ABRAN MILLER

by Edith L. Crawford 

Carrizozo, N. Mex.  [Interview?] 

September 30, 1938 

Words: 2298 

Subject: Pioneer Story 

Source of Information: Abran Miller. 

Oct 3 1938    2nd 

I was born in February, 1863 (I do not know the date) at Manzano, New Mexico. 
I have lived in Lincoln County, New Mexico, continuously for sixty-four years. 

My father, Holan Miller, was born in Canada. I do not know where nor in what 
year. My mother, Manuelite Herrera Carrillo, was born in Manzano, New Mexico, 
but I do not know what year she was born. 

My father and mother married in Manzano, New Mexico, in 1869. There were five 
children, three boys and two girls. Debbie, Abran, [Willie?], Eliza and 
Adolpho Miller. 

My father was a blacksmith by trade and where-ever we lived he had a shop of 
his own. We lived in Manzano New Mexico, for about four years. 

In the fall of 1863 we moved to Springer, New Mexico, where we lived for seven 
years. Father put up a blacksmith shop and took two hundred head of cattle to 
run on shares and he built up the herd until he had about one hundred head of 
his own. We left Springer in 1870, in two covered wagons, drawn by six oxen to 
each wagon. We took our cattle, about one hundred head with us. We traveled 
most of the time at night on account of being afraid of the Indians. The only 
cow boy that I remember helping us, was my mother's brother, my uncle, Pat 
Carillo. I used to ride behind him. He would strap me to his waist to keep me 
from falling off. The men in the crowd carried six shooters in their belts and 
Winchester rifles on their saddles. We had no trouble [???] the trip to Fort 
Sumner in about two weeks. 

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We lived in Fort Sumner New Mexico until 1874. Father had a blacksmith shop 
there too. His herd of cattle increased to about two hundred and seventy five 
head. In the early spring of 1874 he decided to move to Fort Stanton, New 
Mexico.  

We loaded up in the two covered wagons, drawn by six oxen to a wagon, and 
started for Fort Stanton, which was a military post at that time. 

We crossed the Pecos River at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, and had no trouble 
crossing the cattle. We grazed the cattle along and took our time and made the 
trip for Fort Stanton in about two weeks. We lived there for about three 
years. My brother, Adolpho, was born there and lived only a short time. He 
died and was buried there at Fort Stanton. My father was blacksmith for the 
fort. 

My father rented a small piece of land from A. N. Blazer, who owned and ran 
the Blazer Mill, which was situated on the [Mescalero?] Indian Reservation. I 
do not remember just when we moved to this place on the Indian Reservation. 
The place had a two roomed log house on it, where we lived. My father still 
had his cattle and he had them on Fernando Herrera's place on the [?]. 

Father set up a blacksmith shop, planted a garden and about twenty acres in 
corn. He made a good crop and when he gathered it in the fall he sent word for 
me to come home. I had been staying with my uncle, Pat Carrillo, who lived not 
very far away on the Reservation. When I got home my father said; "Son, here 
is my crop and my blacksmith shop, you can sell them. Take care of your 
mother, I am going away and you will not see me anymore." He left that day on 
horseback. He went by Dowlin's Mill and sold his cattle to Paul and Will 
Dowlin, took the money and left the country. 

Soon after my father went away I went to work for the Murphy 

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Dolan Company, punching cows. I was about seventeen years old. The head 
quarter ranch house was on the Carrizozo Flats, at what is now the Bar W 
ranch. 

After my father left my mother moved to the Solado flats, about one mile west 
of where the town of Capitan now stands. 

When my father had been gone for about four years I got a letter from him one 
day. He was over on the Rio Grande river, at a place called [Caan?] Colorado, 
about eighteen miles south of Belen, New Mexico. He wanted me to come over 
there to see him, so I saddled up my black pony and started. I took me two 
days to make the trip. When I arrived, I found my father in his blacksmith 
shop. he said; "Hello son, I am glad you came. I want you to have a black 
stallion I have here, and you can also have this blacksmith shop. I am leaving 
this time and you will never see me again." He turned and started walking 
toward the river. I never did see or hear of him from that day to this, nor 
ever found any body else that ever saw him after that day. My father was 
always a very queer man and brooded a lot. 

I was very small for my age and when I first went to work for the Murphy, 
Dolan Company. I got my clothes and board and Mr. Murphy gave forty dollars to 
my mother, each month. I soon made them a good cow hand and then I got sixty 
dollars a month. 

They sent me with a bunch of cattle to Elk Canyon, in the [?] Indian 
Reservation. These cattle were to be butchered for the Indians as they needed 
them. A fellow by the name of Lucio Montoya and I were left to watch the 
cattle and keep the Indians from stealing them. One morning we got up and it 
was Lucio's time to go and get the horses. We kept a small black mule in the 
corral 

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to ride after the [saddle?] horses. While Lucio was saddling up the mule I was 
looking around to see if I could see anything of the horses. 

All at once I saw an awful dust rising and I told Lucio to hurry up as I 
feared some one was rounding up either the cattle or the saddle horses. 

He rode off in a run. I waited for some time and he did not return. I had just 
about decided that he had been killed, and I went back to the cabin. I was 
standing in the door of the cabin when about thirty men rode up to the door. 
The leader was a nice looking young fellow. He said "Hello kid, do you have 
anything to eat?" 

I said, "Yes, there is coffee, beans, flour and some canned goods, you are 
welcome to it, but you will have to cook it yourselves. I have to go and get 
my horses and see what has become of Lucio." 

The leader of this gang was "Billy the Kid." I did not know it at the time as 
this was just the beginning of the trouble leading up to the "Lincoln County 
War". This war was between two cattle factions. Murphy and Dolan on one said 
and McSween and [?] on the other. 

Billy the Kid saw I was just a kid and was scared and he said; "Kid don't be 
afraid for not a man in the crowd will hurt you nor bother anything around 
here while your are in charge of it." They all got down from their horses and 
came in. I helped them make some coffee. While we were waiting for the coffee 
to boil Billy the Kid asked me all about myself, how old I was, where I live, 
etc. After they had eaten they all rode off toward the head of Elk Canyon. 

I started out a-foot to find the horses and soon found 

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them. The mule that Lucio had started after the horses on was with them but I 
could not find Lucio. I soon saw that a horse of Lucio's was gone and I just 
decided that he had gotten frightened and left. 

I found out later that this gang of men were with the [McSween?] and Tunstall 
faction but they never bothered me at all. 

While my mother was living on the Salado, Billy the Kid came to our house for 
something to eat. This was after the time he had been to the camp at Elk's 
Canyon. He recognized me at once and I did him. My mother did not want to feed 
him because he was not on Murphy's side at that time. I told her how nice he 
had been to me that time at Elk's Canyon, so she gave him something to eat and 
let him stay all night. I got up early the next morning and went out to milk 
the cow. While I was milking the dogs began to bark. I saw several men riding 
horseback, coming towards the house. I did not have time to warn Billy that 
someone was coming but he and mother saw them. Mother had a big home-made 
packing box she used for a trunk and it had a pad lock on it. She hid Billy in 
this box before the men reached the house. (This was after [?] had been 
killed. [?] was the clerk at the Mesaclero Indian Agency, and Billy had been 
indited for this killing, and was on the dodge.) 

When I reached the house I found that the men were Sheriff Peppin and 
[Florencio?] Chaves, his deputy, and two other men. (I have forgotten their 
names.) They were looking for Billy. They searched the house but did not find 
him. Peppin [?] out in the yard and asked who the black horse with the saddle 
on belonged to. I told him it was my horse. He wanted to know why I kept a 
horse saddled and staked out. I told him I kept the horse to go round up the 
other horses. He did not believe me. I know, for he said to one of his 

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men that Billy the Kid should be around there somewhere. When he did not find 
Billy they rode away. The Kid stayed in our house all that day and when it got 
dark Mother asked me to let Billy have my black horse and saddle, as she 
thought that he would return them to me. I did, and sure enough, in about ten 
days I got up one morning and found my horse, with the saddle on, in the 
corral. I never did know who brought him back. I was surely glad, for I 
thought an awful lot of this horse and I was so afraid that Billy would not 
get him back to me. I had traded with the Apache Indians for this horse. I had 
given about ten dollars worth of red flannel, beads and powder for him. 

When Billy the Kid and his gang had killed [Bernstein?], a clerk at the Indian 
Agency, Mr. L. O. Murphy, (of the Murphy, Dolan Company), sent me to Santa Fe, 
New Mexico, with the message to the governor. I rode this same black horse. I 
had to go first to Fort Stanton to see the commanding officer. I got there 
about three o'clock in the morning. The guard stopped me but when I told him 
what I wanted to see the commanding officer about, he took me to the officer's 
house. This officer gave me another message and a fresh horse and I started 
for Santa Fe. I rode to Pinco [?], on the north side of the [Gallinao?] 
Mountains, that night. I knew a fellow there, by the name of Mario Payne, and 
he let me have a fresh horse, and I made it on to Santa Fe on the third day. 

When I went in to see Governor Axtall, and deliver my messages to him he was 
mad because they had sent such a kid. He asked me why Pat Carillo had not sent 
his own son, as he was larger and older than I was. He also told me to tell 
Mr. Murphy to give me three hundred dollars for that trip, and if Mr. Murphy 
didn't do it, he would. I got my three hundred dollars from Mr. Murphy all 
right. 

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That is the only part that I took in the Lincoln County War, although I was 
working for the Murphy, Dolan Company all during the war. I stayed at the head 
quarters ranch on the Carrizozo Flats most of the time. 

I saved up about six hundred dollars while I was working for the Murphy, Dolan 
Company, and on February 12, 1881, I married Juanita Romero, the daughter of 
Juan Romero, Of Lincoln, New Mexico. There was no priest in Lincoln at that 
time and I had to send to Manzano, New Mexico, to get a priest to marry us. 

Father Louis [Boresolver?] came over from Manzano and married us and I paid 
him twenty-five dollars to make the trip. We went to housekeeping in Lincoln 
and I still worked for Murphy and Dolan. My wife and I had five children, 
three girls and two boys. They were all born at Lincoln, New Mexico. Andres, 
[?], Susanna, Trinidad and [?]. All of our children are dead except Andres, 
the oldest one. He is married and lives in Roswell, New Mexico. My wife and I 
have been separated for a number of years. She lives with Andres, in Roswell. 

I live here in Carrizozo, New Mexico, and would not live any where else. My 
little one room shack is on the old head quarters ranch place where I used to 
cut out all the strays from the heard. 

Narrator: Abran Miller, Carrizozo, New Mexico, Aged [75?] years. 

CORRECTIONS ON THE ABRAN MILLER- PIONEER STORY 

Page 1, paragraph 4. 

"Father and Mother lived in Manzano New Mexico, for about four years." 

"I was about six months old when we moved to Springer, New Mexico." 

Credit: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project 
Collection.

Torrance, Colfax, De Baca, Lincoln