William James Graham was born March 17, 1846 in Florida. He met and married Mahalah Ann Bowsman in 1874 in Texas. They had eight children, six of whom lived to adulthood. William Graham was a cattle rancher. He was one of the most brutal humans than one could imagine. He would beat his wife, then when she was down, he would kick her unmercifully. On his last rampage, they had been to Magdalena where he replenished his stock of whiskey and he generously helped himself to it while driving the wagon on the way home. Out at the Continental Divide, Mrs Graham got out of the wagon to place a rock behind the wheel so the horses could rest. Mr. Graham whipped the horses up and wouldn't let her get back in the wagon. She had to walk the 10 miles back home. Their oldest son, Fred, was not at home that evening, but came in later to find that the old man had beaten his mother to a pulp, had kicked her until she was almost dead and yanked out most of her hair. Fred asked him not to do that again, but later on, heard the beating continuing. He went into their bedroom and the old man grabbed a double barreled shot gun, throwing it over his arm. He was threatening to kill all the family. The smaller children were terrified. Fred grabbed the shotgun by the barrel with his left hand and pushed it away from him while backing into the other room where he reached a 22 caliber rifle. He fired the rifle with his right hand, hitting his father. He went down, but jumped back up, and Fred kept firing into him until he no longer moved. It was said Fred had fired some 30 times and that the old man had seven bullet holes in his body. Immediately after the killing, the coroner's jury acquitted Fred Graham of killing his father. If a boy was ever justified in killing his father, Fred was surely justified. Mrs. Graham had told in her simple way, of all the abuse of beatings and kickings she had suffered all those many years and carried the scars to her grave.