Territory v. Chamberlain

• Decision Date: 01 September 1896
• Citation: 45 P. 1118,8 N.M. 538,1896 -NMSC- 016
• Parties: TERRITORY v. CHAMBERLAIN.
• Court: New Mexico Supreme Court

45 P. 1118

8 N.M. 538, 1896 -NMSC- 016

TERRITORY v. CHAMBERLAIN.

Supreme Court of New Mexico

September 1, 1896

Appeal from district court, Lincoln county; before Justice H. B Hamilton.

John Chamberlain was convicted of murder in the second degree, and appeals. Affirmed.

The evidence tended to show that the defendant and two other American cattlemen rode into a camp of some Mexican sheep herders, ordering the latter to take their sheep away from the range, which they proceeded to do. The deceased and his brother, Bonifacio, went with the burros to a lake near by to get some kegs filled with water, when the defendant and his two companions rode up. The firing soon after began. Bonifacio testified that one of the Americans struck him over the back with a rope, and that two of the Americans fired their rifles without hitting either the deceased or Bonifacio. The deceased was standing with his rifle on his arm, and "by the time he went to move his gun he had been struck, and he fell back, and as he was on his back he fired up in the air." Deceased was facing the defendant and his two companions when they fired their rifles. They afterwards fired at the deceased and the witness with pistols, though witness was not struck. A shot was fired which struck the gun of deceased, which caused him to fall down; and while down he attempted to get up, when the defendant fired the shot which killed the deceased. The shooting occurred near the railroad running between Magdalena and Socorro, and was seen by an engineer on a passing train who testified at the trial. He testified that he was about 75 or 100 yards away; "about three miles the other side of Water canon. I noticed several cowmen, and several Mexicans with burros, and it seemed like there was a little trouble. Q. What did they [the cowboys] seem to be doing? A. Appeared like they were driving those other parties away, apparently. Q. Driving the Mexicans away? A. Yes; seemed that way. Q. Go on. State what you saw. A. Appears to me one of the cowmen was lashing his rope or lariat, apparently hitting one of the Mexicans over the back or head, and soon one of the Mexicans bent over, apparently, for some reason or other. In the meantime one of the white men jerked out his six-shooter and fired, or a gun. Then I saw the Mexican fall over. I saw smoke from the gun. Then the shooting commenced from all directions. The Mexican commenced shooting. He was lying on the ground. The rest of them were shooting from all directions, riding away. That's about all I saw of it. The train went rapidly by." On cross-examination he testified in regard to the first firing: "Q. At that time did one or two guns fire first? A. Just one at the beginning. Q. Then the man shot at fell over? A. He fell down; yes, sir. Q. Then he commenced firing, and the others commenced firing? A. I would not be certain whether the man that got shot did the firing, or whether it was his partner. They were both together. There was some eight, ten, or a dozen shots fired." Samuel Tingley, another witness testified that he was working on the range at the time, and the evening of the day of the killing the defendant and Crow and Franklin came to him, and they told him that they had some difficulty with some Mexican sheep herders; that "they were going along, and one of the sheep herders kept edging away from the sheep herd and directly one of them had a difficulty with another sheep herder, and there was some trouble. And John Chamberlain told me-- I think it was him said that when...