Person:Victor Queen (1)

United States Census, 1880 Name Victor Queen Residence Lampasas, Texas Birthdate 1871 Birthplace Arkansas, United States Relationship to Head Son Spouse's Name Spouse's Birthplace Father's Name Elias J Queen Father's Birthplace Arkansas, United States Mother's Name Marthy H Queen Mother's Birthplace Arkansas, United States Race or Color (Expanded) White Ethnicity (Standardized) American Gender Male Martial Status Single Age (Expanded) 9 years

This is probably the "Vic Queen" who was an outlaw in Texas and New Mexico in the 1800's. He is said to have been in the same outlaw gang, (Whitley Gang) with his uncle "KEP" Queen in Texas.

Vic apparently moved to New Mexico with his family before 1900, where he built a cabin on the Queen Ranch. He worked as a cowboy for a few years there. Vic met and befriended another cowboy named Martin M"Rose, and they rode and worked together in New Mexico. M"Rose bought a small ranch, and he and Vic used it for a headquarters for their cattle business. M"Rose was accused of murder, and he and Vic were susspected of rustling cattle together, so together they fled to Juarez Mexico to prevent their arrest. A warrent was issued for the arrest of Vic in 1894. He posted bond using as surities his brother J.C. Queen and Martin M'Rose. Vic was charged witrh the theft of one Cow.

The following was discovered in "The El Paso Times" Morgue blog.

found an article by Lee Myers, "Wine, Women And Cattle Built Reputations; Two Lives Of Sin Had Impact On Southwest," from Nov. 10, 1963. The article is about Victor Queen and his friendship with Martin M'rose.

The article describes "Vic" as "big, bluff and hearty, the second son of a family of Texas frontier folk of long established American lineage, he was a cowboy and showed it in every feature of dress and deportment."

It describes M'rose as "born of old country Polish parents near San Antonio, Tex. He had learned to speak a broken version of English by contact with his home grown Texas neighbors surrounding the Polish settlement where he was born."

The Queen family came to southeastern New Mexico sometime during the late 1880s and settled in the Guadalupe Mountains. Vic Queen built a two-room stone house on his mother's land. The isolated lifestyle didn't appeal to Vic and his brothers John and Hillmon. They found jobs away from home on the larger ranches in the area.

"In 1884, Charles B. Eddy, for whom the town of Eddy, NM was named, was in San Antonio needing hands for his Seven Rivers ranch. Also in the city, and available, were M'rose, Tom Fennessey, M. Phillips, Frank Imlay and a man named Bailey. All were hired by Eddy and with him entrained for Pecos, Tex., nearest rail connection to Eddy's VVN ranch."

On one trip, M'rose "is said to have bragged that when he got to the end of the trail he had more cattle, picked up indiscriminately along the way, than in his employer's original herd."

"These transactions appear to have opened M'rose's eyes to the possibilities in the cattle country for a young man of vision and courage. From this time on his life was dedicated to stealing cattle."

In the early 1890s, M'rose acquired a ranch, and he and Queen worked together to grow their herd.

In 1892, liquor sales were banned in Eddy, so Phoenix, a small town just south, was born -- with 24-hour saloons, gambling and dance hall girls. Queen and M'rose became well-known there, and M'rose met and married a prostitute named Beula.

About that time the New Mexico Livestock Association inspector set his sights on Queen and his partner. M'rose sold his land and stock and split the $4,200 with Beulah and the other partners in the ranch.

With their legal troubles mounting, Vic Queen and the M'roses headed to Mexico. They met up in Juárez, where the two men were eventually jailed awaiting extradition papers from Santa Fe. The partners launched a fight against extradition. Beula claimed that she had spent most of her share of the money on her husband while his share remained untouched.

"The services of John Wesley Hardin, Texas desperado deluxe turned attorney, were engaged in this contest and it was not long until the plot began to develop sinister possibilities. Beula seems to have been quite an eyeful and John Wesley decided that he wanted her. She did not resist his advances and in short while she told Martin that she was going to file for divorce, then moved across the Rio Grande to El Paso where she and her pistol packing lover could enjoy each other's company in privacy.

"M'rose and Queen applied for and were granted Mexican citizenship and the Mexican authorities suddenly found discrepancies in New Mexican extradition papers. The proceedings were quashed and the two pals were released from jail.

"In El Paso, events of ill portent were shaping up. Lured on by the reward offered for M'rose, George Scarborough and Jeff Milton, two cold-blooded law officers who had served their apprenticeships in Texas riding herd on the toughest set of outlaws that the world has ever spawned, decided to lure M'rose to the American side and either arrest or kill him. Beula was said to have been the bait for the trap.

"Just exactly what happened will never be known, but a few minutes after midnight, July 3, 1895, Scarborough met M'rose at the center of the Mexican Central Railroad bridge across the Rio Grande and the two headed for the American side. M'rose was suspicious and, said Scarborough, had his pistol in his hand. A few feet after stepping onto American soil, two crouching figures, Milton and Frank McMahon, El Paso deputy, called out to M'rose to throw up his hands and surrender.

"The officers claimed that M'rose, instead of complying, fired upon them. There was a fusillade of shots and M'rose fell, mortally wounded, but struggled to his feet and attempted to renew the fight. This was a dying effort and was wasted. He fell again and in a few minutes was dead.

"The three officers were charged with murder, tried, pleaded self-defense and acquitted. But Vic Queen had a different story to tell."

Vic had two witnesses that he claimed saw the whole thing. They were attempting to smuggle goods into El Paso when they heard the three officers approaching and hid in some weeds. Although it was too dark to identify the men, they said they watched the two officers hide themselves while Scarborough walked onto the bridge and returned with M'rose.

The witness said the two crouching men fired first, then Scarborough turned and fired as well. M'rose fell and attempted to get up when he was forced to the ground by Scarborough, and finally M'rose quit struggling. One of the men picked up M'rose's pistol, fired one shot from it and laid it by the dead man's hand.

"No credence was placed upon this story at the time, but the Queen family still tells it, just as their elders had it from Vic, and they believe it explicitly.

"And Vic? If the residents of Eddy village thought they had seen the last of him, they were sadly disappointed. On Jan. 29, 1896, he rode calmly into town from El Paso and announced that he had come to clear his name of all accusations -- and to shut some wagging mouths. He did just that, too, for on April 16, 1896, The Eddy Current stated: 'The grand jury failed to indict Vic Queen. Vic, who is now free from all charges, and will engage in business in the county and settle down.' "

7/03/1895 Victor Queen was living in Juarez, Mexico, and made a statement to the press about the death of Martin M"Rose on the bridge between Juarez and El Paso. M"Rose was a wanted outlaw in New Mexico. http://elpasotimes.typepad.com/morgue/2009/09/the-mrose-killing.html

fter the death of M"Rose, Vic returned to Eddy, NM, and challenged law officials to prove thier accusations that he was a rustler. In 1896 Vic returned to Eddy to "face the music". He was arrested and posted bond, and in July 1896 he went in frount of the grand jury for trial. Apparently the trial was continued until the next session in 1897, in order to subponea new witnesses. The case was concluded that year, the grand jury refused to endict Vic for the theft.

Victor obtained employment with a mining company near Silver City NM.

Victor married Mollie Lockwood in Eddy Co. NM on Jan 2, 1904. Source NMGenweb & the Marage Records of Eddy County, NM.

Victor died in New Mexico Dec ,1904, and is burried in the Memory Lane Cemetery, site # E-20-2, in Silver City, NM. The stone errected on the grave states it was placed by his mother.(From Beverly Taylor) The inscription reads; "Erected in Loving Memory by Mother"

A newspaper article from the Silver City Enterprise of Dec 16, 1904 describes his demise in a gun battle near that city. Victor was described as the head timberman for a local mining company . According to the article published at the time Vic was ambushed by two local citizens and shot in the back twice and then finished off with a shotgun blast to the stomach.. Source Silver City Museum

The story of Victor's life between 1888, the death of his uncle "Kep" queen, and his marrage and death in 1904 is still being researched.

1.   Richard Wilkinson jrrrr@@ZiaNet.com. NMGenweb Project.

   Queen, Victor Lockwood, Mollie 01021904 0001a 00143a