The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-11-29

fred his last carriage, and knew that G
wife and son were dead. His build !
ings were ablaze, his stock IN the I
hands of the thieves, and when day
light came he was ruined man. Not {
a horse, steer or sheep was left on the {
place alive, and burning brands alone
marked the sites of the comfortable /,
buildings he had gathered around him. |
The cowardly herders crept back when i
the sun rose and danger had passed;
but the old man did not seem to see
them. The bodies of wife and boy
had been flung npon the burning logs,
and few bones were alone visible
among the glowing Goals. The OLD
man walked round and round the tires,
looked about him like one taking
farewell view; and the herders watch-
ed him as he disappeared in the d.
rectiOn Of Laredo.
A fortnight later the Mexican
ranchmen along the San Juan River
discovered that a fiend had been let
loose upon them. Cattle and horses
were found dead upon the feedng
grounds, shot through the head; nero
ers were missed, hunted Tor, ana tnelr
dead bodies found, the prey OF wolves
and buzzards. Suspicion could polnt
to no one in particular. Strangers
were riding to and fro. men came ana
went, and no victim Of the unknown
assassin could betray him. lie maze
no mistakes No herder escaped with
} wound to make report; no live STOCK
limped about as proof Of poor shot.
, The gang which attacked the Texan
, ranch had been made up along the
, San Juan River and from its rise IN
, the mountains to it's mouth IN the Mo
, Grande, above Camargo, it was troub-
} led by this fiend. Here and there
herders told of seeing an old man speed
2 along on powerful mustang, but no
1 one could head him off or overhaul
him. If three or four herders slept
r with their feet to campfire, some OF
t them never saw daylight come. The
Q living had rubbed sleep from their
! ewes to find that the fiend had craWled
Y into camp and stabbed one, or two OF
D their comrades to the heart. A lone
s herder riding to head off a stampede,
2 would disappear over a ridge and be
Q seen no more alive. When men fol-
e lowed his trail they found his dead
d BODY on the grass, robbed of fire arms
r and everything else worth taking
9 away.
X Somebody was doug terrible work,
e and that somebody was old jim wat
: son. He arrived at Brownsville about
g once month to replenish his stock OF
q ammunition and to secure three or
l. four DAYS rest and his friends knew
1t very we'll who it was that had render
IS ed himself such terror to the San
ID Juan Valley. Robbed of wife, son,
e and all that mabe life pleasant, the Old
"a Texan had sworn to get even with the
a. creasers. He was not seven" when
rs Mexican paper at Monterey stated
d. that the midnight rider had killed IL
re one month twenty-ohe horse, over nj
r. tv head of cattle and eleven herders
es and that he had poisoned over tive
y hundred sheep, and set fire to three or
SIS four store houses.
The coming winter made no differ
III ence with the work OF the avenger
~ Bands of greasers hunted for him, bu
h' could not find him. iHerders surround
p ed thickets and gullies in which the,
&c were sure he was hiding, but he wa
aS not there Dead horses and cattl
re marked his route as he rode up an
el down the river, crossing from bank t
ne bank, and not week went by tina
e. some Mexican was not found VIII
ny bullet through his head.
re In January and February old JiI
rs Watson was laid up in Brownsville
iIo with knife-cuts and bullet wounds
'os These twoimonths were marked III tn
W calendar of the San Juan Valley
III without the death of a herder or
'nu head of live stock. In March the OF
,ne man suddenly disappeared from Texa
nv and before April was ten days old tn
'ho ranchmen of the San J uan were sayin
to each other in whispers: 'Ths
mysterious devil-he is here again.
A heard of cattle would be all rigf
at daybreak, at sunset hundre
would be dead, their bloated bodle
do. and CLASSY eyes furnishing proofs tn
yer poisin had been the means used by II
on willy foe. Ranchman, riding along
led the dusk of evening, tumbled fro
son their saddles, dead before they reacht
ner the ground, and when June came a I
rty ward of 81 900 was offered for Il
tie, capture or death of the mysterious
God sassin. Some One--perhaps one OF q
had party raiding Jim Watson s ranch
last surmised that it must be this Q
Sed man who was thus avenglng n
5 of wrongs. Spies were sent into Brown
the Vile and other river towns, and tn
can picked up word here and eli
Rio there. and were at last certain Of the
the man. But. identifying the old ma
7 of and doing for him, were two differe
cely things. He did not remain in Tex
ped when warned that hundred grease
nan were on his track, but when the spl
the thought him penned up in Brownvil
suse he crossed the river and left his bloc
his mark within a mile of it's bank.
tort 1t was only the other week that
'lize avenger was cornered. A hot pursu
and by well organized force, drove b
n a to the head of the valley, and he fin
PEN ly sought cover in the mountain ran
and to the northwest of Saltillo. He
envy with all chances OF retreat cut off.
ing, stood at bay, and knew that his til
one had come. The raiding band OF c
oh Ill Id -: 70 md or