I wrote in an earlier blog that I my father once told me that Lincoln — honoring the former President — was being considered as the name for our state. I was never able to confirm that story, but I wondered what it would have been like to call the historic town of Lincoln “Lincoln, Lincoln.” With apologies to David Letterman, it was kind of like his line: “New York, New York, a town so nice, they named it twice.”
I recently searched on Newspapers.com recently for any more clues about this matter and found none. But I did find some interesting stories from 1884 about the town in a long-defunct local newspaper called the “Lincoln Golden Era.” There were only three editions I could find, all within the months of July and August of 1884, a few years after the end of the Lincoln County War.
The first story which caught my eye was this two-sentence entry into the editor’s column:
“The village blacksmith’s horse ran away Monday evening. The result: No one hurt but the horse, and he seemed awful sorry of it.”
There was no further explanation of why the wandering equine was “awfully sorry of it.”
There was also a story about a “trout fishing party” that had come to the Lincoln area from Las Cruces. Accompanying them were officials of the Mescalero Indian Agency and about 25 students from the Native American school in Mescalero. The newspaper said of the students:
“They were well dressed and quiet and as well behaved as the average civilized kid.”
So much for political correctness in the 1880s, I guess.
Also in the “New Era” was a depiction of the brands for several local area cattle ranchers, among them Pat Garrett, the sheriff who killed the infamous Lincoln County War outlaw Billy the Kid at Fort Sumner on July 14, 1881.
There was also a brand for legendary western cattleman John S. Chisum, shown below:
A colorfully worded letter to the editor also caught my eye. The writer was venting against an individual who had somehow spread rumors against him. The nature of the rumor was not disclosed in the letter, but the contents leave little doubt of how the writer felt:
“Mr. Editor: I hope you will allow me space in your valuable paper to reply to this low, cowardly ear of curs who has not got the courage to come face to face and tell what he has to say, but goes behind the press for a shield. Ladies are unprotected from the vile wrath of this low bred, narrow-minded, water brained, red head Ananias.”
I had to look up Ananias, and discovered it referred to “an early Christian struck dead for lying.” And once again, in the old West, so much for pleasantries.
But what really piqued my interest was an editorial in which the newspaper owner announced that from this point on, his publication:
“…may be set down as a Democratic organ in the future, devoted to the interests of the party and laboring the best it knows how… “
He goes on:
“Heretofore, we have been a Republican, but as numerous members of the party have done, we repudiate the nominees on the national ticket*, believing that in the event of their election (which the Lord forbid), no greater calamity could befall this free and glorious country of ours.”
Didn’t I just hear something like that last week — from politicians of either party? So here we are, 130 years later, and nothing much has changed.
*The Republican nominee for President in 1884 was James G. Blaine, who was defeated by Democrat Grover Cleveland.
aero-cordero.com 