Burton C. Mossman

Burton C. Mossman (April 30, 1867 – September 5, 1956) was an American lawman and cattleman in the final years of the Old West. He is most remembered for his capture of the notorious border bandit Augustine Chacon in 1902, though he was also a successful businessman who owned the large Diamond A Ranch in New Mexico.

Biography Burton C. Mossman was born on April 30, 1867, at farmhouse near Aurora, Illinois. In 1873, he and his family moved to Missouri and in 1882 they moved again, this time to New Mexico. Sometime after 1884, Mossman became a cowboy employed by the Hashknife Outfit, a large cattle company in northern Arizona Territory. Mossman was somewhat popular and respected. By the age of twenty he was the ranch foreman and in 1897 he was promoted to superintendent. During this time, Mossman was occupied with fighting cattle rustlers or pursuing private business ventures. Aside from ranching, Mossman and a partner operated a stagecoach line and in 1898 he was elected sheriff of Navajo County. That same year, Mossman and three of his associates built a brick opera house in Winslow, but he soon sold his share and built a store in Douglas, which was later sold as well, for $13,000. Mossman is said to have joined Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders in 1898 and fought in the Spanish–American War; however, author Bill O'Neal makes no mention of this in his Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters and it seems Mossman was already very busy managing the Hashknife Outfit, serving as sheriff, and pursuing personal business interests. By 1901, banditry was widespread in Arizona so the territorial governor, Oakes Murphy, authorized the re-establishment of the Arizona Rangers. Because of his popularity, as well as past exploits, Mossman was appointed to be the first captain of the new unit.

Mossman and Stiles failed to meet Alvord and Chacon in the Socorro Mountains, but, on the following night, they found the bandits at the home of Alvord's wife. There, after exchanging names, Mossman and the others agreed to cross the border back into Arizona on the next day, so they could steal some horses from Greene's Ranch that night. However, it was decided that it was too dark for stealing horses that night and the party went back to their camp, which was located less than seven miles north of the border. According to Raine, just before daybreak, on September 4, 1902, Alvord was preparing to leave when he "tiptoed" over to Mossman and said: "I brought Chacon to you, but you dont seem able to take him. Ive done my share and I dont want him to suspect me. Remember that if you take him you have promised that the reward shall go to me, and that youll stand by me at my trial if I surrender. You sure want to be mighty careful, or hell kill you. So long." When Chacon awoke later that morning, his suspicions were aroused when he found that Alvord was no longer in camp. After breakfast, Stiles suggested that they go steal the horses in daylight, but Chacon was uninterested and said he was going back to Sonora. Mossman knew his time to act was now. Chacon and Stiles were sitting on the ground next to each other when Mossman stood up. First he asked for and received a cigarette from Chacon, then, as he dropped the twig he used to light his cigarette, Mossman pulled out his revolver and aimed it at Chacon. According to author William McLeod Raine, Mossman said: "Hands up, Chacon," to which the bandit said: "Is this a joke?" Mossman replied: "No. Throw your hands up or youre a dead man." Chacon then said: "I dont see as it makes any difference after he is dead whether a mans hands are up or down. Youre going to kill me anyway, why dont you shoot?" Mossman had Stiles disarm Chacon and then put him on a horse for the journey to the railroad, where they boarded a train to Benson. Of note is that several times Chacon attempted to escape by throwing himself off his horse, presumably at a place where Mossman could not easily follow, such as a steep hillside or something similar. The capture of Chacon was anticlimactic but Mossman's plan worked exactly as he hoped. Chacon was eventually hanged in Solomonville on November 21, 1902.

Later life and death After the capture of Augustine Chacon, Mossman resigned from his position in July 1902 to focus on a peaceful life as a businessman in Bisbee, although rumors circulated that he was uninterested in working for the new governor, L. C. Hughes. Mossman later returned to the cattle business and purchased the Diamond A Ranch, near Roswell, New Mexico, where he died of old age on September 5, 1956. Mossman was buried at the Mount Washington Cemetery in Independence, Missouri and the Diamond A Ranch is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

According to historian David Leighton, of the Arizona Daily Star newspaper, Mossman Road in Tucson, Arizona, is named in honor of Burton C. Mossman.

In 1960, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.