The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1875-05-05
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A BANDITS WARNING.

Tiburcio Vasquez was bandit. He
and his band ravaged at will several
of the lower counties Of California.
In the wild, free, Andalusian life of
Los Angeles and Santa Clara, these
brigands found ample room and verge
enough for exploits whose recital
takes us-back to the medieval times,
when robber barons and predatory
knights swooped down upon the plains
and valleys, and bore away to their
mountain businesses the spoil Of beau
ty and pelf An adventurous and ro-
mantle career was that of Vasquez
and his company. Their exploits have
furnished forth material for cheap now
els and "blood .and-thunder" dramas.
They stole, ravaged, burned, plunder-
ed, and murdered IN that gay and
dashing manner which fascinates cal
low youth, and sets romantic maidens
to signing for "such a man." The
country through which these bandits
ranged Is thinly populated, ranches
and trading posts dotting at long in
tervals thevast treeless plains which
lie between woody hills and mountains
cleft by secret gorges and canyons.
For years these precious rascals dsfied
the law, and subsisted on country,
laid under contribution as thoroughly
as Mexico was under Cortez. Mothers
scared their children into silence with
the name of Vasquez, and young men
toiling in the vineyard or sultry glebe,
looked at the dust arising from the
hoofs of his rough riders on the noun
side, half in fear and half in admira-
ton. The chief bandit bore charm
eel life. He was thought invulnerable.
No bullet ever reached him, and no
deputy-sheriff came near enough to
see the color of his horse.
In an evil hour for the young rob-
Der, he fell into the tolls and was cap
tured, tried, convicted, and hanged by
the neck until he was dead. The bold,
dashing, handsome ca6aliero died the
death of dog. He carried himself
with lightness and jolly recklessness
to the scaffold; but when he was
hanged, no man in the throng that
looked at his taking off lamented his
ignoble end. The general verdict was,
Served him right" And SO It did.
The night before this wretch was
hanged, he asked to see his coffin. 1t
was shown him. He read curiously
the inscription which set forth that he
died Tomorrow" and he felt the lin
ing tenderly, saying: II shall sleep
long and we'll here" Then he dis
coursed of that silent land into which
he was to travel, saying, with some
show of seriousness, that he was not
sure of an eternity. "The sages say
there is one," he remarked, with a
shrug of the shoulders; and he added
that if there were an eternity of life,
he should meet all his sweethearts
next day. Knitting his brows. he die
tated an address which he wished di-
rected "To fathers and mothers of
children" This singular document
began thus; Standing at the portals
of the unknown and unknowable
world, and looking back upon the life
Of this, as have seen it, l would urge
upon you to make your greatest care to
so train, influence, instruct, and gov
ern the young to whom you have given
life, that they be aloof, as far as in the
nature of things it is possible, from
the degrading companionship of the
immoral and vicious. The general
welfare of society depends upon the
strict performance of this part of your
duty"
This was the bandits homily and
warning. To his former associates he
dictated an equally unique address, in
which he deprecated their reputed in
tention to make bloody reparation for
his death, and bade them to take warn
ing by his fate and change their course,
while life was left them. On the fol-
lowing day, accompanied by a priest
who bade his beads and pattered pray
er, the brigand chief stepped light
ly to the fatal tree, joked about
the dread hereafter, told the hangman
to be quick about it, and SO was
launched into eternity.