The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1896-05-16
LITTLE 1ASQl QljEZE'S HERVE
he Last Hours OF a Dreaded
Mexican OUTLAW.

i long and varied experiences in Cali
fornia, New Mexico and Arizona since
4 he came across the plains with an OK
team or across the isthmus in the SOS
or early COS, and, naturally, oil had
Interesting recollections to tell of what
they had seen Of wild, lawless and ir-t
responsible characters on the plains
and among the mountains.
Col. Dan Fillmore, who's one of tile
principal cattlemen in Ventura county,
and came to California In the 40
days told the most interesting remin-
iscence of the evening.
81 reached Sacramento . said he, sin
the days of the widest and most bon
anza-like days of gold-Washing among
the creeks and through the canyons Of
Central California, and in the forty
six years since then i have, as a min
eing prospector, and later. as a cattle
man. seen good bit Of the genuine
frontier life, and have had some deal-
ings with desperadoes and outlaws.
First and last, I have been a witness
to the hanging Of twenty men
and the shooting of several more.
think have myself acted as an officer
of the peace in the lynching Of eleven
I or twelve of the most cruel, deliberate
and seheming bandits that ever figured
xin flash literature. But, gentlemen,
the calmest, coolest and most collected
man ever saw in the presence Of an
appointed and inexorable death, and
one which seemed most Indifferent to
his doom, was that famous little ehem-
/ inate-looking outlaw, Tiburcio Vas
quez, who was hanged in San Jose
fourteen " ars ago. ! have seen many
men so upon a scafOld and under the.
hangman's moose with IN apparent
carelessness Of their fate, and have
heard men call that nerve ;but it was
all summoned and exhibited for the
last few moments only Now, Vasq1!ez
had the genuine article, and While he
appreciated fully that he had but
day longer to live, his constant effort
was to make those about him as cheer
fuI as possible.
ssTiburcio Yasquez was, as you re-.
Il member, the son Of u prominent family
I'm Chihuahua, Mex. His grandfather
/ was on intimate terms with Generals
Iturbide and Santa Anna and was rich
seventy years ago. Young Vasquez
was given a good education until he
II was sixteen years old ,and he was to
4 be sent to Barcelona, Spain, for a col
lege education. But he was born with
a too wild desp crate, WIesss and cruel.
disposition. When he was scarcely
4 more than a youth he broke through
all restraint at home and at school and
! became an outlaw. When but twenty
two or twenty-three years Of age he
had developed into the boldest and
f. most ruthless brigand we cattlemen
and miners along the Rio Grande re-
css., ia LIZ
4 [ am sure that the Vasquez gang of
Mexican cut-throats killed from eight
y to twelve men, and got, by rObbing
mining camps and, a United States
army paymaster something over $22,-
900. AS he grew older he became bold
( er, and his field Of opera tions for ten
T or fifteen yeals was all the way from
I, Tucson, Ariz., UP to Stockton, Cal. The
: Vasquez band was known all over the
coast in 1876 and 1873. Part of the
i gang was lynched at Maricopah, Ariz.,
lin 1877, and two of the bandits then
confessed that they had taken the lives
of over eight men and boys on the
coast and along the Rio Grande in the
course of five or six years. They did
not know how many other men had
E been slaughtered by Vasquez and his
followers before they came to know
the chief bandit. ls.
AT last Vasquez was caught and
held so securely that he could not es-
b cape trial and sentence Of death. None
of his friends could save him, notwith-
standing the money that was spent on
the lawyers who worked day and night
! in his behalf. That was in 1881. He
was confined in the jail at San Jose
and, as I knew Sheriff Adams well, ]
i. went to see Vasquez, Of whom had
many times been in terror, and whom
$sE had great curiosity to meet AS ],
in company with several ranchmen.
went into the Jail corridor the after
( noon before the day of the execution,
Vasquez was let out of his cell to chat
with us. He was a little, dapper fell
low, with bright, laughing eyes, a
pleasant mouth and thin, clean-shaven
& face. He did not weigh over 40
q pounds, and his dress was scrupulous-
ly neat. 1t was hard for many Of us
ranchmen in the jail corridor to be-
# lieve that he was really the Vasquez OF
whose Wholesale robberies, dreadful
slayings of human life and unprece-
tdented recklessness we had heard al
most daily for over a. decsde. We had
had cowboys who seemed able to swat
n low that little fellow, but who had held
even the name of Vasquez in constant
dread f. .z & 5 Il I34
.'The little Mexican was writing
q farewell letters to his friends as we
d came into the corrido or, and as he came
out Of his cell he tucked his penholder
behind his ear and smilingly extended
8 his hand to each in our party. Il M
& pleased to see you, said he, but If I
& have not my wits at command please
l,C