Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-03-14

lmenwere thaY had been taken unaWares.
The scouting part had drawn upon
them before they were aware Of their
presence. certain Shat these were the
men they sought, and with the memory
of their fiendsh deeds before them rifles
were ct once brought to bear and bull
lets sent speeding on their deathly err
rands. The larger Of the two men fell,
but was not killed. Raising himself
upon one arm, he fought Ike . wounded
tiger. Els unerring aim brought down
two Of his adversaries before second
bullet struck him and laid him dead.
The other man, the younger one, was
evidently unframed By the first vo1ley,
for with the agility Of 9 goat he sprang
into the rocks, scrambled away and
made his escape. s ss55.;s. Iss
These two men were the notorious
Espinosas, outlaws from Mexico, two
cousins. This was discovered when the
body Of the dead assassin was examined,
as we'll as the saddle bags, which we're
found near the fire. In a buckskin bag,
suspended about his neck was an illit-
crate Spanish manuscript written BY
the elder Expinosa. It consisted Of a
singular prayer and what was evidently
intended as a statement of the purpose
for which he had set out upon this mis-
SION of blood. From these it was learned
that he had begun as a religious
monomaniac. His father it appeared
had been guilty Of murder, and,
SO ran the manuscript, this present
elder Espinosa had been impelled by
his patron saint to commit these deeds
for the purpose of expiating the fathers
sins which had been visited upon him.
odo this he was to number SO victims,
and to go on, on, on until this was done
but all his victims, must be
white men. Not until this
was accomplished could he
hope to merit favor from his ruling
spirit; never, would its smile fall upon
hin. and his fathers sin be atoned until
this were done. With this task before
him, he enlisted q cousin in his cause,
and together they started north from
Chiahuahua. It was trail of blood
they left behind them. From a record
the elder. Espinosa had kept he had at
that time murdered 80 white men, ~ of
of whom had been killed in Colorado,
after leaving Conejos. He was large,
coarse, hard-yisaged ruffian, while his
companion was small, and, near as could
be judged by those who saw him on the
day Of the encounter, Of no particular
individuality. e Jl.>=> H. SssS
It was evident that gain had played
no part in this mission Of the elder Espin-
osa. None Of the bodies of his victims
has been robbed, as had been noted by
the people of the neighborhood where
they were found from time to time. The
arch assassin was mcanly clad in bucks
skin, and there was nothing in his sad
dle-bags beyond what has already been
mentioned, save ammunition. Murder
alone was the object Of this maniac. !,
The scouting party searched several
days for the younger Espinosa, but
without success. No trace of him was
ever found The head of the dead out
law was cut from the body, and was la
ken back to Fairplay as trophy of the
remarkable chase. For years the skull
was in the possession of a we'll known
physician in southern Colorado, while a
knife the assassin carried was long pre-
served among the territorial properties.
His rifle, which had carried death to
SO many victims, can be seen any day
in Denver in the home of an old noun
taineer; then poor, but who is now one
of the mining kings Of the state.