Hide Article Text (OCR)
A PIONEER DESPERADO.Tiburcio Vasquez, Who Terrified EarlyCalifornia.Consider first the historian Bancroft's description of the man who succeeded the great Joaquin as the terror of pioneer California:Second only in name and achievements to Joaquin Murieta In the history of California highwaymen stands Tiburclo Vasques; but except in skill of horsemanship and dexterity in catching and killing men one was the opposite Of the other. Joaquin was of gentle blood, as handsome and gay andas chivalrous as any youthful knight errant; Vasquez was a hybrid—half Indian—coarse, treacherous, brutish. His boyhood was spent in taming wild mustangs, cutting flesh with boude knives, shooting, dancing the bolero and fandango, and betraying young damsels. Indeed, he was a bedeviled Don Juan at love.”Add Bishop Fitzgerald's picture of Vasquez as he appeared when barelyfifteen, in 1853:'He was but a youth, slender, compactly built, and of fairer skin than is common with Mexicans. The w'hole countenance expressed malevolence, but hi a eyes were nature's special label of one of her malignant creations. Only in two other human beings have Iever seen such eyes as those* that glared upon me from the doorw'ay. * ■ *They were the eyes Of a wild beast, the baleful glitter you have seen in the eyes of snakes or panthers.”Born at Monterey, Cal., in 1839, Vas-quez had his early training from the padres, and formed his boyish impressions from the careless, pleasure-loving Mexicans who had made the old coast town a centre of trade and gay-ety. The Americans flocked across the Sierras, sailed by shiploads from Panama up to the cold, wind-swept sand hills at San Francisco, spread to the mines and up and dowrn the coast, until old Monterey was overrun. Young Vasquez saw them lay masterful rough hands on the old town’s organization, trample tradition under foot, and set up their own authority.An Outlaw at Fifteen.When he was barely fifteen the boy became involved in a quarrel with an American over a pretty Mexican girl. It was at a dance, and the town constable—likewise an American—interfered to stop the quarrel, Vasquez turned upon the officer like a flash, stabbed him to death and rushed from the dance hall. He fled to the mines at Sonora, where many of his countrymen had gone, and which had already become a favorite refuge for Mexican outlaws. Speaking with extravagant defiance, he explained his arrival at Sonora: “The Americana came in and elbowed me at the dance. They drew after them the prettiest girls, so I killed them. It was the clash of the races typified, this young devil's arrogant resentment. It was his bloody, futile protest against American domination.The precocious young criminal left Sonora and his companions of the saloon to join, rumor said, the forces of Murieta. whose bands were terrorizing California. After the death of Joaquin he became the acknowl the outlaw 7iin.***t*ence,ijiiLJjjim ~rii absolutely unscrupulous methods he used made him a formidable criminal leader.Many attempts, of'course^were made by the sheriffs of various counties to catch Vasquez, and more than once they cornered” him, only to have him slip atfay. His intimate knowledge ofthe country helped him, and the speedand bottom of his splendid horses frequently saved him from capture. To Sheriff Solomon of Sonora, he sent word to this effect: Tell Solomon that when we meet he shall die the deathof a coyote!”In 1857 he was captured, but nothing beyond horse stealing could be proved against him. He was sent to the state prison at San Quentin for flve years. It may be Imagined easily enough that prison life suited him not at all, with its dreary round of hard work and the utter lack of provision for feasting and dancing, and after serving less the n two years he headed a party of escaping convicts. From June to August he rode free in the mountains, when he was captured once more and held until the expiration of his term in 1863.A New Start in Crime.A year after his release, finding the band he had once led scattered and broken, Yasquez started on a fresh career of crime. In company with a Mexican named Faust In o Lorenzano, he killed and robbed an Italian butcher of Enriquita who was making his round of the neighborhood. So swiftly was the deed carried through that the two men were safe in the town, lounging idly in the Mexican quarter, before the body of the Italian was discovered, And so coolly did the murderer take the matter that, when called upon to act as interpreter at the coroner’s Inquest, he showed no sign of agitation.On August 17. 1873, occurred one of the blackest tragedies connected with Vasque2’s long career as a criminal leader, when he, with six companions, robbed Snyder’s store at Tres Pinos. The store was a stage and post-office station, and supplied a very sparsely settled country on the road from and to San Francisco andthe southern mines. Besides thestore, Tres Pinos boasted a - small wooden hotel, a stable for the stage teams, and a blacksmith shop. Why Vasquez ami his fellows wanted to sack this Insignificant station does not seem clear, unless it was that the opportunity was offered when the mood was on them.At 7 o'clock in the evening two Mexicans arrived at the store, riding in from the direction of Panoche Valley and the New' Iclra mines. Dismounting, they entered and engaged the clerk in conversation. In a few minutes five others, and among them Vasquez, rode up. With no preliminary confusion, and apparently acting in accordance with a prearranged plan, the leader and two of his companions took up their stations outside to command the road, while the others joined the two already In the store.There were half-a-dozen men in the store—teamsters, miners, and the clerk John Utzerath—when a quick transformation scene was enacted by the four Mexicans. From idle gossips they turned suddenly to fierce, well-armed desperadoes, brandishing guns and ordering the Americans to throw away their arms and lie down on the floor to be bound. There was no question of resisting—the six men obeyed the order promptly.While the four robbers on the inside were gutting the store In a systematic fashion, those on guard outside ^ werealert and active. A Portuguese tfheep-herder named Martin came uj^-4o the store. , Vasquez saw his approach, and called out to him in English to stop. But Martin could not understand, and knowing nothing of the business goingforward in the store, started to enter. The outlaw leader's second warning was a pistol shot, and the poor, Ignorant sheep-herder fell with a bullet inhis brain. A Mexican from within came to the door to know' why the shot had been fired, but Vasquez waved him back, calling out that it was nothing. f lt;A Cold-Blooded Murder.A freight teamster named Haley was the next to arrive. As he drove in front of the store and climbed down from his wagon, Vasquez came suddenly upon him. and ordered him, witha curse, to He down and be tied. Butthe order did not appeal to Haley'sreason; he began to argue the point; and the hot-blooded bandit swung the butt of his big pistol against the teamster’s head, bringing him dowrn in a senseless lump. Curse the stupid fool. raged Vasques, I should have killed him, The reckless; devil's moodwas on him.Following close after Haley came George Bedford, another teamster. He was quite deaf, and did not hear Vasques's command to prostrate himself. But he saw that trouble was afoot, and ran tow'ard the stage stable. As he ran. Vasques's two companions began to fire; their shots went wild, however, and Bedford had almost gained the door of the stable when the leader turned and Rilled him with a bulletthrough the back.The shooting of Bedford had been seen by Scherrer, the blacksmith, whose shop stood near the stable. He thought there was to be a wholesale slaughter. and determined to warn the hotel keeper, Davidson, of the danger. Leaving his shop, he made a dash for the open door of the hotel, with the Mexicans firing at him. But he gained the shelter of the hotel unharmed, crying to Davidson, Shut the door, quick!Vasquez, too, had seen the open door of the hotel and had called out, with an oath, to have it closed. Shut that door! he shouted, and keep It shut Then you won’t be hurt! But there was some delay, and as Davidson came forward to obey the order, Vasquez rushed across to hasten the action by firing through the panel. The bullet tore through the thin wooden door and struck the hotel keeper square in the breast, killing him instantly.The death of Davidson ended the awful carnival of murder; the plunderers in the store finished their work; those on guard ransacked the stable, and picked out seven of the best horses to lead away; and the victims lying bound In Snyder's store were left to release themselves as best they might. From every source p.bout $500 in money was secured, and a quantity of goods taken. The usual alarm was raised, the usual posse organized, and as usual, the pursuers were left far behind by Vasquez and his crew', who fled straight for Cantua Canon.In a short time, however, Vasquezwas hunted out of Monterey county, and late in 1873 the tax collector of Los Angeles met him on a mountain road. Nowrt Maddigan. the collector, was an efficient man, despite his Informalcustom to gather them when and where he could. As Vasquez came up to him—a complete stranger to the collector—Maddigan held up hishand to stop him,Good morning. began the collector. ‘T don't seem to remember your face, sir; maybe you've not paid your poll tax. Is it so? The outlaw, surprised at the question, admitted that the little Irishman was right, after returning a civil salutation.'Then maybe you'll pay the tax to me now,” said the collector, a peremptory note in his voice. ‘Is it so? It’ll be two dollars.”Very well, friend, Vasquez answered. smiling. He gave over the money, and Maddigan scrawled on a receipt blank the date and amount, signed it, then looked up to ask:What was the narne you said, sir?” Vasquez, came the smiling answer. Tiburclo Vasquez. Shall I spell It for you senor? For Maddlgan's hand hotf fallen limp from the book, and his eyes had opened to a w'ide, terrified stare. But he recovered his nerve, filled in the blank, and gave over the receipt. Vasquez laughed at the little man’s terror, and with a cheerful Adtos, senor,” rode on.Final Capture and Execution.From Los Angeles Vasquez, In December. 1873, led a party of twelve outlaws north into Fresno county, where they pillaged the little mining town ofKingston. In this raid they captured and bound more than thirty men, terrorizing the whole village, and got away with what plunder they could find without a motion of protest from the Inhabitants. Then followed other raids, not so successful; the sheriff ot Los Angeles county took up the chase In grim earnest: and Vasquez fled early In 1874 to his old retreat near Monterey.The flight south was discovered and the Los Angeles sheriff was notified. It was learned that Vasquez was quartered at Greek George's; a watch wasset on the house; and one day the officers came upon him while the bandit was at dinner, Vasquez saw' the officers enter the house, and, knowing that the doors were guarded. Jumped through a window of the dining room. He ran for the stable, where a horse stood saddled, but a shot from one of the sheriffs posse stopped him with a’ shattered leg. Throwing up his hands in sign of surrender, he dragged himself forward to meet his captors. To them he said, as they disarmed him:Boys, you have done your work well; I have been a d—d fool!The reign of Vasquez was over; his band was broken and scattered; and, though there wrere occasional outbreaks among the survivors and Imitators of this reckless leader, he was the last to make any effective protest against the American invasion. Vasquez was sent to a prison hospital, from which he was taken and hanged at San Jose on March 19. IS75—New York Evening Post.m0pmqiBfceiInriBVBVtla:fcityir(01tl01itwtl\Y1ctlpaZSihtiIISaya.Itna-BoDNrrVithiKdiOC#1irdiA Troublesome Ant.—In the state of Colombia there is a large ant (Atta cephalotes) which causes a great deal of injury to plantations. It attacks and carries off indiscriminately all kinds of foliage, and no sort of vegetation seems to come amiss to it. The quantity of foliage carried off by these ants is Immense. A naturalist recently investigated the uses to which the ants put this mass of vegetable matter, and he ascertained that they employ it to make hotbeds upon which their eggs are deposited to be hatched by the heat produced by the fermentation of the leaves. The ants do not eat these portions for food, and the larvae are fed upon % carefully selected diet. Oncethe brood is hatched the anti clearaway the hotbed, carrying out of their nest ail the decomposed vegetablematter. This la thrown out In heaps apart, and in the large ant hills, these heaps will contain bushels and upw'ard.LlriPclei\vHa:R01Z inti'nRwtcoiP'0101tjsi91fcaiTj;StSrereailaPitlblt;qi«4fcInthfilt;oimblHiismfctetotoNai11thiscpldfJfu:j£V25ru2060dlIkspsedithniIyimIndi
Newspaper Details
Yorkville Enquirer
York, South Carolina, US
Fri, Jan 15, 1904
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Raymond M.
NA, 25 May 2022
Other Publications Near York, South Carolina
Yorkville Enquirer
