Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1868-04-30
Letter from New Mexico-Ban-
ditti-Their Haunts Detec-
tion-Murder of the brave De-
tective.

SS<tAtCt
Correspondence Gallipolis Journal
FoRT UNION, New MEXICO, !
APRIL 10, 1868.
WIN. NASH, ESQ.,,
DEAR SIR:-I told you in nv last
that was going to Sante Fe soon and
would write you on my return. Ny
projected trip was deferred on account
of i'll health. During my illness, how
ever, events have occurred that will
doubtless prove of interest to your
readers, coming as it does. from this
semi-civilzed country. And what l
am about to relate is no imagination of
the mind, or manufactured tale of this
wild mountainous region, but actually
occurred near the line of this Territory
and Colorado, and is equal if not SUI
perior in magnitude to some of the acts
of the Carlist Banditti in the Catalonia
mountains, after Cabrera had been de-
feated. For many years this Territory
has been infested with thieves, robbers
and murderers, the law heretofore
rather tending to encourage crime than
suppress it. Occasionly a horse thief
was caught and hung by mob, but
this seldom occurred, the fastness of
the mountains serving too well for Sc
curity to evil disposed persons. And
scarcely day passed but some muir
der and robbery was committed. The
hardy miner, after years of unceasing
toll in accumulating an independence,
| is joyfully returning to the family he
loves so well, and from which he has
been so long separated, is ruthlessly
struck down by the hand of the marau-
der. These acts of crime have to a
great extent been attributed to Indians,
but that illusion has recently been dis
PEELED, and the true actors in this great
drama of life and death, murder and
rapine, have been definitely ascertained
to be white men, refugees from justice,
deserters from the army, &c. To ap-
prehend and bring these lawless char
acters to justice, and thus suppress
the crime that has so long stalked
abroad with impunity, has long been
the desire of the military authorities,
but they have heretofore been unsuc-
cessful. Their efforts, however, have
led to the discovery of what is sup
posed to be the chief rendezvous of the
entire Banditti of this country, and
this information was obtained under
the following circumstances. Ser
geant BARRET, of the Sd Z. S. Cavalry,
stated to his commanding officer, about
the last of December, 1867, that he had
gained information from source that
he did not then feel at liberty to dis
close, of chief rendezvous of Banditti,
located somewhere near the base of the,
Rocky Mountains, and asked permis-
sion to make the attempt at discovering
it. Every confidence being placed in
the Sergeants ability and integrity, he
was furnished with horse and ether
necessaries for long journey, and left
his command in manner to carry the
idea that he had deserted. On the
second day of his journey toward the
mountains, at about four o'clock in the
evening, he deserted in the distance a
body of six horsemen approaching him
from somewhat secluded valley or
canon. He rightly conjectured these
to be a body of Banditti, and his only
fears were that they would attack him
before he would have an opportunity of
making his wishes known to them.
But in this fortune seemed to favor
him. There was a man in the party
who had formerly belonged to the same
company that BAREEr belonged to, and
as he had only recently deserted, and
had frequently heard BARREr talk of
deserting, and on recognizing him
few yards away, he rode forward,
evincing great pleasure at the meeting,
and firmly believing BAERET's deser-
tion to be genuine, he introduced him
to his companions, highly extoling the
sergeant's merits, and making free to
tell him who and what they were.
BARRET in return expressed himself
glad to have met them, stating that he
was done with the army, and intended |
to lead free and independent life, that /
he would rather cut the throat of every
man in Mexico than to again be subject
to discipline. This was received with
evident satisfaction by the party, and
be was Immediately invited to Join
them. BARRET expressed his willing
ness to do so, when the leader of the
party proposed going to canon near
by and camping for the night. The
entire party readily asserting, they re-
tired to deep rocky canon, where a
fire was built, and the horses of the
party picketed for the night.
The leader then told BARRET that it
was necessary for him to take an oath,
the nature ofwhich was to strictly obey
all laws and edicts of the band, and to
never betray them to the authorities
BARRET very willingly took the oath,
as he did not consider it at all binding.
After the oath had been duly admins
tered, three of the robbers proposed to
BARRET to accompany them down the
valley few miles to a ranch, where
they intended to steal horses. To this,
however, BARREr dissented, pleading
fatigue, which was indeed a sufficient
excuse, as he had been in the saddle
thirty-six hours without rest. The
three then left the bivouack, when
BARRET spread his blanket on the
ground and laid down, not to sleep,
but to ruminate on his strange situa-
ton. and speculate how it would ter
At about three o'clock the
following morning, the party who had
left the night before, returned, bring
ing with them three horses. This
rendered it imperative that the entire
party should start Immediately for the
mountains, to prevent successful pur-
suit, knowing full well that pursuit
would be made A fer travelling about