A legend during his lifetime, a folk hero after his death, Elfego Baca (1865-1945) was a true product of the Western frontier. Best remembered for his single-handed battle against an estimated eighty Texas cowboys who fired a reported four thousand shots at him without effect, Baca achieved the reputation as one of New Mexico's most colourful figures during his long career as a gunfighter, ruffian, lawyer, sheriff, mayor, district attorney and perennial candidate for state and federal offices. Three times he was tried and acquitted of murder charges, as well as a charge of conspiracy against the United States government. Ranking in popular imagination alongside the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, Baca's fight with the Texas cowboys has been the subject of countless articles as well as films and Hispanic folk songs.