EL PASO. 
159 
was invested with the powers of a justice of the peace, 
by authority of a commission from the State of Texas, 
and constituted the entire civil authority at Socorro. 
In this alarming condition of affairs, the members 
of the Boundary Commission present were compelled 
to move in the matter, and resolve upon some plan to 
protect not only their own lives and property, ^ but 
also those of the trembling and dismayed population 
about them. Messengers were immediately sent to 
San Eleazario, for assistance from the main body of the 
Commission, there engaged in various duties. The 
call was promptly responded to ; and in about three 
hours a party of Mexicans and Americans were col- 
lected together. They hastily armed themselves, and, 
joined by members of the Commission, proceeded at 
once to Socorro, where many of the citizens were 
already assembled awaiting them. The force was now 
divided into several parties, and a systematic search 
at once commenced to ferret out the murderers. 
Every house was examined, and eight or nine persons 
arrested ; but a man named Young, who had been 
most conspicuous in the affray, was not to be found, 
having, it was said, escaped from the village in the 
morning. The prisoners were immediately conducted 
by an armed guard to the house of Justice Berthold, 
where a court was instituted to suit the emergencies 
of the case. Juries were summoned and sworn, a pro- 
secuting attorney named, and counsel for the defence 
offered to the prisoners, which they declined, treating 
the offer as a jest, and making vulgar and obscene 
remarks upon their position. Nevertheless, an indivi- 
dual tendered his services for the defence, and occa- 
