Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-01-15
A PIONEER DESPERATE.
Tibureio vasquez, Who Terrified Early
California.

California.
Consider first the historian Ban
croft's description Of the man who sue
ceeded the great Joaquin as the terror
of pioneer California:
Second only in name and achieve
ments to Joaquin Murieta in the his
tory of California highwaymen stands
Tiburcio Vasquez; but except in skill
of horsemanship and dexterity in catch
ing and killing men one was the op-
posite of the other. Joaquin was OF
gentle blood, as handsome and gay and
as chivalrous as any youthful knight
errant; Vasquez was hybrid half In
Idian-coarse, treacherous, british. His
boyhood was spent in tanning wild
mustangs, cutting flesh with bowie
knives, shooting, dancing the bolero
and fandango, and betraying young
damsels. Indeed, he was a bedeviled
Don Juan at love-"
Add Bishop Fitzgerald's picture OF
Vasquez as he appeared when barely
fifteen, in 1853:
He was but youth, slender, COM
pactly built and of fairer skin than Is
common with Mexicans. The whole
countenance expressed malevolence
but his eyes were natures special label
of one of her malignant creations. On
ly in two other human beings have
ever seen such eyes as those. that giar-
ed upon me from. the doorway.
They were the eyes Of a wild beast
the baleful glitter you have seen IN
the eyes Of snakes or panthers.'
Born at Monterey, Cal, in 1889, Vas
ouez had his early training from the
padres, and formed his boyish impress
sions from the careless, pleasure-lov-
ing Mexicans who had made the OLD
coast town a centre Of trade and gay
ety. The Americans flocked across the
Sierras, sailed by shiploads 4rom Pan
anna up to the cold, wind-sWept sano
hills at San Francisco, spread to the
minas and up and down the coast, un-
til old Monterey was overrun. Young
Vasuuez saw them lay masterful rougr
hands on the old towns organization
tranple tradition under foot, and sci
up their own authority.
An Outlaw at Fifteen.
When he was barely fifteen the boy
became involved in a quarrel with ar
American over a pretty Mexican girl
It was at a dance, and the town con-
stable-likewise an American-inter-
fered to stop the quarrel. Vasque2
turned upon the officer like flash
stabbed him to death and rushed from
the dance hall. He fled to the mines
at Sonora, where many Of his country
men had gone, and which had already
become a favorite refuge for Mexican
outlaws. Speaking with extravagant
defiance, he explained his arrival al
Sonora: 1.-THE Americans came IN and
elbowed me at the dance. They drew
after them the prettiest girls, so Kill
ed them" 1t was the clash Of the races
typified, this young devils arrogant
resentment. It was his bloody futile
protest against American domination.
The precocious young criminal LETT
Sonora and his companions Of the sa-
loon to join, rumor said, the forces OF
Murieta, whose bands were terrorizine
California After the death Of Joaquin
he became the acknowledG dGeas haad ~
the outlaw forSeA -u,-i.sence
bolduss :.i1 the absolutely unscrup'
1lous methods he used made him g
formidable criminal leader.
Many attempts, Of 'course->were made
by the sheriffs Of various counties to
catch Vasquez. and more than once
they "cornered" him, only to have him
slip away. His intimate knowledge OF
the country helped him, and the speed
and bottom Of his splendid horses fire.
uuently saved him from capture. Tc
Sheriff Solomon Of Sonora, he SEM
word to this effect: "Tell Solomon that
when we meet he shall die the death
of a coyote!"
In 1857 he was captured, but nothing
beyond horse stealing could be proved
against him. He was sent to the state
prison at San Quentin for five years
It may be imagined easily enough tina,
prison life suited him not at all, with
it's dreary round of hard work and
the utter lack Of provision for feastine
and dancing, and after serving less
ths two years he headed a party OF
escaping convicts. From June to Au-
gust he rode free in the mountains
when he was captured once more and
held until the expiration Of his term In
1863.
A New Start In Crime.
A year after his release, finding the
band he had once led scattered and
broken, Vasquez started on fresh ca
reer of crime. In company with
Mexican named Faustino Lorenzano
he killed and robbed an italian butch
er of Enriquita who was making his
round of the neighborhood. So swiftly
was the deed carried through that the
two men were safe in the town
lounging idly in the Mexican quarter
before the body of the italian was dis
covered. And so coolly did the muir
derer take the matter that, when call
ed upon to act as interpreter at the
coroner's inquest, he showed no sign
of agitation.
On August II, 1873, occurred one OF
the blacklist tragedies connected with
Vasquez's long career as a criminal
leader, when he. with. six companions,
robbed Snyder's store at Tres Pinos
The store was a stage and post
office station, and supplied a very
sparsely settled country on the road
from and to San Francisco and
the southern mines. Besides the
store, Tres Pinos boasted a small
wooden hotel, a stable for the stage
teams, and a blacksmith shop. Why
Vasquez and his fellows wanted to
sack this insignificant station does not
seem clear, unless 1t was that the op-
portunity was offered when the mood
was on them.
At Z o'clock in the evening two Mex
leans arrived at the store, riding in
from the direction Of Panoche Valley
and the New Idra mines DiSmount-