In 1890, the U.S. government declared the frontier settled, and the “Wild West” was history. In the territory of New Mexico, however, crime still knew no limit and the gun was the final answer to all problems. Aiming to help New Mexico achieve statehood, its leaders decided they needed a mounted police force like those that had tamed Texas and Arizona.
This book describes the birth of the New Mexico Mounted Police in 1905 and tells the stories of the members of the original Mounties, starting with their first captain, John F. Fullerton. Information drawn from personal interviews with ranger family members (many of whom provided photographs), Fullerton’s personal papers and official Mounted Police records brings a wealth of detail to this story from New Mexico’s rich history. Fred Lambert, the last surviving member of the territorial rangers, provides a foreword.

Chuck Hornung was a member of the founding board of directors and vice president of the Wild West History Association. He is a member of the Historical Society of New Mexico, the English Westerners Society, the Western Writers of America, past president of the Western Outlaw-Lawman History Association and president of the New Mexico Mounted Police Historical Society.

Chuck Hornung
Foreword by Fred Lambert
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 269
Bibliographic Info: photos, tables, appendix, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2011 [2005]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6426-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0871-6
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii

Foreword by Fred Lambert      1

Introduction: The Legend Begins      5

1. New Mexico: The Land of Enchantment`      9

2. Lawmakers at Santa Fe, 1899      13

3. The Arizona Rangers: The New Mexico Mounted Police’s “Grandpa”      22

4. Lawmakers at Santa Fe, 1905      29

5. John Ferguson Fullerton: The Journey Begins      37

6. The Men of Fullerton’s Rangers      50

7. “The Governor Shall … Organize a Corps of Mounted Police”      67

8. “The Mounted Police … Shall Have Full Power to Make Arrests”      98

9. Fullerton’s Personnel Problems      163

10. The New Mexico Mounted Police Fund      172

11. Road to Oblivion: The Removal of Capt. John F. Fullerton      181

12. From Fullerton’s Rangers to Fornoff’s Boys      196

13. John Ferguson Fullerton: The Final Years      198

Epilogue      206

Appendix: Cover Route Sheet and Text of Greer Mounted Police Bill      207

Notes      221

Bibliography      245

Index      253

“highly recommend[ed]”—The Roadrunner; “valuable…carefully documented”—Western Outlaw-Lawman History Association Journal; “remarkable…important contribution”—True West; “thorough”—Wild West.