El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-02

| y
line between Mexico and the United
States. The southern part of Arizona
ana of New Mexico. in the United
States: the southern part of Sonora. in
the republic of Mexico. represent it's
determinations. Within these limits the
| largest and most carefully organized
posse of men who ever searched for flu
gitives from justice are hunting these
days across the burning desert wastes.
over lonely sunbaked mountains.
| through parched gulches and sterile
canyons for desperate. red handed out
laws and half-breed Indians and Mex
lean desperadoes. For years this bor
der has been the rendezvous OF several
of the most dreadful bands of murder
ers. bandits and lawless. hardened
characters in the west.
There is scarcely a region on this
continent more favorable for unre-
strained outlawry in its most desperate
forms than the region of the boundary
between the United States and Mexico
especially along the southern limits of
Arizona. The chains of deso1ate. bar
rem mountains abound in twisted. crag
gy canyons and sterile gulches where
even veteran plainsman unfamiliar
to the region might lose his way and
die of hunger and thirst before he could
the rugged mountain peaks are caverns
and Businesses, where bands of outlaws
may live for months with meagerest
protection against invasion of their
hiding places.
Apache Kid and his fifteen fiendish
followers lived among thes mountains
for months while United States troops
and armed posses vainly sought them
in 1893, 1894 and 1895. There are cav
he lob Of MI
MariaS. where Apache warriors live
year without detection by the trained
scoute in General Cooks and General
Miles campaign against the redskins.
Very few white men know even smat-
teringly the dizzy, tortuouS trails that
lead around the cliffs and over extinct
volcanoes from the valleys up among
the crags and peaks of the Dragon or
Santa Marias. Several thousand men
might secrete themselves there for a
whole season providing they had suf
ficient food. with nothing that would
give clue to their whereabouts.
There are thousands of eyrie spots on
those mountain sides where a handful
of armed men may with rifles hold off a
whole company of soldiers.
Stretching away from the base of the
mountains and foothills on both the
American and Mexican sides of the
and copper miners. the homes of alfalfa
growers and sheep herders. stock rang |
es. honey bee ranches and settlers cab |
ms. These have long been the object
of robbery. assault and murder by the
fugitives from justice who have lived
in the mountain fastness and the hid |
den canyons and gulches. The fire. |
quent raids of theoutlawS upon the |
herds. fiocks and homes of the settlers
down in the valleys have finally |
brought everyone in the southern parts |
of the territory and in northern Sono- |
IA to combining in movement against
the bandits of the mountains. The
dozens of attempts by i'll organized
small posses to capture or punish the
criminals have been absurd.
Governor Otero of New Mexico and
Governor Murphy of Arizona are inter
ested in the roundup of man killers
and Governor fernando de Sepulveda
of Sonora. Mexico. has secured the con-
sent of President DiaZ to use Mexican
soldiers against theoutlaws should they
flee south of the boundary line. So far
as the United States is concerned. the
campaign against the bandit gangs is
wholly civil. The sheriffs of the SOU
thern counties of Arizona are the lead
ers in the big posse now hunting the
criminals. Cowboys. Mexican vague
ros prospectorS. miners and settlers in
that region have volunteered their ser
vices in a determined effort to rid the
territories of men who have robbed.
pillaged and murdered with impunity
for nearly a decade.
AltogethS. some two hundred men
comprise the American posse, the
south of the boundary there are about
one hundred armed MeXicans on horses
searching for the outlaws. The silver
mine owners in the San Lorenzo noun
tains of Sonora have ordered sixty re-
peating rifles from Chicago and when
these have been placed in the hands of
vaqueros in that locality the Mexicans
will be guarding their territory against
the outlaws escaping southwark from
the American pursuers.
The silver miners in Sonora and Chi
hua have been haraSsed for years by
predatory bands of thieving outlaws
fom the Dragon mountains of the
boundary line. and now the Y propose
to join hands with the Americans
across the line in an effort to wipe out
outlawry in that region. even il a cam
paign of weeks is necessary
The largest and most notorious gang
of outlaws in the mountains of Pima
country if that led by Doc" Hattler.
In some parts of the territories that
name is held indread. Doc" Hattler
is about 90 years old. and for twenty
yeas he has been a refugee from jus
tice. He came from a New Jersey town
at the close of the civil war. and was
hard citizen in Dodge City and Newton.
Kansas thirty-five years ago. when
they were the most lawless commun-
ity in the west. He ran a keno saloon
at Dodge ity and mortal rows in his
place were of monthly occurrence.
One night four men We're shot to death
there during war over gambling
Hattler shot popular cowboy through