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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class. It's a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio, Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that pays tribute to people of the past

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Speaker 1: by telling their stories. Today I'm Gay Blusier, and today

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Speaker 1: we're looking at the time when the only graduating student

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Speaker 1: of a fledgling college was gunned down in cold blood.

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Speaker 1: The day was March ten, eighteen ninety three. The New

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Speaker 1: Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts had to cancel

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Speaker 1: its upcoming first graduation when the only member of the

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Speaker 1: senior class was murdered the night before. The young school

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Speaker 1: was located in Los Crucis, a small rural town near

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Speaker 1: the Mexican border that was first settled in eighteen forty

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Speaker 1: eight at the end of the Mexican American War. Originally,

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Speaker 1: the school was founded there in eighteen eighty eight as

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Speaker 1: Los Crucis College, but in eighteen ninety it was retooled

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Speaker 1: and reopened as an agricultural school, the New Mexico College

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Speaker 1: of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. One of the first students

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Speaker 1: of the newly formed school was Samuel Steele, a thirteen

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Speaker 1: year old Irish immigrant with an interest in horticulture. Sam

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Speaker 1: was the son of a dairy farmer and nearby Messiah Park,

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Speaker 1: and also the nephew of John McPhee, a town judge

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Speaker 1: who helped found the college. At first, classes were held

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Speaker 1: in a two room adobe building left over from the

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Speaker 1: days of Los Crucis College. Gradually, new buildings were added

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Speaker 1: to the two hundred and twenty acre campus, starting with

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Speaker 1: the two story McPhee Hall, which housed classrooms, a library,

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Speaker 1: a reading room, and administrative offices. In the early years,

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Speaker 1: there were only ever a few dozen students at any

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Speaker 1: given time, and not all of them stuck around for

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Speaker 1: all four years. Despite the small size of its student body,

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Speaker 1: the campus was home to a number of extracurricular activities

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Speaker 1: and clubs, including several literary and musical societies. For example,

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Speaker 1: Sam Steele was a member of the Colombian Literary Society,

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Speaker 1: which published the New Mexico Collegian, the first and at

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Speaker 1: the time, the only college newspaper in the territory. At

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Speaker 1: the start of the academic year of eighteen ninety two

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Speaker 1: to ninety three, the college had thirty seven students, twenty

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Speaker 1: three freshmen, seven sophomores, six juniors, and just one rising

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Speaker 1: senior Sam Steele. This distinction, along with his quiet, easygoing nature,

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Speaker 1: made Sam a highly admired and popular student on the

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Speaker 1: small campus. He was scheduled to become the new college's

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Speaker 1: first graduate in May of eight, but tragically, Sam was

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Speaker 1: killed two months before receiving his degree. Samuel Steele was

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Speaker 1: shot to death on March nineth of that year at

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Speaker 1: about seven o'clock pm. He had been delivering the evening

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Speaker 1: milk and his father's wagon when he was suddenly confronted

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Speaker 1: by a drunken ranch hand wielding a gun. The assailants

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Speaker 1: stole all the money that Sam had collected, then shot

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Speaker 1: the boy dead and left him lying in the street.

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Speaker 1: Soon after, Sam's obituary was published in the New Mexico Collegian.

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Speaker 1: It said, quote, the hearts of the whole community were

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Speaker 1: stricken with sadness when it was learned that Samuel Steele,

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Speaker 1: the most brilliant student of our college, had been foully

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Speaker 1: and willfully murdered on Thursday evening. We do not consider

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Speaker 1: it in place to refer to the details of this

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Speaker 1: ghastly deed, which are known to most of our readers.

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Speaker 1: We only feel assured that it was perfect traded in sheer,

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Speaker 1: cold bloodedness and knowing the victim without the slightest provocation.

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Speaker 1: There were no witnesses to the murder of sam Steele.

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Speaker 1: The only suspect was a local ranch hand, John Roper.

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Speaker 1: He was subsequently tried and found guilty in the donia

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Speaker 1: Ana County courtroom. He was sentenced to be hanged on

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Speaker 1: April eighteenth, but was later released after appealing to a

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Speaker 1: higher court in Sierra County. Two days after the shooting,

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Speaker 1: Sam Steele was laid to rest an Odd Fellow Cemetery

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Speaker 1: in Los Cruces. His funeral was said to have been

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Speaker 1: attended by a larger number of mourners than any other

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Speaker 1: funeral in town history. All the college faculty and students,

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Speaker 1: and most citizens from the surrounding area came to pay

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Speaker 1: their respects to one of the territory's most promising young residents.

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Speaker 1: Six members of the Colombian Literary Society served as Paul Bear,

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Speaker 1: and the eulogy was delivered by college President Hiram Hadley.

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Speaker 1: He told the mourners quote, it is rather more than

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Speaker 1: forty years since I consecrated my life to the work

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Speaker 1: of education. In that period I have had under my

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Speaker 1: care many brilliant youths, a large number of whom now

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Speaker 1: fill exalted positions in their chosen callings. But taken all

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Speaker 1: in all, I have never known the superior if the

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Speaker 1: equal of Samuel Steele. Sam's death meant there would be

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Speaker 1: no graduating class for the college in eight the plans

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Speaker 1: for the school's first graduation ceremony had to be delayed

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Speaker 1: until the following year, when five of Sam's fellow classmates

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Speaker 1: became the first graduates of New Mexico A and M.

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Speaker 1: After surviving the tragic loss of its top student, the

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Speaker 1: college continued to prosper and grow, so much so that

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Speaker 1: it's still around today. Since nineteen sixty, it's been known

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Speaker 1: as New Mexico State University, and today it's considered the

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Speaker 1: largest higher learning institution in the country to serve a

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Speaker 1: predominantly Hispanic population. A far cry from the early days

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Speaker 1: of McPhee Hall and its few scattered barns, the campus

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Speaker 1: in Las Cruces now boasts over a hundred classroom buildings,

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Speaker 1: and the first senior class has since been joined by

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Speaker 1: more than a hundred and fifty thousand other graduates. The

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Speaker 1: school has come a long way since its humble beginnings.

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Speaker 1: But in all that time, the students and faculty of

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Speaker 1: n M s U haven't forgotten about Sam Steele. In

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Speaker 1: the school's College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences established

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Speaker 1: the Sam Steele Society, a lifelong fellowship for all of

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Speaker 1: its graduates. Two years later, in November of the university

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Speaker 1: paid another tribute to its first scheduled graduate. It changed

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Speaker 1: the name of a street at the southern boundary of

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Speaker 1: the campus from Frontage Road to Sam Steele Way. Lastly,

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Speaker 1: on the one hundred and fifth anniversary of his death,

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Speaker 1: Sam Steele was posthumously awarded an honorary bachelor's degree. It

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Speaker 1: was well earned and long overdue. I'm gay, Bluesier and

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Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today

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Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you're a fan of the

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Speaker 1: show and you want to learn even more about the

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Speaker 1: topics we cover, consider following us online. You can find

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Speaker 1: us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d I

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Speaker 1: HC Show. You can also rate and review the show

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Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or you can write to me directly

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Speaker 1: at this day at I heart media dot com. Thanks

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Speaker 1: to Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thanks to

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Speaker 1: you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow

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Speaker 1: for another day. In history class, it is apt to

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Speaker 1: find the