Quitetly, Quiggly stepped into the darkness as he stealthily approached and steeled himself against the man's scream of rage as the stranger fell, hitting his head on a rock. With his right arm under the man's neck, he lifted him, then hurried to the horses' enclosure. Quiggly removed the bridles from his horse and swung the body up across its back as the other horses stood in the enclosure, munching on their oats.
"There you go, lads," Quiggly said. "Have a good evening now. Be back soon!"
The three horses moved out onto the trail and Quiggly turned back to find no man was there. In the dark, he was unable to find the man but he knew where the trail led: south across an arid, dry desert, then through a rocky canyon to the Rio Grande River.
Quiggly searched the man's pockets. There was no sign of any money. He found nothing except a large-size, brown leather pouch. It was tied to the man's wrist with a large leather strap. The pouch had been closed by a loop that went around the man's middle finger.
Quiggly untied the man's hands and moved his face close to his lips. He found the man had been drinking the night before. Quiggly opened the pouch. He found papers.
Quiggly took the papers to the stream and carefully read them by the flickering light of the night sky. The papers were old documents of legal-size. They showed that the pouch had been sealed in 1858, at the time of the U.S.-Mexican War. It was a court document, bearing an original signature of General Winfield Scott. It was addressed to a man named J.J. Baughman, of the 2nd Brigade, Sixth Division. The other documents related to some kind of business transaction. There was one more paper that Quiggly took with him. It was a certificate of land grant issued by the United States, conveying title to a parcel of land. The holder's name was Joseph B. DeMores. There was also a bill of sale for the property.
Quiggly quickly made a pack for the horse. He gathered an assortment of clothes for the man's body and the bridles and saddle blanket.
When he had the stranger loaded, he headed his horse back toward the enclosure. The horses were still munching their oats. Quiggly dismounted, tied his horse to the rail fence. Then he dragged the man's body to the enclosure. He hid it behind some rocks.
When he finished he turned and headed back toward Mexico.
Later that night he crossed the border and rode southward toward Mexico City. He made several stops along the way, making purchases from the townspeople for the trip north. His horse had enough food to carry him into Mexico City. At a trading post he purchased a Mexican horse and clothing.
Quiggly entered Mexico City with all the documents. He sold the clothing. Then he hid the pouch and documents under a rock and went to sleep.
Quiggly arrived in Chihuahua City late the next day, September 20, 1873. He rented rooms and stores for a new blacksmith shop that he proposed to open in Chihuahua. He told everyone he had been with the army and fought at the Battle of Big Dry Wash. He brought in a friend and fellow Confederate, a blacksmith by the name of William McReary, who also went by the name "William Henry."
They got the shop open, and soon Quiggly and McReary were doing a flourishing business.
The stranger and William Henry Quiggly were now good friends and business partners.
One of the first things Quiggly did was to send a message to his stepfather. On September 21, 1873, in his letter, he informed his father that he had quit the army and come to Chihuahua to make a new life. He said he had left some papers behind when he came, that he had bought a horse and had gone to Mexico City. He advised his father to write a letter to the general he'd left in charge of the regiment's military papers.
On September 24, 1873, Quiggly gave his stepfather a stack of legal documents he had purchased from one of his customers in Mexico City. The documents were from a man named A.C. McReary, of the Confederate army, in San Antonio. The documents were contracts for the sale of land. Quiggly told his stepfather that he had acquired them from McReary at a good price. He said his original reason for going to Mexico was to get the land papers.
In his letter to his father, Quiggly made no mention of the incident at the inn with the man he had beaten up the day before he and McReary had left Chihuahua for Mexico City.
In early October 1873, at about the same time that Quiggly and William Henry received their assignments from the War Department, a letter was received from a man named Daniel S. Haskin. He was the first general superintendant of the Southern Pacific Railroad company in Mexico.
The letter was addressed to General Winfield S. Hancock, in Los Angeles. Haskin wrote:
_The first two companies of the Southern Pacific Railroad have been put in here and are working as fast as possible. They will all be running by the last of January. From that date they will run the entire route of the line that crosses Mexico. They have not been able to build the bridges to be thrown across the canyons where the mountains cross the railroad, as the government in Mexico has not as yet issued any permits. The first party of laborers for this section started east this morning on the road. Many of the families of the laborers are on the road or coming with them._
The letter ended with a request for information.
On the bottom of the letter was written the official seal of the Southern Pacific Railroad and a copy of the signature.
Quiggly was very interested in the letter. He asked his partner, William Henry, if they should respond to the letter for Haskin.
"No, I think I'll just take it to General Hancock," William Henry replied.
The letter arrived at Quiggly's home on East Hennepin Street in Los Angeles, on October 6, 1873. Quiggly read it and talked with his father.
"We might as well send a letter to General Hancock," he told his father.
A few days later William Henry H. Quiggly, a Mexican-American citizen, addressed a letter to General Winfield Scott Hancock, at the general headquarters in Los Angeles.
With a letter from William Henry, and a copy of the letter written by Haskin, Quiggly was able to forward both letters to the Southern Pacific Railroad offices in Los Angeles. He kept copies of both the original letters and the copies, and he also received a copy of the original letter.
He took a copy of the original letter to General Hancock's office. He spoke with the clerk, a man named E.B. Haldeman, about opening an account at the company's offices.
Haldeman looked at Quiggly a little more closely.
"By the way, my name is not Haldeman," he said. "That must have been the name of some one in your family."
Quiggly told him he was aware of the difficulty, as he was also a Quiggly in his own right. Haldeman told him that he knew his Quiggly family very well, and was also aware of the fact that Quiggly's family had some kind of connection with his company, but he had no idea that one of the Quiggles was going to be a partner in his company.
It wasn't long before the story about Quiggly's family connections became known throughout the office. Quiggly was so well liked by the staff that not only did they all greet him by his full name, William Henry H. Quiggly, they also jokingly called him W.H.H. What was left of Quiggly's self-confidence began to return. He had another opportunity to return home on furlough.
The Quiggles returned home to California on August 30, 1874. Charles F.A. Quiggly, the senior partner of the firm, had a very special reason for wanting to have W.H.H. home for a while. A year earlier, on July 31, 1873, Mrs. Quiggly had passed away.
W.H.H. was very quiet at first. He had been home a short while when he suddenly became restless. He couldn't stop talking about his future plans. His brother Charles said he had a big idea.
Quiggly announced to his family that he had fallen in love with a woman named Jennie Nye.
The Quiggles, W.H.H., and Charles F.A. were all very excited about the plan he brought forth. He wanted to marry her, but he wanted to marry her properly, with all the fanfare that his family could afford.
"Jennie and I have talked this over a great deal," W.H.H. said. "She wants to have it legal so that if
