San Francisco Vigilance Committee, he stabbed their leader in the neck. No matter. He was acquitted of the charge and by 1857, he was the court's chief justice. However, a second incident in 1859 would finish his political career. A Democrat, but with southern leanings, he would engage California Senator David Broderick, a northern Democrat, in a duel. Terry won the duel, but lost his reputation. He returned to Texas to fight for the Confederacy, and when that cause was lost, drifted on to Mexico. However, by 1868, he was back in California practicing law. In 1884, he would represent Sarah Hill, who was trying to establish herself as the legal wife of wealthy former Nevada Senator William Sharon. She had the misfortune of having her claim heard by U.S. Supreme Court and Circuit Judge Stephen Field, a Terry enemy since the Broderick days. At one point, Field sentenced Terry to six months in jail for contempt of court following a commotion. In 1886, Terry would marry Miss Hill, and then in 1889, the two met Field at a railway station. Terry walked up to Field and slapped him in the face, whereupon Field's bodyguard shot him dead. His young wife would end up insane, and spend most of the rest of her life (which lasted until 1937) in a state hospital for the insane. For the complete story, you need to read this book. $250.
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The Old Southwest and a Few of Its Characters from Almagre Books
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Item 140 is the Roswell Woman's Club Cook Book. This is a 1950 publication from Roswell, New Mexico. Roswell? 1950? Is this a recipe book for cooking aliens? Or was it a recipe book put together by alienettes? Either way, it should be an interesting group of recipes. $50.
Item 40 is Gasoline Sprees in the Sunshine State. Florida? No, back in 1924, New Mexico was the Sunshine State, at least according to author Anna Wilds. She and her husband traveled around New Mexico by motorcycle and car, starting in 1914. It notes that at one place they were told that gasoline was cheaper than water. Ever price one of those bottles of water everyone seems to be buying today? Comes to around $4 a gallon. That's the stuff you can get out of a tap for free. What was it that P.T. Barnum said? $350.
Almagre Books can be reached at 812-334-0465 or by email at wwroth@kiva.net
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