Follow Me: Hiking to Tunstall's murder site

“The posse would have come over that hill,” said John Schultz, DCA, of Lincoln Historic Site (LHS).

We followed his gaze and imagined horsemen galloping over a rise in the foothills south of Glencoe, in the Hondo Valley over a century ago.

LHS volunteers Lee Abbott, Susan Weir-Ancker, Clara Farah and I joined Ranger Schultz and Tim Roberts, DCA, Site Manager of LHS, last year at the site of John Henry Tunstall’s murder on Feb. 18, 1878. Tunstall’s murder is generally considered the start of the Lincoln County War. Roberts wanted to determine the site’s feasibility for future tours.

We’d parked our vehicles on Forest Road 443 at the head of 9019 D, a designated Forest Service trail that follows the path that Tunstall and four of his cowboys may have taken as they fled from a posse intended, ostensibly, to secure cattle and horses from Tunstall, the 23-year-old Englishman who had recently set up business in Lincoln as a direct rival to Lawrence G. Murphy and James Dolan. Murphy and Dolan wished to eliminate Tunstall permanently.

Trail 9019 D is a heavily rutted, rock-strewn path only four feet wide in places, surrounded by juniper and skinny Ponderosa pine, all of which overgrew the area since 1878. When able to take our eyes off the rubble beneath our hiking boots, we scanned for our landmark, an old stump with a painted arrow about 200 yards down the trail.

Sharp-eyed Schultz spotted the short, crumbling stump with a very faded red arrow pointing to a side path. Squinting through leafless brush, we made out the marker about 50 yards uphill.

Clambering over fallen trees and broken limbs, we found Tunstall’s murder site marked by a bronze plaque and a U.S. Forest Service sign. “This is the report compiled by Frank Warner Angel, a special investigator from New York appointed by the U.S. Attorney General to investigate Tunstall’s murder after the British ambassador and the U.S. Secretaries of State and Interior became involved by request of Tunstall’s family in England,” said Roberts as he opened a notebook.

The three-inch thick report holds affidavits from all the witnesses to Tunstall’s murder, including those who fired the fatal shots. Roberts reads excerpts.

“Tunstall was half-asleep in the saddle. Two of his cowboys, Rob Widenmann and Dick Brewer had spotted turkeys in the brush and were chasing them. Billy “the Kid” Bonney and John Middleton were with Tunstall, driving nine horses when Billy, riding drag, spotted the posse and gave warning. Middleton shouted to Tunstall but Tunstall, half awake and disoriented, didn’t respond, and instead, approached the posse.”

Instead of rounding up the horses they’d ostensibly been sent to take, two of the posse shot Tunstall in the chest and head then shot his horse. Adding insult to injury, they posed the bodies of Tunstall and his horse as if they were napping. Billy, MIddleton and the others, unable to save Tunstall, galloped to Lincoln to save themselves.

We volunteers’ stood silent for a few moments, immersed in the moment, imagining the ambush, shoot out, confusion and ultimately, the murdered young man lying bloody next to his horse.

“We’ll do tours and we’ll start in 2018, on the 140th anniversary of the murder,” Roberts said.

So, this Sunday, Feb. 18, exactly 140 years after it happened, you can join the first-ever Ranger-led tour to the murder site. The tour starts at 1 p.m. at the LHS Visitor Center with a brief presentation. Participants will then drive their own vehicles in a caravan to the site.

Since most of the drive is over unpaved, possibly rutted Forest Service roads, expect at least an hour or more of driving. Assure you have a full tank of gas before starting. No gas is available in Lincoln or enroute to the site. High-clearance vehicles are preferred but not required. You will park your vehicle about 100 yards from the actual site.

Expect to walk over rocky, uneven terrain to reach the plaques where Rangers will give another presentation. The tour ends at the site.

Tour cost is $5 for adults; those under 17 free. Reservations are requested but not required. For more information call the LHS Visitor Center at 575-653-4025.

Next time: March is spring break month. Follow me for tips to make your spring break the best.

Join Yvonne Lanelli every two weeks as “Follow Me!” takes Vámonos readers to outdoor adventure in Lincoln County or around the world.