James Joseph Dolan

a fast learner, a smooth talker, and could think on his feet. He soon became Murphy's clandestine negotiator. Behind his bravado, though, Dolan was a heavy drinker, and when he drank, he flashed a volatile temper. He was less than five feet, three inches tall, and his small size may have made him seem an easy mark. Dolan was anything but.




1848, Born in Clonfort, Ireland, on April 22, 

1854 he immigrated to the U.S. in , and soon began working in a New York City dry goods store. 

1863  enlisted in the U. S. military

1866  reenlisted in and served at Ft. Riley, Kansas.

1869, After Dolan was discharged at Ft. Stanton in April, 1869, he got a job clerking for L. G. Murphy & Co.

1873. Dolan's temper got the L. G. Murphy & Co. kicked out of Ft. Stanton in September, There he'd fired a shot at Capt. James Randlett earlier that May after the officer had tried to stop him from bullying future partner, John H. Riley.

1874,Once the ailing Fritz began to take a back seat to the day-to-day affairs of L. G. Murphy & Co., Dolan saw his chance. He quickly became Murphy's protégé. After Fritz's death in August, 1874, Murphy asked him to become L. G. Murphy & Co.'s junior partner.

1877 His temper flared again in May, 1877, when Dolan shot and killed an employee. He cited self-defense, and that the man had come at him with a knife.

 1877 After Murphy stepped aside in March, 1877, Dolan took over the firm (renaming it J. J. Dolan & Co.), took in a new partner (Riley), and took on Tunstall and McSween.

 1878, he mortgaged the firm to the hilt Denied a $78,000 claim from the Fritz estate in January, uly, Born in Clonfort, Ireland, on April 22, 1848, he immigrated to the U.S. in 1854, and soon began working in a New York City dry goods store. Dolan left it in 1863 to enlist in the U. S. military. Discharged in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1865, he reenlisted in 1866 and served at Ft. Riley, Kansas. After Dolan was discharged at Ft. Stanton in April, 1869, he got a job clerking for L. G. Murphy & Co.

 1878.When Dolan couldn't repay the loan, J. J. Dolan and Co. declared bankruptcy in May, 1878. The demise of the Big Store was almost an after thought amid the din of the Lincoln County War.

 1879 In February, 1879, Billy Campbell and Dolan shattered the fragile peace of New Mexico Gov. Lew Wallace's three-month-old amnesty when they shot and killed the widow McSween's hostile lawyer, Huston Chapman, in Lincoln.

1879. married Caroline Fritz (the late Emil Fritz's niece) in Hondo in July, 1879.

1886.Dolans had four children, two of them died very young. Caroline died, too, shortly after giving birth to a third daughter in September, 1886.




He proved to be a fast learner, a smooth talker, and could think on his feet. He soon became Murphy's clandestine negotiator. Behind his bravado, though, Dolan was a heavy drinker, and when he drank, he flashed a volatile temper. He was less than five feet, three inches tall, and his small size may have made him seem an easy mark. Dolan was anything but.

Dolan's temper got the L. G. Murphy & Co. kicked out of Ft. Stanton in September, 1873. There he'd fired a shot at Capt. James Randlett earlier that May after the officer had tried to stop him from bullying future partner, John H. Riley.

His temper flared again in May, 1877, when Dolan shot and killed an employee.

Once the ailing Fritz began to take a back seat to the day-to-day affairs of L. G. Murphy & Co., Dolan saw his chance. He quickly became Murphy's protégé. After Fritz's death in August, 1874, Murphy asked him to become L. G. Murphy & Co.'s junior partner. After Murphy stepped aside in March, 1877, Dolan took over the firm (renaming it J. J. Dolan & Co.), took in a new partner (Riley), and took on Tunstall and McSween. Denied a $78,000 claim from the Fritz estate in January, 1878, he mortgaged the firm to the hilt. When Dolan couldn't repay the loan, J. J. Dolan and Co. declared bankruptcy in May, 1878. The demise of the Big Store was almost an after thought amid the din of the Lincoln County War.


Financially secure and politically connected, Dolan fared better in public life. He was easily elected Lincoln County Treasurer in 1884 and a state Senator in 1888.
 
In June, 1889, Dolan wangled an appointment to a two-year term as a Receiver in the Federal Land Office in Las Cruces.