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Bad behavior: A couple of towns vie for the title of 'New Mexico's Wicked City'
About 145 years ago, a couple of New Mexico towns 鈥� sa国际传媒官网网页入口 and East Las Vegas/Las Vegas 鈥� vied for the unenviable label of New Mexico鈥檚 鈥淲icked City.鈥�
It wasn鈥檛 really a contest, more one reporter鈥檚 conclusions based on his/her personal observations of the Wild West, according to historian Robert J. T贸rrez.
The reporter was an unidentified special correspondent who had initially visited (new)East Las Vegas/(old)Las Vegas in the New Mexico Territory in 1879, about the time of the arrival of the railroad to town.
Apparently, the same correspondent returned to the territory in 1881, sniffing around sa国际传媒官网网页入口, looking for legitimate malice.
Bad behavior: A couple of towns vie for the title of 'New Mexico's Wicked City'
The correspondent鈥檚 visits are recounted in T贸rrez鈥檚 recent collection 鈥淣ew Mexico鈥檚 Wicked City & Other True Stories of New Mexico History.鈥�
It鈥檚 his third collection of articles that originally appeared under his long-running monthly 鈥淰oices from the Past鈥� byline.
T贸rrez said the newspaper the Globe-Democrat published items by the correspondent on East Las Vegas/Las Vegas and sa国际传媒官网网页入口 just after the railroads arrived in those communities.
As for East Las Vegas, the correspondent marveled that just before the railroad鈥檚 arrival, grain was growing undisturbed in the town. Months later, more than 100 businesses were engaged 鈥渋n every branch of trade known to civilization.鈥�
The correspondent is quoted as saying that most of the businesses were of a type 鈥渒nown to barbarism.鈥� The type that put the bar in barbarism, no doubt.
That was modified. Almost half of the businesses, the correspondent reported, were saloons or dance halls where people openly gambled.
The reporter-tourist also took time to describe the commerce, long lines of wagon trains, pulled by oxen teams, that showed up daily in Las Vegas 鈥� not East Las Vegas 鈥� from all parts of the territory and from Mexico. They were hauling in wool, hides, pelts, copper and other precious metals. They left town with 鈥渁ll the products of civilization.鈥� None was named, except for a goodly amount of St. Louis beer.
T贸rrez quotes the correspondent as stating that despite Las Vegas鈥� sleepy appearance, there were frequent 鈥渟ensations鈥� 鈥� lynchings on the plaza, shootings and stage robberies. T贸rrez also said the correspondent reported that travelers going from one town to the next were robbed of their belongings when commanded 鈥渉ands up.鈥�
The same reporter-tourist who wrote about East Las Vegas/Las Vegas may be the same person who penned an article about sa国际传媒官网网页入口 two years later. This 1881 article originally appeared in the Washington Star and was reprinted in the St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, T贸rrez writes.
Though the reporter-tourist said sa国际传媒官网网页入口 was a town of some importance, it nevertheless was wicked.
Supposedly, the wickedness claim was because the town 鈥渙penly advertised鈥� keno, faro and 鈥渉igh ball鈥� as their most popular forms of entertainment. And the phrase 鈥淗ands up鈥� could be heard in the Duke City.
sa国际传媒官网网页入口 is the subject of the photograph on the front cover of T贸rrez鈥檚 third collection. It shows two men in the foreground and the burgeoning Duke City down the road, in the background. There does not appear to be any visible wickedness occurring when the photo was taken, unless the men were secretly plotting where to play their next game of gin rummy or at which tavern to buy their next root beer.
Curiously, T贸rrez writes at the end of his article that the 19th century reporter-tourist revealed having his own vice: He 鈥渇reely鈥� sampled the local wine, which he found of high quality and reasonably priced at $1.50 per gallon. It鈥檚 unstated how much he drank.
The third volume of T贸rrez鈥檚 columns is divided into three sections 鈥� 鈥淕limpses of Spanish and Mexican-Era New Mexico,鈥� 鈥淧eople, Places & Events of Territorial New Mexico鈥� and 鈥淟aw and Disorder in Territorial New Mexico.鈥�
These are some of the other subjects of those columns: 鈥淓l Camino Real,鈥� 鈥淎 Massacre at Rio Abajo,鈥� 鈥淪anta Fe鈥檚 1832 Municipal Regulations,鈥� 鈥淭he Fourth of July in New Mexico,鈥� 鈥淭he Humble Jacal,鈥� 鈥淣ew Mexico鈥檚 Pueblos 1864,鈥� 鈥淟egal Hanging Number 52,鈥� 鈥淣ew Mexico鈥檚 First Penitentiary鈥� and 鈥淎 Great Escape.鈥�
T贸rrez, an sa国际传媒官网网页入口 resident, was the New Mexico state historian from 1987 until his retirement in 2000.
