And then there was John Dunn. He was bronc rider, saloon keeper, gambler, stagecoach driver and lovable rascal - is a legend in Northern New Mexico. His lanky six-foot-four frame, spicy vocabulary, broken-nose twang and wide range humor left a lasting impression on everyone he met. Because he owned the only bridge and the only stagecoach (later the taxi) business into Taos for over 30 years, that included just about everyone who came to town.
It was in Dodge City, waiting for quarantined steer, that John caught the gambling bug. Bat Masterson was Marshall and John also knew Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane, Billy the Kid ("he was as ugly as the devil with his teeth sticking out in front like a mad beaver", John said) and Pat Garrett, Billy's killer. John himself was in trouble with the law. He accidentally killed his wife-beating brother-in-law in a fist fight. He was imprisoned in Texas and escaped by filing through his leg irons and floating down a swollen river.
Evading the law in Texas by hiding under the hay load of a Taoseno, John landed in Elizabethtown, NM (named for a miner's beautiful daughter) where a gold boom had started in 1866. There he opened a saloon and gambling business which prospered with the mine, and became friends with Dr. Martin, an Easterner who arrived around the same time and was credited with healing more bullet holes than illnesses. Long trail rides and his escape from the law bred Dunn's dream of starting a transportation business. John said, "I itched to get back to stage coachin' again, If I could just find a place that was good and isolated and so damn rough it wouldn't pay to build railroads, I'd have just what I wanted."
One day long John got mad at someone stealing his fire wood. Set on getting even, he hollowed out logs and put in dynamite. His pregnant wife never knew about his revenge and threw some of the wood into the fire place blowing her out of the house and into the street. She and her baby were fine and nothing was said.
Kathleen’s great grandfather lived across the hall from Doc Martin, worked for the Buffalo Bill show and talked/worked with Calamity Jane. All have had connections to the naja. He was born in Elizabethtown and worked the gold runs where he was looking for the naja. Kathleen’s grandfather served under Pershing looking for Pancho Villa, who for some unknown reason was looking for “un pequeño hombre verde”. Later he took a job at the Grand Canyon in the 20’s and married a Fred Harvey girl and they came back to Taos.
Grolock inquired about the naja. John said, “The naja was right next to the fireplace and my wife when it exploded and everything went out the door including my pregnant wife. Go find that firewood, it’s bound to be nearby.”