The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1875-04-09
TIBTRCIO

llDJlrcIO NtSlueZ, the Odll1oiIlli p"lItul,
who recently expiated his manifold
crimes Oh the g~allows. 1t reads like a
romance. Never was there such a VAIL
ETY. of crimes crowded into the brief
span of twenty years of a single lite.
Vasquez was the peculiar product OF the
lard and time which furnished him with
his opportunities. He vas not Of the
"Argonauts of 40" whose history has
furnished Bret Harte with 50 many
0cnYc sketches. He was of the rank
underground of Spanish California, pos
sessed at once of the cunning Of the
Mexican, the cruelty OF the Spaniard,
and the intrepidity of the Californian.
He joined the delicacy OF a woman to
the ~ferocity of a wolf. He combined
the politeness of a Spanish grandee with
the ~groveling Instincts of q mOngrel.
He was born a California Greaser, and
he aped the accomplishments OF Il gen.
tleman. He was not Il Robin Hood, nOr
a Dick Iurpin, nor IL Jack Sheppard,
nor Il Fra DiavOlo, but he had some of
the characteristics of all Of them. More
lawless than a country which was itself
lawless, and better informed than his
neighbors, he managed to escape for
twenty years, now by stealth, o by
outwitting his pursuers, now by heroic
resistance, that cannot fail to command
admiration even from those who Gre ap-
palled at the list of his crimes. He
would make a better hero for Il new
"Beggars' Opera" than Macheath, and
MANY Il time might have sung:
Lee us take to the road;
Hark. / hear the sound Of coaches,
The hour of attack approachcs-
To your arms. brave boys, and load.
See tie ball l hold.
Let the chemists toll like asses,
our fire their fire sUrrGsses,
And turns al our lead to gold.
Vasolez was the hero of more than
thirty murders. He began his murder
Gus career when he was Is years old by
killing n constable who dared to inter-
fere while he was Furnishing a fellow who
disputed a girls favors with him. This
incident was the occasion Of his taking
to the mountains, and there he thence
forth made his home, except at brief
intervals when he was scrvinginthe Pem-
tentiarv or lurking in the towns to el1lde
his pursuers. He deiied Nigilantes as
well as organized authority, and cOntin-
ued his horse thieying and highway rob
berry in the most reckless and daring
amer The life he led does not excite
much enthusiasm, i'll spite OF It's ro-
nance. There is almost too much OF
the mongrel and the "graascr about
il. and yet it is relieved by many love
episodes and deeds Of daring, which
create an interest from which orr horror
and disgust Mt the rest of his life cannot
altogether free us. Besides, he is a type
of character that died with him on the
scaffold. There will be robbers, and
horse-thievcs, and murderers, and al
y~cntuuers: but there will never be another
Tiburcio Yasqucz in California, any more
than there will be another Fra DiavolC
in Italy, or Robin Hood in England.
Southern California has not yet lost al
its romance, but the opportunity Is gone
forever for repeating such a life rs his
Ever since his arrest he has repeated the
story of Macheath a:
The charge is prepared, the lawyers are met,
TheJudges all ranged a terrible show!
I 20 undismayed, for death is 4 debt
A debt on demand. so take what | owe.
When all the romance or Nasquez
career is taken away, there Is no more
hideous object imaginable than this MAJ
without heart, conscience, pity, or re
morse, this man with the hand and foo
of a woman and the nature OF a hyena
The rope never drew upon Il worthlel
candidate for infamous death, and The
world may breathe frecr since his tina
exit.