Capt. French, Manager of the W.S. Ranch on the Frisco
Ranch, situated on the Frisco, operated in a landscape still marked by Apache danger and the recent shadow of Geronimo’s raids. [2][4][5] In the spring of 1888, Capt. French gathered his cowpunchers and delivered a blunt ultimatum: if any of them intended to marry that year, they had better do it soon, because he was “tired of their running around every Sunday when they should be branding mavericks.” [1][9] The remark, reported with the laconic tag “Dap,” suggests a manager concerned with both the discipline of his crew and the practical rhythms of spring roundup.
French offered a reward for the recovery of the horse and $1,000 for the arrest and conviction of the thief. [8] The animal was believed to have been taken across the range, trailed through the Cooney district—a mining camp that often saw men of mixed and sometimes lawless character. [8]
Ranch, he was thrown from a bronco and sustained a fracture of the left arm. [2][4] The accident, described as “painful,” was the kind of everyday hazard that marked the life of a ranch manager responsible for livestock and rough country.
Avaran Barrera was killed at the first fire, shot downward through the body. [11] French’s report, relayed to the Silver City press, placed the manager not only in the livestock economy but in the network of communication that linked remote settlements to the county seat.
Many farms along the valley, particularly in the neighborhood of Pleasanton, were badly damaged. [3] The dam’s destruction illustrates the delicate infrastructure ranchers and farmers attempted to maintain in a region of flash floods and seasonal extremes.
He does not appear in the surviving Grant County press under other names or titles, and his military rank—“Capt.”—is unattributed to any specific command. [2][4] He is contemporaneous with other “captains” of the region: Capt. Rabb, a ranger and cattleman who later left the Mimbres valley. [7][6][10] But French’s recorded identity is bound to the W.S.
Sources
- Captain French rounded up all his cow-… (1888)Captain French rounded up all his cow- punchers and told them if they intended to marry this year that it was time they were at it, as he was tired of their running around every Sunday when they should be …
- Capt… (1889)Capt. French, manager of the W. S. Ranch on the Frisco, met with a painful accident last week. He was thrown from a bronco, sustain- ing a fracture of the left arm.
- Captain French, of the W… (1891)Captain French, of the W. S. Ranch, ar- rived from Alma Tuesday. He reports that the floods in that section did a great deal of dam- age, washing out the fine dam which his com- pany had built across the rive…
- Silver City Enterprise — 1888-1890 (full OCR, Internet Archive) — 1889-01-18 (1889)law in Arizona these murderers will be hung. They are worse enemies to a country than the Apaches. If jus- tice is not done in this matter the officials of Graham county will be to blame, and capitalists …
- Silver City Enterprise — 1888-1890 (full OCR, Internet Archive) — 1890-10-17 (1890)he startling information was flashed over the wires from El Paso to the Marshal of Silver City that Chas. Baine, better known as “Frenchy”, who had been the gardener at Hud- son’s for the past year, had k…
- Captain Cooney, of the Mogollons coun-… (1891)Captain Cooney, of the Mogollons coun- try, arrived from Frisco valley enroute to So- corro on last Tuesday’s coach.
- Captain Keys has had many years experi-… (1890)Captain Keys has had many years experi- ence in Indian campaigns on the frontier, and it is said that he was thoroughly convinced that the depredations had been committed by Apaches, notwithstanding the official …
- Last Saturday night there was stolen from… (1888)Last Saturday night there was stolen from the WS ranch a sorrel thoroughbred stallion, 16 hands high. Captain French will pay a re- ward for the recovery of the animal and $1,000 for the arrest and conviction o…
- Silver City Enterprise — 1888-1890 (full OCR, Internet Archive) — 1888-04-06 (1888)s, and now Mr. Ancheta has concluded to go out of business. Burt Menard’s house was recently burned with a loss to the owner of $1000, pre- sumably, by the same band of outlaws. A clean-up will be made i…
- CURETONS RENT RABB PLACE (1891)CURETONS RENT RABB PLACE Capt. J. T. Rabb has rented his beautiful place on the Mimbres to the Cureton Brothers, and will soon leave with his family for Seattle, with the hope that the moist climate of that…
- Two Men Killed (1890)Two Men Killed Captain Wm. French, manager of the W. S. ranch at Alma, arrived in Silver City last Mon- day and gives the following particulars of the killing by Indians on the ’Frisco river about 25 miles a…