Indian Hot Springs

Down on the Rio Grande, about 50 miles east of El Paso, is an isolated area known as Indian Hot Springs. My highschool chum, J.E. Carroll, invited me to go there with him and his father, Ellison Carroll, a former world champion roper who at that time was a county commissioner in Reagan County. A former doctor with the Mayo Clinic had opened a theraphy center in this isolated world because the spa furnished hot mineral water baths While Mr. Carroll was in the spa program J.E. and I went exploring. We were looking for Shorty Mexican's pistol. Shorty Mexican was about 50 years old at this time and worked for Mr. Carroll. His real name was Jose Zubia and he had been a sidekick of Pancho Villa, the bandit. Pancho's real name was Dorotea Ortega. When Pancho was killed, Shorty Mexican (Zubia) decided it was time for him to move to the United States. He crossed the river at Indian Hot Springs and dug a hole and buried his pistol. Then he made his way to Sierra Blanca, and from there he ended up at Big Lake, the county seat of Reagan County. Well we dug a lot of holes but never found the pistol. On the other side of the river was a big cave known as the Bat Cave. Every morning thousands of bats would emerge and fly into the neighborhood. At sundown they would return for the night. It was an interesting place.