Benton R. White's fine Texas biography of Fountain Goodlet Oxsheer, The Forgotten Cattle King.

In 1901 he purchased a Mexican ranch 60 miles west of Ciudad Chihuahua, Hacienda Sainapuchic.

He  appointed his son F.G., Jr. as the new Superintendent, until the ranch was sold in 1909.

Which it was on the advice and counsel  of Junior's silent partners,  and therein hangs a tale.

"F.G., Jr. was only twenty years old when his father put him in charge of Sainapuchic.

"Even in Chihuahua City men heard of him and were impressed..."

Enter Silent Partner #1!

"Abraham González, for instance, a cattle broker and political leader, soon counted F.G., Jr. among his friends.

"The time would come when the Oxsheers would need a friend like Abraham González..."

Enter Silent Partner #2! 

"Another associate of F.G., Jr's was a wily figure named Doroteo Arango, better known as Pancho Villa.

"His father never knew the details, but F.G., Jr. was in touch with Villa within a year after arriving in Mexico.

"The two could have met through Abraham González or peons at

Sainapuchic ...

"However it happened, Villa and F.G., Jr. quickly recognized that each had something to offer the other...

"It was a daring little game, and dangerous.

"If authorities discovered what was happening, the Oxsheers were finished in Mexico; F.G., Jr. would be jailed.

"But if he sided against Villa, Sainapuchic  would be destroyed.

"It took someone with audacity to pull it off.

"If his father had known what was going on, he probably would have sold the ranch and yanked his son out of the country..."

TO BE CONTINUED! :)