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Here lies Shorty

Julie

Well-known member
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Local legends live on through those that care to hold on to them. The death of a cowboy 100 years ago still sparks interest for those who continue to honor his memory.

Not much is known about the cowboy that lies in a roadside grave near Oscuro, about 15 miles south of Carrizozo on the west side of State Hwy. 54.

At the request of White Oaks writer, story teller and cowboy Walt Birdsong, the New Mexico Dept. of Transportation recently placed a sign at the grave site to mark it.

R.L. “Shorty” Lee, about 20 yrs. old, was known to be a Bar W Ranch cowboy working for W.C. McDonald who later became New Mexico's first governor.

Shorty and some other cowboys were moving cattle when a thunderstorm brought a deadly lightning strike. Shorty and another cowboy, their horses and seven head of cattle were killed by the lightning.

With no known relatives, Shorty was buried along what was then only a trail. When the trail became a highway, W.W. Gallacher Sr. of the Carrizozo Gallacher Ranches, was instrumental in keeping the highway department from moving Shorty’s grave. Gallacher, as young man, had known Shorty and fought to keep his grave honored and in place.

In 1975 the South Central RC&D along with Colt Industries, placed a bronze plaque at the gravesite to mark it. The marker was later destroyed by vandals and never replaced.

The white picket fence around the site is long gone to the elements and what remain are a few stands of wire, some old posts, tumbleweeds and the new highway department sign. The fate of Shorty Lee will again be of concern when the planned four lane construction of Hwy. 54 comes to pass.

Birdsong, during his quest in 2003 for the new sign and his research to try to find out more about Shorty as well as try to locate any family the cowboy might have had, wrote a poem about Shorty.

Shorty Lee
A Bar W Cowboy

Here Lies a cowboy named Shorty Lee
If I’d been born when I should’a, it could’a been me.

Shorty rode the range through a thunderstorms force.
Blue lightning came down, killed him and his horse.

Now both of em’s buried right here in the ground
And mighty few folks know where they can be found.

Just north of Oscuro, beside the blacktop,
Hundreds go by but damn few of em stop.

At the little old cross that marks his last home,
Just a simple wood cross, not even a stone.

I didn’t know the cowboy name Shorty Lee
But if I’d been born when I should’, it could’ been me.

Walt Birdsong 9-30-03
 
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