SHE WAS A GHOST!

This photo of Chris Vigil, my dad and his nephew, Tom Hill reminds me of another one of Dads stories.

Again, the vehicle in the background belonged to my father's boss and since Dad was the only one who knew how to drive it, he got to use it alot!

One afternoon Chris and Tom got all duded up and drove down the mountain from Granpa's ranch into town. It was late in the afternoon and the road was not well traveled as it only went past a few ranches.
As they had just passed one of the bigger ranches on that road, Chris saw a woman, dressed in a long black dress with a big hat and black veil covering her face, standing on the side of the road. She had a couple of suit cases and two little boys dressed in short pants and suit jackets next to her. They were very dressed up and Chris wondered what they could possibly be doing standing there all alone. So, naturally Chris stops the car and tells his cousin Tom, who was 12 at the time, to ask the woman if she needed a ride. Tom looks back and immediately lets out a scream and crawls under Chris' legs on the floor board.

Chris tried to look back but he said he felt as if someone had hold of his head and he could not turn around. All Chris could do was get the heck out of there and drive on to town, all the time Tom is screaming and would not come out from under his legs.

Once they reached town Chris was able to pull over and get Tom out of the vehicle. Tom finally stopped screaming and told Chris that when he turned around to speak to the lady, she and her boys were sitting in the back seat of the car!

Chris found out sometime later that the woman and little boys had once lived on that ranch. The woman's husband was very cruel to her and the boys and would beat them often. The story is that one day she decides to leave her husband. On a day that her husband was away from the ranch, she packs their suitcases, gets herself and the boys dressed and goes out to the road and starts to walk or maybe she was waiting for a ride. Whatever her plan was, it was foiled when the man of the house suddenly returns and sees them trying to run away from him. He kills his wife and two young sons.
I wonder whatever happened to that Rancher. Whatever the story was, Chris confirmed many times along with his cousin Tom that they traveled with a ghost that day...

THEIR COURTING DAYS

My Dad worked for one of the richest men in Silver City, N.M. I can't for the life of me remember the gentleman's name. At any rate, this fella buys the first automobile in Silver City and my Dad had to learn how to drive and maintain it for him. So, Daddy got to drive that vehicle whenever his boss was not in need of transportation.

After Dad met Mom he decided to drive out to my grandparents farm and show off this vehicle to his girlfriend. He got all duded up and drove out there that same afternoon. Dad said there were all kinds of hills and boulders around the farm and as soon as he drove up he got bombarded with dirt clods from all angles. Little did he know Mom had a bunch of little brothers who did not appreciate someone calling on their sister. By the time he got to the front door he was full of dirt and looked a mess!

Funny, he said that my uncles were a bunch of little savages back then who probably had never left the farm. My mom would get so mad at him when he would say that! I guess he did not know that her grandmother was an Apache indian.

PONCHO VILLA

I recently saw a documentary about General Patton. In case you did not see the movie, General Patton was a famously notorious general in the European campaign during WWII. It reminded me of a story my Dad told me about his adventures during WWI.

Daddy joined the Army during WWI to see "Gay Paree". He was 17 years old and had done nothing but break horses on his dad's ranch all his life. He went into town and saw these wonderul posters all over the place showing dancing girls in Paris. Boy, he was ready to go to war.
Unfortunately, the furthest he ever got was a Remount Station in Texas, breaking horses!!!

However, during his stint in the Army, he was working under General Purshing and recalled a story when General Pershing was in pursuit of Pancho Villa. My Dad said that he was with his regiment on a mountain top viewing one of the skirmishes they had with Pancho Villa and he saw where Pancho Villa and his men were backed into a box canyon and the Army was certain that this time they had him. My Dad said he was watching with his own eyes and could never figure out how Villa escaped, but he did after a brutal shoot out! Interesting side note. General Patton was a young officer at that time under General Pershing and was sent out to search for Pancho Villa. He was so notorious even at that young age. Patton goes off with a few of his men and found and killed some of Villa's men and returned to the General with the bandits bodies tied across the hood of his vehicle!

HOW THEY MET

So, apparently at one time my father, Chris Vigil and my mother Rita Mitchell were strangers! My mom was 18 and working at a Laundry somewhere close to Silver City if not in Silver City, N.M. and my dad was working somewhere close by and one of his jobs was to help put out fires.

So, has fate would have it, a fire started up at the Laundry where Mom worked and Dad was sent out to help extinguish the fire. Well, Mom never told me if he put the fire out or not, but once Chris saw Rita his priorities changed and he asked her for a date right there!

Wish I knew more about that first meeting, like did she say, "YES" right there and then or did he have to pursue her more.