"The Gallup 14"

A Novel by

Gary L. Stuart

GALLUP --- Before opening Gary L. Stuart's newest publication, "The Gallup 14," I paused to think about the passage of time since April of 1935. Memories of scattered incidents during the two-year road to riot and murder have nagged at me periodically for 67 years. How might Gary, who grew up in Gallup, treat a long buried riot and murder trial that happened four years before he was born?

I already knew the book was a novel. Novels mean imaginary characters involved in a particular historic episode. Certainly the most prolonged and violent labor confrontation in the history of New Mexico and the resulting trial could be a setting for great fiction. Thinking "The Gallup 14" wold be another romant9icized New Mexico mystery, filled with authors license, some fact, and a lot of fiction, I opened the book to the first page, surprisingly titled, "The Author's Disclaimer." To my delight my original thoughts were totally wrong.

"The Gallup 14" is a real mystery sprinkled with the speculation of fiction. Gary's book is an accurate account of a series of real happenings in a real town; a strike, a riot, a trial. No names have been changed "to protect the innocent."

The real town IS Gallup; filled with neighborhoods of real people who participate in real actions resulting in real murders and real harassment raging through the community. The real trial in another community is before a real judge appointed by the state. The real jury decision is based on the equally real testimony7 found in the court records of San Juan County and transcribed by Eve Ellen Sabin, court reporter of McKinley County.

Well documented in the legal records and newspaper reports, the author has also drawn upon the vivid memories and experiences of still living local friends and family. These recollections add a local flavor to reality and speculation through out the book.

All is not reality. Fiction is found within behind closed-door conversations of the multiple attorneys. The author also incorporates two fictional personalities into the fabric of documentary evidence. Billy Wade, an attorney, and Mary Ann Shaughnessy, a Gallup High School teacher, exchanged questions and observations between themselves.

While the fictional attorney discusses legal points, his co-observer keeps a personal journal to record her thoughts and attitudes toward the developing court proceedings. The two viewpoints become a most interesting analysis of the societal reality of the trial.

The 1935 Gallup wanted no more to do with the National Guard occupation and aftermath as had happened only two years before. Community wide reaction to the riot and killing of Sheriff Carmichael was immediate. For the second time in two years Gallup once again an armed camp. This time it was the hastily appointed Sheriff's deputies and self appointed vigilantes that would terrorize certain areas of the community. As over a hundred suspects were quickly rounded up, news hurled across the telegraph wires to national labor organizations, the ACLU, the State of New Mexico and major newspapers around the country. The State of New Mexico marshaled its legal forces to immediately send representatives for both sides into Gallup.

The New Mexico Supreme Court in Santa Fe, closer than New York, issued an immediate statement concerning all the accused, ". . .these men are New Mexicans. The governor and this court want New Mexicans to defend its own." (Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Mexico, Judge A.L. Zinn. Pg. 76).

The best legal minds in the state were now a part of the proceedings. National, state, area and the Gallup Independent newspapers prepared to cover the complete story. The trial began on Oct. 5, 1935.

Long time residents of Gallup as well as numbers of people in New Mexico will recognize the names. More recent arrivals are introduced to all participants--from governors to the most insignificant witness.

The Gallup riot that exploded on April 4, 1935 didn't begin directly with a mine owners/workers confrontation. It all began over a little adobe house built for his family by an unemnployed miner, Victor Campos.

"The Gallup 14" is no literary or TV fabrication for merely an evenings entertainment. Reality and fiction are combined in a very persuasive mixture. It you enjoy mystery, court proceedings, Gallup history, constitutional issues, New Mexico history, or questionable political maneuvers, or social issues this is a book for you. Don't miss "The Gallup 14" by Gary L. Stuart.

The Independent

Saturday, March 11, 2000
By Sally Noe
Special to the Independent

Note: Sally Noe is a retired educator and historian who has lived in Gallup most of her life.