Bronco William — escaped fugitive recaptured in Mexico
LEAD: Bronco William, also known as William Walters or Bronco Bill, is a Grant County fugitive who escaped from jail and was recaptured in Palomas, Mexico, by Cipiano Baca in early 1891. [4][6]
About three weeks before March 1891, Bronco Bill was in the Grant County jail awaiting the next grand jury session [4][7]. A friend smuggled a .38 caliber revolver through the bars, and Bronco used it to force the guard to unlock the grated door, then fled on a horse while a fellow prisoner marched the guard out of town [4][5]. He crossed into the Mexican republic, stopping at Deming to steal a fresh horse from Henry Holgate, and arrived at Palomas, where he returned the borrowed horse [5][3]. He was found there with the revolver he had used and another of larger caliber [6][3]. Sheriff Lockhart employed Cipiano Baca, a man well known around Palomas, to recapture him [6][3]. Baca proposed a dance and told Bronco a violin could be obtained just across the line; Bronco agreed, and when they crossed back, he was relieved of his revolvers, handcuffed, and returned to the sheriff [1][2].
Sources
- Meanwhile the sheriff was using every… (1891)e if Bronco would get the music. William fell in with the idea and as the matter was discussed over a long bottle of Mexican spirits visions of Mexican senoritas gaily tripping to the inspiring music of the v…
- Silver City Enterprise — 1891 (full OCR, Internet Archive) — 1891-03-06 (1891)n vision and he became an- xious. Kind friends suggested that a violin could be obtained about five miles away just across the line. He had no difficulty in borrow- ing a horse and Baca volunteered to go al…
- Silver City Enterprise — 1891 (full OCR, Internet Archive) — 1891-03-06 (1891)er- iff was anxious to have him return and remain a few weeks longer as his guest he would be very careful about getting outside the limits of the Mexican republic. Sheriff Lockhart em- ployed Cipiano Baca, …
- William Walters Again in the Toils of the Law (1891)William Walters Again in the Toils of the LawAbout three weeks ago, William Walters alias “Bronco Bill” was sojourning in the county bastile and enjoying the hospitality of Sheriff Lockhart. He had an invitatio…
- Silver City Enterprise — 1891 (full OCR, Internet Archive) — 1891-03-06 (1891)door. The guard com- plied with his wishes with considerable alacrity and Bronco, in accordance with a previously arranged plan, secured a horse while his fellow prisoner marched the guard two or three miles o…
- Meanwhile the sheriff was using every… (1891)Meanwhile the sheriff was using every effort to recapture the prisoner. He was traced to Palomas but the sheriff realized that it would not do to send a regular deputy across the line for as soon as Bronco a…
- Silver City Enterprise — 1891 (full OCR, Internet Archive) — 1891-03-06 (1891)ade a sale of a one-third interest in their property for $37,000. Mr. Bolton had them “grub staked,” and so far has not received share of the profits on the deal. From Ihe March 13, 1891, Issue of The En…