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Salt War turns bloody
On this day in 1877, Charles H. Howard shot and killed Louis Cardis in a
store in El Paso. The killing was merely the latest, though hardly the
last, violent episode in a long dispute known as the Salt War of San
Elizario. The trouble began in 1866 when a group of prominent El Paso
Republicans, including Cardis, W. W. Mills, and Albert J. Fountain,
sought to acquire title to the salt deposits at the foot of Guadalupe
Peak, 100 miles east of the city, and to begin charging fees of the
local Mexican Americans, who had for years collected salt there free of
charge. The so-called Salt Ring fell apart in 1868, but the plan
persisted, and in 1872 Cardis allied himself with Howard, a transplanted
Missouri lawyer and a Democrat. After Howard became district judge in
1874, however, he and Cardis had a falling-out of their own. Howard
filed on the salt lakes in the name of his father-in-law and set off a
riot in September 1877 by arresting two men who had threatened to go for
salt. After being held for three days by a mob at San Elizario, Howard
agreed to give up his claim and leave the country, but sought out and
killed Cardis instead. Howard was arraigned for murder, but in early
December returned to San Elizario to press trespassing charges against a
caravan of salt-seekers. There he was besieged by a mob. After five days
and the deaths of two men, Howard gave himself up to save the lives of
his party, but he and two allies were shot by a firing squad of men from
Mexico. Although more violence ensued, no one was ever arrested or
brought to trial. A congressional investigation attempted to get at the
facts, but no positive action was taken except the reestablishment of
Fort Bliss, which had been abandoned earlier in the year.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- SALT WAR OF SAN ELIZARIO
- HOWARD, CHARLES H.
- CARDIS, LOUIS
- FOUNTAIN, ALBERT JENNINGS
- MILLS, WILLIAM WALLACE
- FORT BLISS
- SAN ELIZARIO, TX
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- First Bloys Camp Meeting held in Big Bend region (1890)
- First issue of Telegraph and Texas Register published (1835)
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