Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-07-30
THE WHITE DEVIL.
A Mexican Superstition and It's
Interesting Origin

One day as the freight train running
from San Francisco to San Jose RUM
bled around the curve just outside of
the city of San Jose, a white horse
sprang on the track and raced down to-
ward the town in front of the engine.
For a mile the train did not gain on
him, then the unequal footing of the
cross ties and the pace began to tell
on the white steed, and the engine
crept slowly up to him. The engineer
gave n few shriel1s of the whistle to
scare the horse from the track, but he
kept right on in front, running with
the speed of a racer, with his long tail
streaming in a straight line behind
him.
The engineer saw a stock gap in
front half a mile away, and again
pulled the whistle. The horse simply
let out few links and went on The
engineer got mad. lie pulled the
throttle open and went after the white
phantom, at a thirty y-miles-an-hour clip.
He was bare hundred feet behind the
horse when the animal reached the
stock gap and plunged in among the
open ties and fell. The pilot struck
hiIn, ground the life out of him in an
instant and then plowed into the dirt
on the opposite side of the track. The
engineer swore a few choice oaths and
jnmped out of the cab. The horse was
as dead as door nail and the engine
had left the rails.
Another suit for the company"
said the conductor as he came up.
How, did you do it, Jim?"
''Oh, don't know" answered Jim in
a surly way. THE brute got on the
track and just stayed there till I struck
him. He was possessed of the devil,
guess"
They had to send to San Jose for the
wrecking engine to put the train back
on the rail, and while they were wait
ing a Mexican rode along the road be-
side the track. lie pulled up his bron-
cho to see the wreck.
"Caramba, senOr," he exclaimed,
turning pale and trembling, 1T es
Vasquez' horse" And he mounted his
pony as quickly as possible and sped
off down the road.
'Who the deuce is Vasquez?" asked
Jim. From the way that Greaser got
a push on himself you'd think we'd
killed ghost"
IF that's Vasquez' horse as the
Greaser said, you have killed Mexi-
can ghost" said the conductor, and he
walked over and looked at the dead an
imal lying under the front wheels of
the engine.
1t was Vasquez' horse. The whole
country knew it the next day. He was
twenty years old and totally blind
when he met his death in front of the
freight train, and for ten years had
roamed over the unoccupied land about
the lower part of Santa Clara county
free as a bird and feared by the Mexi-
cans more than lion. He was called
by them the white devil" and it was
their belief that he was possessed of a
soul mortgaged to the evil one-the soul
of Vasquez. 1t is strange tale that
the old Mexican mothers tell of this
white horse.
Vasquez was the most noted bandit
of the early days of California. He
bade defiance to the law, eluded the de-
tectives and searching parties for years
and killed and robbed half a hundred
men. He rOamed over the state of Cal
ifornia from the north to the south,
leaving desolation and death in his
wake. He surrounded himself with
band of desperate Mexicans and ter
rorized entire cOmmuni ties. Lone trav-
elers by day and by night were stopped
on the road and relieved of their cash
and often of their lives. A quiet vii
lage in the San Joaquin valley would
be awakened at the dead of night by
the rush of sounding hoof-beats.
Timid men would pull the covers about
their heads and shiver. Next day the
principal store in the place would be
found open, the safe robbed, valuable
goods taken, and the guardian, if it had
any, dead with bullet in his head or
knife wound in his heart. Vasquez had
been there.
One day the stage was rattling down
the road from one of the mountain
mines The Wells-Fargo box was
heavy with bullion and half dozen
armed guards sat in the coach. The
driver sat on the box with a Winchester
between his knees and chatted with
another guard who sat beside him bal
ancing a shotgun across his lap. They
were talking of Vasquez "They say
he alters rides a white horse and
dresses like dandy" said the driver.
"WiSh't he'd jump ther gun-site stage
enct when the boys is aboard"
Two horsemen dressed in the tinseled
Mexican cavalier costume rounded
turn in the road jdst in front of the
stage and came riding toward it. One
Of them bestrode a white horse. They
cantered up. The man on the white
horse went to the right and his COM
panion to the left of the stage. Sud-
denly they refined up.
Pardon, senor, will the senOr give
me light for me cigarette?"
The driver goOd-naturedly pulled up |
and leaned over from his seat with the
big cigar which he was smoking ex-
tended between his fingers. He was
met with a snap shot straight in the
brain and tumbled headlOng into the
dust At the same instant the guard |
Lurched and fell forward under the
horses with ball in his forehead. A
dozen men sprang from the under
brush beside the road and showed the
nuzzles of their rifles through the |
stage door on either side.
Taken by surprise, not weapon was |
1rawn by the guards. The strong box |
was lifted from the boot, the men in
-;5o ,,-a,-s dicar7nad xvbiIe the robbers
rifles stared them in the eyes, and the |
merry company, with many jokes
about the dresses they would bnY tQr