Jimmy Dolan, little drummer boy
This photo was taken at the time that Dolan served as a drummer boy in the U. S. Army.
James Joseph Dolan was born at Loughrea, County Galway, Ireland on May 2, 1848. His family moved to New York in 1854. In 1863, Dolan enlisted in the U. S. Army. He was mustered out in 1865, but reenlisted in 1866. He ended up at Fort Stanton, New Mexico and was mustered out there on April 3, 1869. He became a close friend of L. G. Murphy and thought of Murphy as a father figure. He went to work as a clerk for L. G. Murphy & Co. Due to his wily and very dangerous temper, he was arrested for attempting to assassinate a man at Fort Stanton in 1873. After Murphy's first partner, Emil Fritz died, Dolan became his new partner, with J. H. Riley joining shortly thereafter. After Murphy quit the business altogether in March of 1877, Dolan took over, renamed the business to Jas. J. Dolan & Co., and was the main opposition for the Tunstall-McSween-Chisum faction, not Murphy like the movies show. In May 1877, Dolan shot and killed Hiraldo Jaramillo, a clerk for his store, in Lincoln, probably as a favor for his friend, George Peppin. Before the war started, Dolan and Riley, already deep in debt to the First National Bank of Santa Fe, mortgaged everything belonging to the Company, including the House itself, to bank president, and Santa Fe Ring head, Thomas Catron. During the war, Dolan was indicted as an accessory to the murder of John Tunstall as well as for cattle theft. Immediately after being indicted, Dolan closed down the House for what he claimed would only be temporary, but ended up being permantently. By the time the war was over, the Company and Dolan had lost everything. Later, Dolan, along with Jessie Evans and other gunmen attempted to make peace with Billy the Kid and the Regulators on February 18, 1879, but that was thrown away when on that same night, Dolan and one of his gunmen shot and killed Huston Chapman, a lawyer that was working for the widow of McSween. Shortly thereafter, Billy testified before a grand jury as to what he saw on the night of the Chapman murder. Dolan was indicted for the murder but remained free on bail. He married Caroline Fritz on July 13, 1879 and the couple had four children, two of which died as small children. In Nov. of 1879, the charges facing Dolan for the murders of Tunstall and Chapman were dropped and for the rest of his life, he remained law-abiding. In late 1882, Dolan ran for sheriff of Lincoln County, and although he was backed by former sheriff Pat Garrett, he lost to John Poe. That same year, Dolan and his friend (and former District Attorney) William Rynerson, along with friends John Lemon and Numa Reynolds, bought the old Tunstall store in Lincoln and Tunstall ranch on the Rio Feliz and turned it into the Feliz Land & Cattle Co. He became the treasurer of Lincoln in 1884 and held that position until 1888. In 1886, his wife died during childbirth, but he married again in 1888, this time to Eva Whitlock. That same year, he was elected to the territorial senate representing the counties of Lincoln, Grant, Dona Ana, and Sierra and built a house for himself in Lincoln. Probably in the same year or the next, he sold his store (the old Tunstall store) to the firm of Rosenthal & Co. On June 3, 1889, he was appointed receiver of the land office at Las Cruces, but resigned from this position in 1891. In 1892, he and friend Billy Mathews were made directors of the Penasco Reservoir & Irrigation Company, but the company ended up failing. In 1894, Dolan built a ranchhouse on his Rio Feliz property, which was dubbed the Flying H. He died there on February 26, 1898, by that time a heavy alcoholic, just like his mentor L. G. Murphy.
The Leaders of the House
This photo was taken at Christmas time at Fort Stanton in 1871. It shows, from left to right: James Dolan (the bookkeeper of the Fort Stanton store at the time), Emil Fritz, W. W. Martin (the clerk at the Fort Stanton store), and L. G. Murphy
J. J. Dolan & L. G. Murphy
This photo was also taken at Fort Stanton at Christmas time in 1871.
