If you think political division is troubling today, a quick look back at New Mexico history shows that things haven’t changed much in more than 150 years.
A brief excerpt from a book by noted New Mexico historian Ralph Emerson Twitchell shows how rough things got during a political campaign in 1871. The story was contained in a book entitled The Best of the West, an anthology of classic writing from the American West,” edited by noted New Mexico author Tony Hillerman.
According to Twitchell’s account, a meeting held in the town of Mesilla regarding the upcoming election prompted a group of Democrats and a group of Republicans to stage a march around the village. The only problem with the two political groups demonstration of support for their party was that they chose to march around the town in opposite directions.
My suspicion is that the Democrats were walking to the left around the historic plaza in Mesilla while the Republicans were marching to the right. Eventually, the two groups came face to face. A leading Democrat named I.N. Kelly and a leading Republican, John Lemon, then “engaged in an angry political discussion…” Twitchell says at that point, a man named Apolonio Barela (whose political inclination was not disclosed) fired a pistol into the air.
Apparently fearing for his life and seeing the event disintegrate into chaos, Kelly grabbed a “pick handle” and struck Lemon in the head. An instant later, another participant drew a pistol and fatally shot Kelly.
That quickly led to more shots being fired and in the end, nine men had been killed and a reported 40 or 50 others were wounded.
A district judge was dispatched to Mesilla from Albuquerque to try to sort out blame for the incident. But as Twitchell notes, after three days, he returned to Albuquerque “without taking any action.”
“No indictments were ever returned and no one was punished,” Twitchell concludes.
I’m not sure if the Democrats or the Republicans in Dona Ana County won in the ensuing election. What I do know is that we need to careful about discussing politics these days, just as it was 150 years ago.
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