In the early summer of 1969 we had been at Libre for a year and had built 3 houses. Tony Pando who sold us the land told us that we could get water from Dry Creek which ran in the streambed just down the little hill near where we built our dome. We used 5 gallon jugs to haul enough water from the creek to drink, cook, and clean up. It was arduous but satisfying.
Dallas and Jesse were starting to build their house of adobe on the saddle of the lower land where well #2 and the new buried tanks are today. He needed more water than he could carry and discovered that Ferrandelli (who owned the land with the pond below Leon’s which extended all the way down the hill including the fields to Turkey Creek) had a pipeline from McIiver spring across our land to his land below. Dallas asked him to give permission to tap the line so he and Jesse could use the water to make adobes and build their house. Permission was granted and Dallas put a valve in the line right next to his building site and began to make adobe bricks. He was not the most energetic and dedicated builder so progress was very slow.
After many months, Ferrandelli became upset that it was taking so long and taking too much water and he told Dallas to close the tap and stop using his water. Dallas refused and they got into a heated argument. Ferrandelli became enraged. His private attorney was Ernest Sandoval who was then the District Attorney for Huerfano County. Rather than filing a civil complaint against Dallas or Libre they wrote up a criminal arrest warrant for me for stealing water since I was the President of Libre and responsible for the actions of the corporation. The sheriff came up to the land and arrested me but I was immediately released to my own recognizance. I was to appear in court to face the charges.
We, of course, had no money for an attorney so I went to meet with the public defender in Walsenburg. He seemed lazy and not interested in what I had to say but still willing to take on the case. His attitude made me suspicious so I dug into his resume and found out that he was a former clerk and protégé of Mr. Sandoval and willing to hand him our case on a platter. There was no internet nor computers then so digging was difficult. I soon realized that I was on my own in terms of gathering evidence so I went to the courthouse and got our entire deed and abstract with all of the easements, encumbrances etc. and poured over it. I had no idea how to read an abstract but plowed ahead and found that Ferrandelli’s pipeline easement was recorded the day after we purchased our land from Tony Pando. The pipe had been put in when the former owner Gilbert Perrino owned the land but there had been no legal easement on file. They all connived to get the paperwork retroactively filed but it was clearly not legal.
I kept this information from the public defender for fear he would compromise my case. Dean and I arrived in Court the day of the trial. I always tried to wear appropriate clothes and I thought that a blue satin mini cowgirl dress that I had made would suit the occasion. We had Lia with us who was then 8 months old and we were a sensation in the staid courthouse. The sheriff looked pained to see me with a baby and said that we could put Lia to sleep in his office. He took his phone off the hook so she wouldn’t be disturbed.
I entered the court room carrying a stack of papers including the green bound deed to Libre and placed them on the table. The trial began with the prosecution calling various witnesses. They called Bob Hudson’s foreman and asked if he knew me. Although ultra conservative he was a very polite cowboy who twisted his hat in his hands and said “Yes I know Mrs. Fleming and she is a fine lady”. Then they called another local cowboy (trying to paint a nefarious picture of me) but he too stammered and said the same thing. Chivalry was not dead and they could not say a bad thing about a lady in public.
When it was time for the defense, my lawyer stammered and stuttered and I watched as my case was clearly going south. In desperation I spoke up saying that we couldn’t be stealing water because clearly the easement for the pipeline going through our land was filed the day after we took possession of the property. The prosecutor/district attorney became enraged and reached across the table for our stack of documents. I jumped up and pulled them out of his hands. I found the marked page with the critical information and asked to show it to the judge. He agreed and after he read the unambiguous dates he said I will dismiss this case if you promise to not steal water again. I replied that I was not at liberty to make such a promise. He thought for a minute and slammed his gavel saying “Case dismissed!”
With great relief I gathered up the documents and went to wake up Lia who had slept through the entire proceeding in the sheriff’s office. I then realized that with the phone off the hook, no one was able to reach the sheriff for the entire length of my trial which made me smile.
Linda Fleming
Libre, August 1, 2021