Cattle Rustlers.
Isaac “Ike” Stockton (1852-1881) – Born February 9, 1852, and raised in Texas, Stockton was an outlaw and leader of the Stockton Gang, a group of robbers in northern New Mexico. He made his way to Lincoln, New Mexico, in 1874 and ran a saloon briefly before moving North to Colfax County, New Mexico, later that year. He was likely involved in the infamous Colfax County War of 1875-76.
He and his brother, Porter “Port”, moved to Trinidad, Colorado, briefly in 1876, but after Port killed a man in December, they moved on to western Colorado. There, they posed as cattlemen and settled in the Animas Valley around 1878. Unbeknownst to residents, Ike ran a gang of robbers called the Stockton Gang. They also became involved in a bitter feud with the Simmons family in nearby Farmington, New Mexico. Sometimes called the San Juan County War, the Simmons accused the Stocktons of stealing their cattle and selling the beef to army posts. The “war” erupted into full-scale Shootout and lynchings in 1880.
On August 24, 1881, one of the gang members, Burt Wilkinson, killed Marshal Clate Ogsbury in Silverton, Colorado, and a $2,500 reward was offered for his arrest. In the meantime, some of the residents were so enraged that they tracked down a young African American man, who was known as “Kid Thomas” and”the Copper Colored Kid,” who was thought to have been a member of the gang. The 16-year-old boy was captured and jailed in Silverton, and on Sunday evening, August 25, a large party of men forced their way into the jail and hanged him from the crossbeam in the courthouse shed.
Ever the scoundrel, Ike turned in his gang member, Burt Wilkinson, to secure the reward money. Nineteen-year-old Burt Wilkinson was arrested and lynched on September 4 in Silverton, Colorado.
But the local law certainly didn’t see Stockton as any hero. They soon dug up a New Mexico warrant for Ike for the murder of a man named Aaron Barker in 1881. When Silverton Deputy Sheriff Jim Sullivan went to arrest Ike, the outlaw resisted, and the deputy shot him in the leg. Stockton died after having his leg amputated on September 27, 1881. Later, it was said that Deputy Sullivan claimed to hate a traitor more than a murderer.
Port Stockton and his wife, Emily.
William Porter “Port” Stockton (1849-1881) – Born and raised in Texas, Port became an outlaw and lawman. He was the older brother of the more well-known Ike Stockton, who led the Stockton Gang, a group of thieving robbers in northern New Mexico. Allegedly, he killed his first man when he was just 12 years old. He briefly drifted to Dodge City, Kansas, before following his older brother to New Mexico in 1874, where Ike ran a saloon in Lincoln. He shot and killed Juan Gonzales in October 1876 in Cimarron, New Mexico, but was released with a plea of self-defense.
Then, he and Ike moved to Trinidad, Colorado, where he killed another man in a saloon fight just two months later. After his arrest, Ike helped him escape from jail. Amazingly, in 1979-80, he served as Marshal in Animas City, Colorado. In June 1879, he killed a man in Otero, New Mexico, but escaped once again. After getting into a dispute with a rancher in Farmington, New Mexico, named Alfred Graves, Port was shot by Graves on January 10, 1881.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated September 2026.
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