Carrizo Springs is famous for the shooting of the JJ cowboy Harry Teal. This most likely happened in 1888 or 1889, although we aren’t sure. Harry Teal was a JJ cowboy who worked for the JJ Ranch based out of Higbee just south of La Junta, CO. The ranch ran free range cattle from the Arkansas River to the New Mexico and Oklahoma borders as well as across most of Baca County. Therefore, their cowboys were widely spread. Carrizo Springs was about 60 miles to the south and east of Higbee, CO, but the town very close to the area where many large ranches of the time gathered in the fall and spring to brand, sort, and wean calves.
Harry Teal was considered to be a bit worthless but not really a bad guy. He would often just “take” what he wanted from other cowboys but was known to just give stuff away as well. It is said his buddies made a habit of inspecting pack at regular intervals. Harry never seemed to take offense at this, and most of the guys liked him just fine. The only time Harry was a nuisance was when he was drunk. It was then Harry tried to be “tough,” and it was this trait that led to his death.
Harry had ridden into the town of Carrizo Springs and spent his monthly wages drinking all night and was very drunk by the next morning. Apparently, he was hungry and made his way to Mrs. Robertson’s café for breakfast. He was allegedly accompanied by Doc Ruggles and his wife and two Swank Girls Clara and Swade. Harry could be seen and heard coming, acting very drunk and belligerent. Mrs. Robertson asked her son Dick to go out and ask them not to come into the café, However, they came in anyway. It is said that Harry Teal staggered to a table, drew his pistol, and threw it on the table and demanded food in a barrage of foul language. It is thought this was probably a bluff. However, Dick, being a young man, probably didn’t know that.
Dick left the room saying he was headed to the kitchen for food but came back with a shot gun. Instead of serving food, Dick served up a shotgun blast. Harry Teal was killed when the shot took off the top of his head. Dick immediately set about preparing to run for it, and his mother gave him all the money in the till. Doc Ruggles came into the kitchen and told Dick that Teal was dead, but he didn’t need to run as they wouldn’t persecute him for protecting his mother’s business. Dick, however, was young and scared and took off south into “the cedars” never to be seen in town again.
Harry Teal is buried at the Carrizo Springs Cemetery. If he had a headstone, it has been lost or stolen.
A Place Called Baca, Ike Osteen, Pages 35-37, 1979
Atlas of Colorado Ghost Towns Vol. 1, Leanne C Boyd and H. Glenn Carson, Pages 20-22, 1984
A History of Early Baca County, JR Austin, pages 35-37, 1956