It was a bright moonlight night and we had not traveled far up the street before I looked out and saw at least a hundred armed men. They came from every direction. Boys, did you ever encounter a mob? I assure you it is far from a pleasant feeling when you face one. The men swarmed around the bus, three or four of them grabbed the horses by the bridle reins and held them, while others tried to force the bus doors. I asked the jailer if I could depend on him to help me stand the mob off, but he replied it would do no good. I was now madder than ever, and for the first time in my life I ripped out an oath, saying, "G— d—n them, I am going to stand them off!"
As the doors were forced I poked my Winchester out and ordered the mob to stand back or I would shoot. The men paid no more attention to my gun than if it had been a brown stick. A man standing beside the bus door seized the muzzle of my rifle and, with a quick jerk to one side, caused it to fly out of my hand and out upon the ground.
By this time another of the mob grabbed me in the collar and proceeded to pull me out of the bus. I spread my legs and tried to brace myself, but another hard and quick jerk landed me out on the ground, where one of the men kicked me. I was tame now and made no effort to draw my pistol. One of the crowd said to me, "What in h—do you mean? We do not wish to hurt you but we are going to hang that d—n Mexican right now!"
I then informed the mob of the nature of Baca's arrest and told them that the hanging of the prisoner would place me in an awkward position. Then, too, the reward offered by the territory of New Mexico was for the delivery of the murderer inside the jail doors of Socorro County. The leaders of the crowd consulted for a few minutes and then concluded I was right. They ordered me back into the bus, gave me my Winchester and we all started for the jail. As soon as Baca had been placed in prison Deputy Sheriff Eaton sat down and wrote me a receipt for the delivery of Baca inside the jail doors.
By this time day was just beginning to break and I tried to stay the hanging by making another talk. The mob interpreted my motive and invited me to step down a block to their community room where they would talk with me. I started with them and we had gone only a hundred yards before the whole mob broke back to the jail. I started to go with them but two men held me, saying, "It's no use; they are going to hang him."
The men took Baca to a nearby corral and hanged him to a big beam of the gate. The next morning Baca's relatives came to me at the hotel with hats in their hands and asked me for the keys with which to remove the shackles from the dead man's legs. As I handed them the keys I felt both mortified and ashamed. A committee of citizens at Socorro waited on me just before I took the train for home, counted out to me $250 as their part of the reward and thanked me for capturing the two murderers. The committee assured me that it stood ready to help me financially or otherwise should I get involved with the Federal Government over the capture and kidnapping of Enofrio Baca.
I presume the relatives of young Baca reported his kidnapping to our government, for a few weeks after his capture Mr. Blaine, Secretary of State, wrote a long letter to Governor Roberts regarding a breach of international comity. Governor Roberts wrote Captain Baylor for a full explanation of the matter. Captain Baylor, while never countenancing a wrongdoing in his company, would stand by his men to the last ditch when they were once in trouble. He was a fluent writer and no man in Texas understood better than he the many foul and outrageous murders that had been committed along the Rio Grande, the perpetrators of which had evaded punishment and arrest by crossing over into Mexico. Baylor wrote so well and so to the point that nothing further was said about the matter. Only an order came to Captain Baylor admonishing him never again to allow his men to follow fugitives into Mexico.
Soon afterward the Safety Committee of Socorro, New Mexico, wrote to Captain Baylor saying, "We are informed by a reliable party that Jose Baca of Ysleta, Texas, has hired a Mexican to kill Sergeant Gillett. Steps have been taken to prevent this. However, he would do well to be on the lookout." Baylor at once went to Judge Baca with this letter, but the jurist denied in the most emphatic terms any knowledge of the reported plot. Also, there was a report current in both Ysleta and El Paso that a reward of $1500 had been offered for the delivery of Sergeant Gillett's body to the Mexican authorities at El Paso del Norte. Upon investigation I found that no such offer had ever been made, but for safety's sake I kept out of Mexico for several years.
The kidnapping of Baca aroused much comment and gave me a deal of notoriety and, as I had anticipated, it was not long in bearing the fruit I desired,—promotion into larger and more remunerative fields of work.