When the Confederate forces left El Paso and the United States troops
took possession, in 1863, such of the county records as had been
preserved from destruction were by common consent delivered to me for
safe keeping, to be turned over to the proper county officers as soon as
such officers should be appointed or elected. This, and my long
residence here, gave me the opportunity of becoming the best informed
man in El Paso as to titles, boundaries, possession, etc., so that when
the railroads and the boom came and city lots became valuable and there
was a general shaking up and deciding of titles by many suits in the
courts, I was almost a standing witness. I verily believe that more of
these cases were decided upon my testimony than on that of any other
half dozen witnesses, and all this testimony was given without receiving
or expecting a dollar’s compensation. The juries believed me, and so far
as I know not even the most zealous lawyer ever questioned my testimony,
though there were some “keen encounters of wits.”
In one instance I saved to a certain litigant property on El Paso street
now worth fifty thousand dollars simply by producing an ancient deed
which I had had in my possession for twenty-five years and had
forgotten. The book, “Record of Deeds,” had been destroyed, but the
acknowledgment of the vendor was on the deed itself, and the suit was
withdrawn.
I believe that in the main these cases were decided according to law,
which was the best that could be done; but if, as we are told, there are
certain eternal principles of right and justice, higher than those men
make for their own convenience, then surely these principles were
sometimes violated, for deserving men lost property which by such
principles should have been theirs by such trivial neglect as failing to
record a deed or to pay taxes or to preserve evidence of occupancy, or
some other fact, or worse still, by false testimony.