Holliday Baby Burial
Oscuro, Lincoln County, New Mexico
Submitted by Everett Greer ©2000
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There was a lone grave of an infant, the Holliday Baby, who was born ca 1900, died ca 1900. This was located about 1.1 miles north of Oscuro in Lincoln County on the West side of the road on the ranch land, next to the highway right-of-way. This grave was fenced for many years by a picket fence. This grave site was tended for many years by persons unknown. The fence has vanished. Submitted by E. L. Greer, Nogal, New Mexico

Comments:
The parents of Baby Holliday were George and Alice E. (or A.) Holliday. Alice died 02/08/24 in Lincoln County aged 34 years, six months.  The baby's grave was allegedly located in almost the exact location of the Shorty Lee grave, cowboy, who died and was buried on a ranch at Oscuro, Lincoln County. Shorty Lee worked for the J Cross H ranch owned by the Gallagher's. He was reportedly struck by lightening. (Source: Johnson Stearns.) I have reservations that the spot marked by the NM Highway Department for Shorty Lee is correct, unless both graves were in the same immediate area. A stone and wood post currently marks the alleged grave of Shorty Lee, but I personally believe that it is staged and inaccurate, perhaps being off by miles.

When I was about seven years old on a family trip from Carrizozo to Tularosa we passed by the fenced grave 1.1 mile east of Oscuro. My sister said a baby was buried there.  In the many times since then, until the highway placed the Shorty Lee sign, I never saw any grave for Shorty Lee. That marked grave site is incorrect in my opinion. I believe Shorty is buried on the Old Gallagher ranch to the west of the highway. The exact location lost forever. 

A recent report stated that the Holliday baby was removed to La Luz Cemetery and interred next to her mother a half century later.  That would explain the fence being removed. Karen Mills has reported that an order to exhume the baby's remains was issued by the Lincoln County Courthouse in Carrizozo.

Further investigations have revealed that George H. Holliday is buried in the Cemeterio Catolico De Nuestra Senora Le La Luz, La Luz, Otero County, New Mexico. The Social Security Death Index and the California death records state that George Holliday was born 23 Jul 1876 and died 23 Feb 1963 in Los Angeles, California SSA#  525-07-0929. His mother's maiden name was Beckett. Obviously, if his remains were moved to La Luz from California in 1963 he had living relatives at that time who may know the facts about this mystery.

I have been interested in this story for about 50 years. It now appears the facts are coming out thanks to the help of Karen Mills. George Holliday has been found in a book Titled Outlaw Baldy Russell (aka Bill Mitchell) by Sonnichsen. The book tells about the George Holliday's family and the outlaws thereabout, but does not mention Alice Holliday or the baby.

Alice Holiday was apparently buried in one of the cemeteries in La Luz, New Mexico perhaps in an unmarked grave.  Her death certificate sates she was buried in Tularosa.

The 1910 Census for Otero County, La Luz New Mexico, listed George Holliday, Age 66, Divorced, Texas, Kentucky, Missouri, Clerk, Post Master.
This was George Holliday Sr., not his son who was married to Alice. However, he was divorced, not widowed at that time. The data for this family is stewed in confusion.

The 1900 Census in Socorro County, La Mesa,  listed:
Holiday (Holliday) Belle (Isabelle) 20, F, W, AR, NM, Socorro Co., La Mesa
Listed as step-daughter of :
Henry Russell, Born April 1852, 68, married 18 years, AR, AR, AR, Day Laborer
Mary Russell, wife, Born Oct. 1854, AR, AR, AR.
Maud Russell, daughter, Born Aug 1886, AR, AR, AR.

Henry Russell was wanted for murder in Texas and was using an alias. His real name was Bill Mitchell. He also used  Baldy Russell and John Davis.

The 1880 Census for Precinct 3, Kinney, Texas lists:

Following is a brief account of this story extracted from the book "Outlaw" by C. L. Sonnichsen; 1965.

On 23 March 1907, Sheriff H. M. Denny and deputy Ben Wooten from Alamogordo headed for Estery City, NM. They arrested a person going by the name of Henry Russell,  who was actually Bill Mitchell. He had murdered James Truitt in  a family feud.  Henry Russell was taken to Carrizozo, NM and put on a train to return him to Texas after being on the run for thirty years.

The families in Oscuro (east of Estery City) at that time who associated with Russell were Cox, Henderson, Greer and Gililland.  The large Gililland Ranch at Oscuro was where the Baby Holliday was buried about 1900. After Alice died in 1924, it is known that her husband George Holliday, Jr. lived in Pearce, AZ working for for Noel Whitmire.

As for Bill Mitchell, he escaped from jail in Texas in 14 July 1914 and returned to New Mexico. He died of a heart attack in Douglas AZ in April of 1928.

Bill had married Mary Jane (Beckett) Holliday in Seven Rivers, NM 28 April 1884. Several Holliday relatives lived in Seven Rivers.

Mary Jane was previously married to George Holliday Sr. on 28 April 1870 in Texas but divorced him on 21 March 1884 for cruelty.

Isabelle Holliday married Frank Kraft in Estery City in 1902 and moved to Engle, then to San Bernardino, CA. She divorced Frank and was never seen again. Maude Russell married Riley Caldwell in 1905.

John Holliday drifted to Silver City and raised a family. He changed his name to Carter.  George Holliday Jr. also changed his name to Carter for a few years.

Death certificates:
The Death certificate for Alice A. Holliday reads as follows:
Alice A. Holliday, female, White, married, Husband of George Holliday.
Born April 8, 1890, age 34 yrs, 10 months, Housewife. Born in Texas;
Father's name: T. R. Cox, born in Texas.
Mother's name: wealthy J. Trent, born in Iowa.
Informant: Mrs. Millie Green of Lake? Arizona.
Date of death was February 8, 1924 , from appendicitis.
An operation was performed by F. H. Johnson, in Carrizozo, New Mexico.
Body was buried in Tularosa, New Mexico.
Undertaker was T. E. Kelley of Carrizozo.

The death certificate for Marry Russell reads as follows:
Died July 10, 1945; 7:45 A.M.
Cause of death Chronic Myocarditis (heart trouble) and Senility.
Doctor was J.P. Turner, of Carrizozo, New Mexico.
Female, White, widowed; Place of death: Oscuro, Lincoln County.
Lived in Lincoln Co. 13 years. Born in Fanning County, Texas. Born December 16, 1853.
Father: Cal Beckett, born in Missouri.
Mother: Jane Mackintyre, place of birth not stated.
Informant: Sam Dillard, Oscuro, New Mexico.
Buried on July 11, 1941 in La Luz, New Mexico.
Funeral Director: L. Wasadinghouse? of Alamogordo, New Mexico.

We are still left with a mystery, several in fact.  An astute genealogist will spot them.

Janet Wasson filed these findings:

Re: Holliday Mystery

The 1920 census for Oscuro, New Mexico shows:
Holiday,George-43; born TX, father born US, mother born TX
wife-Alice-32; born TX; parents born IA
daughter-Ola-12; born NM
daughter-Vernice-9; born TX

It appears to be impossible that Alice have a baby when she was 10 or 12, depending on which record you rely on for her age.
Ola is in several family trees as "Mary Ola" who married Enoch Dillard. She had three children, (one of whom is still living, and he has six kids.) Enoch died in CA, Mary died in Nogal, NM in 1974.

George Hiram Holliday was born on July 23, 1876. He worked in San Marcial, Socorro, NM on the Brown ranch in 1918. His nearest relative was his wife, Alice A. Holliday of Oscuro. He was tall, skinny, with light blue eyes and light brown hair, (from military registration).
Janet Wasson.

From the above facts, the Holliday baby of Oscuro, NM could not have been the child of Alice Holliday, unless the date of that birth was several years later.
Story by Charles Barnum.