"Sergeant, that is the most imprudent act you ever committed in your life! Don't you know that it is a flagrant violation of the law and is sure to cause a breach of international comity that might cause the Governor of Texas to disband the whole of Company "A"? Not only this, but it was a most hazardous undertaking and it is a wonder to me that the Mexicans did not shoot you and Lloyd into doll rags."
Captain Baylor was plainly out of patience with me.
"Gillett, you have less sense than I thought you had," he declared, heatedly. "If you have any explanation to make I would like to have it."
I reminded the captain of the tragic fate of Morgan and Brown and how the authorities at Guadalupe had turned their murderers, Skevill and Molina, loose. I declared that had I had Baca arrested in Mexico he would have gone scot-free with his rich and influential friends to help him. Baylor declared that two wrongs did not make one right, and said I should have consulted him. I finally told the captain frankly that I had been in the ranger service six years, had risen from the ranks to be orderly sergeant at a salary of only $50 a month. I pointed out that this was the highest position I could hope to get without a commission, and while one had been promised me at the first vacancy yet I could see no early hope of obtaining it, as every captain in the battalion was freezing to his job. This remark seemed to amuse Captain Baylor and somewhat eased his anger.
I went on to say that I not only wanted the $500 reward offered for Baca, but I wanted the notoriety I would get if I could kidnap the murderer out of Mexico without being killed in the attempt, for I believed the notoriety would lead to something better than a ranger sergeancy. And this is what really happened, for I subsequently became First Assistant Marshal of El Paso under Dallas Stoudenmire at a salary of $150 per month, and in less than a year after my arrest of Enofrio Baca I was made Chief of Police of that city at a salary that enabled me to get a nice start in the cattle business.
"Sergeant, you can go with your man," Captain Baylor finally said, "but it is against my best judgment. I ought to escort him across the Rio Grande and set him free."
I lost no time in sending a ranger to the stage office at Ysleta with instructions to buy two tickets to Masilla, New Mexico, and one to El Paso. The stage was due to pass our quarters about 12 o'clock, so I did not have long to wait. I took Lloyd as a guard as far as El Paso and there turned him back, making the remainder of the journey to Socorro, New Mexico, alone with the prisoner. I reached the old town of Masilla, New Mexico, at dark after a rather exciting day. I was afraid to put Baca in jail at that place, as I had no warrant nor extradition papers upon which to hold him and feared the prison authorities might not redeliver Baca to me next morning. The stage coach from Masilla to Rincon did not run at night so I secured a room at the hotel and chaining the prisoner to me we slept together.
On the following day we reached Rincon, the terminus of the Santa Fe Railroad at that time. I wired the officers of Socorro, New Mexico, from El Paso that I had captured Baca and was on my way to New Mexico with him. Baca's friends had also been informed of his arrest and lost no time in asking the Governor of New Mexico to have me bring the prisoner to Santa Fe as they feared mob violence at Socorro. When I reached San Marcial I was handed a telegram from the governor ordering me to bring Baca to Santa Fe and on no account to stop with him in Socorro.
Because of delay on the railroad I did not reach Socorro until late at night. The minute the train stopped at that town it was boarded by twenty-five or thirty armed men headed by Deputy Sheriff Eaton. I showed Eaton the governor's telegram, but he declared Baca was wanted at Socorro and that was where he was going. I remonstrated with him and declared I was going on to Santa Fe with the prisoner. By this time a dozen armed men had gathered around me and declared, "Not much will you take him to Santa Fe." I was furious, but I was practically under arrest and powerless to help myself. Baca and I were transferred from the train to a big bus that was in waiting. The jailer entered first, then Baca was seated next to him and I sat next the door with my Winchester in my hand. The driver was ordered to drive to the jail.