El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-02
In the Border Land:

his associate for thirty hours, when
| the trail was lost in the darkness of
| the night among the Rocky mountains.
| Three months after Doc" Hattler and
three associates We're recognized at
HermosllIo. Mexico. Shortly after a
Mexican hacienda was robbed of silver
plate and fine horses and the posse that
| took after the robbers saw Hattler dis
tinctly as he fed on horseback through
| the chaparral toward the Santa Maria
mountains.
! He has been recognized several times
| by people in the hamletS among the
| foothills of southern Arizona and nor
thern Sonora during the last dozen
years He has added some fourteen
Americans and Mexican refugees from
justice to his band. The outlaws were
driven from their secret abode in a can
| yon among the Santa Marias a half
dozen years ago, and quantity of the
stuff they had stolen in many raids was
! recovered. The gang, however. found
| new and more secret location over
one hundred miles westward They
have since preyed upon Mexican haci-
| endaS and American mining camps
| The list of murders. robberies and
holdups attribute to the Hattler gang
runs into the thirties.
The BeeSon gang. composed of about
seven of the most desperate criminals
ever known on the frontier of civfliZa-
| ton. is another outlaw body that
makes its headquarters among the
Dragon mountains and preys period
ically upon people and companies north
and south of the boundary line. The
Beeson gets its name from Bob" Bee
son who escaped from the penitentiary
, at Santa Fee, N. NJ, in 1890. where he
was sentenced for life after participa-
ton in highway robberieS. murders and
other desperate crimes. Beeson was
shot and killed by a railroad brakeman
on the Mexican Central railroad two
years ago in a holdup of the express
car near JuareZ. Mexico. one night
when there was a shipment of gold
bricks from the Chihuahua mines for
Denver. The gang still retains Bee
sons name The WellS-Fargo detec-
tives say that the Beeson gang have
several abodes in the mountains and
that they shift their hiding places ev-
cry few months. They seem to be the
most perfectly organized body of out
laws that have ever operated in the
southwest. A man who died in the Ell
Paso hospital last January confessed on
his deathbed that he was one of the
Beeson gang; that he had been sent out
to find something worth the gangs rob-
bling. and that it was death for anyone
in Beeson's gang to disObey an order
of a majority of his associates in GRIM
inality.
The holdup of the Southern Pacific
overland train at STEMS Pass, in Ari
IONA. few years ago. when the ex-
press car was robbed of some $4,000
in money. was the most notable crime
ever traced to the Beeson gang. But
none of the robbers have ever been
brought to justice, and not a dollar of
the booty has ever been recovered.
The gang is not composed altogether
of rude. hardened, ignorant characters.
Two of the BeeSon gang are said. on
the authority of former United States
Marshal Foster Of Benson. Arizona. TO
be middle aged-men from a New Eng
land city. with airs of refinement and
evidences of superior education and
breeding. They were seen at Tucson
last spring when they passed them
selves off as mining investors. Two
years ago they spent several months at
Tacua. where they assumed the role of
amateur biologists. while they planned
the robbery of the Southern Pacific
east-bound overland. 1t is believed
that one of these gentlemanly men was
the man who assassinated Sheriff
Rowlson. who led a posse against the
Beesons in Pinal county, in May, 1896.
Then there is the Sanchez gang. COM
DOSeu ol I'VE UT SIX ueDdSeu.
ignorant and dirty MexicanS and half
the mountains like gypsy band.
few years ago they were concerned in
the murders and robbery of several
well-to-do silver miners in southern
New Mexico. A posse of miners and
cowboys followed the fleeing maruders
some sixty miles across alkali sands
and through cactus to the mouth of
n;,hl ~, he
mountains. where battle between the
Sanchez gang and part of the poss oc-
Cured among the cragS and powders.
Their We're ten members of the Sanchez
gang then. and the pursuing posse
numbered twenty-five. The former
knew the locality we'll and profited by
their knowledge. Every one in the
skirmish protected himself behind
rocks. When night came on the firing
ceased. and the bandits got away dur
ing the night leaving behind them no
clue to their whereabouts. They lost
three men in the battle. and they kill
ed five of the posse besides wounding
two more.
Six months later the Sanchez gang
were almost caught while fleeing after
the robbery of the bullion safe in the
Yorba gold company's Office. near San
Ysabel. in Sonora. Mexico. A posse of
fifty Americans followed them across
desert. through miles and miles of
trackless foothills and away up among
the Santa Maria mountains. 4 cavern
which the gang had made their head
quarters and their stronghold. was
found and alarge amount of stolen fire.
arms and household goods We're recov-
cred. but the gang had gone befo re the
posse reached their abandoned abode,
and they could not be trailed further
in that wild. rocky country.
Several detectives employed by the