The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1876-03-23
From the Denver (COl.) News
A COLBHT OF H0R4E THIEVES.
The Military HIkes q gaIJ On = Rega-
laT 'Rsb6frS7 S0oSI' In New Mexico.

Between assassiHationS, hOrse-staal-
ing, Indian raids and the lesser incl
dents Of daily life, times are rather
stirring dOTu in New MexicJ. A
correspondent furnishes the partieu-
lars of the raid Oy q det schment Of
cavalry, the other day, on 8 b1nd of
horse Thieves at B .quills, a small set
tlement forty-fve miles from Fort
stanton. The settlement, numbering
about forty men, is e0mpOsrd entirely
Of thieves, VINO make hOFse-stealiug
their calling. Originally four or five
thieves settled there. With this be-
ginning rOgues from all parts Of the
Territory, Colorado, and Texas began
eolOnizing th5re, the number steadily
Increased until the desperadOsS be-
came so formidable that the Off .ers,
knowing the Character of the gang,
were afraid t. make an arrest. When
away FROM B1quillA of on predatory
excursions the rogue wOulI always
claim TO hail from some other place
The little plaza in the midst OF the
colony is 3 perfect fort. Every
means for defense has been provided.
Shafts sunk at intervals about the
plaza, and provided with ladders, con-
meet, at depths OF from ten to twenty
feet, with drifts or subterrsneAn pas
sages, some of them running hum
dreds Of feet to neighboring ravines,
and thus affording means Of escape in
case any attempt Of arrest should be
made. For years this colony Of
thieves has existed, 10 defiance Of the
law and the authorities. Their opera
tiOns have extended over q wide
range OF country, and hundreds, per-
haps thousands of horses have beGn
gathered in by then n, and tradeI and
sold in Texas, the Indian Territory,
Colorado and Arizona. The chiefs of
the colony appear, from the confess
sion Of members o. the gang arrested,
to be three, MexicAns, named Cnaves,
Macs and Lsj1s, who are fearless and
blOOd-thirsty villains. They have
kept scouts out on all sides, day aud
night, each citizen, by turn, being
subject to guard aud il y stranger ap-
preached the alarm was always SCUM
ded, and, while portion of the gang
showed him distinguished atten-
tentiOns, and shOwered their hospital
titles upon him, the ringleaders d2rted
away underground, reappearing at
the surface when it seemed safe to do
so. The cavalry nen WHO made the
recent descent captured four Of the
worst men in the lot, though not the
ringleaders. The peopls got wind
Of their coming and when the horse
men gallOpped up to the plaza, they
found only q few men and some wo-
men in the village. The thieves who
were arrested, when lodged in the
guard house at Fort Stanton, confess
ed their calling and boasted that the
gang had over 200 horses within ten
miles of BOquilla, and deied any one
to discover them. 1t Is surmised that
everything else being on an equal
scale, this gang have q subterranean
stable, where the stolen equines are
kept until traded or disposed of singly
or in small lots. The cavalrymen
satisfied themselves of the existence
of this underground passage, but did
not venture to explore them. A large
force will investigate the whole
neighbnrhood, aud try and discover
the whereabouts of the concealed ami
mails.