The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1890-06-28
AMERICAN DESPERATE.

Al MEXICAN DESPERATE.
The Bloody H,ro Of tho Free Zone On the e
Mexican Border.
Life and Adventures Of tho Infamous Juan
Nepucemo Cortina, ! Born Bandit and
Murdsrer-His Wholesale Robbery and
Slaughter Of American Citixsnl.
Texas has long been noted as g land
OF terrors. and, to W the truth, q
title is not altogether unjust, says q
Fort Davis letter &c the New York
Times. Due allowance should be
made, however, for her vast extent OF
territory, her mountain Businesses and
bottoms OF chaparral and mesquite
(some OF the latter nearly as thick
and impenetrable as an East Indian
iungle), and especially should Texas
be commissrated because she is the
unfortunate neighbor by some hum
dreds of miles of boundary to the very
worst country on the face OF the earth
for outlaws, renegades. and hard
characters generally.
Railroad trains plunging along
through wild, unsettled tracts offer
special inducements to ssroad agents
and highwaymen, who are almost GER
tain of immunity from capture. Then,
again, the Rio Grande pronounced
REQ Grandee) in a dry, sandy trough
eleven months out of twelve, and
rascals committing depredatidns on
this side can easily skip across into
what is known as the '.Zona Libre,"
or Free Zone, and be safe from both
governments.
This little belt of nondesc ript soil,
stretching along the Rio Gnande on the
Mexican side for sixty miles or more,
is and has been for years the safe
refuge or retreat for all the guthrie ats
and outlaws Of the southwest. Steal a
horse, murder a man, rob a train or
commit some other deviltry, and all
they had to do to be safe was simply
to cross the Rio Grand dry-shod and
hide themselves amid the mountainous
rocks of '.Zona Libre."
To give an idea OF what a man can
do in this country and escape hanging
tits only necessary to recite a few ex-
~periences of Juan Nepucemo Cortina,
who is now alive, prospecting under
the care OF the Mexican government
This old rascal gray and aged in crime
now, is a born bandit and murderer,
and the catalogue of black crimes
charged against him would alone be
sufficient to fill a good sized volume.
He always had an inherant hatred for
citizens of the United States, and es-
pecially Texans. No red-handed
Apache or any other savage or Indian
has ever caused to our countrymen
one-tenth of the sorrow and misery
this villain has. In his face may yet
be discovered the avaricious, malig-
nant, cruel sheer which has been a
true exponent of his living character
or all the years OF his life.
When the war with Mexico broke
out, Cortina was a stalwart young fell
low, who took possession of nearly all
OF the lower Rio Grande country and
carried on a deadly guerrilla warfare
against our people. He was, I believe,
really commissioned by the Mexican
government as a spy and assassin.
When the Mexican war closed the
guerrilla settled down, nominally TO
ranching and farming, but his true roc-
cupation was horse stealing and the
running off of stock. When he stole
from Americans. a market was found
for his plumber on the opposite side of
the Rio Grande at Matamoras, Ciudad
Victoria. and other towns of the Next
can state of Tamaulipas. When he
despoiled his own countrymen, the
animals we're crossed over and driven
far inland into Texas, principally to
Goliad, which was then q fourishing
frontier settlement on the lower San
Antonio river. His skill at roping
was remarkable and his horsemanship
superb. None OF that day could equal
him in either OF these accomplish
ments. An old Texan ranger. who is
himself pretty we'll along in years, thus
speaks Of Cortina In his palmy days:
II knew the fellow well. He could
handle the lariat better than any cow
boy the northwest or southwest has
ever produced, and as to his nerve,
why with all his wickodness I must
say that be vas the nerviest and quick.
est man with shooter / ever saw.
One day in Brownsville Gold Brown
was a tough town ,then) Cortina vas
standing in the door of q saloon smok-
ing a cigar and apparently looking at
nothing. yet his eagle eye covered
everything and everybody in sight.
His waist was . perfect arsenal of fire.
arms, and among others / noticed q
large, double-barrelled, .old-tashioned
,horse-pistol, which was stuck conven-
iently in front and within easy reach
for quick use.
a row sprang up at the other end
OF the town which created some q
element. A Mexican came running
down the street. and ut his heels the
city marshal with pistol cooked, who
called to the fugitive to halt The
pnrsuer stopped, leveled his big pistol.
and fred. The Mexican fell, winged.