On February 12, 1917 just seven miles north of the Corner Ranch in the southwest part of New Mexico, Andy Peterson, Milton Jensen, Lem Spilsbury, Monie Adams and a Jackson man [were] rounding up cattle at Camel Wells and the Corner Ranch. Andy Peterson also had several cowboys working for him. Some [went] to Camel Wells and some to the Corner Ranch. On arriving at the Corner Ranch [the cowboys] assumed the men [they found] there were working for [the] Polomos Land and Cattle Company…they invited the men to eat dinner with them. As [the cowboys] got off their horses [the Mexicans] pulled their guns on them and took [the cowboys’] only rifle. They took the men as prisoners and started to Mexico traveling on the southwest side of the Corner Ranch. They cut the line fence in several places and ran horses back and forth to keep anyone from following.
When Andy and his men [Burton Jensen and Hugh Acord] didn’t return at the set time a group of fifteen men (including myself) volunteered to go search for them. We went into Mexico three miles to a ranch where we thought they might be. Lem Spilsbury was in charge of the group and said we would have to make a fast attack on the ranch house. He said, “Orson, you go to the left and ride ahead a half mile.” Two men were to go to the right in case the traitors were in the house, so that we would be prepared and catch them when they came out. We found no one there so we returned to the border and hunted for fresh tracks and found they had cut the fence in three places when they crossed into Old Mexico, trying to cover their tracks.
Lem Spilsbury, Milton Jensen, Monie Adams, a Jackson man and myself volunteered to continue the search. The others thought of going home, but continued on in another direction. We continued a half mile and about 3:00 PM we found the three prisoners (Jensen, Peterson, Acord). It appeared that they had been killed as long as two days. We could see that they had been beaten. Burton Jensen was brutally torchered [sic], stripped of his clothing and butchered up badly, his fingers and arms were broken and the top of his head was blown off. We continued fifty yards farther and in a half moon circle and there lay Hugh Acord. His boots were off and half of his jacket removed which gave the appearance of fear and leaving in a hurry. Both jaw bones had been broken with the butt of a quirt and his skull had been beaten to a pulp. Another fifty yards lay Andy Peterson. He had been shot. The first bullet had burned his wind pipe. The next one pierced through the heart. He was not abused at all.
When we found the bodies we called back the other ten men. Carl Pierce and myself were sent up on a high knoll as guards. We stayed overnight on the border line of Mexico during disagreeable weather. Two shots were fired over the group showing us that someone was watching.
Fred Barefoot was sent to Dog Springs, New Mexico (near Columbus) to get soldiers for help and was shot at twice. We had to go to the Corner Ranch for a wagon. Finally at about 8:00 PM we got the bodies across the line and arrived at Camel Wells. We prepared them for buriel [sic]. They were buried at Camel Wells February 14, 1917.
