My “Ayoob Files” continuing series in American Handgunner magazine covers in the current issue the legendary 1884 siege in which Elfego Baca holed up with a pair of revolvers and held off a vengeful gang of cowboys who pumped some 4,000 bullets into the shack where he had taken refuge.  Unlikely as it sounds, history shows that’s pretty much how the thing went down.

In researching the shootout, I followed up on Baca’s later life, which included time as an elected county sheriff, and as an attorney.  (And a few more gunfights.)  It turns out that Baca was an innovative fellow.

In one case, as sheriff he was conducting a murder investigation.  Fresh human feces were found near the death scene.  He instructed a deputy to collect it and put it in a tin can.  Before long, he came upon a likely suspect, who became so nervous during Baca’s interrogation that he felt a sudden urge to relieve himself.  Baca allowed him to do so, and then once again ordered a deputy to “can it,” so to speak.

An unusual pattern of chili seeds was present in both fecal samples.  There was no DNA testing in those days, of course, but by the standards of the time, Baca’s thinking was positively Sherlockian.  Today, it would be seen as crappy evidence in more ways than one and might not meet the standard of a “reasonable degree of scientific certainty,” but back then it was enough to convict the suspect of murder.

Forgive a crude reference from common parlance, but one could say that Sheriff Elfego Baca was certainly a lawman who knew his shit.

24 COMMENTS

  1. -Police work can sometimes be a “sh*tty job”.
    -The bad guy evidently did “give a sh*t”.
    -Sheriff Baca risked becoming known for “taking a lot of sh*t” off suspects.
    -Gives a new meaning to “doing the paperwork” after the arrest.
    -Eating peppers can burn you going in, burn you coming out, and in this case, burn you in the end.

    Sorry Mas, you just made it too easy. Thanks for the laughs.

  2. P.S.- I’m sure the defense attorney pointed out to the judge that the Sheriff’s case “stunk to high heaven”, to which the prosecution would respond that the pepper seeds pointed to a pattern of past behavior.

  4. The account of Elfego Baca’s survival of a horrendous barrage is reminiscent of the story of “The Mad Trapper of Rat River,” by the late Dick North. The outlaw Mad Trapper, likely a.k.a. one Albert Johnson, was besieged by a small RCMP team at his cabin in the NWT around the beginning of 1932. The Mounties planted a charge of 20 lbs. (wow!) of dynamite, but Johnson survived the blast via his five-foot dugout inside the cabin. Johnson wounded officer Alfred King in that fight, and killed another Mountie, Edgar Millen, during a later, prolonged pursuit. The Mounties were eventually able to catch up with Johnson with the aid of an aerial spotter, “Wop” May. Superior shooting from the RCMP’s SMLE .303 British rifles finally won the day against Johnson’s Savage M99 .30-30. “Defilade,” or cover from direct fire, played a major part in the survival of the just-minded Elfego, but only temporarily forestalled a miserable, painful end for the cop-shooting outlaw Johnson, whose stuff was definitely weak.

  7. A transcript of that criminal trial, if it still exists, might provide great scatological entertainment. Still, it appears that today’s CSI folks ain’t got s–t on Baca.

  8. I remember those programs… And interesting to find out all these years later it WAS true! Thanks! 😉

  9. I got a good laugh out of that. One of the colorful stories of the old west. The start of CSI and quite ingenious.
    Of to see Dr Williams tomorrow.

  10. Interesting little tale. 4000 rounds expended and the intended target lives long enough to become a pioneer in forensic science.

    Although what immediately jumps to my mind is:
    “No shit Sherlock!” “Keep looking Watson.”

  14. In 1958, Walt Disney made an episode (ep. #100) titled “The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca” for his TV show Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. Typical Hollywood rendition of the 1950’s. You can see it on Youtube.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPQwYgEZCnI

    The story of “The Mad Trapper of Rat River” as told by Two-Gun Steve in the post above sounds like a 1981 movie called “Death Hunt” starring Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin. I never read the book so I don’t know how close the movie followed the book, but it sounds like the same story. It was a great action movie by great stars. You can see the entire movie on Youtube, as well.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzkFhWH-QoE

    Enjoy!

  16. I too remember the story on Disney. Never missed any episodes. To this day I always refer to Robert Loggia as Elfego Baca. I also saw the movie Death Hunt with Bronson and the hunt started over the mistreatment of a dog and a bully. Hint–Bronson gets away though.

  18. Since this conversation is now “in the shitter”, I’m gonna ask the opinion of folks here and particularly you Mas; Where should we put our gun when we are in a public restroom??

  19. TW

    Thanks for the link to Walt Disney’s series one Elfego Baca. Don’t know How I missed watching them back then, but guess I did.

    El Fuego is the Fire, or the shootist, so I wonder whether his first name might be a nick name too?

    Thanks

    Paul

  20. Eddie, I grant you the touche on the rustic eats. Let me hold on your question ’til there’s time to do a full blog entry on it, because there’s a lot of, uh, you know to discuss there…

  21. Well Mas, I am astounded that you did not take this opportunity to suggest that Elfego Baca expected every man to do his doody!

  22. I wonder how many cowboys there were? Given the guns of the day 4,000 is some serious sustained fire. I’m curious, how many rounds of ammo do you think they would have carried? I’m thinking of the weight on horseback.
    By any standard a remarkable man.

  23. TW: I knew the late Dick North, the author of “Mad Trapper of Rat River,” very well. Dick told me that his book was totally ripped off to provide the script for “Death Hunt.” Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin are two of my favorite actors. Just proves that Stuff indeed happens.

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