Piecing together Jesse Evans actions through articles

[MissyS]

I found some articles with the name Jesse Evans and a few after 1881 and up to 1912, and I have been trying to piece them together. I don’t know if all of these are the Jesse Evans that fought in the Lincoln County War and was friends and enemy to the Kid or not, or if the articles are true accounts? These are just articles I’v found. I will go back a little before 1881 during the Lincoln County War because a couple of articles during that time may be of some interest.

Starting in October 1877 Jesse Evans and his gang are in the Lincoln County Jail described as a new jail and a dungeon after a subtle resistance and arrested at Beckwith’s ranch in Seven Rivers by Sheriff Brady. They had one of Tunstall’s horses and a few of Chisum’s when arrested. The Boys” Jesse (spelled Jessie ) along with Tom Hill, Frank Baker, and George Davis were playing cards in the dungeon jail and being outspoken to the Independent paper and even mentioned them wanting to promote Mr. Fountain, whatever they meant by that?

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87090075/1877-10-27/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1850&index=0&rows=20&words=Evans+Jess&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=New+Mexico&date2=1963&proxtext=Jesse+Evans&y=16&x=14&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=2

Sept 24, 1879, Jesse Evans is arrested at Fort Stanton for killing Tom Jones:

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87062082/1879-09-24/ed-1/seq-4/print/image_681x648_from_394%2C2703_to_1253%2C3521/

Sometimes around the Spring of 1881 Jesse Evans teaming up with Dave Rudabaugh along with George Davis, John Gunter and three Graham boys one of them named Ed. and all of them together rob the Sender & Siebenbarn’s store in Fort Davis, a shootout with Texas Rangers and George Davis was killed. A Texas Ranger named Jackson was mortally wounded, the outlaws surrendered, in less than a week Jesse Evans, Gunter and the Graham boys were released on bail, three of the Graham boys forfeited bond and went to Arizona, all three killed later in a mining camp not far from Tombstone. Evans and Gunter stood trial and sentenced to ten years each, a short time after Evans escaped and was heard of leading an honest life as a ranch superintendent in Sonora Mexico. Gunter on the other hand was shot and killed scaling the wall during the escape, and Dave Rudabaugh remained in jail until a mysterious woman claiming to be his wife helped him to escape from jail, these accounts recorded in the May 25, 1884 Fort Worth Gazette. However I believe Jesse Evans didn’t remain in Sonora Mexico.

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/data/batches/txdn_hotel_ver02/data/sn86064205/00175035138/1884052501/0440.pdf

April 27,1887 A Jesse Evans name appeared in a paper as being one of many hotel arrivals that day, at an Ellis Hotel in Fort Worth. If it’s the same Jesse Evans it also listed him as from Kansas City, in fact I’ve found several mentions of a Jesse Evans listed as being from Kansas City that checked into other hotels around Texas. Could this be the same Jesse Evans?

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86064205/1887-11-16/ed-1/seq-8/print/image_681x648_from_466%2C4035_to_1606%2C5121/


October, 13,1894 in an Albuquerque paper a Jesse Evans was arrested for stealing sheep, and suspected by the paper of attempting to kill a man named Elias G Garcia. He stole sheep from Garcia in order to purchase the Cochiti Saloon. I wonder if he ever purchased the saloon?

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92070464/1894-10-13/ed-1/seq-1/print/image_681x648_from_814%2C3675_to_3015%2C5771/

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90051081/1894-11-10/ed-1/seq-3/print/image_681x648_from_1071%2C1425_to_2890%2C3158/


March 30,1894 Sierra County Advocate newspaper Jesse Evans is arrested for murdering two men in Kent County Texas, the arrest was made by a man named J. W. Walker, he tracked Evans to Antelope Springs Cattle Company in New Mexico near Chilili, said to have been a stomping ground of Evans gang, Walker took a job there and while investigating and Evans surrendered, he was to go back to Texas, what happened afterward with that case I haven’t been able to find.

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn94057006/1894-03-30/ed-1/seq-2/print/image_681x648_from_2346%2C4763_to_4205%2C6533/


June 6, 1912 Jesse Evans is possibly in New Mexico in Bernalillo County stealing horses and teaming up with a pal named Jack Johnson, a reward is offered for 225.00 for their capture:

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020630/1912-06-06/ed-1/seq-6/print/image_681x648_from_2217%2C2605_to_3076%2C3423/

According to the Texas Romance article dated May 25 ,1881 states that Jesse Evans was leading an honest life in Sonora Mexico working as a ranch superintendent after he escaped prison, however his name appeared in newspapers afterwards, unless they were a different Jesse Evans? 

[tboor74]

Excellent work. I've long been intrigued by the fate of Evans. I hope you find more.

[chivato88]

Thats awesome, thank you for sharing that MissyS

[RonBk]

Evans is not mentioned by name here but it says three prisoners who recently escaped fron Huntsville surrendered. The article is from June 22, 1882. Other sources say Evans escaped from Huntsville may 23 so it would fit the approximate time frame. Maybe Evans was among the men who escaped only he did not surrender with the others?

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86089443/1882-06-22/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1882&index=1&rows=20&words=escap+from+Huntsville&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=Texas&date2=1882&proxtext=Escaped+from+Huntsville&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

[MissyS]

Great find, those escapers could have been some of Evans gang. Strange the reason they gave up because of scarcity of meat in the smokehouses. I found a reference to some more goings on back at the Antelope Springs Cattle Company in New Mexico where Jesse Evans was tracked down by J W Walker in 1894, but this time it claims it involved a member of Jesse Evans gang named Charles Taylor, this was also in 1894

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn94051692/1894-08-23/ed-1/seq-1/print/image_681x648_from_4219%2C1843_to_9400%2C6777/

[MissyS]

Could this be the same Jesse Evans that had an April Fools party in New Mexico in 1913? A couple of notable guests at the party perhaps? Walter Burns. Could that have been the Walter Noble Burns author of Saga of Billy the Kid? and John Koogler editor of the paper also a guest.

chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92070417/1913-04-05/ed-1/seq-5/print/image_681x648_from_2725%2C2993_to_4578%2C4757/