San Patricio, Helter-Skelter!
By J.Young

 

About six miles southeast of Lincoln and just west of the old Fritz ranch near Hondo, is San Patricio, sitting at an elevation of 5,436 feet . Spanish settlers moved into the area in 1850, causing some friction with the local Apache. In 1870 the little town was first named Ruidoso. Named after Rio Ruidoso. It was constructed of about 15 to 20 scattered homes, a school and a church, on a single Road. The buildings were built to withstand attacks from the Apache. The walls were a very thick adobe. The roofs of these homes were flat, known as rooftop gardens. The rooftops also had breastwork and portholes at the surrounding perimeters, a good measure for defense against Apache attacks. Nearby Lincoln followed a similar suit; they also had the Torreon for defense. In 1875 a Catholic Church, La Iglesia de San Patricio, was built on the west end of town.The name of the town was changed to San Patricio. The name possibly originates from Saint Patrick’s battalion, a foreign legion of some sort, that was made up of a couple hundred Irish Immigrants. The battalion fought alongside the Mexican Army against the United States in 1846. The men were executed in a mass hanging. They are still praised today.

In 1878 San Patricio became occupied by the Lincoln County Regulators. Many of these men, including Alexander Mcsween, could not return to their homes, or to Lincoln. The new Sheriff, with a large gang of local rustlers, occupied Lincoln. The Regulators camped out or stayed at their allies’ farms. It was safer for them to be in numbers. They made San Patricio their homebase. Sleeping on the rooftops and loafing around town. According to George Coe, Fred Waite and Charlie Bowdre had homes in San Patricio. It is rumored that Billy may have had a house here too. The boys began having bailes every Saturday night in San Patricio. George and Frank Coe had a special talent with their fiddles, and probably fiddled those Saturday nights, until the strings were red hot.

George Peppin, Dolan’s new Sheriff, was sending many different parties to get at the Regulators. He had the Rio Grande posse, Jesse Evans’ gang and the Santa Fe ring to back him up, he was looking to exterminate Alex Mcsween and the Regulators.

In the third week of June, Frank and George Coe, started to ride down to Picacho, about 10 miles southeast of San Patricio to meet Billy and some others who were coming up from the Chisum Ranch. Billy had been there to de-stress and lay low since after the killings of Morton, Baker, McCloskey, Sheriff Brady and Buckshot Roberts. After riding only about a mile out of San Patricio, near the Fritz Ranch and close to where Regulator captain Frank Mcnabb was killed, another ambush was waiting.

Frank Coe recalls the attack;

“As we were following down the road that led along the valley we were fired upon as we approached some narrows. They had their horses hidden, and they fired 15 or 20 shots at us. We were not very far off, but they got just one good shot at us before we got around the point. We whirled our horses and ran back up the river and started across it and made a stand in a canyon, almost opposite San Patricio, but we had hit a deep hole in the river and our horses went under. We ran on up the river to make a stand and the other bunch backed off. They thought our whole party was there. John Kinney, a noted bully from the Rio grande led them. They heard of this trouble here (from Peppin) and flocked to get into the game.”

After getting back on course, The Coes caught up with Billy and on the way back to San Patricio, they told him about the action he just missed.

It was Saturday night, June 22nd but the boys decided against their traditional weekly baile, What they did not know was that Sheriff Peppin was planning a party for them anyway. After finding out where the Regulators were posted up, the determined Peppin sent a posse on a reconnaissance in San Patricio at dusk. The posse probably masked, quietly hitched their horses on the edge of town and crept in. Moving around in the darkness the intruders were discovered. Gun smoke and Sparks were about to light up the night.

George Coe remembers that particular night;

“We constantly expected an attack and had guards posted. These fellows had located the enemies horses in a dry arroyo that skirted the town, they left a few Mexicans to hold their horses, while they went out to take the town,(a surprise attack) our guards discovered some stray Mexicans snooping around in the lower part of town and reported it to Brown and Waite who got busy at once, they rounded up the Mexicans and locked them up. They begin further investigations when they find the town full of strangers and begin firing at them rapidly. The fusillade aroused us fellows on the roofs at the other end of town, and we too, went into action. It was just before daybreak, and we were shooting in the dark at random. Nevertheless we put the Invaders On The run. They beat a hasty retreat when they found they had missed their guess when it came to taking this town by storm, and we pursued them as they fled. When morning came, we went out to look over the spoils of the battle. We found no dead men, but one dead horse with a beautiful new saddle on his back and a bloody glove. Billy the Kid immediately laid claim to the saddle, as he had never replaced the saddle he had lost previously. There were evidently one or two men or horses wounded, but they did not return to even the score they had plenty.”

The attempted night attack was very quick and confusing, a real helter-skelter event. The Regulators then made plans to skin out Billy the Kid retreated with a couple others to Tunstall’s ranch before meeting later at Chisum’s ranch on the fourth of July. Little did they know at that time of departure that San Patricio was about to be ransacked.

The defeated posse led by Jack Long, ran back crying to Peppin. He told of the sparks that flew through the darkness just hours earlier, killing his horse.

On July 3rd, 1878, Peppin sent a larger party to San Patricio, not sure if Peppin himself was there, but he did claim that he would turn Regulator supporters out of their homes and confiscate their property. Once the terrorizers arrived at San Patricio, they began firing shots into the air and at citizens farming the fields. They smashed in their windows and kicked in their doors. The store was looted, what the posse didn’t take for themselves they threw onto the street . They stole 400 dollars from a woman and killed Mcsweens friend’s horse before leaving the ravaged town and terrified citizens in anguish.

Later, on the brighter side of San Patricio, in the early 1930’s a couple moved to San Patricio that would paint the town in a new picture…literally.

Artists John Hurd and Henriette Wyeth settled on what started as 40 acres and grew at San Patricio, and began painting pictures of his surroundings in San Patricio and became famous for his paintings of New Mexico’s beautiful landscapes. .

In 1940 John Hurd became the first to portray Billy the Kid in Lincoln’s annual Billy the Kid pageant and Old Lincoln days. The festival still carries on every year in August as people come from all around the country and probably the world to attend.

.In 1984,Hurd died from pneumonia and complications due to Alzheimer Disease. He was cremated. Some of his ashes were scattered and the remainder of his remains were buried at his home,San Patricio.

Now along the Billy the Kid Trail Byway, San Patricio has Hurd’s Art Gallery and Hurd’s guest houses. The old church and cemetery has plenty of beautiful scenery