The Elbert County tribune., 1905-03-30
@KN8E
@8,a,e,8

x61EuEDA telIor VI pioHeer Odiiioi-
mia:
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 Craftsmanship and dexterity in
catching and killing men one was the
opposite of the other. Joaquin was
of gentle blood, as handsome and gay
and chivalrous as any youthful knight
errant; Pasquez was a hybrid-half
Indian-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 bedeviled
Don Juan at love"
Add Bishop Fitzgeralds picture of
yasquez 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 ma'evolence,
but his eyes were natures special Ia
bel of one of her malignest creations.
Only in two other human beings have
ever seen such eyes as those that
glared upon me from that doorway.
They were the eyes of wild
beast, the baleful glitter you have seen
in the eyes of snakes or panthers."
Born at Monterey. California, in
1889, vasquez had his early training
from the Padres, and formed his boy
ish impressions from the careless,
pleasure-loving Mexicans who had
made the old coast town a centre of
trade and gayety. The Americans
fiocGed across the Sierras, sailed by
shiploads from Panama up to the cold.
wind-swept sand hills at San Francis
co, spread TO the mines and up and
down the coast. until old Monterey
was overrun. Young Vasquez saw
them lay masterful, rough hands on
the towns organization, trample ira
dition under foot, and set up their
own authority.
AN OUTLAW AT FIFTEEN.
When he was barely fifteen the boy
became involved in quarrel with an
American over a pretty Mexican girl.
1t was at dance, and the town con-
stable-likewise an American--inter-
fered to stop the quarrel. Vasquez
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 at
Sonora: 1.-THE Americans came in and
elbowed me at the dance. They drew
after them the prettiest girls, so l
killed them" 1t was the clash of the
races typified, this young devils ar
rogant resentment. 1t was his bloody,
futile protest against American DOM
nation.
The precocious young criminal left
Sonora and his companions of the
saloon to join. rumor said, the forces
of Murieta. whose bands We're terror
izing California. After the death of
Joaquin he became the acknowledged
head of the outlaw forces; his intelli-
gence holiness and the absolutely un-
scrupulous methods he used made him
formidable criminal leader.
Many attempts, of course, were made
by the sheriffs of various counties to
catch Vasquez. and more than once
they corhereu hiii' OH! 10 nave nm
shp away. his ihtiihate hho"teuise
Oh the country neipeo hih' ana tiie
speed ana potton OIL MS spiehuiu HORSES
frequently saved MN from capture.
10 sheriH solomon Oh sonora ne sent
WORD once 10 tiils ehect' zen solomon
that when we meet he shaii oie inc
death oil coyote.
In 1891 ne was captured out noun
ing beyond horse-steaIing eouiu De
proved against MN he was sent 10
the state prison at san quentin 1or hve
years. IL may De imagined easily
enough that prison lie sulted MN not