P ORVENIR M ASSACRE
ARCHAEOLOGY
by Glenn Justice. Photos by Jessica Lutz.
O
Archeologist Sam Cason uses a metal detector to locate bullet fragments across the volcanic dike against which the men were murdered.
ne January night in 1918, a
mass murder took place in far
northwest Presidio County. It
happened not far from a tiny, little-
known village called Porvenir. In
Spanish, Porvenir means future; how-
ever, there was no future for some 140
Mexicans living in the place, who sub-
sisted by farming and raising goats,
sheep, and a few cattle and horses.
They occupied crude huts known as
16
Cenizo
jacales, constructed with stone or adobe
walls and thatched roofs of ocotillo.
While some were U.S. citizens, many
of the residents of Porvenir came to
Texas to escape the terrible civil war
that consumed Mexico during those
years.
Beginning in 1910 and lasting for a
decade, the Mexican Revolution creat-
ed havoc across Chihuahua as well as
along the Texas border. On May 5,
Second Quarter 2016
1916, a group of bandits attacked
Glenn Springs, Texas, located in
today’s Big Bend National Park. The
raiders killed three troopers of the
Fourteenth Cavalry and a four-year-
old boy and set Glenn Springs ablaze.
Then on Christmas Day, 1917, about
45 raiders thought to be Villistas
attacked the Brite Ranch in western
Presidio County. They looted the Brite
store and hung mailman Mickey
Welch from the rafters before cutting
his throat to make sure they had killed
him.
These acts spread terror among Big
Bend residents. Large numbers of peo-
ple left their homes on the border, seek-
ing safety in Marfa and other West
Texas towns. There were heated
demands for retaliation. Something
had to be done. Sadly, these demands
for vengeance developed into reality