i seen some reference to a Coe being Hung in pueble Colorado in a note back some place here is a reference to the Coe gang as it was known. This family is a part of my Grandmother direct line.. I have never heard of him being called Capt william coe as I believe it was said.. there names are George and John. I know its quite long but its all on the Coe gang. If anyone needs more references I can locate it well it was where the family lived many years In fact the Robbers Roost that it speaks about was on My wifes Uncles Property. He also carried a big Gun. John and George both died of Old age..And are buried on what is now my brother-in-laws farm. There were No Good Guys in New Mexico's Stockton-Coe Feud The western novels and the movies of today, as exaggerated as they may seem, are tame in comparison to the wild and hardfisted days in the old San Juan county bordering the New Mexico-Colorado line. in the early 1880s,when the San Jaun area was opened for settlement, gun law held the upper hand. Farmington,N.M., served as the trading center for most of the homesteaders and stockmen. The latter were ruled by the gunslinging Coe clan, in particular Frank and George Coe, who formerly had ridden with Billy the Kids gang. Their neighbors in the vicinity of Broomfield, were the equally notorious Eskridge boys, Harg and Dyson.The latter, a lad of 20, imagined himself another Kid. Passing as ranchers, the brothers operated a small rustling ring. Port and Ike Stockton, meanwhile, were reared in the cattle country around Cleburne, Texas, and moved to Fort Worth, where they joined the great cattle drives north, During these drives Port developed a reputation as a gunfighter. Later, at the invitation of Clay Allison, he joined the outlaw's roost at Cimarron,N.M. Within a few short months Port had added two more killings to his fast-growing list. Rescued from a lynch mob by his brother Ike, he went to the San Juan country and helped the Eskridge crew take over control of the area's catle thieves. With two forces in operation, it was inevitable that Port Stockton's band and the Coes should soon be accusing each other of rustling. Outnumbered, Port wwas forced to flee and landed across the Colorado line at Animas City. The town was in need of a marshal who was quick on the draw, and Port was their man. But he was not the kind of man who could be trusted with a gun for long, and citizens soon began to realize they had more to fear from him than from anyone else. He was stripped of his badge and placed under arrest, but strangely enough, he was allowed to retain his gun. That evening he escaped jail and was on the move, adding a few more shootings that brought his list to 18, he then settled near Aztec, N.M. Soon, Port had his old rustling gang back in operation. At the time, Ike Stockton was working for the Thompson and Lacy Cattle Company, Lacy being a distant relative of the Stocktons. At Port's urging, Ike went to look at the Farmington area and lived for a spell with the Coe's, who welcomed him as an old friend, dispite their difficulties with Port. Ike decided to settle near Animas City, and toward the end of November 1880 he went to Texas to bring up a herd of his cattle. Once more, Port Stockton's crew met opposition from the Coes, and the Coe gang lynched a cowboy suspected of working for Port. Then the Coes began to make raids on cattle belonging to Colorado ranchers, claiming they had no right to winter in New Mexico. Because of the Coe's swaggering and frightening intimidations, the entire section was branded in the press as "blacker than hell." Citizens who talked about bringing in troops to help were threatened with burnings. Ranchers,businessmen and justices of the peace had to join the Coe's or get out of the country to avoid being killed. Port Stockton, the Eskridges and their crew moved into Durango, a rawhide community that had mushroomed overnight when it became the railroad supply center for the entire San Juan country. With Durango as their headquarters, the Stockton gang members continued their raids, growing so brazen as to sell stolen cattle in open defiance of the law. They were even in assocation with the butchers at nearby Fort Lewis, supplying goverment soldiers with beef. Harg Eskridge's saloon served as a base of operations. Picking a likely victim from among the patrons, they would tail him outside, knock him senseless and rob him at their leisure. Occasionally they killed a patron, but since there were no witnesses, the body would be hauled away to be buried at city expense. On December 28, 1880, the widowed Mrs. Caroline W. Romney, editor and publisher of the Durango Record, inflamed the Stockton crew when she published a highly erroneous report of "An unprovoked Murder." She wrote of a shooting at the residence of F.M. Hamblet, near Farmington, at a Christmas Day party. Her story was that three uninvited ruffians, Dyson Eskridge, Oscar Pruett and James Garrett, had conducted themselves indicently and been requested to leave. Once they were outside, they had started shooting. The crowd in the house returned the fire, and George Brown, a spectator, was killed. A posse took out after the men, and a reward of $1,000, dead or alive, was offered. The truth was that the incident was the outcome of a trial concerning two Farmiington rustlers. George Brown and others had sworn vengance upon the Eskridges the next time they met. The so-called ruffians were at the party at the invitation of one of the younger Hamblets. They were well-behaved untiled the Farmington crew ganged up on them, and then a loud and abusive argument followed. Eskridge and Garrett started to leave, and then Brown, in the lead of the Farmington mob, came running around the building with drawn guns, yelling to get the so-and-so's. Seeing himself about to be attacked, Eskridge opened fire and killed Brown in the first exchange. Young Oscar Pruett, who never drew his gun, ran up to his host, Lee Hamblet, and begged for protection, saying he had never been a member of the Stockton gang. Hamblet told him he had nothing to fear and should run for it. Pruett took off but was shot in the back by the Farmington mob. Carried to a nearby home, Pruett died, his gun still in his holster. With their search for Dyson, Eskridge and Garrett on in earnest, the Farmington crew got word that Port Stockton was hiding them at his place near Aztec. A group of seven rode out there and, while five of them secretly surrounded Port's place under Frank Coe's direction, the remaining riders, Alf Graves and Aaron Baker, approached the house through the main gate. They were greeted by Port, unarmed and cleaning his pipe. As he and the two visitors were talking, the men under Coe closed in and killed Port instantly. Mrs. Stockton came running with a winchester, but they shot her down before she knew what was happening. A quick search failed to reveal any fugitives, so the gang rode off. Mrs Stockton recovered, but her left arm was permanently paralyzed. The shooting brought Ike Stockton back to Durango, vowing vengence against the Coe's. Many who knew Ike's temperament, including George Coe, fled the country. Ike took over his brothers crew, adding a few fast-shooting cowboys, including stage robber Charley Allison, M.C. Cook and young Burt Wilkinson. The Farmington mob forbade any of the Stockton crew to return to their New Mexico ranches. At least 40 refugees from the Farmington area moved into the vicinity of Durango. It became clear that, in addition to the established war between the two gangs, the Farmington cattlemen had decided to drive out homesteaders who were fencing the country. There were no law officers in Farmington to enforce the rights of any individual. In the fall of 1880 a justice and constable had been elected, but as they would not join the Coes , All books and records were detained by the local postmaster, who was in sympathy with mob rule. One of the Coes was the assisant postmaster and routinely tampered with the mails to prevent any letters of complaint from reaching the authorities at Santa Fe. Early in March 1881, in spite of the warnings to keep out, Ike Stockton led nine of his followers into New Mexico to gather their herds. They camped near the site of James Garrett's cabin, which had been burned to the ground by the Farmington posse soon after the Christmas shooting. That afternoon, while some of the men were asleep, two Farmington cowboys accidentally stumbled into Stocktons camp. Aaron Barker, one of the men who had killed Port, was in the lead, with Tom Nance not far behind. As they approached, Ike, who was sitting by the fire, rose with his rifle in hand. Barker recognized him and was the first to shoot, hitting one of the Durango men in the leg. Stockton plugged Barker off his horse, he was dead before his body hit the ground, a clean shot though the head. Nance, though pursued, managed to escape. Fearing ambush, the Stockton crew returned to Durango. Doubling their force, they started out once more. they had barely reached their former camp near Garrett's place when a rider brought word that a Farmington gang of about 30 was headed for Durango with the intent of burning the town. The arsonists did not show up, but a company of troops came into town from Fort Lewis. At this point, the wealthy and respected J.W. Lacy took up residence in Stockton's Durango house. The Coe gang saw this as a threat to their plans, so they planned to undermine the relationship between Stockton and Lacy. Men from various parts of New Mexico were detailed to write letters to Lacy with lies about Stockton's killing off Lacy's cattle, stealing his horse's and generally robbing him. So many of these tales were received that Lacy finally sent " Big Dan" Howland to spy on Stockton, Lacy did not know that Howland was a plant of the Coe gang. Lacy finally caught on to Howland and got rid of him, after deciding that Stockton was right. Then the Farmington gang tried writing letters to Mrs. Lacy, warning her against Stockton. Lacy went to Farmington to try to settle matters but ended up on Farmington's list of wanted men. On April 11, 1881, the Coe gang, some 20 strong, rode into Durango to arrest Stockton and his crew. As it happened, Durango's first lynching was in progress, a gambler was being hanged for shooting a cowboy. With 300 armed vigilantes around, the New mexico visitors were afraid to start anything and rode on to Animas City. The next morning they rode back toward Durango and were met just east of town by the Durango cowboys. there was a half-hour pitched gun battle. two spectators were hit. Big Dan Howland, with the Farmington gang, had his horse shot from under him. The Farmington gang had to head home to escape. On the way to Farmington, Howland killed a defenseless Mexican sheepheader. The Durango Record, in its next issue, carried an editorial accusing the Stockton gang of starting things and demanded a mass meeting to find a way to get rid of the gang. The vigilantes reconvened and adopted a resolution that the Stockton gang had to leave Durango. Governor Lew Wallace of New Mexico issued an indictment against them, and rewards totaling $2,250 were offered for the capture of Stockton and seven of his men. Newspapers had a field day. The Santa Fe New Mexican branded the Coe brthers as organizers of a murderous mob, listing 16 murders for which they were responsible. The Durango paper, which at first had demanded that the Stockton gang be run out of town, later took up the gang's defense, saying the gang members would surrender to authorities but not to their mortal enemies in New Mexico. The Stockton party decided to move to Amargo, N.M., anyway. There, Kit White, a gambler who was down on his luck, hired out as a killer to the Coe gang and made the mistake of drawing his gun on Harg Eskridge. Before White died, he admitted before reliable witnesses that Eskridge had shot back in self-defense. Then the gang turned up in Rico, where Stockton, Eskridge and young Burt Wilkinson operated a silver mine. Two weeks later the whole gang joined in the pursuit of a large band of indians who had killed three ranchers, burned homes, stolen cattle and harassed the whole county along the Colorado-Utah line. The final battle withthe indians resulted in the loss of 10 whites and nearly 100 indians. Harg Eskridge, in spite of severe wounds, accounted for nine dead warriors, and the heroic services of Stockton and the other men redeemed them in the eyes of all the Colorado citizens. While the Stockton party was engaged in the indian hunt, the Coe gang seized the opportunity in late May 1881 to strike against Lacy. While lacy was on business at Fort Lewis, Big Dan Howland visited him, got into an argument about back pay, and then shot Lacy in the back three times, klling him. The Stockton party finally arrived at Durango around the middle of June, they were given a hero's welcome. The Santa Fe papers published editorals that slurred Governor Pitkin for his failure to do something about the "Colorado Desperadoes." The Durango Record came out in strong defense of the Stockton group. Unfortunately, right after this, Dyson Eskridge,Burt Wilkinson and a Texan known as the "Black Kid" went on a wild drinking spree that started at Durango and ended with the shooting of the town marshal at Silverton, Colorado. Eskridge and Wilkinson escaped, but the Black Kid was jailed and soon lynched. Because of the popularity of Ogsbury, the slain marshal, rewards snowballed to $5,000 for the apprehension of Wilkinson and Eskridge. Ironically, Ike Stockton was among the swarms of men trying to find the fugitives, even though Ike had actually helped mold the two into the killers they became. Ike relized that Harg Eskridge would kill him if he turned in his brother Dyson, and he also knew Dyson would not desert Wilkinson. So Stockton proposed to Harg a scheme to get Dyson out of the way, turn Wilkinson over to the authorities, collect the reward and then ride in with a gang and free Wilkinson. Stockton had himself and a friend, Marian C. Cook, appointed as deputies, and they soon found the fugitives. Stockton explained his plan to help them escape, and the four headed south. Late in the evening, while resting on LaPlata mesa near Durango, Stockton instructed Dyson Eskridge to call at a friend's house some miles away to get fresh horses before redezvousing and continuing into Old Mexico. Only then did Stockton reveal to Wilkinson the plan to turn him in, get the reward and then help him escape. Wilkinson finally agreed to the scheme, and they rode into Animas City. The capture was widely reported, and negotiations were started with the Silverton authorities for the reward. Wilkinson was only 20, but he had three killings to his credit. When the Silverton Authorities paid off the reward and started back to Silverton with Wilkinson, one of the largest police forces ever organized to watch a single man stood by to prevent any attempt at rescue. If Stockton even tried to get to Silverton, he was to late, for Wilkinson was promptly lynched. Many men turned against Stockton for betraying Wilkinson. And Sheriff Jim Sullivan, up to now sympathetic with Stockton, hastily sent for new warrants. Cook, who had helped with Wilkinson' capture, was actuallly a murderer whose real name was Gilbreath. He had killed a Sheriff in Bosque County, Texas, and a reward of $1,700 was still on offer. Sullivan, having obtained his warrants, waited for Stockton and Cook to come to town. Cook was arrested, but Stockton drew his gun and started to run. He was shot down by Sullivan and his deputy, who were taking no chances. Stockton died that night. Cook went to Texas for trial. The Stockton gang was by then well scattered. The Coe crew disbanded, and peace reigned agained in the San Jaun country. Leatrice (Lea) Wagner Edwin E. (Gene) Wagner 6428 E. Presidio ST Mesa AZ. 85215 602 981 1253 http://www.inficad.com/~genelea http://www.inficad.com/~genelea/wagdata/index.html