By Mike Appleton, Guest Blogger
I first heard of John Prather sometime in 1957. We were living outside of La Luz, New Mexico, a village near Alamogordo. My father was working on a guided missile project at Holloman Air Force Base at the time. Prather was a cattle rancher and I followed his story over the next few years with a mixture of boyish awe and admiration.
Prather was born in east Texas in 1873, and moved with his family by covered wagon to New Mexico ten years later. He took up ranching in the 1890s, raising both cattle and mules, supplying the latter to the army during both world wars and acquiring the nickname “Mule King.” By the 1950s, Prather had accumulated 4,000 acres stretching from the foothills and fertile mesas of the Sacramento Mountains into the arid desert of the Tularosa Basin, and held grazing leases from the government on another 20,000 acres. Rough-edged, but gentle, he built his ranch house by hand and grew pecan trees. Prather was one of the last pioneer settlers in New Mexico Territory and looked forward to passing on what he had created to his children. But the government had different ideas.
The Tularosa Basin lies between the San Andres Mountains on the west and the Sacramentos on the east. White Sands runs down the middle of the basin, just south of the prehistoric lava pits known as the Malpais. It is stark, arid, rugged and beautiful. Only a few miles away from the Malpais is the Trinity Site, where the first atomic bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945. In the years following World War II, the White Sands Proving Ground, as it was then known, was gradually expanded. By the early 1950s, America had embarked on the Cold War and the earnest development of guided missile systems. The proving ground was transformed into the White Sands Missile Range, necessitating even further expansion. The nearby McGregor Missile Range was also expanding and by 1956, hundreds of thousands of additional acres of the Tularosa Basin had been set aside for the development and testing of missile systems.
A number of ranchers were affected by the expansion. Most of them negotiated purchase prices with the government and moved on. A few battled condemnation proceedings and eventually settled. And then there was John Prather. He had no desire to sell under any circumstances and made his views clear. When asked about his plans, he replied, “I am going to die at home.” Although he was unwilling to give up his land, he did offer to lease it to the army for $2.00 per year, so that he “could go on raising beef for the army to eat and paying taxes for them generals’ salaries.” But a sale was out of the question. “If they come after me,” he said, “they better bring a box.”
With negotiations going nowhere, the army began formal condemnation proceedings. The U.S. attorney’s office deposited $341,425.00 as compensation for the Prather ranch and the federal court in Albuquerque issued an order of taking requiring him to move his livestock and vacate his ranch by March 30, 1957. When that deadline passed, federal district judge Waldo Rogers issued a writ of assistance on August 6, 1957. Three U.S. marshals were dispatched the next day to serve the writ. Prather still refused to budge and reportedly said, “I will kill the first man that steps into the door of my house.” The army posted the land and sent armed soldiers to convince him to leave, but by this time the affair had attracted widespread media interest. This was, after all, an 82 year-old man standing firmly against the might of the military. The soldiers were withdrawn.
During the course of the next three years, John Prather became an unwilling folk hero. He received a personal visit from the commander of Fort Bliss. The State of New Mexico intervened. Sen. Clinton Anderson publicly denounced the army’s efforts. Congressional hearings were held on the federal “land grab.” And through it all Prather remained, unfazed and adamant. “I never did take to killing, even of animals,” he said. “I figure each time you kill a thing, you take a little joy out of the world. But a man does what he has to, and if he has to kill to protect his ranch and his home …well, that’s his God-given right.”
In the end, John Prather didn’t move. The army agreed to allow him to remain on his ranch and retain fifteen surrounding acres for as long as he lived. When he died in 1965, at the age of 91, his body was buried next to his ranch house. And true to his word, he never accepted the money set aside for his land.
When the controversy erupted over gun control recently, and I listened to the dire predictions of the NRA and the alarmist condemnations from the right, I thought about John Prather for the first time in many years. Throughout his battle with the army, not a single shot was fired. He didn’t barricade himself and amass stores of ammunition. He didn’t attend armed rallies discussing Second Amendment “remedies.” He didn’t hate his government or the soldiers he confronted. He served them coffee and explained his position in simple and direct language. He prevailed because his humility and integrity commanded respect. He understood what “stand your ground” ought to mean. He won by moral force rather than force of arms.
Following Prather’s death, of course, the army took possession of the remainder of his land. And a year later, deciding that not all of the land was immediately needed, it began leasing portions of the Prather ranch-for cattle grazing.
Sources: C.L. Sonnichsen, “Tularosa, Last of the Frontier West,” (University of New Mexico press, 2002); Calvin A. Roberts, “Our New Mexico: A Twentieth Century History,” (University of New Mexico Press, 2005); Marc Simmons, “New Mexico: An Interpretive History,” (W.W. Norton & Company, 1977); John A. Hamilton, “Blazing Skies: Air Defense Artillery on Fort Bliss, Texas, 1940-2009,”(GPO, 2009).
tony c:
and what outcome do you think they hoped to achieve?
“for I have sworn upon the altar of god,
eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
Thomas Jefferson
To Dr. Benjamin Rush_
_Monticello, Sep. 23, 1800_
that is a pretty broad statement.
Sam: Do you think yourself smarter than Madison or Jefferson?
I do not think intelligence works that way; there is no pinnacle to the mountain; there is a plateau upon which about 1% or 2% of the population resides, and they can be good at different things. By objective measures (my academic record, and at least five different IQ tests I have taken) I think I am as smart as Madison or Jefferson; and I think that even if you take just 0.1% of the population of the USA, there are a quarter million living adults in the USA as smart as Madison or Jefferson.
Those people are much better informed than Madison or Jefferson as well, and those people are far more aware of current society, technology, and human nature than Madison or Jefferson.
Your hero worship is misplaced, Madison and Jefferson were not gods or unique people in the history of humanity. They were intelligent men that borrowed ideas and invented something they thought would work. It did work; but it has clearly stopped working now, most likely because they relied upon cultural norms (like defending Honor with one’s life, and Solemn Oaths being taken as unbreakable) that they imagined would persist; and those norms did not persisted. Perhaps they failed to envision the Industrial Revolution, Instantaneous communications from anywhere to anywhere, billions of video cameras virtually everywhere, and corporations a hundred thousand times richer than all of Congress put together.
Whatever the failure, it IS a failure; the government clearly acts in direct opposition to the will of the people, and in direct alignment with the will of the corporations and wealthy that wish to exploit the people. That was not their intent. The fact that 91% of citizens approve of background checks and cannot get them is proof of that.
If Madison and Jefferson WERE the smartest people to ever exist, then they still weren’t smart enough to achieve their objective, and since their objective still remains desirable, perhaps it is time that a few of that quarter million that is alive and can think should work on a new system, a corrective for their system to achieve the outcome they hoped to achieve.
rafflaw:
it wasnt his determination, the government still respected the Constitution and individual rights in the 1950’s.
He would have been dead today in a matter of days after making the threat to kill anyone who crossed his threshold.
The dichotomy in this story between then and now, should show everyone the evil of collectivism and how far we have gone down that vile road.
His determination? Not hardly, the people who governed us then still believed in the rule of law. The people who rule us now, use the Constitution to wipe their a$$.
Its hilarious watching some of you tripping all over yourselves about the evil 1% and how corrupt our government is and what do you geniuses come up with? Disarm the population. Brilliant logic. You are so fanatical in your hate for guns you cannot see how ridiculous your idea is of offering up our freedoms to the govt on a silver platter.
I guess if we continue down this dark path of overreach, stripping of rights and tyranny that we should just gather in a park hold hands and sing Kumbaya and ask nicely for the corrupt govt to resign.
After 10,000 freaking years of history repeating itself over and over that you would have figured it out by now that tyranny always gets every govt at some point. Why the hell do you think Madison gave us guns.? Do you think yourself smarter than Madison or Jefferson? Not a freaking chance even if you lived to 200. I do not profess to be as intelligent as they or perhaps some of you, but i have enough common sense to know it!
There are risks with guns. But freedom has a price.
Love it Mike….. The irony is in the end…..
“This was, after all, an 82 year-old man standing firmly against the might of the military. The soldiers were withdrawn.”
Really illustrates the point that times have changed.
Lol today he would have been shot or burned to death. Get real people
hc1996 has it right, this isnt the same country it was in 1957. Better in some ways, civil rights, but not so good on a number of levels. In 1957 there was still respect for the individual as an individual as this story shows.
That’s a great story and well told Mike A but it’s just a nostalgic look at the the country we used to live in by now. By August 8 Mr. Prather would have been gone, evicted or dead, specially since he made a ‘terroristic’ threat to kill law enforcement or military personnel: “I will kill the first man that steps into the door of my house.” Considering the power of the Executive these days regarding domestic terrorists, a JSOC team would have probably been standing by just in case when the 3 marshal’s went back on the 7th. HC1996, voltaic and RTC have it right IMO and I really hate thinking that but I do.
The comparison is most telling not between Mr. Prather and the NRA but between the way the government(s)- local and Federal, are empowered and prepared to act from then to now.
Sorry! That should read Mike, not Mark!
Great story Mark. Mr. Prather was an interesting character. It amazes me that after he died they leased back some of the land. I agree that I is a good story and lesson for the NRA. It wasn’t his weapons that won the day. It was his determination.
voltaic: Perhaps not precisely, but I agree with the sentiment. Our media, police and political executives are not as restrained by morals or principles or public sentiment as they were in the 1950’s, a SWAT team would have crossed his door with bulletproof shields and an eviction notice, and if he pointed a gun at them, killed him in a hail of bullets. Or by sniper fire from atop their van, or whatever.
Our media would report a deranged armed assailant attacked police peacefully trying to execute a legal court order, and speculated about any possible ties to Al Qaida or Terrorism; they would have reported he made clear threats to kill police that approached him. The police chief would come on to claim that incidents like this are precisely what warrants increasing the budget for militarizing police to help keep our citizens safe.
Or alternatively, just ordered him to appear in court. If he appeared, seize his home and land while he was gone; if he refused, issue an arrest warrant, and now he is an armed criminal resisting arrest.
QUOTE “When the controversy erupted over gun control recently, and I listened to the dire predictions of the NRA and the alarmist condemnations from the right”
Who has the “NRA” shot??
At least the NRA is made up of MILLIONS of gun owners & not a creation of a few like Bloomberg’s!
As for ‘dire predictions’, you have already mentioned the anniversary of Kent State & Jackson (along with the people bayoneted in New Mexico) during Vietnam protests.
For a practical example of political corruption we have the Battle of Athens. And during the times Unions formed we have the Ludlow Massacre, the Lattimer Massacre, the Haymarket massacre, the “Battle of the Viaduct”, or the Bay View Massacre. (BTW Bay View is how ALL WORKERS got an 8 hr day.)
Doesn’t sound like ‘dire predictions’, it sounds like ACCURATE predictions!!!
Does anyone really want to depend on the Government to take care of them & depend on them to do the “right thing”, even after seeing what they have done in the past?!?
I am not sure whether your story is really about the 2nd Amendment or the government’s use of eminent domain. A point I would like to make however, is that though Mr Prather never used lethal force, he had it at his disposal. If lethal force had not been available to him, the Federal marshals would have merely forcibly removed him from his property by carrying him off in handcuffs. Today of course, armored vehicles, television cameras and a SWAT team would show up, and Mr Prather would soon be dead. He would be portrayed in the main stream media as a dangerous, armed anti-government radical who posed a threat to everyone around him. After all, he questioned the necessity of the government’s decision and actively resisted its implementation. Isn’t that the very definition of radicalism in Brave New America?
Maybe the Kelo’s should have stockpiled some weapons. BTW, how’d that work out in New London?
Today, he’d be quickly and quietly whisked off to a maximum security, for-profit prison where he would discover the finer points of extraordinary rendition.
Great story, Mike!
Mike, your comparisons of this gentleman and the armed loons of the NRA is flawed because you are assuming that the NRA has any interest in defending any particular position. It does not. The NRA as currently constituted is designed to serve 2 purposes; first to sell more guns and second to elect more wingnuts.
Starting in the 60s gun manufacturers started to see a slump in sales and reacted by focusing on using the NRA as a tool for marketing (being that NRA members were more likely to be customers). This was accomplished by simply ratcheting up the fear and paranoia that sensible gun laws would end up in confiscation. As with any campaign so designed it only works as long as the rhetoric is elevated when the old lines do not work. Thats how we got to todays ’11’ on a scale of 1-10. And it actually works as they are selling even more guns today then before – albeit to an ever dwindling number of people.
Somewhere along the way however the industrial masters of the universe saw the opportunity to also politicize the NRA. It has become very adept at turning out voters for some of the very worst politicians in America. These puppets, in addition to subverting or outright killing sensible gun legislation work very hard to see that taxation does not fall on the wealthy, that regulation does not impede accumulation of wealth by protecting the health and safety of the land or its inhabitants and in general making America a third-world industrial giant.
There is no comparison between a rational tough old bird and the poisoned minds of the NRA
“Following Prather’s death, of course, the army took possession of the remainder of his land. And a year later, deciding that not all of the land was immediately needed, it began leasing portions of the Prather ranch-for cattle grazing.” Ironic, but typical. I’m sure many people who have unwillingly had their property seized by the federal or local government have felt the same as Mr. Prather–but isn’t the modern response to have SWAT or other armed forces sent in to forcibly remove them? Our country and society are no longer what they were in the 1950s; I’m not sure a citizen (who’s not incredibly wealthy, or famous, anyway) would attract much support from the media or Congress if similar circumstances were to arise. Still, it’s a great tale and reminds me of what our country used to be.
Wow, Mike A,
That’s quite the story and well told. Mr. Prather was a role model of stoic conviction. I’ve got to admire a man who sticks to his principles. If everyone was able to stand up for their rights like he did, maybe we wouldn’t be seeing the steady erosion of our rights as citizens that we see today or people so willing to take up violence as a first option in fighting tyranny.