One of our favorite places to visit back in Connecticut was Hartford’s historic Cedar Hill Cemetery. Its 270 acres of landscaped woodlands, waterways, and memorial grounds provided the perfect environment for a tranquil walk on a burgeoning spring morning or brisk autumn afternoon. We also enjoyed the programs put on by the Cemetery Foundation under the directorship of our friend B. Especially the themed, guided walking tours highlighting the stories of those both notable and less-celebrated who are interred on the grounds, e.g. “Mark Twain’s Companions and Cohorts.”
One we particularly liked told of those whose demise was unusual, interesting and (sometimes) illustrative of how the customs and conventions of the time created the circumstances leading to their loss of life. Two stories still stand out. And although we have forgotten the names and precise dates, the general time period can perhaps be gleaned from the victims’ sense of fashion.
In the first instance a young Hartford women clad in the de rigueur hoop skirt of the time came too close to the wood-fueled fireplace in her home. A spark ignited a fire in the garment, which rapidly gained momentum due to the chimney effect of her outfit’s crinoline cage resulting in her immolation.
Another female of similar age and wardrobe tastes was canoeing with friends in Wethersfield Cove, a natural inlet of the Connecticut River south of Hartford. She fell into the water, which was just barely too deep for her to gain her footing. Constrained by the tightness of her corset she was unable to raise her arms above the water’s surface and thus could not grasp either the side of the boat or the outstretched arms of her would-be rescuers – with the expected, unfortunate result.
Tales both disquieting and engaging. The kind that would qualify for “News of the Weird” – a column that we used to read in the Hartford Advocate newspaper back in CT. The feature still exists as a web site of the same name – “human eccentricity without embellishment.” A quick search for New Mexico oddities turned up this.
“22 May 1957 Approximately 4.5 mi south of Kirtland Air Force Base, a grazing cow was killed by a Mark 17 hydrogen bomb accidentally jettisoned from a USAF B-36 strategic bomber aircraft. The bomb was not equipped with components necessary for nuclear detonation at the time, but the conventional high explosives in the bomb detonated on impact, killing the cow and causing a crater about 12 ft deep and 25 ft wide.”
Interesting, but bovine bombings were not quite what we were looking for. Fortunately, just like on that Cedar Hill Cemetery tour, we found two winners at an otherwise serious-minded lecture presented by the local chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association.
The organization’s area of interest is all things related to the eponymous 800-mile trade route from Independence Missouri to/from Santa Fe during 1821 to 1865. The subject of this talk was the village of Agua Fria, a census-designated place in Santa Fe County. Agua Fria lies on the historic Camino Real of the Interior, the 1,600 mile trade route from 1598 to 1882 between Mexico City and Santa Fe – and for 61 years the route on which goods from the SF Trail were transported south to Mexico.
“Spain jealously protected the borders of its New Mexico colony, prohibiting manufacturing and international trade. Missourians and others visiting Santa Fe told of an isolated provincial capital starved for manufactured goods and supplies—a potential gateway to Mexico’s interior markets. In 1821 the Mexican people revolted against Spanish rule. With independence, they un-locked the gates of trade, using the Santa Fe Trail as the key. Encouraged by Mexican officials, the Santa Fe trade boomed, strengthening and linking the economies of Missouri and Mexico’s northern provinces.” (nps.gov)
Agua Fría was named Ca-Tee-Ka – “cold water” by Tewa and Tano Indians living along the Rio Grande and adopted by its 17th century Spanish occupiers. Recent archaeology suggests hunter-gathers in the area circa 7,000 BCE and settlers in pit houses who used the domestication of turkeys as a way to replace hunter-gathering from 3,000-3,500 BCE.
The village became an officially recorded settlement in 1693 when Captain Roque Madrid and other soldiers were given land grants on the Santa Fe River for their service in the 1692 Spanish “Reconquest” of New Mexico. The plots consisted of long, narrow strips ensuring that each landowner had access to water for crops via a communal crisscrossing acequia (irrigation) system. Farming was so good that for a time the small community became “the breadbasket of the City of Santa Fe.” The shape of the parcels proved to be a problem however when they were later divided among the children of the landowners.
A company of Civil War volunteers from Agua Fría fought with the Union Army at the Battle of Glorietta Pass (3/26-3/28 1862.) The “Gettysburg of the West” ended the Confederacy's efforts to capture NM territory and other parts of the western United States. The Rebels were winning the fight when they were forced to retreat and abandon their entire mission due to the destruction of basically all of their supplies, which they had left unguarded.
The speaker was entertaining and engaging, the talk was informative and we were listening attentively. But our interest really perked up when the topics turned to the beheading of New Mexico’s tenth Mexican governor, and competitive “rooster pulls.”
As you may know Spanish cultural tradition includes what some call “blood sports” – bullfighting and cockfighting principally but also one of the two pastimes mentioned immediately above.
But not this one. In August of 1837 there was a popular revolt in the Chimayó-Santa Cruz area against the Mexican appointed Governor Albino Pérez in opposition to his policies towards custom officials whose corrupt taxation practices took advantage of the lucrative Santa Fe Trail trade. Pérez attempted to raise a militia in response but on August 8th he was decapitated in Santa Fe during a raid by a group of Indians. His head was displayed in public in and then kicked down the El Camino Real into the Village of Agua Fria.
The Powerpoint accompanying the talk included this photo of a polished stone plaque reading “Governor Perez was assassinated on this spot on Aug. 9, 1837. Erected by Sunshine Chapter, DAR, 1901.” New Mexican Daughters of the American Revolution – WTH?? “Any woman 18 years or older who can prove lineal, bloodline descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence is eligible to join the DAR.” Spain financially supported our Revolutionary War – raising the money in part by taxing all of its citizens. New Mexico was at the time a Spanish Colony and each New Mexican Spaniard was assessed two pesos. Every Indian contributed one peso. Ergo, many modern day New Mexicans, including Native Americans, qualify.
While this method of removal from office hopefully was a one-off, the next event was a legitimate ritual. The calendar of saints organizes the Christian liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints. Many days have associated activities. On St. Valentine’s Day chocolates and flowers are given to certain loved ones. St. Patrick’s day celebrants quaff pints of green-colored beer. In New Mexico, on June 24 for St John the Baptist there was the “rooster pull.”
Marc Simmons was an American historian specializing in New Mexican history, writing numerous books and a column in the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper – the source of the following.
“Ancient practices and folkways lend an exotic air to the Southwest and impart a sense of timelessness. They are reminders that history lies at our back door.
“One strange custom, now rare today, is the corrida de gallo, or ‘rooster pull.’ Formerly this ‘sport’ was found in all of New Mexico’s villages and larger towns. It was one of the few aspects of native life which Americans found thoroughly disagreeable.
“A traveler from the East gave a graphic description in the early 1840s. ‘A common rooster or hen … was tied by the feet to some swinging limb of a tree, so as to be barely within reach of a man on horseback. Or the fowl was buried alive in a small pit, leaving only the head above the surface.
“In either case, horsemen racing at full speed grabbed the head of the bird, which, being well greased, generally slipped out of their fingers. As soon as someone succeeded in tearing it loose from the tree or from the pit, he spurred his horse and tried to escape with the prize. He was chased by the whole sporting crew. The first who overtook him tried to seize the fowl, a fight ensured, during which the poor chicken was torn into atoms … Should any of the horsemen escape with the whole bird, he takes it at once to his lady and presents it to her. And she carries the feathered creature that same night to the village dance where she displays it as proof that her man is the best lover in the neighborhood.”
As with the gubernatorial beheading our speaker had a picture to share. This one an action-photo from Agua Fria circa 1890.
Marsha could not have abided the earlier constraints on women’s clothing – or other things. The idea of courting anyone with a battle-scarred chicken just seems ludicrous to Jim. And yet we find these stories fascinating.
One good thing about history is that you can live it without having to take part in it.
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