I am looking for biographical information on Louis Abieta, an Isleta
Pueblo Indian. There are many colorful stories regarding his career in
law enforcement that I would like to substantiate. Louis Abieta served
as a Valencia County Sheriff and worked security for the Santa Fe
Railroad. He was the Chief of Indian Police for the Southern Pueblos
from approximately 1919-1921.He was appointed by the Southern Pueblo
superintendant Leo Crane. He was shot and killed in the line of duty
on January 12, 1921 at the the Isleta Railroad Station by a
African-American escaped convict accused of multiple murders. Louis
died at the Ablbuquerque Hospital. Luis was either 40 or 45 at the
time of his death (conflicting reports). His funeral was paid for by
the superintentendant Crane with Federal Agency money.
He married Maria in 1904 and had his first son Diego in 1905. He had five children.
Louis helped solve many crimes including the murder of Santiago Felipe
at the Acoma Pueblo on October 2, 1920.
Most of my information comes from Leo Crane's Book, "Desert Drum" and
his collection of photos.
I have not been able to find any newspaper articles from the 1920s
(Albuquerque Journal) to possibly validate the heroic tales of Louis
Abeita.
Thank you |
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
15 Apr 2004 17:02 PDT
Hello plellias-ga,
I've done some pretty extensive looking around, and could find only
one newspaper article about Louis Abeita. But it's a good one!
The article is from 1930, and features an interview with Diego Abeita,
who refers to his father as Pablo Abeita. However, there is no doubt
that Pablo and Louis are one and the same.
Here is an excerpt from the article [I added some small bits of
punctuation in order to make the original text a bit clearer]:
==========
A DAY IN ISLETA
When Diego said in response to my query if he knew Pablo Abeita, "He
was my father", I knew that his father was dead...Sutton told me He
was killed by a...criminal. So I asked Diego the circumstance of his
father's death...
...Leo Crane Indian Agent saw the merit of Pablo Abeita as an Indian
peace officer and raised him to the position of a special
police...Whenever there was a need of a fearless officer quick on the
draw...the case was turned over to Pablo Abeita...
==========
The article goes on to describe, somewhat graphically, and in language
that is quite offensive, the death of Pablo Abeita at the hands of an
escaped criminal.
There is not a lot of biographical information here. But I thought
you may want to accept this one article as an answer to your
question...if nothing else, it certainly confirms the heroic
reputation of Abeita.
Of course, if you want to adjust the price you are offering -- to
reflect the paucity of information -- please feel free to do so.
By the way, I did a web search on "Pablo Abeita". Most of the hits
were for another Isleta resident of the same name -- probably a
relative -- who also was the Governor of Isleta. Some of the results,
though, had pointers to offline sources of information on Isleta and
its inhabitants that may provide you some useful leads for further
contacts.
Let me know how you would like to proceed on this.
pafalafa-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
plellias-ga
on
15 Apr 2004 17:51 PDT
THE ARTICLE SOUNDS REALLY HELPFUL AS WELL AS THE OTHER LEADS YOU FOUND.
I WILL ADJUST MY PRICE TO $40.00. DO I DO THIS, OR DO YOU DO IT AT YOUR END?
THANK YOU
|
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
15 Apr 2004 18:41 PDT
Thanks for getting back to me. You'll have to change the price on
your end. The insturctions, from the "Help and Tips" page, are:
Change your question price
You can change your price at anytime as long as your question is not
currently 'locked' and being answered by a Researcher. To change your
question price, go to "My Account," select "My Unanswered Questions"
and click on the question with the price you want to change. Then
click on "Change Question Parameters" to modify the price.
==========
Once I see the price has been adjusted, I'll post the instructions for
accessing the article I mentioned. I'm sure you'll find it quite
interesting.
pafalafa-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
plellias-ga
on
15 Apr 2004 19:49 PDT
I CHANGED THE PRICE.
THANKS
|
And thanks to you, too.
The University of Utah has done a nice job of digitizing some of the
state's historical newspapers. I knew about this site from some prior
research I had done, and thought it would be a good place to search
for your policeman.
You can visit their collection at:
http://www.lib.utah.edu/digital/unews/
You may want to eventually conduct a search at this site on the single
word "Abeita" and have a look at all the articles that pop up.
But your first search should be for the article I mentioned. Just
enter into the search box:
Pablo Abeita
and press "GO" -- this should lead you to a link for the article:
Millard County Chronicle
1930-06-26
A Day in Isleta
It's a chilling article, but it should make for a good read.
The article should open right up in a viewer in your browser window.
Before rating this question, please let me know if you have any
trouble accessing the article, or if you need additional information.
Just post a Request for Clarification, and I'll be happy to assist you
further.
Cheers
pafalafa-ga |
Request for Answer Clarification by
plellias-ga
on
16 Apr 2004 07:28 PDT
The research was done promtly and effeciently. I'll rate it with 5 stars!
|
Clarification of Answer by
pafalafa-ga
on
16 Apr 2004 08:40 PDT
plellias-ga,
Thanks for the kind feedback.
In order to formally rate the answer, though, you'll have to click on
the rating button and select "5 stars".
As the "Help and Tips" section of Google Answer notes:
=====
Rate the answer to your question
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the information communicated), and tone (how friendly and polite was
the writing).
=====
Good luck with your continuing research on the Abeita family.
|
Clarification of Answer by
pafalafa-ga
on
07 May 2004 11:47 PDT
plellias-ga,
If you haven't already, please have a look at the comment posted today
(at the very bottom of this page) by the current police chief in
Isleta. It may well be an interesting avenue of information for you.
pafalafa-ga
|
