Dallas Stoudenmire - Career As A Lawman

Career As A Lawman

He resurfaced when he served as a town marshal for Socorro, New Mexico. While employed there, his brother-in-law and El Paso, Texas resident, Stanley "Doc" Cummings, convinced him to take up a job as town marshal in El Paso. The city was seeking to hire an outsider with a "rough reputation". At that time, El Paso was a remote, lawless boomtown. Stoudenmire traveled to El Paso by stagecoach and was soon hired. This was the beginning of the end of a wild and violent El Paso and the beginning of his fame.

Marshal Stoudenmire started his tenure in El Paso on Monday, April 11, 1881. He was the sixth town marshal in eight months. The City Council asked him to take the city jail keys from deputy marshal and town drunkard Bill Johnson. Witnesses alleged that Stoudenmire approached an intoxicated Johnson asking for the jail keys. Johnson mumbled that he would go home and figure out which keys were his and which were the city's. Stoudenmire became impatient and demanded he hand over the keys right away. When Johnson demurred, the marshal physically turned Johnson upside down, grabbed the keys, then threw him to the ground. Johnson was publicly humiliated.

On Thursday, April 14, 1881, only three days into his new job, Stoudenmire became involved in one of the most famous gunfights in Old West history, called the "Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight". This gunfight was well publicized in newspapers in cities as far away as San Francisco and New York City. The events began a mile (1.6 km) south, at the Rio Grande which divided the U.S. and Mexico. Roughly 75 heavily-armed Mexican cowboys galloped into El Paso, looking for two missing young Mexican cowboys, Sanchez and Juarique, plus thirty cattle stolen from a ranch just across the river. The missing animals belonged to a wealthy Mexican who hired an armed posse to recover them. El Paso County Constable Gus Krempkau was asked by the Mexican leader to lead them to a possible location. Krempkau agreed. The bodies of the two missing Mexicans were discovered near Johnny Hale's ranch about 13 miles (21 km) northwest of El Paso. Hale was a ranch owner and cattle rustler.

The bodies were taken back to town. Records indicated that the young Mexican cowboys were in search for the stolen cattle. Two American cattle rustlers, Pervey and Fredericks, were accused of the murders after they were overheard bragging about killing the two cowboys when they found them trailing the herd to Hale's ranch.

A large crowd gathered in El Paso, including John Hale and his friend, former town marshal George Campbell. There was animosity and worries among the Americans about the dangerous combination of enraged Mexicans and them being heavily armed within the city limits. At the same time, angry Mexicans demanded justice for the slain men. Constable Krempkau was fluent in Spanish and was required to interpret for the judge. An inquest was held in court. The two Americans were formally charged with the murders and immediately arrested. They were scheduled for trial at a later date. The court was adjourned and the crowd dispersed. The armed Mexicans, now calm, took the two corpses back to Mexico for proper burial.