CanÌƒon City record. [volume] (CanÌƒon City, Colo.) 1883-192?, 1900-05-17
AN OLD SETTLERS Story.


casnoa Of Early Casoa asd tbs
Capture ol Esplsosla.
The recent visit Of John McCannon,
now Of Granite, to Cajisn City brought
uplmany interesting "reminiscences to
the old settlers, = number Of whom
still live in Canon City. Mr.. NcCannon
is one Of the oldest Of the old timsrs
tho first Of the pioneers, and he
knows Colorado about - well - most
of US know the streets Of Canon City.
Mr.. McCannon has many a COED story
Of the wild and woolly west Of forty
years age, but the most exciting ad-
venture he ever experienced was in
the capture Of the blood Thirsty Mexi-
can Espinosia, who had committed
number Of murders about Canon City
in 1868:
Early in the spring of that year
the whole southern part Of the Terri
tory Of Colorado was thrown into .
state Of panic over the unsccountabls
and mysterious murder Of . number
of well known citizens. The number
of Americans murdered, - shown BY
. book found on the body Of the
murder, seemed u be about thirty
two. several being near Caion. Ono
was q Mr.. Bruce Of Hardscrabble,
another brother OF Col. G. L Shoup.
A reign Of terror certainly existed.
People were afraid to travel or work.
Lone settlers msved into town for
protection. Had . thousand rebel
guerrillas passed through the state
the people could not have been
more frightened.
From the evidence found il seems
that two med were doing the bloody
work. Rewards aggrsgating 81. 500
were offered for the capture Of the
dssperadoes. Tho last two men
murdered were citizens Of California
Caleb tnow Lssdyills) and this 20
aroused that mining camp that .
public meeting was called and ven
geance planned. Volunteers we're
called for and . good ssnbsr respond
- Among TIE number vsrs Thcs.
s. Wells aud John McCannon, the
latter being elected captain.
Being well equipped snd organized,
the hunt began. The whsls country
between Lesdvills and Fairplay and
mp TO within forty-6ve miles Of
Denver was secured. Incidentally .
gang Of notorious thisver vas broken
up near Fairplay and one OK the
captured being turned over 70 some
recruits Of the 2nd COLORADO Regi-
mert, was treated to the same sxpsr-
ience As was Reynolds here in Canon
= few months ago
After nSny days Of fruitless search
tracks OF two horses we're found near
the head waters Of Four Mile. II
looked suspicious and they were fol-
lowed. coming down -Four Mile TO-
wards Canon City. After several
days Of forced march the camp OF
the Mexicans was found. Two horses
were hobblsd near = clump Of willows.
After little while one Of the two
murderers, which aftsrward proved
to be the larger Of the two Espinos-
las, came out to prepare for his
journey. He was shot BY several Of
the men and died almost instantly.
The other and younger one succeeded
in making his escape, though he was
afterwards killed in San Luis Valley
by Tom Tobin.
On investigation property belong
ing to twelve Of his victims was
found on the big Mexican, and the
book before referred to. It was
supposed that they were some sort
of religious fanatics and that their
hatred for Americans was due to
national feeling. After this capture
the people Of the Arkansas valley
breathsd easy again and felt safer
AZ 4 - q