UNM Press Review

It was April 1935 and Gallup, New Mexico, along with the rest of the nation, was in the depths of the Great Depression. The fear generated by economic collapse fueled suspicion of Communists, unions, immigrants ,and anyone who disrupted the status quo. In Gallup, a misleading calm hid decades-old racial and class tensions that erupted in violence and death when the largely Mexican population of coal miners were evicted from homes that they believed they owned.

Gary Stuart brings to life depression-era Gallup, the Old West mentality of its law enforcement, the pride and anguish of the unemployed miners, and the susrprising outcome of a trail that most citizens expected to result in speedy convictions and death penalties. Based on actual testimony, affadavits, and transcripts, and newspaper clippings, the factual account is enhanced by imagined characters and dialogues. The result is a dramatic story of a watershed legal event in New Mexico history.

Gary L. Stuart is a lawyer in private practice in Phoenix, Arizona.