Bio & Incident Details
Age: 30
Tour: 1 day
Badge # Not available
Cause: Gunfire
Incident Date: 8/29/1898
Weapon: Not available
Suspect: Not available
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Private Ernest St. Leon from Company D of the Texas Rangers under the command of Captain John R. Hughes went to the Town of Socorro with an attorney from Ysleta to transact some business with the local Justice of the Peace. The J.P. asked Private St. Leon to serve warrants of arrest for Bob Findley and John Collier for forcibly removing horses from the city pound. Private St. Leon arrested both men and after hearing that they were recovering their own horses, the matter was settled and the two cowboys left town just before dark. Shortly thereafter St. Leon heard shots being fired. The J.P. asked St. Leon not to pursue the men alone. St. Leon deputized Dr. Oscar J. Breaux and went to arrest the cowboys. In the dark three men riding two horses approached, and when St. Leon ordered them to surrender, they opened fire. Dr. Breaux was shot in the right ear and died instantly. Private St. Leon was shot in the shoulder with the bullet passing through his chest into his lung. The three men fled and were later arrested by Captain Hughes. The third man who had joined Findley and Collier was John Ray. Ray was wounded in the thigh by St. Leon. St. Leon was transported to Ysleta and then by train to El Paso where he died on Wednesday, August 31, 1898 after giving a dying statement. The final disposition of the three suspects is unknown but they were charged with murder of Breaux and St. Leon.
Dr. Breaux was reported to have left his family in New Orleans, LA and moved to Socorro for his health three months earlier. He had open a medical practice in the city. His place of burial and family history is unknown at this time.
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Private Ernest St. Leon |
