The Men Who Enforced Order. The Outlaws Who Defied It.
In a Land Where Justice Sometimes Faltered, Judge Lynch’s Verdict Was Always Final.
A Gripping Crime Drama Rooted in History.
Discover Judge Lynch
A Gripping Tale
This is the story of two men: Ethan Eaton, a man determined to bring order to a lawless land, and Joel Fowler, a man who thrived in its chaos. One fought for justice. The other mocked it. Their paths would collide in a deadly showdown in Socorro, New Mexico, a town where the citizens took justice into their own hands and delivered their verdict with the noose.
About ThE Author - Richard Gallegos
Born and raised in Socorro, New Mexico, Richard Gallegos has always been captivated by the history of the Old West. From western books, movies, and TV shows to ghost towns, mining camps, old photographs, and long-forgotten tales, his fascination with the past has only deepened over time. A lifelong student of New Mexico’s true history, he has spent years uncovering the lost stories of lawmen, outlaws, and the ordinary people caught in between.
More than twenty years ago, Richard stumbled upon accounts of the Socorro Committee of Safety, a vigilante group formed in 1881. What began as a curiosity quickly became an obsession. Who were these men? Where did they come from? And what really happened during those turbulent years? The deeper he dug, the more he unearthed.
Like a miner spotting a glint of gold on a mountainside, Richard followed each lead, one discovery leading to another, until he struck paydirt, a web of events and figures no one had fully connected. His research uncovered Colonel Ethan Eaton, leader of the Socorro Committee of Safety, and Joel Fowler, the notorious outlaw who ultimately found himself at the end of a rope, sentenced by the very community he had terrorized. Their story was intertwined with the greater turmoil of 1880s New Mexico, a time of shifting power, swift justice, and ruthless survival.
The events chronicled in Judge Lynch are drawn from first-hand accounts of people who lived through these events, as well as books written about the era. The book also includes original newspaper articles from the time, giving readers an authentic glimpse into how these stories were reported as they unfolded.
Fueled by a relentless drive for historical accuracy, Richard brings the past to life through vivid storytelling and meticulous research. His novel, Judge Lynch: A True New Mexico Saga, 1880-1884, immerses readers in a world where justice was swift, the frontier was unforgiving, and the truth was often stranger than fiction.
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