Another man, Chipman, deserted our company and stole a bunch of horses from some Mexicans down at Socorro. The Mexicans followed the trail out in the direction of Hueco Tanks, where it turned west and crossed the high range of mountains west of El Paso. The pursuers overtook Chipman with the stolen horses just on the line of New Mexico. The thief put up a fierce fight and killed two Mexicans, but was himself killed. Captain Baylor had a scout following the deserter but the Mexicans got to him first and had the fight before our men arrived. However, the ranger boys buried the body of Chipman where it fell. This chap had made a very good ranger and we all felt shocked when we learned he had stolen seven ponies and tried to get away with them single-handed.
Yet another San Simone Valley rustler, Jack Bond, enlisted in the company. A band of rustlers and cow thieves were operating up in the Canutillo, eighteen miles above El Paso, about the time he joined the command. I did my best to break up this band and made scout after scout up the river, but without success. Finally Captain Baylor learned that Bond and another ranger, Len Peterson, were keeping the thieves posted as to the rangers' movements. The captain fired these two men out of the company and within ten days I had captured Frank Stevenson, the leader of the Canutillo gang, and broken up the nest of thieves. Stevenson was later sent to the penitentiary for fifteen years. Bond and Peterson went to El Paso, stole Mayor M.C. Goffin's fine pair of carriage horses and fled to New Mexico. Subsequently Bond was killed at Deming by Deputy Sheriff Dan Tucker in an attempted arrest.
Captain Roberts, Coldwell or Lieutenant Reynolds would never have let such a bunch of crooks get into their companies, for they had to know something about a man before they would enlist him. However, there was some excuse for Baylor at the time he was on the Rio Grande. It was a long way from the center of population and good men were hard to find. Then, too, it looked as if all the criminals in Texas had fled to New Mexico and Arizona, from which states they would ease back into the edge of Texas and join the rangers. Captain Baylor was liberal in his views of men: they all looked good to him until proven otherwise. If there was a vacancy in the company any man could get in. And if they lacked equipment the captain would buy the newcomer a horse, saddle, and arms and then deduct the cost thereof from the man's first three months' pay. However, Baylor had generally to pay the bill himself. The captain also liked to keep his company recruited to the limit and this made enlistment in his command easy.
In all the years I was with Captain Baylor I never knew him to send a non-commissioned officer on a scout after Indians. He always commanded in person and always took with him every man in camp save one, who was left to guard it, for he liked to be as strong as possible on the battlefield.
Captain Baylor never took much interest personally in following cattle thieves, horse thieves, murderers and fugitives from justice. He left that almost entirely to me. Sometimes we would have as many as six or eight criminals chained up in camp at one time, but the captain would never come about them, for he could not bear to see anyone in trouble. His open, friendly personality endeared Baylor to the Mexicans from El Paso down the valley as far as Quitman. They were all his compadres and would frequently bring him venison, goat meat and mutton. Always they showed him every courtesy in their power.
Now, having freed the company of its undesirable recruits, we were once more a homogeneous force ready and anxious to perform our duty in protecting the frontier and bringing criminals to justice. Almost as soon as the last undesirable had been fired from Company "A" we started on the scout that was to culminate in our last fight with the Apaches.
LAST FIGHT BETWEEN RANGERS AND APACHES