Elizabethtown, New Mexico - A Moreno Valley Ghost Town

Elizabethtown, New Mexico

Baldy Mountain and the surrounding area was crawling with prospectors in the late 1800's. Imagining all those men digging on the mountain sides and panning the streams is unbelievable today on this quiet mountain.

Many of the prospectors built their cabins right over, or adjacent to, their mines. Those that lived in E-Town had a long walk through the valley and up to Baldy Mountain.

Baldy Mountain, Kathy Weiser, July, 2003

Like many frontier towns of the West, Elizabethtown had its share of gruesome stories. Amazingly, it appears that E-town housed a serial killer for the time. Charles Kennedy, a big, husky full-bearded man, owned a traveler's rest on the road between Elizabethtown and Taos. After travelers would register at the rest stop, some would disappear never to be heard from again. These traveling strangers were rarely missed in the highly transient settlement.

Evidently, when travelers stopped for a bed and a meal, Charles killed them, stole their valuables and either burned or buried their bodies. These events might never have been known, except for his wife's confession, when she fled from him in terror in the fall of 1870. The bleeding Ute Indian woman burst into John Pearson's saloon, where Clay Allison, Davy Crockett (a nephew of the American frontiersman) and others were whiling away the hours. Helping her to a chair, she told the story of how her husband had killed a traveler and their young son. Hysterical, she continued the shocking story telling of how her husband had been luring travelers, perhaps as many as 14, into their cabin and then murdering them. On the day that she fled, she had witnessed another traveler who her husband had enticed inside by offering supper. During the meal, the passerby asked his hosts if there were many Indians around. Her unfortunate son made the fatal mistake of responding, "Can't you smell the one Papa put under the floor?" At this, Kennedy went into a fury, shot his guest and bashed his son's head against the fireplace. He then threw both bodies into the cellar, locked his wife in the house and drank himself into a stupor. Terrified, the woman waited until her husband passed out, then climbed up through the chimney and escaped to tell her story.

Clay Allison, a local rancher, who was known for his gun-fighting skills, and almost always around when anything violent happened, led a group in search of Kennedy, while others were sent to search the house for evidence to support the woman's story. The search provided a number of partially charred human bones still burning in the fire, and two skeletons beneath the house. Later, another skull was found nearby and a witness to one of the murders came forth. Kennedy, still drunk, was quickly found and taken into custody. He was given a pre-trial on October 3, 1870, where the witness appeared, testifying that he had seen Kennedy shoot one of the travelers.

The court ordered that Kennedy be held for action by the grand jury, but rumors began circulating that Kennedy's lawyer was going to buy his freedom. Three days later, Allison and his companions snatched Kennedy from the jail, threw a rope around his neck and dragged him by a horse up and down Main Street until long after he was dead. His body was not allowed by the townspeople to be buried in the Catholic cemetery and was interred outside the cemetery boundaries.

Continued Next Page

Clay_Allison__Denver_Public_Library.jpg (148x212 -- 12366 bytes)

Clay Allison, local rancher and gunfighter was blamed for up to 15 shootings during his lifetime.

Along with several other cowboys, he lead a lynch mob which hung Charles Kennedy, a suspected serial killer.

Photo courtesy Denver Public Library

In the 1870's many people were killed by Charles Kennedy, an Old West serial killer, who posed his cabin as a rest stop for weary travelers. After stealing their money, he would either burn or bury their bodies and if his wife hadn't told, he might never have been caught.

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The Red Bandanna Mine today. The remains of this mine remain intact and unbothered as the mine is on private property. Landlocked by a local ranch, it cannot be accessed by the public. July, 2003, Kathy Weiser.

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Remains of old house close to the Red Bandanna Mine. The house sits in a meadow, which mountaineers called parks. July, 2003, Kathy Weiser

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Great American Bars and Saloons

Great American Bars and Saloons by Kathy Weiser By Kathy Weiser

Owner/Editor of Legends of America

Kathy Weiser's first venture into the publishing world takes you into the many watering holes of America's past, particularly the numerous saloons that sprouted up during our nation's Wild West days. This great photographic review displays hundreds of vintage photographs from California to Arizona, the mining camps of Colorado, all the way to New York and its turbulent days of Prohibition.

Hardcover, 2006, 224 Pages. Signed by the author!!

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