The Life and Death of Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain

This is the best book on Fountain. It convinces me that he was murdered by a group of conspirators headed by Albert Fall. The murderers were probably Oliver Lee, James Gilliland, and one other. Lee and Gilliland were tried, defended by Albert Fall, and found not guilty. Nine years later the same bunch conspired and had Pat Garrett murdered. No one was ever convicted in that murder either. Oddly, NM has made Oliver Lee's ranch headquarters a memorial state park.

The killing of Albert Jennings Fountain is probably the second most famous in New Mexico history, after the Garret killing of Billy the Kid. Although the killing hasn't gotten a lot of interest in the last half-century, once everyone knew about it. Fountain and his son were brutally murdered east of Las Cruces at a time when the residents of Territorial New Mexico were murdering one another over party politics. The tale is a long and bloody one and Gibson does an excellent job of retelling it. An interesting footnote to the story Gibson mentions is that Pat Garrett, the famed lawman who killed Billy the Kid, was murdered while he was still investigating the Fountain homicide.Readers interested in New Mexico history won't go wrong buying this book.