In 1878 John Chisum, who was a free-grazer, greatly downsized; which left the Pecos Valley from Roswell, N.M. to Ft, Sumner empty. As the crow flies, there is around 75 miles of Pecos River frontage plus spring fed creeks running into the river. Upon the completion of the Northern Pecos Valley township surveys in the very late 70s and early 80s, wealthy speculators moved into the area and began filing 160 acre homestead claims that were on the creeks, or the river, and buying out local Hispanics that were on their new 160 acre homesteads......establishing open range ranches. The big rush came in 1884.
It didn't take very many homestead claims in order to claim grazing rights for 25 or 30 miles.
By far, the two largest ranches that were established in the area were J.J. Cox's -V Ranch, which was probably established in 1883 and they ran their cattle on the west side of the Pecos River. Cass Land and Cattle Company ( 7HL) was established in Missouri in 1883 and in 1884 they filed and bought numerous 160 acre holdings up and down the Pecos and built their hdq. on the east side of the river about two miles south of Cox's hdq. The river would split most 160 acre surveys so by verbal agreement, one grazed the east side and the other the west side.
And they weren't the only ones. In 1883, John Shaw established his X-X ranch about 2 miles North of the -V hdq. In 1884, the government sold the old Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation (12,000 remaining acres) with its headquarters being old Ft. Sumner to a conglomerate from Colorado. They divided this up into 4 ranches, began acquiring tracts down river and drove in 30 to 40,000 cows by 1885.
The area Indians were no longer a threat, in fact they were no longer even in the area. This area had been untouched by the Lincoln County War, even though it was Lincoln County. Billy the Kid & Co. had either been killed or had been driven out and the era of what I call "modern ranching" had begun. (Even though it was still open range and would be for another 50 years.) Consequently, the 7HL's didn't allow their men to carry a gun daily.
In 1884 the White brothers of McLennan County, Texas ran out of grass and decided to establish a ranch below Ft. Sumner on the west side of the river. They legally filed on property as did their cowboys and also bought out local Hispanics. They established a range of about 20 miles of Pecos River frontage and by 1885 had brought in 2252 head including the calves. Of course, their range over-laid others such as the -V's, 7HL's, YY's, X-X and the Ft. Sumner outfits, as did the latter ranches over-lay each other.
The White's were poorly received by all. George Peacock was the -V's foreman and it is documented that George and his men were a pretty rough bunch, carried guns and harassed sheep herders. Their aim was to run the White outfit out of the country. The first year the White's were shunned, black balled from participating in the brandings and no doubt, their cattle were harassed.
The next year it rained good and grew lots of grass and the Ft. Sumner and 7HL outfits decided that the White's weren't such bad hombres after all and they were allowed to bring their wagon to the brandings. The -V's though didn't relent.
On the 17th of October 1886 during the fall works, George Peacock and Jim White, while horseback outside of a held up herd, argued over the ownership of a dogie calf.
White was heard to say, " Peacock, if you cut out one more of my calves, I'll kill you"
Peacock reached behind himself and Jim White pulled his 45 Colt and shot him 6 times knocking him off of his horse. White then pulled a "smaller gun", thought to be a Smith and Wesson, and shot him three more times for good measure.
Some thought Peacock was reaching for his pistol and others thought he was in the process of reaching for the cantle in order to lean back in the saddle.
In any case, White immediately fled and J.J. Cox put up a $1500.00 reward for his apprehension. White was never apprehended, becoming one of the mysteries of the west.
In reading the various documentation, there is no doubt the White's and their hands had been mercilessly bullied and Jim White had reached the breaking point. Six in the cylinder and a "smaller pistol" probably carried in a chap pocket proves that to me.
Billy
Sources:
1. Jack Potter, “NINE POWDER MARKS ON A DUCKING VEST”, TRUE WEST, October 1977, page 22
Jack Potter, manager of the New England Livestock Company that was headquartered at Ft. Sumner, personal friend of Robert E. White in the story, later a rancher, legislator and author was there the day Peacock was shot down. His article about the shooting that was published in Frontier Times was heavily edited and embellished by his editor to the point of having glaring errors to anyone that knew anything about the area. In this version they were branding calves.
2. W.C Urton, PIONEER RANCHER GIVES GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF EARLY DAY ROUNDUP ON THE OLD PECOS, THE NEW MEXICO STOCKMAN, June 1949, Pages 49 & 52
W.C. Urton’s father, W. G. Urton was one of the founding members of the 7HL ranch and lived on the ranch with his family from 1884 – 1900. He managed the ranch from the spring of 1886 into early 1900. There is no evidence that W. G. Urton was present but his brother George Urton was there as a representative of the 7HL ranch and of course would have given a full report. W.C. Urton later mentioned the story in the above article without naming names. He did not say if they were branding or cutting cattle.
3. Lon Reed, PIONEER TELLS OF EARLY DAYS, CLOVIS NEWS JOURNAL, Clovis, N.M., May 29, 1938
Lon Reed (1863-1940) came to the area in 1884 with the White herd and never left and was interviewed by the paper. This I have not been able to obtain but Don McAlavy cited it in his biography of Lon Reed in:
4. Don McAlavy, EASTERN NEW MEXICO HIGH PLAINS HISTORY, page 37. Until I can obtain a copy of the journal, I will cite this source. Reed’s version says that “Peacock cut out a maverick”.
5. Rose White, THE KILLING OF GEORGE PEACOCK, NEW MEXICO FOLKLORE RECORD, Vol. III, Albuquerque, 1948-1949, page Unk.
Rose White was Robert White’s wife and Robert was a son of Robert E. White, brother of Jim in the story. Robert E. White was there. The White’s were good friends of the Potter’s and the Urton’s and Rose White interviewed W.C. Urton a number of times and saved her correspondence with Jack Potter. She published her research in the above article.
6. Mary Ruth Burns, KILLING ON THE PECOS, 22 page manuscript archived at the Southeast New Mexico Historical Society Archives, Roswell, New Mexico
Mary “Ruth” Burns is a daughter of Robert and Rose White. She has continued research on the subject and wrote the above article. Her Potter references show that they were cutting a herd.