Elfego Baca (February 10, 1865-August 27, 1945) was a legendary lawman, lawyer, and politician in the closing days of the American wild west. Baca was born in New Mexico just before the end of the American Civil War. His family later moved to Topeka, Kansas when he was a young child. Upon his mother’s death in 1880, Baca returned with his father to Belen, New Mexico where his father became a marshal.
In 1884, at age 19, Baca stole some guns, bought a mail-order sheriff’s badge, and more or less appointed himself deputy sheriff in Socorro County, New Mexico.
His goal in life was to be a peace officer. He wanted, he said, “the outlaws to hear my steps a block away.” Southwestern New Mexico at the time was still relatively sparsely settled cattle ranching country. Cowboys roamed the land and did as they pleased. They might come into a town, drink at the saloon, harass the local Mexican-Americans, and then shoot up the town out of boredom. Baca meant to put an end to that.
