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Harris, Howard

Hotel manager at the Silver Springs Hotel in Silver Springs,[1] New Mexico Territory in 1878. (October 19, 1831 – November 26, 1903)[2]

A fastidious man, cautious but honest, Harris was concerned with running a tight and orderly hotel, and was well-liked by the people of Silver Springs.[1]

In July of 1878,[2] Bret Maverick met Harris when he registered at the Silver Springs Hotel. Later that night, Bret was shot in the shoulder by Carl Jimson over an altercation during a poker game. Badly bleeding and fighting unconsciousness, Bret was carried into the Silver Springs Hotel lobby by men from the saloon where Bret was shot, accompanied by Doc Nelson. Harris objected, and cautioned them from getting blood on the new carpeting. During Bret's recuperation from his gunshot would, Harris would try to collect what Bret owed against his hotel tab. When Fatima tracked Bret to the hotel, Harris objected to the impropriety of having a camel at his hotel. Bret recruited Harris to find a home for Fatima. Harris was hesitant, but was able to accommodate Bret's request for $35 out of the $50 Bret had given him for the transaction. When Harris visited Bret in jail to give him his change, he told Bret that Jimson had left town to bring a doctor from Crown City to attend to Donna Seely's gunshot wound. Bret realized Jimson was actually making a run for it, knowing if Donna recovered, she would be able to identify Jimson as the one who shot her. Bret reluctantly knocked Harris out to affect his escape from jail and borrowed Harris' horse to track Jimson into the desert. When Bret returned to Silver Springs the next day with Jimson, Harris had forgiven Bret and happy that Jimson had been brought to justice.[2]

See: Relic of Fort Tejon