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In reply to the discussion: DUer duhneece campaign update [View all]Ponietz
(2,905 posts)There, I learned about Oliver Lee, the murder of Special Prosecutor Colonel Fountain and his 6 year-old son, and how Otero county came into being in the late 19th century, in part, after reading Tularosa: Last of the Frontier West.
Albert Fall, of later Teapot Dome ignominy, represented Lee at the murder trials the first two resulting in hung juries and the third, switched to a sympathetic Hillsborough, resulted in acquittal.
I even discovered Frenchies gravestone once in the La Luz cemetery. He had the water rights at the entrance to Dog canyon, which Lee needed for his ranching operation, but was found murdered. At least his body was foundnot so for Colonel Fountain and his son.
There is a very nasty legacy there, and it lives on in a type of deep hatefulness and cruelty. At the time I lived there, the chief of police in Alamogordo was a Lee, and the sheriff was a Lee, too.
I thank you for your work, and am doubly impressed after receiving your hand-written thank you note.