Slim Randles

Elfego Baca was a handsome young sheriff’s deputy when he had his famous two-day gun battle with 80 cowhands from the Texas John Slaughter ranch. He survived, and four cowboys didn’t.

He then went on to a law enforcement career in Socorro, New Mexico and then became an attorney. But Elfego wouldn’t be Elfego if he just filed briefs. Oh no. This man who was the subject of a Walt Disney film half a century later, became a lawyer you could write home about. His clientele stretched from Albuquerque to El Paso and he gave practicing law the same … flamboyance ….. he gave to law enforcement.

One of the best stories of Elfego’s lawyer days … and please remember these days were often alcohol enhanced … thank you … concerned a client in El Paso. Baca was in Albuquerque at the time, so the client wired him, saying, “I’m in jail in El Paso and charged with murder. Please come.”

And Elfego wired back. “Leaving immediately with three eyewitnesses.”

Brought to you by “The Secret of the Gila Cliff Dwellings, a New Mexico Rangers Mystery” by Lon Lawrence. Contact inks.crowbar.5e@icloud.com.