On the first of February, 1896, Albert Fountain, prominent attorney, legislator, and tough leader of Indian and outlaw fighting militia, despite threats on his life and his eight year-old son Henry being with him, drove his wagon across the wild and lonely Tularosa basin of New Mexico. They were returning home after Albert's two-week meeting with a grand jury to obtain indictments of ranchers for cattle theft.

Mariana Perez de Ovante, Albert's wife, believing no one attacked a man traveling with a little boy, had begged Albert to take Henry with him. When Albert finally...