In addition to the salary they paid Kirker…
source date: 1889
availability: public-domain

co the following year. He raised a large and respectable family. Three of his sons live near Pinos Altos, in Grant County, one daughter died in Mesilla in 1860, and the other is married to a kell known Ameri- can, a pioneer of the territory and a veteran of the Mexican war. In addition to the salary they paid Kirker for his services, they gave him a premium of $50 for every Indian scalp he brought in; and as there are many harmless tame Indians in Mexico whose long black hair resembles the average Apache, some of his friends started a report that he occasionally killed some of these and palmed off their scalps for genuine Apaches. Although he could have done this without detection, if he had been so unscrupu- lous, still no person ever considered the report more than a good joke on Kirker, which he understood and seemed to enjoy as much as any- body. The body of the Lake Valley section boss, who was lost during the recent severe storm, has been found near Osceola station. It is thought that he met with foul play from some of the Mexican section men, with whom he had some trouble a few days before his disap- pearance.