Albert Jennings Fountain

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Albert J. Fountain

Albert Jennings Fountain (October 23, 1838 - February 1, 1896) was a lawyer, Indian fighter, and Republican politician in Texas and New Mexico.

[edit] Early life, military service and career

Fountain was born on Staten Island, New York on 23 October 1838 to Solomon Jennings and his wife Catherine de la Fontaine. He went to California as a young man and began calling himself by an Anglicised version of his mother's family name. (Accounts differ as to why he did so.) He studied law in California, but never took the bar examination. In August 1861, he enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War and was commissioned an officer. He took part in the Union conquest of the Confederate Territory of Arizona as part of the California Column. In October 1862 he married Mariana Perez of Mesilla. They would become the parents of 5 sons and 4 daughters.

Discharged as a captain at the war's end, Fountain settled in El Paso, Texas, working for the United States Property Commission, which investigated and disposed of former Confederate property. He performed so well that he was made the Customs Collector for the El Paso region. He was next appointed an election judge and finally the Assessor and Collector of Internal Revenue for the Western District of Texas.

In 1869 he won a seat in the Texas Senate in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Texas Legislatures. Fountain was elected as President pro tempore (also serving as Lieutenant Governor ex officio, since that office was vacant) during the second session of the Twelfth Legislature.

Fountain’s Radical Republican views angered Texas Democrats, and he was challenged to several duels, killing at least one man, Frank Williams, because of them. These same views may have also lead to his disappearance and presumed murder. At the time of Fountain's slaying, he was prosecuting suspected cattle rustlers, and land-grabbers, specifically Oliver M. Lee, and he found himself at odds with Lee's associate, corrupt attorney Albert Fall.

In 1873 Fountain decided to move back to his wife's home of Mesilla, New Mexico. He became a lawyer in Mesilla, using his fluent Spanish to good advantage in jury trials. He was appointed assistant district attorney and would also serve as probate judge and a deputy court clerk. A militia officer in the wars with the Apaches, he reached the rank of colonel and would be called by that rank for the remainder of his life.

Fountain became a leading figure in the Republican Party in New Mexico, serving a term in the state legislature. Unfortunately, he would acquire numerous political enemies, which probably was the reason behind his mysterious disappearance.

[edit] Disappearance and (probable) murder

On 1 February 1896, Fountain and his eight-year-old son Henry disappeared near the White Sands on the way to their home in Mesilla, near Las Cruces, New Mexico. All that was discovered were Fountain’s buckboard, several empty cartridge casings, his cravat and papers, and two pools of blood. The only sign of Henry was a blood drenched handkerchief with two powder-blackened coins, the handkerchief still carefully knotted in one corner. Missing were the victim's bodies, a blanket, a quilt, and Fountain's Winchester rifle.

Some alleged that outlaw "Black Jack" Ketchum and his gang were involved in the killings. However, most believed that the disappearances could be attributed to a man closer to home. Oliver M. Lee, a noted New Mexico gunman, rancher, cattle rustler, outlaw, and part-time Deputy U.S. Marshal, as well as his employees Jim Gililland and William "Billy" McNew were suspected of the slayings. Lee and Gililland were pursued by lawman Pat Garrett and a posse, and they engaged Garrett and his men in a gun battle near Alamogordo. Deputy Sheriff Kurt Kearney was killed, and Garrett and his posse retreated. Lee and Gililland later surrendered to other lawmen. They were defended by Albert Fall, and were acquitted of participation in the Albert Jennings Fountain case.

Lee's involvement in the case, as well as Fall's, did go deeper than the acquittal would reflect. Due to his land ownings, Fountain was a powerful rival to land owners Lee and Albert Fall. In their employ were smalltime gunmen Billy McNew and Jim Gililland. Fall was well known to have hated Fountain. Fall's association with Oliver Lee began when Fall assisted Lee during a criminal case. If law enforcement officials closed in, Fall dealt with the legal issues.

Fountain, however, showed little fear of the Fall/Lee faction, and challenged them openly in the courts as well as in the political arena. Many factors indicated that Lee was involved in the disappearance and murder of Fountain. The bodies of Fountain and his young son were never found, which hampered prosecution. Albert Fall defended all three of the men who were eventually charged with the crime of killing Henry Fountain (Albert's son). Charges were never filed for the killing of Albert. They were Oliver Lee, Jim Gililland, and Billy McNew. Charges against McNew were dismissed, while Lee and Gililland were acquitted. The end result of their prosecution, more than anything else, hinged on there being no body.^[1]

[edit] See also

• Texas Senate
• Twelfth Texas Legislature
• Thirteenth Texas Legislature
• Missing person
• List of people who have disappeared
• San Elizario Salt War[1]
• Thomas B. Catron

[edit] Notes

• ^  Ollie Reed, Jr. of the Albuquerque Tribune in an article on 25 May 2001 refers to the fact that in 1900, charred bones were found in an unmarked grave in the Sacramento Mountains. The killings may have been carried out by outlaw Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum. Reed quotes Tribune reporter Howard Bryan as saying if Ketchum did the killings he did it for hire, but does not say who may have hired him. Mr. Reed's source for the Ketchum connection is Bryan and Bryan’s book "True Tales of the American Southwest" 1998, Clear Light Publishers. Mr. Bryan mentions the bones in an 22 April 1965 Albuquerque Tribune column in which he writes about A.M. Gibson's book "The Life and Death of Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain." 1965 University of Oklahoma Press.

• ^  Issue of Albert Jennings Fountain: Albert (December 1863), Marianita (1865), Edward (1868), Maggie (1871), Thomas (1873), John A. (1876), Fannie, Catarina, and Henry (1888) Fountain.

[edit] References

• Gibson, A. M., The Life and Death of Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965)
• Recko, Corey, Murder on the White Sands: The Disappearance of Albert and Henry Fountain, (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2007)
• 1880-1910 United States Federal Census

[edit] Further reading on Fountain's life and death

• Gibson, A. M., The Life and Death of Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965)
• Owen, Gordon, The Two Alberts: Fountain and Fall, (Las Cruces: Yucca Tree Press, 1996)
• Recko, Corey, Murder on the White Sands: The Disappearance of Albert and Henry Fountain, (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2007)
• Sonnichsen, C. L., Tularosa: The Last of the Frontier West, (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1960)

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Albert Jennings Fountain from the Handbook of Texas Online
• Borderlands
• Albert Jennings Fountain at Find A Grave Retrieved on 2008-02-14
• Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain Timeline
• For further reading on the Fountain disappearance, see this "Murder Most Foul" at DesertUSA.com.
• "The Fountain Murders: Sites Today"