A Newspaper Tribute to Jim Jones

From the Alamogordo News of April 3, 1930.

A Pioneer and Wonderful Character Dies

By Liston M. Oak, in N.M. Highway Journal

The death of Jim Jones, pioneer resident of the Rocky Arrowo [sic] section of New Mexico, is of more than local interest. With his passing there are very few left to tell the story around the fireplace of an evening, of the exciting and glamorous events of an era that is gone.

Alleged photo of Jim Jones, identified by Eve Ball (source: The West of Billy the Kid, Frederick Nolan)

Who is left that can describe to the younger generation from personal knowledge, the characteristics of Geronimo and Victorio, the famous Indian chiefs who fought so bitterly and bravely against the inevitable settlement of the Pecos Valley by white men? Or of Billy the Kid whom Jim Jones knew as a close friend? Few remain who can tell their grandchildren of the early struggles in which they played their part, of the heroic deeds which characterized this period of New Mexico history.

Jim Jones has been one of the most picturesque characters of Southeastern New Mexico for the past half century or more. He was typical of the old time cowman and scores of friends will mourn his death.

When the Jones family emigrated from Virginia to New Mexico in 1867, they first settled in Pierce Canyon on the east side of the Pecos near Loving. The headstone of John Jones marks the the grave of the old frontiersman there.

Jim Jones was the first to build a dugout at the vanished frontier settlement Seven Rivers, north of Carlsbad. He did his share to drive the Indians out of Rocky Arroyo at the cost of many lives. He was one of the first pioneers to take possession of that fertile watred [sic] land, and it has been the home of his family ever since.

His name is inseparably connected with the events at Last Chance Canyon and Sitting Bull Falls, famous sites for stirring battles in the old days. He knew Geronimo before General Cook drove the intrepid old chief into the Guadalupe Mountains. The noted Apache chieftain and crafty fighter, Victorio, was also known to Jim Jones. The old pioneer was a witness at the signing of the treaty with Chief Quidede.

When the bloodiest and biggest private war in the history of the United States broke out in all its vehemence and bitterness, Jim Jones was an active participant. He and his family had long been close friends of Billy the Kid, New Mexico’s Robin Hood. It is said that the Ollinger boys killed John Jones, Jim’s brother. At his grave, Billy the Kid, shaken by the grief of John’s mother, swore that he would wreak vengeance upon the murderer of his friend. This young desperado, ruthless and cold-blooded in dealing out death with his six-gun, had his own code of ethics, product of the frontier. He never forgot his friends nor forgave his enemies. He kept his word.

Imprisoned in the Lincoln county courthouse, at the close of the Lin-county [sic] war between the cattle barons of the Pecos, Billy managed by quick thinking and a clever trick, to escape. But before leaving his jail, he shouted to Bob Ollinger, who was crossing the street. Ollinger looked up at the window to stare into the gun of his enemy. Billy shot him in his tracks, carrying out his old pledge to the mother of John Jones.

The old-timers say that it was Jim Jones who set fire to the barricades behind which hid the remnants of the McSwain [sic] fation. This was the final battle of the historic cattle war. Not long after his escape from Lincoln, Billy the Kid was fatally shot at Pete Maxwell’s ranch by Pat Garrett. “Killer’s luck” had turned against him at last, after he had sent upwards of twently [sic] men “across the Divide.”

The ranks of the old-timers who participated in the stirring events of early New Mexico history are thinning out rapidly. Soon none will be left to tell the story of those days as they knew it first hand [sic]. But the events and characters and their deeds in that pioneer period will forever be cherished as a heritage by New Mexico.