NEAR MARFA, Texas (Border Report) — Throughout our BorderReport.com Tour, we’ve shown you the various types of barriers over the US-Mexico border. From walls to fences to vehicle barriers, there are a variety of enforcement methods to try and keep people from illegally passing from one country to the next.
And then, there are spots without anything.
The Brite Ranch in West Texas is one of those spots. In fact, much of West Texas south of El Paso has an open border with Mexico.
RELATED LINK: How Brite Ranch turned to technology to secure its land by the border
On Friday afternoon, the BorderReport.com team had the opportunity to fly above Brite Ranch to see the area. You can check out their video above.
The ranch was the location of a prominent raid in the early 20th Century. Here’s some background from the Texas State Historical Association:
The ranch of Lucas Charles Brite, at Capote Peak in western Presidio County, was attacked by about forty-five Mexicans, possibly supporters of Francisco (Pancho) Villa, on Christmas Day 1917. The raid was well planned. The attackers cut the ranch’s telephone lines to prevent any call for help. They chose a holiday, when most of the ranch workers were away and the Brites were at their Marfa home. The family of T. T. Van Neill, ranch foreman, was at the ranch. The first awareness of the assault came when the foreman’s father saw riders dismounting in the yard and scattering for cover. He fired on the evident leader of the attackers, and a gunfight developed between the Neills and the raiders. The bandits captured two ranch workers and sent one, José Sánchez, to tell the Neills that the other would be killed if they did not surrender. The Neills knew they were outnumbered and gave the raiders the key to Brite’s Store to appease them. After looting the store of clothes, canned goods, and cash, the raiders rounded up the best horses and stole all the ranch’s saddles. During the looting of the store, postman Mickey Welch arrived at the ranch in his mail stage with two Mexican passengers. The robbers shot the passengers and hanged Welch in the store.
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